Paul the Apostle is writing to a community of Jesus believers in Corinth. In this portion of the letter, Paul is writing about what he and his colleagues in ministry are about. He uses the image of jars of clay, common, fragile vessels used to hold something important. In this
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Paul’s letter to the community of faith in Corinth addresses a number of difficult questions about how they are to live and worship together. How should they understand and value spiritual gifts like healing and ecstatic speech, both among themselves and in relationships beyond their immediate community? How should they
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Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, is writing to both affirm and challenge how they are living out their faith in the world. As an apostle, Paul feels it is his role to inspire communities to live according to Jesus’ teaching. Paul uses this letter to address some of
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Today’s scripture passage is one of the very earliest remaining pieces of writing to a community of followers of Jesus. As was his practice, the Apostle Paul has come into the important trade city of Thessalonica and begun talking about Jesus to whoever would listen. As often happened, the “insiders,”
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There is good evidence that the Gospel of Mark ends abruptly, not with a resurrected Jesus having consoled his followers, but with fear-filled silence. The fact that we even know the story, reminds us that, at some point, the three women who were the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection somehow
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The second Temple in Jerusalem had only recently been completed by Herod the Great. It was an impressive building complex as well as the centre of Israel’s religious life. Yet, like the prophets of old, Jesus foretells the Temple’s destruction as an initial, impending form of divine judgement and the
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Jesus and his disciples have arrived in Jerusalem. Religious authorities have taken notice and attempt to trick Jesus into saying something controversial (and hopefully blasphemous) so they can have him detained and silenced. Jesus answers yet another potentially entrapping question in such a succinct way that his opponents dare not
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Best Picture Nominated Movie: Oppenheimer Resuming a Robertson-Wesley tradition, on Sunday, February 4, the sermon will look at the scripture reading of the day with an Oscar-nominated movie in mind. Both sources deal with powerful forces and how they are dealt with by key, historic individuals—Jesus and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
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The Gospel of Mark moves at a breakneck pace because of the urgency of what Jesus has to accomplish. A storm on the Sea of Galilee has deposited Jesus and his disciples in Gentile territory, a place faithful Jews like them would not have voluntarily ventured at that time. Not
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