The two disciples were downcast because they couldn’t see that Good Friday was necessary.  They witnessed the terrible events of that dark day and saw only hopes dashed, that is, human ambition for the chosen people thwarted.  The Lord showed himself in every way to be God’s anointed for Israel, that is, until he gave up the spirit after his body was pierced through. But the sacrifice of Jesus on Good Friday wasn’t a random event.  Nor was it unforeseen.  The Lord’s death is

Saint Thomas has spent the past week in the misery of Good Friday.  You will remember what that is like.  It may have been Good Friday for you when a relative or friend died.  Certainly, last week we were there all together.  We were quiet, but in that stunned sort of way.  And it was gloomy too, not just because of the weather, but because of the general mood of the day.  We all went into it, into the quiet and the gloom of Good Friday, not because it's the way we want to li

Alleluia, the Lord is risen!  He is truly risen, alleluia!  May he who loved us to the end and served us by his death now bring you to the fullness of life by love and service of God and neighbour, alleluia! The bright glory of this day is undimmed by anything whatsoever.  This is the Lord’s day.  And so, with love and concern, our minds will still be on the world’s sad events.  We’re aware that there are hot spots around the world at the best of times.  But it does seem that

An ambitious apostle took matters into his own hands, and chief priests bought the Saviour’s silence.  Other apostles slept off the Passover wine, or fled at the prospect of guilt by association, or both.  The arrest was made on no charge whatever, and trials were conducted by a corrupted council and a foreign despot, followed by cheers of a riotous crowd at the capital sentence pronounced on the innocent.  There seems to have been no end to the wrongs done to the Lord. In th

What’s missing from the complement of signs of Jesus?  Now that we’ve heard the last of them, the raising of Lazarus, what comes next? Jesus called his miracles “signs”, so that they point on to something ordinarily beyond our grasp.  All his signs overcame some natural impossibility: The lack of wine at Cana The mortal illness of the courtier’s son The disability of the man at Bethesda The hunger of the 5,000 in the wilderness The properties of the Lake's water The disabilit

And there, the Samaritan woman remains, in Sychar, until the Holy Spirit descends to open up the Kingdom of God to all nations. There is joy in her, seen in the resumption of hospitality.  Because of her serial monogamy, she has had to suspend her role in society, including as a provider of hospitality.  That role is resumed with the Lord’s simple request for a drink.  And he stays two more days, enabling her to fulfil the demands of hospitality for honoured guests.  The timi

There is evidence in the Gospels that the disciples really did understand Jesus predictions about his Passion, that they took him at his word when he said that he would suffer a violent end.  We're not just thinking of Judas’ attempt to turn the blood money.  We would also be thinking of times when the disciples showed readiness to take up arms in the name of Christ.  And all of them involve the Apostle Peter. Only Holy Thursday night, there is Peter's promise that he would d

Temptation works on us because there is truth in it.  Temptation doesn't work for us because there is not enough truth in it.  There is, in temptation, a lie which has been put alongside the truth, to make it plausible and desirable.  We’ll accept the lie if we only see the truth it’s attached to.  So, if we separate out the truth from the lie in any idea we have, then we shall discover the temptation and more often avoid sin. To see how this works in practice, we can take th

If discouragement set in as you heard the Lord identify a new range of bad acts, we need to find a way back for you.  Discouragement is close to hopelessness.  And hopelessness is the enemy of faith. The way back from discouragement for us ourselves will be found in the Fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied.”  Whenever we're feeling discouraged, that's the time to check on how much we want what is right. The way

Easter Fire in Diemarden ( license ) Why would the Lord describe us salt and light?  We’re not asking what those images mean – we can come back to that – but why he applied them to us.  What has changed to make him say this about us?  Because we feel very much the same in ourselves: we’re the same people as we were yesterday; we’re the same people we expect to be tomorrow.  We have families, jobs, responsibilities to attend to.  It all seems the same.  Yet now we are also sa

Why would the Lord deliver his first sermon on a mountain of all places?  Doesn't that affect who can get near him?  Also, it's not particularly comfortable for the congregants.  If they sit straight forward facing the Lord, they’ll roll backwards! So, they have to sit sideways for 15 to 20 minutes while the Lord delivered his sermon.  Is a mountain, then, a poor choice of stage for teaching?  The mountain is significant for two reasons: one to do with the Old Testament, and

The prophet Isaiah sees a new vocation for Israel.  Having been the servant of God, Israel is now also to become the light of the nations. But what does that mean in practice?  Does it mean that the remarkable perseverance of Israel will be held up for the nations to see and admire?  Will the nations at last pay attention to the tiny nation of Israel because it is now clear that they have the might of God on their side?  These sectarian thoughts do not cohere with all else th

In a few moments’ time, you will see me put a drop of water into the chalice of wine.  The chalice and the wine come from us: the metalworker made a beautiful piece from raw materials for our ceremonial; the winemaker patiently turned his cultivated grapes into drink.  The chalice of wine is the best we can do by ourselves: it is the result of human industry and endeavour.  In it we find aspiration and ambition.  We can admire the chalice of wine as something noble which our

Would that a sign as clear as a star were given more often.  Would that we too would draw the right conclusions about its significance. We can envy the Magi: they saw Christ face-to-face; they met the Blessed Virgin.  Such is their place in salvation history; this is what they were chosen to do.  And we might wish it was our place too. But we have been chosen for other things.  The Magi have such firm conviction, such a good read on the heavens.  Could we not have the same o

Of the four dreams that St Joseph had during Jesus’ infancy, three of them are about Herod's family.  We know about the first of these, the dream in which Joseph is encouraged to take his pregnant betrothed as his wife.  In the face of a face-saving divorce, God intervenes to give Jesus an adoptive, earthly father in Joseph.  The other three dreams are about Herod the Great or his son Herod Archelaus.  And so, we are given to compare Herod's family with Joseph's. Herod the Gr

The strange thing about celebrating Christmas in a parish rather than a private home is that all of the big cupboards are empty.  The Advent wreath has been out all month.  We are burning through the candles at a cool summer’s rate.  And now the Nativity set is out too. So, our cupboards are bare because all God’s gifts to you are out on display. I hope you have a lovely nativity set at home.  Our family one was always up on a bench: low enough to see, high enough to be out

The name which Joseph will give his adopted son and heir is indeed promising.  The name of Jesus is promising for those who want the nation of Israel to come out from the shadows and stand apart.  The name Jesus is simply Joshua, which comes to us via Greek and Latin.  If you pronounce and translate the name Joshua for 2000 years, you get “Jesus”.  By the first century, “Yeshua” was an acceptable shortened form of “Yehoshua”, which does indeed mean The LORD saves. Our Jesus h

The Baptist’s question from prison speaks to his prophet’s faith: the one for whom John is waiting is no less than the Christ of God, whom he believes will clearly identify himself.  That is a justifiable position.  All through his life with his own parents and then in the wilderness as hermit and master of disciples, John has been expecting the Christ.  His natural gifts and the Holy Spirit’s presence in his life have led him to this crucial point: this may be the Christ. Jo

“Swords into ploughshares and spears into sickles” is such a familiar trope as to be cliché.  But times when the Hebrew people prepared for war were indeed many, lengthy, and varied.  Abraham had a standing army, which he used in Genesis 14 to rescue his kidnapped nephew, Lot.  Joshua gave his men three whole days to gather sufficient provisions for their next great campaign.  And the Maccabees’ rebellion was able to organise itself to such a degree that they retook the walle

Of all the things that the Good Thief could want, the one thing he asks for is Christ's Kingdom.  He didn't ask for a reprieve or redemption from his present fate; nor was his freedom or some privilege in mind.  He simply asks to be remembered by Christ when his Kingdom is established.  That is, even in the depths of his own suffering, the Good Thief nonetheless has sight of the eternal Kingdom.  That’s where we need to get to: no misadventure or misery should block out for u