All Things Seen & Unseen

In John's gospel account, chapter 12 and verses 1-8 we read, 12  Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2  There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3  Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4  Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 5  Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6  This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7  Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8  For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. ...

The Scripture reading set down in the Common Lectionary for last Sunday (26th October) was from Matthew 22.34-46. 1 The Content of the Law The Pharisees yet again try to 'tempt' or test (Lit. Version) Jesus with a question: which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus says, 'The first and greatest commandment is: 'Thou [singular, 'you'] shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind'. And a second is like it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself'. The law contained (reportedly) 613 laws and ordinances and I suspect that Jesus' answer (from Deut 6.5 and Lev 19.8) and the authoritative way in which he gave it stunned them into silence. The Purpose of the Law But given that the law's content is summed up in these two commandments, what is the character/purpose of the law? First, no one is able to keep the law. In respect of the great and first commandment, all are guilty ...

'That's just your opinion! Where's your proof!'  How often are we confronted with this retort with regard to our confession of the Christian Trinitarian Faith! And of course, such retorts imply that the proofs ought to be logical, or empirical ones.  This position ignores the fact that most of what we know, we know on the basis of authority! Someone or some group (parents, family, friends, the media, 'science', etc.) has told us what we now believe and know. The scene alluded to in this post title comes from the aftermath of Jesus' teaching ministry in Samaria (see John 4.42). At first, the Samaritans had believed the testimony of the woman who had met Jesus at Jacob's Well.  But at the end of Jesus' time with them, they now have heard for themselves and say, 'we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world' (Jn 4.42, kjv). Whatever divinity belief a person, group or community holds, implicitly each knows and t...

Of all the sections in the fourth gospel account (FGA) Jesus' discourse with the Samaritan woman (Jn 4.7-26) fascinates me the most. I t's loaded with material that could keep any teacher at work in any interested group for a good while. The discourse has 3 stages: first, water (vv7-15); then, her ' husband ' (16-19); finally the worship place (20-26). The gospel's question is, Who is Jesus ? The writer focuses on her answers to this question as in each section her understanding becomes greater.

Like just about everything to do with the Scriptures, debate occurs about what the 'signs' in the fourth gospel account (FGA) 1 are and even how many there might be.  I've decided that it's better to adopt a seven-sign approach (see next paragraph) and understand them as beginning with the water into wine, then the nobleman's servant, the paralytic man at Bethesda, the feeding of the 5000, Jesus walking on water, the man born blind healed, and the raising of Lazarus. And why be restricted to seven you might be asking? Seven (7) is a highly significant number in the scriptures  as in Genesis 1, the Pentateuch, the prophets, the Book of the Revelation here , and in the FGA, here .  Let's look at the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee.

The title of this post takes its cue from a book written by Tom Smail (1928-2012) on the first person in the Trinity, God the Father, a study, which I heartily recommend. Smail had a Church of Scotland background but later entered the Anglican ordained ministry; he was evangelical, and charismatic (but with reservations later in his career ) in churchmanship. He was a learned theologian and a godly man who wrote with care about church teachings-practices which he believed were becoming lopsided in emphasis.

Jesus said to his followers 'you are the light of the world' (Matt 5.14). Note he didn't say, 'should be', 'were to be', 'better be', 'could be' but are .   Christians are now the light of the world (Phil 2.15) because they are in Christ who is The Light of the world (Jn 8.12). The Christ who is within all Christians by the Holy Spirit's presence ensures that Christians everywhere shine as light in the world.

Met another Chinese lady on Valentine's Day. She (S) is a high school pupil with excellent English doing year 11. She has a Christian mother. I asked S about the Christian faith and she said openly that she wasn't a Christian. I t seemed then I got a prompt to ask her about Jesus and she told me she believed he was a good man. A good man? Just a good man? I missed a golden opportunity to follow up here (but the shop was busy and S was there to help for the day).

Increasing our faith may take place during times when the presence of God is most evident. However, paradoxically, it is perhaps likely to take place when we are being sorely tested. It is at just those difficult times when we can learn to practise exercising faith when circumstances don't encourage us. But we need to practise exercising it by remembering in whom we believe.

Scot McKnight believes that the question, What is the gospel? , is a crucial question for the church. He also believes the church to be confused about the 'real' answer to the question, the biblical answer. I've not long finished a stimulating book by McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel : The Original Good News Revisited (2011). Provocatively he argues that Evangelicals (those supposedly concerned about the evangel, the gospel, good news) today are not really evangelical at all! They are more accurately called soterians ! (He's coined this word to denote those who are primarily concerned with salvation at the expense of the gospel.) He believes that evangelicals--and included in this description would be many charismatic and Pentecostal churches as well--have built 'salvation cultures' (p. 29) rather than 'gospel cultures'. The two he affirms are not the same thing even though the former is part of the latter. Once might say that the gospel is the...

It is generally agreed by commentators that believing in Jesus as the Son of God plays a large role in the message of the gospel according to St John (Jn 1.12; 1.50; etc; Jn 20.31). Interestingly however, on at least three occasions, believing in Jesus is held up to question in the gospel account. The first one I'd wager is not often preached on although its jarring note is consonant with some of what has already happened. It's the passage found in Jn 2.23-25 : a number believed 'in His name' when they saw the signs that Jesus did. Nothing wrong with that; after all, the whole point of the gospel account is said to be a record of the signs, 'that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God' (Jn 20.31). And yet, Jesus does not commit himself to these disciples in John 2 'because he knew all men and had no need that anyone testify of man, for he knew what was in man' (Jn 2.24f). What is going on here? Other observers also have found th...

I don't know how often I've seen or heard the words of Jesus 'the truth shall set you free' quoted out of context. They are sometimes even used by those who have no commitment to Christ at all but even Christians forget or neglect to look carefully at the background in which the words occurs. The words quoted are lifted out of a long conversation (Jn 8.30-59) Jesus had with those 'who believed him' (v. 31). And for at least two reasons, they are often misapplied. First, these words were primarily directed to those 'who believed him'. In other words, a group of budding disciples of Jesus. They had listened to his words in the preceding interaction with the Pharisees (Jn 8.13-29) and these led them to believe in Him (v. 30). The quoted words are preceded by Jesus saying to these new believers, If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed . And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (Jn 8.31-32). If you abide in My word a...

The marriage feast described in John 2.1-11 at Cana of Galilee ran out of wine and was in disarray. We don't realise but this situation is a potential social humiliation for the bridegroom the shame of which will follow him all his days. His marriage feast will always be characterised as the one that ran out of wine! Jesus takes the opportunity to meet this situation by providing a mighty sign, a superabundance of wine out of water and reveals his GLORY . My key verse is Jn 2:11, 'This beginning of miracles [signs] did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested [revealed] his glory; and his disciples believed on him.' Let's focus on--   The Revelation of Christ's Glory  When we look back in the gospel to John 1.14 it says, 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt [or 'tabernacled'] among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth'. What does 'glory' mean to you? It's not easy to define. Honou...

The marriage feast described in John 2.1-11 at Cana of Galilee ran out of wine and was in disarray. We don't realise but this situation is a potential social humiliation for the bridegroom the shame of which will follow him all his days. His marriage feast will always be characterised as the one that ran out of wine! Jesus takes the opportunity to meet this situation by providing a mighty sign, a superabundance of wine out of water and reveals his GLORY . My key verse is Jn 2:11, 'This beginning of miracles [signs] did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested [revealed] his glory; and his disciples believed on him.' Let's focus on--   The Revelation of Christ's Glory  When we look back in the gospel to John 1.14 it says, 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt [or 'tabernacled'] among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth'. What does 'glory' mean to you? It's not easy to d...

This video is an inspiration and shows the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ over the powers of spiritual darkness.

When I hear some recent church songs I wonder whether Christianity has become a Jesus-only movement! Some songs talk about nothing else but Jesus. Of course we all love Jesus but the calling of the Son is to lead us to the Father. I appreciate that the Trinity is heavy-duty teaching in so many ways because heretics stand ready to demote the Son to a mere creature and the Moslems want to relegate him to an inferior prophet to Mohammed. And Judaism sees him in even lower terms. And Christians too claim not to understand it! Yet the teaching makes the Christian religion distinctive among all religions! But we are Christians, followers of Jesus because he is God's son who reveals the Father through the power of the Spirit. What we do in our songs/hymns we are likely to do in our prayers. So some will pray to the Son directly and never mention the Father. That's not the practice of the biblical writers who consistently pray to the Father through the Son in the power of t...