…So the handsome prince married his beautiful bride and they all lived happily ever after. Do you believe in fairytales? I say “fairytales” – it’s a bit deeper than that. It runs in our cultural bloodstream. It courses through our literature, our music, our films, our deepest values in life. We have this belief that […]
A heavy burden weighing you down. Inescapable. And probably self-inflicted. That’s how we think of a millstone around our necks. A job, a relationship, an ongoing commitment – these things can often be called “millstones around our neck.” But when Jesus said it, He wasn’t referring to a wearisome inconvenience. He was speaking of a […]
It is truly a stroke of genius. One line from Jesus disarms a deadly mob and turns all our perceptions right-side-up. From the outside it seems like a crowd of righteous Jews are justly using the law of Moses to condemn one unrighteous woman. Yet through this one sentence, Jesus flips it all around. Actually […]
This story is often studied to discover the “what” of judgement. Yet it seems most in keeping with the context and content to read it as a parable. And, though we will learn much about the nature of judgement, undoubtedly it was the “who” of judgement that would have shocked Jesus’ hearers: “19 There was […]
In June it was reported that a 17 year old Chinese youth sold his kidney to buy an iPad2. We recognize the folly of that kind of covetousness instantly. But what about greed that is closer to home? Recently I read an excellent discussion of the much-used phrase “material blessings” in our church prayers. We […]
TS Elliot said “human kind cannot bear very much reality.” This story plumbs the violent depths of that truth. John the Baptist was a shining light. He was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus called him the greatest man born of woman (Matthew 11:11). As the summation of all the prophets who preceded […]
Sometimes the KJV translates it as “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28) Sometimes it says “wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:42, 50) Both are translations of the same Greek phrase. (The King James is not as consistent as some like to make out). Yet the popular reception of […]
The Jews were insiders – the chosen race, the people of God. Israel was a light to the nations, a shining advertisement for the LORD’s grace and glory. And yet, as Jesus would often say, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” (e.g. Matthew 19:30) Judgement involves dramatic reversals. Those on […]
Jesus splits the world in two. But He does it by descending right into our midst. There He is, the son of Mary, an itinerant preacher with no qualifications and no fixed abode. Surrounded by the poor, the meek and the persecuted, He holds forth with His distinctive northern accent. Yet as He concludes His […]
George Carlin once noted a universal rule of the road: Everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot. And everyone who drives faster is a maniac. To the speeding driver, everyone’s an idiot. To the slow driver, everyone’s a maniac. But one rule applies to all: My speed is just right. Hypocrisy is not limited […]
