Gospels

Children's Bibles are great. They retell key stories from the Bible in a way that children can readily follow. Each one has its own editorial policy, aiming for a particular reading age and style, with consistent illustrations.

But they're a minefield. When you try to summarise to remove extraneous details, it's easy accidentally to remove the most important thing. Like Jesus forgiving the sins of the paralysed man in Matthew 9:1-8.

When you have extra details that need a little explanation, it's easy to do so in a way that removes the most important tensions of the narrative. Like this example ...:

A few years back, I thought about Jesus' parable in Matthew 18:21-35.

Notes from a sermon preached on 20th May 2018 (Pentecost Sunday 2018), based on John 16:12-15.

Matthew and Mark both record two feeding miracles. In Matthew 14:13-21 we have the feeding of the 5000; in Matthew 15:21-29 we have the feeding of the 4000.

Angels don't normally have names in the New Testament. Why does Luke tell us that it was the angel Gabriel who appeared to Mary? Let's think this through.

I often tell people that we need to listen to the gospel writers whenever we read the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke or John are teaching us something by recording the things they do. We need to let them do that. The words Jesus spoke within the gospels were spoken to other characters in the narrative, not to us directly. Our job is not to apply those words to us, but to ask what the gospel writer is wishing to communicate by recording those words in the setting they occur in.

I often tell people that we need to listen to the gospel writers whenever we read the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke or John are teaching us something by recording the things they do. We need to let them do that. The words Jesus spoke within the gospels were spoken to other characters in the narrative, not to us directly. Our job is not to apply those words to us, but to ask what the gospel writer is wishing to communicate by recording those words in the setting they occur in.

4 times a year, the three main congregations across our two churches meet together for a combined service. They're great times, with a full building, hearty singing, and the chance for fellowship across congregations who don't often get to worship all together.

We've finished a run through Paul's letter to the Philippians. With its themes of partnership in the gospel, grace, suffering, and God's life-transforming power, it gave us some good times as we gather all together.

"Mum, why did that man say that Jesus was a potato?" So asked the three-year old girl.

Did I say that? Well, not exactly. But it was something like this:

We were looking, a few weeks back, at John 12:23-33 during our all-age service. Jesus has been approached by some Greeks (who were not Jews) who asked his disciples if they could have the chance to meet Jesus, too. Here's what Jesus said in reply: