One of the questions thrown up by the Easter week narrative is how could the crowds so quickly have turned on Jesus? How is it possible that those who on the previous Sunday were shouting “hosanna” were by Friday shouting “crucify”? One possibly, strongly favoured by commentators is that there were two different crowds. Those… Continue reading Were the Palm Sunday and Good Friday crowds completely different?
Tag: Easter
Crucified (Matthew 27:32-66)
For Starters How do you react if/when people mock you/are mean to you? A Look at the Text Read v 32-44. Can you identify 5 different types of person in this section and how they each respond to Jesus? What happens when Jesus cries out/shouts (v45-56) How is Jesus buried? (v57-61) What do the priests… Continue reading Crucified (Matthew 27:32-66)
Why you shouldn’t get upset when the celebrity professor tweets
I’m going to make a prediction. At some point over this weekend a minor celebrity secularist, probably someone holding a professorship in the public communication of science or suchlike will tweet something mildly offensive and ignorant about Christians and the Gospel’s claims about Jesus’ death and resurrection. This will be followed by several responses from… Continue reading Why you shouldn’t get upset when the celebrity professor tweets
Cross focused praise
Early this week I shared my “Easter Sunday” playlist. Here’s a selection of songs I’ve used in Maunday Thursday and Good Friday worship over the years. I hope this will be helpful to anyone looking for something reflective over the next few days. Once again there’s a mix of traditional and contemporary songs. Please let… Continue reading Cross focused praise
Is “My Song is Love Unknown” antisemitic?
I’ve written a few times about the growing resurgence in antisemitism. I talk in terms of resurgence because this is a historic problem and whilst we think primarily of Nazi Germany, neither Britain nor the church has a good record here. Testimony to our failure include the writings of Martin Luther and some shocking examples… Continue reading Is “My Song is Love Unknown” antisemitic?
Celebrating Easter with joyful praise
When we first arrived at Bearwood Chapel, there didn’t seem to have been a significant emphasis on Easter. The Brethren tradition tends to particularly stay away from church calendar occasions. However, we had a few people, particularly but not exclusively from the older end of the church who wanted to make a bigger thing of… Continue reading Celebrating Easter with joyful praise
“I know that you seek Jesus”
On Easter Sunday, I wrote about the very first words uttered after the resurrection “Do not be afraid.” Today I want to draw you to the next thing that the angel said at the time (Matthew 28:5): “I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified” Well, certainly they were looking for the body of… Continue reading “I know that you seek Jesus”
Authentic Accounts
One of the apologetic challenges that some of us have had to engage with from time to time is that the four different accounts of the resurrection contradict each other. One helpful way of responding is to put together a harmonised account, on the one hand that isn’t too easy because, despite the claims, the… Continue reading Authentic Accounts
Why did Jesus Rise (Colossians 2:12 and 3:1-11)
A couple of days ago we raised two important questions: Why did Jesus die? Why did Jesus rise? When we looked at the first question, we saw that it was important for Christians because we want to follow Jesus and there are two challenges along the way The temptation to sin The threat of false… Continue reading Why did Jesus Rise (Colossians 2:12 and 3:1-11)
Dead people don’t come back to life
A little while back, I discussed a tweet from Professor Alice Roberts who is the professor of Public Engagement with Science at the University of Birmingham Here’s the professor’s offering for Easter 2021 which she shared on Good Friday. Some people took offence to the tweet. The professor is entitled to her views, they argued… Continue reading Dead people don’t come back to life
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