Jesus’ journey has taken him to Bethany, the village where Lazarus, Martha and Mary live. There is clearly a feast happening. So often we find Jesus’ ministry associated with great banqueting, on what must have been quite a lavish scale, considering the milieu, the poverty suffered by many in the Holy Land. The story that follows has a similar shape to one of Jesus’ parables, but this is a real event in the life of our Lord. There is a certain contrast between the doings of Martha and Mary, which have symbolic significance, in ways which might seem initially counter-intuitive [ … ]

The seventy have been sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for Jesus; they have been sent to the towns and places – the ‘cities’ of the Gospels are for the most part small towns and villages – to which Jesus intended to travel. These disciples have been sent in a spirit of poverty, told by Jesus to trust in God, and so as a corollary in human hospitality. The disciples have borne the message that the kingdom of God is imminent. In humility as in poverty, they have been sent by Jesus as evangelists. In Bible verses, we witness the first missionaries, swelled with good news, return to Lord Jesus to share the joy of the initial, explosive success of their work of evangelizing [ … ]

Jesus has with him his disciples. Additionally, Jesus has attracted the interest and attention of many multitudes of people. Here, however, we discover a failure of conversion to be the norm for many of the people – indeed, so we might infer, for the generality [ … ]

The seventy disciples, or as some authorities state: the seventy two, are symbolic of the sending to all nations, and supplementary to the Twelve. There is a numerical symbolism here, the meaning of which we may with confidence say concerns a sending of the Gospel to all nations [ … ]

Many Christians live in places that are hostile to Christianity. This hostility takes different forms. In the United Kingdom, there is significant but often banal hostility to Christianity, including on the part of those who term themselves notionally Christian, but who really never want to gather to worship God. Christians in the United Kingdom are not generally at risk of physical harm. It is a sickening truth that where there is such risk, it is most often sectarian, for example in Belfast or Glasgow [ … ]

The Jews of Jesus’ time hold varying and confused views as to the resurrection of the dead, indeed the Sadducees denying resurrection. The concept of the immortal soul had developed through time. It was with Christ that we attained full and perfect knowledge of the soul’s immortality and of the life to come [ … ]

Relatives of Jesus, with Jesus’ mother Mary, have come to speak with him, but Jesus does not wish to meet with them. Jesus had problems with his family. We may consider some of the ways in which our own families support us, and at other times may hinder us from doing what is right. Jesus’ refusal to meet with his family is clearly expressed in all three of the Synoptic Gospels [ … ]

Yesterday, we heard in the Gospel of Jesus’ most merciful response to the woman who came to him begging forgiveness for her sins. Today we learn more about Jesus’ relationships with women. Given the understandings of the time, this Gospel account of the women in Jesus’ life is surprising and also inspiring. Luke’s Gospel has been considered the Gospel of women. In these Bible verses, we find the women who followed Jesus, as disciples, to be accounted as equivalent to the men [ … ]

Jesus has been invited to dinner by Simon the Pharisee, which occasion in itself reminds us of the inclusivity of Jesus’ mission. There it would be customary for the men to recline on low divans, leaning on their left arm with their legs tucked under them, away from the table. It would also be customary for the host to honour his guests with a kiss of greeting, with water for their feet, and with perfumes [ … ]

‘Domine, non  sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.’ ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.’ With these words, so many of us will seek to rid ourselves of bad thoughts before receiving communion. We have recollected ourselves in silent time to examine our consciences, we have confessed, we have listened to readings from Scripture – and even in that short time following there has been time to sin anew, as also there is heightened awareness of our sins, and too of inherent sinfulness [ … ]

It is as if to say: nothing that we hold in our heart of hearts is secret; nothing that we think is invisible; all that we are exists and is active in our relationships with others. Just as God sees through to the core of our being, so we inevitably share all we are with all other people in our lives, influencing their lives because they are in communion with us [ … ]

We are called to self-knowledge by Jesus. It can be strange to realise that we have been looking at life, and other people, through the filter of our own prejudices, our own mental baggage, the accumulation of our individual and less than perfect history. Our experience, good and bad, and the impact of our experience constitute in large measure the glasses, the spectacles, through which we see the world and regard other people [ … ]

We learn so much about our true relationship with God and with other people in these Gospel verses. Perhaps we might say rather, we are reminded of so much, because these are Christian truths we have long been taught and have long known, but which often are neglected and forgotten. We are recalled in these Gospel verses to Christian truth [ … ]

Since beginning his ministry, Jesus has called his first disciples to follow him. Now it is time to choose, from his disciples, the twelve who are to be called Apostles, that is those who are to be most especially sent to preach, on mission, and to found and to lead the Church. There are key, notable stages as Jesus constitutes his Church – the Apostles will be fully confirmed in their mission on the day of Pentecost. This is one such important stage [ … ]

Today’s Gospel reading continues to centre upon the debates about the Sabbath, in which Jesus and the Pharisees are involved. While the Pharisees watch Jesus, to see how he might violate the Law, Jesus does not shy away from the healing and redemptive opportunity. Indeed, to challenge the Pharisees in this way is in itself a restorative, a salvific, act. Jesus asks us to consider God’s commandments in the knowledge that God is love. Here is an inmost truth of our relationship with God [ … ]

The Sabbath day, Saturday, was established by God in order to allow the Jewish people a special time to worship, and so therefore to fulfil their purpose and the highest good on Earth, which is to worship God. The Law was established through Moses following upon the release from Egypt, during which time of punishment the people had been prevented from worshipping God. Clearly, God wants us to have time to worship. It is sin when people prevent other people from having such time. This is central to our belief as Christians. The Lord’s Day, Sunday, is sacrosanct. It is our best opportunity in a busy and difficult world to give time to God [ … ]

Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days toward the start of his ministry. This was a time of preparation, while Jesus was tempted by Satan. Matthew’s Gospel account most fully expresses the time of fasting as one in which Jesus declares his assumed humanity to be in accord with his Father’s will, oriented toward God’s saving purpose. Fasting is an aspect of many historical religions. We are asked to fast at particular times, and as we do, in our physical hunger, we may discover a closer relationship with God, even when our fasting can be mentally challenging [ … ]

When Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, the effect is instant. Not only does the fever leave her immediately, she is able immediately to get up out of bed and to serve Jesus and the other people present. This tells us something of the nature of our own healing, our freeing from sin, by Jesus. We are called and we are enabled to serve. This is our active participation in Christian community. We may recall that the sick were excluded from participation in religious services in Jewish society. Jesus calls the sick home, to be with God [ … ]

The three synoptic Gospels tell us of this episode of Jesus’ life, when he returned home to Nazareth and preached in the synagogue there. Luke’s Gospel gives us the text of Isaiah read by Jesus, in which Jesus’ announces his messianic mission – to bring the good news to the poor, to live and to identify with the poor, to heal us and set us at liberty from sin. As Jesus closes the book, he omits the following from Isaiah 61: 2: ‘…and the day of vengeance of our God.’ This is deliberate interruption. Jesus is not come to maintain old enmities. Jesus’ way is peace. It is the people of all the world who are to be blessed in Christ [ … ]