The Gentiles, like Luke himself, had believed in Christ on the testimony of others, not because they were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life, ministry and resurrection. Attacks on the historical existence of Jesus began to undermine their faith. To build up their faith, Luke wrote down an orderly account of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry ‘just […]
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In a village in Galilee we encounter John’s ‘sign theology.’ As he puts it so simply and beautifully: ‘This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee‘ (v. 11). The question, as always with these signs, is: ‘What does this sign mean?’ Believer or unbeliever, we all understand the message a superabundance
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Today the season of Christmas draws to a close. It reaches a wonderful climax in a definitive event in the Lord’s life: his baptism in the Jordan. Jesus’ baptism was a remarkable event because the baptism offered by John the Baptist was for repentance. The immersion in the waters of the Jordan was a sign
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Part of the joy of good news is sharing it! Mary rushes to Elizabeth to relate her news. Her amazement and sheer wonder at being chosen must have consumed her as she journeyed to her cousin’s home. The meeting between the two women is a touching scene. The sense of joy, anticipation and hope between
Message for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Read More »
This Gospel contains the heart of John the Baptist’s preaching. His message of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Lord resonated with the crowds who flocked to see him. Just as it stirred his hearers to long for the coming Messiah, so it moves us to worship. We might think that John had
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Luke carefully sets the historical scene at the start of John the Baptist’s ministry. Pontius Pilate, Herod and his sons, and the high priests Annas and Caiaphas all failed to respond to God’s word and its messengers. None of them welcomed Jesus; some were implicated in his death. Yet it was precisely into this unwelcoming
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Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come. During Advent we naturally focus on the birth of Jesus – his first coming. The Church, however, asks us to look beyond his birth at Bethlehem and reflect on his coming again at the end of time in order that we might
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The imagery of darkness, falling celestial bodies and the heavens shaking is disturbing to the modern mind – as it doubtless was in Jesus’ time, even if the language was more familiar then. Such events, we are told, will precede the glorious appearance of the Son of Man who will come, with his angelic cohort
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Jesus had great sensitivity towards widows. He looked beyond the hardships of the poor widow’s situation, beyond what the human eye could see, and saw into her heart: ‘out of her poverty {she] has put in everything she had, her whole living.‘ He saw her faith-filled generosity, giving to the treasury not from her abundance
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Desperate people do desperate things. Pride, self-consciousness and ego are less important when we are in need! Bartimaeus was in such need. Unperturbed and undaunted by those who try to silence him, he shouts even louder. He is full of determination. Despite his blindness, he recognizes clearly who Jesus is: ‘Jesus, Son of David, have
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