When Jesus returns to Nazareth, to his own country, he attends synagogue on the Saturday and teaches there, not as a leader of the synagogue but as a participant in the faith community. Nonetheless, Jesus’ teaching is different from other people’s. Jesus, we have been told, teaches with authority, and not as the scribes (Matthew 7: 29). Jesus does not merely interpret Scripture, according to scholarly tradition; rather, Jesus reworks Scripture, providing for the people a new Torah, which centres upon himself and which we may understand as Jesus himself. In this way, Jesus’ authority matches and exceeds that of Moses. Jesus is a new Moses, and then infinitely more [ … ]

We learn in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus’ friends are concerned about Jesus, thinking that he is beside himself, and intending to restrain him (Mark 3: 21). Shortly afterwards, in Mark’s Gospel, Mary and others of Jesus’ family make the journey recounted in today’s Gospel verses to try to see Jesus [ … ]

Jesus has performed many healing miracles in his homeland, the area in the region of the Sea of Galilee – also known as the Lake of Tiberius and the Lake of Gennesaret. These miracles, or signs, have communicated something of the truth of Jesus to the people, who have responded to Jesus’ miracles and to his teaching. It is through the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings as much as through the healing miracles that people have responded to Jesus, recognizing in Jesus the answer to questions they have long asked, and prayers they have prayed for generations [ … ]

Jesus has challenged the malice of the Pharisees by curing the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. In response to the pure goodness of Jesus, the Pharisees take council together and decide to kill Jesus. Their response to absolute good is evil, even as Jesus gives the Pharisees every reason to see the ways in which they have fallen into error. The refusal of the Pharisees to respond to Jesus’ call to reform compounds their evil. They have locked their hearts [ … ]

Jesus’ Ministry has entered into a time of conflict, during which people begin to react against Jesus’ teachings, despite the many and beautiful miracles he has performed. In today’s Bible verses, the Pharisees accuse Jesus and his disciples of breaking the Sabbath. Jesus defends himself, justifying his actions, and in doing so suggests both his own divinity and a greater dignity for all people than that which the Pharisees can admit [ … ]

It is in Chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus’ mission has encountered serious difficulties. Through Chapters 11 and 12 there are challenges, which confirm what Jesus has told the disciples in the Discourse of the Mission, concerning his bringing not peace but a sword, of Jesus’ Mission being a sign of Christian contradiction. There is real enmity in the region of Galilee, the scribes and the Pharisees especially rejecting the truth of Jesus, while even John the Baptist fails to understand [ … ]

In the Discourse of the Mission, in Chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has instructed his disciples about evangelization. Now, in Chapter 11, we are told more of Jesus’ Mission in the region of Galilee – also known as the Lake of Gennesaret and as Lake Tiberius. The area in which Jesus preaches and performs his healing miracles is relatively small, and it is an obscure part of the Empire. In some ways, though, it is a microcosm of the world beyond and the world of later history to come, as we learn of those who will accept and those who will reject Jesus [ … ]

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ healing of the dumb man through exorcism, by casting out the demon possessing him, is brief, and in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus does not respond to the Pharisees’ malicious accusation, as if to say, their evil is evident and does not merit response. Rather, Jesus pours immense effort into his Galilean ministry, teaching and healing, and bringing the people to God [ … ]

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached a message of love and acceptance. He called everyone to a new way of being, which would be true to God’s will. As the narrative account continues from chapter eight through nine, we see Jesus putting into practice the lessons he has taught. Jesus accepts lepers, foreigners, women, the sick, the possessed, paralytics, the unclean, and now a tax collector [ … ]

The crowds press in around Jesus. Perhaps there is a sense of enough having been done for now in this place, in terms of teaching and the healing miracles of Jesus. Perhaps there is a sense of too much ferment, and a need to leave these thousands upon thousands of people in quiet to reflect upon what they have experienced of Jesus so far. It is time to move, and now there does arise a question of who will follow Jesus and who will stay behind. This may be a figurative moment, in that sometimes there are people who follow Jesus in a great rush of feeling and momentarily; others are concerned to follow Jesus permanently, all their lives [ … ]

Jesus continues to preach the Sermon on the Mount with a further lesson in love and humility. Once more, Jesus teaches us about our proper relationships with God and with other people. This is a lesson against conceit and anger. It is a call to peace, such as can heal the divisions between people [ … ]

is astonishing to think that very, very few people in the western world do not live in a manmade environment. There may be acres upon acres of farmers’ fields and forests in front of us, and every acre is managed by people, often in situations of great anxiety as they worry about whether they might make some money from their work here. There is little in the way of wilderness remaining in our territories, and each day more is taken away. We may anticipate that, in very little time, all human beings will be living in an obviously man-made environment. It may be that our life on earth will become quite claustrophobic [ … ]

No-one lies on his death bed wishing he’d bought more product – more disposable or semi-disposable consumer trash. It may be that when we are confronted with the thought of owning nothing, we may feel straight away that there are things we treasure, which we hope to hand on to other people. There are beautiful things, indeed of such beauty that we know we don’t finally possess those things – we could not hoard them; they will be passed on to other people, and who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years they might give people pleasure [ … ]