Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Mark 10:46-52 I’ve been reflecting for the last couple of weeks on this story – of the healing of blind Bartimaeus. 1. Bartimaeus has heard rumours of Jesus . He is blind. All he has to go on is what other people are saying. Perhaps he asked people, ‘What does this Jesus say?’ Christ healing the blind man. The Andrews Diptych, a 9th-century Carolingian ivory artwork And they will have told him, ‘He speaks about the Kingdom of God – that it is very close. He speaks of the reign of God that was promised in our writings – when his Messiah, his King, will come and bring peace and justice. There will be no more war or fear or oppression. There will be security, abundance and laughter. There will be no more suffering or death. We will be free to become together the people who God made us to be: full of love and joy.’ And Bartimaeus will have asked them, ‘What does this Jesus do?’ And they reply, “He seems to do Messiah stuff. People are healed. Others have been set free from evil spirits. P...

John 4.4-42 We seek the things of this world. At the very basic we seek water and food Jesus here asks the Samaritan woman for a drink. He is tired and thirsty. His disciples ask him if he wants something to eat because they think he is hungry But there is another kind of hunger. A hunger for spiritual food. A hunger and thirst for righteousness, for the Kingdom of God, for God himself. I guess we could say that there is the water and food which washes and refreshes and feeds us on the outside – and the water and food which washes and refreshes and feeds us deep on the inside. So, when his disciples ask Jesus if he wants something to eat, he says to the disciples that he has other food – real food – which is to do the will of his Father And Jesus says to the Samaritan woman that just as he has asked her for physical water, so she should be asking him to give living water – water which is the gift of God, which will never run out and which will satisfy us for eternity. And...

Matthew 15:21–28 The woman in our story is desperate.  She is a Gentile yet she comes to a Jew, and not just any Jew. She recognises him as Messiah, 'Son of David'.  She is shouting. She is going to get his attention She keeps on shouting even when Jesus' followers try to get rid of her.  She persists when Jesus says nothing: 'But he did not answer her at all' (v23) She even persists when Jesus tells her bluntly that he was not sent for people like her. He calls her a dog. To put it in context, this is a rabbinic exchange: sharp but opening up the conversation and not ending it. It invites a response. What I love about this woman is that there is no attempt at self-justification. She does not bristle at what could be taken as a racial slur She does not argue for rights. She asks for mercy.  She simply recognises that she is coming with nothing and she is asking for gift.  Yesterday I was speaking with someone who was struggling to understand why the Ch...