Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Matthew 20.17-34 From today the Church focuses on the last few days of Jesus’ life; and our reading tells us about two events that Matthew places immediately before the Triumphal entry. It prepares us for that event, and for the crucifixion. It is a passage which speaks to us of: 1.       The deep obedience of Jesus Jesus goes to Jerusalem. He knows what it will mean (Matt 20.18-19). He will be betrayed: someone who is speaking good to him to his face is plotting how to do bad to him. He will be condemned to death He will be mocked, flogged and then crucified. The key word here is a Greek word, ‘paradidomi’. It means, literally, to be handed over. And it suggests not only the action of Judas handing Jesus over to the chief priests and scribes, nor just the action of the chief priests and scribes handing Jesus over to the Gentiles to be crucified. It hints at something more: the handing over of Jesus, the Son, by God the Father, i...

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 listen to ‘The nature, cause and consequence of evil’ on Audioboo This is a passage which is helpful  as we come to  the first Sunday in Lent. It forces us to examine ourselves.  It tells us about the nature of  evil , the  cause  of  evil  and the consequence of  evil . 1.  The nature of  evil . We like to think of evil as something that is out there that happens to relatively good people like me. Evil   is in those uncontrolled forces: natural disasters (floods), sickness, death. It is  in  those few people who do really appalling things  – the Hitlers, Ceaucescus, Fred Wests of this world . But the stark reality is that evil is not out there. It is in here. I was struck by an illustration that I read. A man called Key Warren visited Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. He writes, “ The first time I visited Rwanda, I went looking for monsters, albeit a different c...

Lent is that time when we prepare to remember again the events of the first Good Friday and Easter. It is also often associated with self-denial. The passage usually read on this first Sunday of Lent is the story about the temptations of Jesus: how he went into the wilderness, and fasted for 40 days. He denied himself. And at the end of Lent, on Maundy Thursday night, we remember how Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that he might escape the cross. But he ended his prayer, 'But not what I will, what you will'. And Jesus said, 'If anyone would follow me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me' (Mark 8:34) Of course, self denial is not exclusive to Christianity The bride on a diet will deny the emptiness in her stomach and the craving for food in order to squeeze into that wedding dress The athlete will deny the screams of agony from their muscles in order to get their body into as good a shape as possible for the race The soldier about t...