Holy Textures

Matthew 4:12-23

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Having interrupted readings from Matthew for Epiphany and Baptism by skipping over to John last Sunday, we are back at Matthew this week. But the skipping has omitted the story of Jesus' trial / tempting (this will be told in a few more weeks on the first Sunday of Lent). Instead, we repeat the calling of the first disciples.

John 1:29-42

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Click here to read my quick introduction to how to read the Gospel of John.

This text is John's introduction to Jesus.

When reading the New Testament, it is crucial to remember that in his own time, and in the lifetimes of the writers of the Bible, Jesus was a complete unknown outside of his circle of followers.

Matthew 3:13-17

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

One of the few agreements between all 4 of the Gospels: Matthew Mark, Luke, and John, is that the public ministry of Jesus begins with the proclamations / testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus. While the exact wording of John's testimony varies between them, all point to Jesus as greater than John.

Matthew 2:13-23

"Matthew wants us to trust that ... God can and does protect, guide, warn, and keep alive from generation to generation the alternative "Jesus" vision of what is really real: God is love and love is the only response that will ultimately end violence."

Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com: Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis for the Gospel reading.

Year A, Season of Christmas
Christmas 1
Sunday Between December 26 and January 1 Inclusive

And/Or
Year A, B, C
Holy Innocents
December 28

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Listen to or download an MP3 of this post:

Matthew 2:13-23

My friend and colleague, the Rev. Dr. Brian Thorpe, preached an excellent sermon, "Christmas Interrupted," on this text at Ryerson United Church, Vancouver, BC, www.RyersonUnited.ca. He has given me permission to post a copy of it here.

It is difficult to be confident of the actual historicity of the events recorded in Matthew and Luke about the birth of Jesus.

Like our own family stories, they are recalled by second and third generations as a way of informing responses to questions of their identity: Who are we? How did we get to be here? Who were our ancestors and how were their lives formed? What events in their lives resulted in us being the people we have become? What honour and mandate have we inherited from our ancestors? What honour and mandate must we bestow on our descendants?