Matthew

I've never noticed this before, and it’s a bit of fun.

Whose tomb was Jesus buried in? Joseph of Arimathea, you’d reply, and you’d be correct.

This is not a long post, but I've just seen something I've never seen before.

Matthew 12:1-14 illustrates and adds colour to Matthew 11:28-30.

Matthew 11:28-30 are some of the most beautiful words in the New Testament:

The parable of the lost sheep occurs in two of the gospels: It's in Matthew 18:10-14 and Luke 15:1-7.

As we look at the visit of the Magi in Matthew 2, the obvious lead human characters in the story are Herod, the Magi, and Jesus himself. These are the lead protagonists and antagonists.

Whilst the Jewish priests are more flat, functionary characters, we mustn't miss the contrast Matthew deliberately paints between them and the Magi.

Last week, I wrote a post quoting Calvin's interpretation of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33. I was looking again at this passage, as the lectionary brought it round again, having last preached on it in 2018.

I most recently preached on Matthew 14:24-33 (the story of Jesus walking on the water) in January 2018.

Last Sunday, at our all-age service, we looked at the visit of the Magi, as recorded in Matthew 2:1-11.

(I know, 6 weeks early. There's a reason, but never mind).

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.

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.