Jesus: The Most Interesting Healer in the World – Friday
We pray to the greatest healer today. Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide [permalink append=”#comments”]Discuss the Challenge[/permalink]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Healer in the World – Thursday
Finally, Jesus arrives at the bedside of the little girl. He touches her – making himself unclean. Horrify his fellow Jews. A great religious teacher should know better, and leave touching the corpse to those who will entomb her. And why? He’s never met her, and she’s already dead. They are already grieving, something that […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Healer in the World – Wednesday
Yesterday we heard this story: While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Healer in the World – Tuesday
Yesterday we suggested that Jesus intentionally came into contact with people considered “unclean” in his culture. Here’s one story: While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Healer in the World – Monday
This week’s topic is Jesus as the Most Interesting Healer in the World. This may set off alarm bells for you, perhaps having been Faith healers on TV. Jesus is a healer who gets his hands dirty. We need healing in our world. That is pretty self-evident, but the chief example right now is Ebola. […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting King in the World – Friday
We pray to Jesus as our King today. Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide [permalink append=”#comments”]Discuss the Challenge[/permalink]
Jesus: The Most Interesting King in the World – Thursday
The idea of Jesus as a king has something really valuable to add to our picture of Jesus. We can learn from teachers, then go home and rest. A first century Jewish person can visit a priest at the temple, and travel home to our towns. Jesus as the light can feel very philosophical, Jesus […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting King in the World – Wednesday
This week we’re studying Jesus’ identity as a king. Yesterday we read about how the Jews were anticipating a great kingly figure called the Messiah. People regularly asked if he was the Messiah, and he regularly hinted at it. And yesterday we read about his encounter with Pilate, a Roman authority who asked directly if […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting King in the World – Tuesday
The whole gospel of Mark sets out to portray Jesus as the rightful king of Israel. This was important because they were first and foremost God’s people. His ideal was never for them to have an earthly king, but the Old Testament describes their inability to live under God’s rule, to listen to his prophets, […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting King in the World – Monday
We don’t hear a lot about kings in our society. If you’re a Canadian under age 62, you’ve never sung God save the King, only God Save the Queen (if that). The royal family had a really big profile boost in 2013 with the birth of Prince George. Among other things, it awakened many to […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Friend in the World – Friday
We’ll pray to Jesus as a friend this week. Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide [permalink append=”#comments”]Discuss the Challenge[/permalink]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Friend in the World – Thursday
We’ve already explored Jesus’ definition of deep, loving friendship – to lay down one’s life for his friends. Looking back, of course, we can see that when he said that, he knew what was coming for him. Within just a few days, he was crucified. He intended to lay his life down for his friends, […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Friend in the World – Wednesday
We asked you yesterday, how do you react to Jesus being called a friend? Do you hear the lyrics of “What a friend we have in Jesus?” Does it sound sappy, undignified, or wrong to call Jesus a friend? I visited a website of top 50 film friendships. One of the top 50 friendships on […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Friend in the World – Tuesday
Jesus gathered a band of disciples around him, like any Jewish rabbi would have done, to learn and live with him as a travelling school. Near the end of his life, Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one […]
Jesus: The Most Interesting Friend in the World – Monday
It was just announced that the television show “Friends” is being released on Netflix in its entirety. Apologies to anyone who invested in a DVD set. To be honest, it wasn’t my favourite show at the time, I was way more into Seinfeld. But I watched, and so did everyone else. It was a trendsetting […]