Jesus’ preaching and miracle working is drawing crowds but we also get to see Jesus’ interactions with individuals who are called to follow him. How will people respond? The hostility of Scribes and Pharisees is contrasted with the faith of others who believe in Jesus, receive healing and follow him. 9.1 Read Luke 5:1-11 Jesus… Continue reading Faith
Tag: Jesus and the Gospels
The preacher
Jesus’ baptism and temptation mark the beginning of his public ministry. Jesus returns from the Jordan river and begins preaching, visiting synagogues on the Sabbath and addressing the crowds which begin to be drawn to him as he starts to do miraculous signs and heal the sick.[1] Note that Matthew specifically links this with John’s… Continue reading The preacher
New Exodus
After his baptism, Jesus goes into the wilderness or desert region around the Jordan river. He spends forty days there, fasting and experiencing temptation from Satan. Mark sums this up in a few lines: 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted[g] by Satan. He was with… Continue reading New Exodus
Heralded
The sudden appearance of John on the scene, proclaiming a message of repentance is captured by all of the Gospel writers.[1] John introduces his namesake as the first significant event in his Gospel. He portrays those coming to him as curious and trying to identify him. It seemed that an Old Testament figure had re-emerged… Continue reading Heralded
Arrival
Matthew and Luke both provide accounts of Jesus’ birth with Luke going on to provide further detail about his infancy up until the age of 12. Whilst Mark and John do not include such narratives, John does make this brief but theologically explosive statement. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”[1] The imagery there… Continue reading Arrival
The story of Jesus – arrival
I’m gradually recording a retelling of Luke’s Gospel in everyday English. This is part of our Jesus and the Gospels teaching series and the ides is that these short podcasts can be listened to by anyone regardless of age or level of background knowledge about Christianity, the Bible and Jesus. The audio files are now… Continue reading The story of Jesus – arrival
Precursors
Mark and John both launch straight into the adult ministry of Jesus whereas Matthew and Luke both commence with birth narratives, although picking up on different aspects of the nativity. There has been a tendency by some to over make much out of this difference between the Gospels with the implication being that because the… Continue reading Precursors
Orderly and verified accounts
Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul. He is the recognised author of both Luke and Acts and so at the point when he joins Paul on his missionary journeys, we can see a switch from the third person (he/they) to the first person, plural (we) as Luke describes the acts of the apostles.… Continue reading Orderly and verified accounts
Introducing Jesus
There are four Gospels or accounts focusing on the life of Jesus. John stands distinct from the other three with Matthew, Mark and Luke being referred to as The Synoptic Gosels meaning that they can be read together. This is due to the fact that there appears to be a significant overlap of source material… Continue reading Introducing Jesus
Telling the story of Jesus -part 1: How it begins
As mentioned in recent articles and on the Faithroots Podcast, one of the things I’m trying to do is to encourage us to think about how we share the good news about Jesus with those who have no or very limited foundational knowledge about him. So, the focus of our podcasts over the next few… Continue reading Telling the story of Jesus -part 1: How it begins
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