Send us a text

Todays Gospel is quite different from most others. In this Gospel we have Jesus aggressively driving the money changes and sellers out of the temple. At first glance it is quite different from Jesus’ usual way. There are no immediate teachings, healings or witty dialogue. It is clear that Jesus is passionate about his faith, and he is not willing to compromise. Professor David Landry of the University of St. Thomas and many other biblical scholars suggest that "the importance of the episode is signalled by the fact that within a week of this incident, Jesus is dead”. This event likely functioned as the 'trigger' for Jesus' death. The Scribes and Pharisees tolerated Jesus. They did not like the fact that Jesus was popular with the people, his insightful teachings and the fact that Jesus won every debate with them. It was not until Jesus attacked their financial interests did, they escalate their intentions to stop him. Before I go any further, should you wish to follow up on this theory, I invite you to check out David Landry’s article "God in the Details: The Cleansing of the Temple in Four Jesus Films". published in 2009 in the Journal of Religion & Film.

Complete our 1 Minute Survey

Send us a text

There are three stories in the Gospels where Jesus raises someone from the dead. We have the story of Lazarus being raised (John 11:38-44), Jarius’ 12-year-old daughter being raised as recorded in (Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40 and Matthew 9:18-26) and now in today’s Gospel we hear about Jesus raising the son of a widow in a town called Nain. What is interesting in this Gospel is how few facts we have about the story. In the two previous resurrection stories we have names, and we are made aware of some background information, and we are provided teachings but not here. It’s clear that this resurrection was not planned. If Jesus had arrived an hour earlier or the funeral was an hour later there would have been no miracle.

What does this mean?

Complete our 1 Minute Survey

Send us a text

So, we overhear the prayers of two very different men. One man, the Pharisees has done a lot and includes what he has done in a list expecting I guess to impress God. He was doing okay until he compared himself to the tax collector. The second man, the Tax collector has said little but admits to his wrongdoing and is truly sorry. It must have come as a shock to the first listeners to this parable. There are several points to this story. Appearances can be deceiving. It’s important not to rush to judgement. Also, despite the tax collector’s past he did have one thing the Pharisee lacked and that is the awareness of who he was. I wonder if being aware of where we need to grow and change in our lives is important for the development of our spirituality. I am not talking about being self deprecating but choosing rather to seek self awareness and humility that might be critical in the development of our spirituality. Likely the Pharisee was not aware that he had completely missed the values of the practice of his faith. Because of his lack of self-awareness, it is likely that he will not see the need for personal growth or recognize opportunities in his life to grow.

Complete our 1 Minute Survey