Mar2019
Dangerous
‘How is it that you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? Guard yourselves from the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!’ Then the disciples understood that he was not warning them to guard themselves from the yeast used in bread but from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (verses… Read more
Mar2019
Food for thought
So Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to the disciples; and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and had enough. Then the disciples picked up seven baskets full of… Read more
Mar2019
The gatecrasher
Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. ‘Son of David!’ she cried out. ‘Have mercy on me! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.’ But Jesus did not say a… Read more
Mar2019
Perennial problem
‘You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! “These people, says God, honour me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!”‘ (verses 7-9)… Read more
Mar2019
Call to repent
‘What about those eighteen people in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell on them? Do you suppose that proves that they were worse than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No indeed! And I tell you that if you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did.’… Read more
Mar2019
Mar2019
Mistaken identity
Between three and six o’clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost!’ they said, and screamed with fear. Jesus spoke to them at once. ‘Courage!’ he said. ‘It is I. Don’t be afraid!’ (verses 25-27) Read… Read more
Mar2019
No respite
When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, and so they left their towns and followed him by land. Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with… Read more
Mar2019
Losing their heads
The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. So he had John beheaded in prison. The head was brought in on a plate and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. John’s disciples came,… Read more
Mar2019
Home truths
‘Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary his mother, and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? Aren’t all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?’ And so they rejected him. Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is respected everywhere except in his home town and by his own family.’ Because… Read more
