Photo by khrawlings

Passover was the greatest pilgrimage festival for 1st century Jews, Jerusalem was packed with people (like for a world cup – only more crowded celebrating the great liberation from foreign oppression that God worked for Moses and the ancestors in Exodus. No wonder the Romans were jumpy, no wonder the Sadducees on the Sanhedrin (Jewish council) shared their concern, and it was an ideal opportunity for the Pharisees to do something about a dangerously radical Rabbi who failed to respect proper authority. And no wonder among the religious and national fervour and the political fears Satan was also at work.

So, here’s the link to the audio: E100-66: Luke 22:1 – 46: The Last Supper

Photo by Glen's Pics

Gospels are not biographies, nor are they just collections of sayings, they focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection. Without either event can’t understand Jesus or the gospel. But we also to see and understand that Jesus is God incarnate and that Jesus is risen else his dearth and the disciples turnaround between end of gospels and Acts  makes no sense.

This week’s readings bring to fruition the message we heard time and again in the Old Tedstament, that the only true God is Yahweh, the one who will be with and for us, this God is Yeshua (in English – Jesus) “he saves”.

So, here’s the link to the audio:
E100: Week 14: Death and resurrection

Who is the lost son? (Photo by kevindooley)

Way back, at the turn of the century, I wrote an article for  Festschrift volume:

Tim Bulkeley, “Where do you read.” in Mission without Christendom: exploring the site, essays for Brian Smith (Carey Studies in Theology) Auckland: Carey Baptist College, 13-22.

Among other things it noted how the assumptions and cultural baggage we bring to “reading” a passage of Scripture can colour, change or allow us to see things more or less clearly. This podcast illustrates this listening to one of Jesus’ best-loved parables (Luke 15:11-32). And (I hope tactfully) suggests Western Christians risk missing the “point” in a quite dangerous way

BTW I dealt with the chapter as a whole in a previous podcast: Luke 15:1 – 15:32: Lost and Found if you are not quite sure about something I say here then that ‘cast might help

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I hope this doesn't mean there are no miracles left... ! by JOPHIELsmiles

The miracle stories in the Gospels (like the ones in the OT) are stories with the wow factor that’s part of all miracle stories – think of the ones we hear on the infomercials on TV

They called this reading “Feeding the Five Thousand” but it comes in a context.  Luke (like the other gospels (except Thomas which the early Christians excluded from the Bible) does not tell an unconnected series of “stories about Jesus” rather he tells us “The Story of Jesus”.

The context in which this miracle is told to us shows us that this miracle is part of a process showing us Jesus bringing to life aspects of what the OT tells us to hope for when the Messiah comes. But then Jesus tells us that he’s a different sort of Messiah, not a glorious but a suffering one. Before God puts the cap on it all showing that this suffering Messiah is indeed glorious!

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Everyone loves a good miracle story, the Infomercials are full of them, buy this exercise machine use it just 10 minutes a day and be instantly sexually attractive, sleep on our special magnets and your pain will go away and you’ll feel 30 years younger. Infomercial miracles sell things: it worked for me, you buy one! I’ll have what she’s having But despite the temptation for Christians to use them in the same way, in the gospels it’s a bit different! We still love a good miracle, but their purpose is not to sell something – rather to show us something…

And then there’s the question of when miracles fail to happen… (cf. Luke 4:20-28)

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Lost apple photo by jaqian

This is a chapter of parables. Remember parabole (Greek) or mashal (Hebrew) means a comparison, so ask ourselves what’s the point of comparison here? One clue is to look at the numbers (no, I’ll not be getting into numerology Another, Jesus gives us himself. And a third comes from noticing where the climax of the story comes. Out of these clues we’ll find that the Prodigal Son is not about the prodigal son, or even primarily about his forgiving father…

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OK this story must be one of the best-known that Jesus ever told, everyone has heard it! And if not (at least if they speak English or French or just about any other European language) they know the main character’s name – The Good Samaritan. Except that, what we know if we know this, is all wrong!

Jesus was a prophet so to understand what he’s doing here we need to remind ourselves how Prophets work. So after a quick recap on prophets we think about what Jesus the prophet is doing when he tells this story.

For more on prophets try these:

• E100-36: 2 Samuel 11:1 – 12:25: David and Bathsheba?
• E100 Week 10: Prophets: three principles to unlock the code
• E100-46: Isaiah 51:1 – 53:12: Reading prophets for pleasure and profit
• E100-47: Jeremiah 1:1 – 3:5: Getting started as a prophet
• E100-50: Malachi 1:1 – 4:6: The book that makes the bridge

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This week’s readings contain a sample of Jesus teachings. In reading them we will notice two things particularly that will help us better understand:
(a) Jesus is a prophet: so the rules we learnt for reading Old Testament prophets will help us understand Jesus. These rules were:

1. Prophets spoke to a context: knowing the who, what, when, where, how & why can help us get the point.
2. Prophetic speech is often a conversation.
3. Prophets are about conversion (not prediction).

(b) Jesus taught (often) in parables. Parables are picture language. Parable in Greek parabole or in Hebrew mashal means a “comparison”. So to understand a parable, as well as looking at the context we need to ask what comparison is being made?

In the first reading (the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:1-6:4) we’ll notice that Luke has a Sermon on a Plain and so how each Gospel remembers Jesus for themselves, that like any good biography Gospels are not transcripts, but meaningful retellings of the life of Jesus.

The second reading is the second part of the Sermon on Mount (Mat 6:5-7:29) we’ll notice that Jesus teaches like the prophets and how radical that teaching is.

The third reading Mat 13 introduces us to parables, and also shows us that parables are sometimes intended to make us think not provide quick simple answers.

For the fourth reading, Luke 10:25-37, I’ll suggest that the “Good Samaritan” is not about the Good Samaritan Jesus remember is a prophet and prophets turn things upside down and inside out.

Then we’ll apply all this to the lost and found parables Luke 15:1-32, especially to “The Prodigal Son” and again I’ll suggest the parable is not about the prodigal son, or even his forgiving father.

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Using a photo by by Stacirl (some see a face in the flames)

How would you take to John as preacher in your church? He certainly had an attention grabbing opening:

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Luke 3:7

If a little lacking in pastoral skills

But for a modern audience it actually gets harder, just as John seems to soften. And then there’s Jesus…

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This is perhaps the chapter of the Bible that more people have partly heard than any other. We have also heard things that aren’t there: like the animals around the manger who don’t get a mention in Luke’s account – perhaps because their presence in houses as well as “stables” they were taken for granted.

Most people have a favourite part of this chapter. My childhood favourite is left out of the set reading, but I’ll talk about why other bits have stuck in my mind more recently. Although I will not actually talk about Jesus’ birth, for this chapter above all others in the Bible, I will notice things about Mary and another quietly significant woman character.

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CHRIST – BIRTH
The third vertical window on the north side represents the birth of Christ. The chief feature of this window is the exploding star at the top with its streams of light flowing downward. The lower part shows a horizontal streak of lavender suggesting the separation of heaven from earth. The heavenly light of the star may be seen in the bottom section of the window which depicts the actual birth scene. The purple typifies His royalty and the red anticipates His cross.
Photo by FirstBaptistNashville