Jesus

Sunday Reflection – Lent I, March 9, 2025

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Temptation

Luke 4 When Jesus returned from the Jordan River, the power of the Holy Spirit was with him, and the Spirit led him into the desert. 2 For 40 days Jesus was tested by the devil, and during that time he went without eating. When it was all over, he was hungry.

3 The devil said to Jesus, “If you are God’s Son, tell this stone to turn into bread.”

4  Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say, ‘No one can live only on food.’ ”

5 Then the devil led Jesus up to a high place and quickly showed him all the nations on earth. 6 The devil said, “I will give all this power and glory to you. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 Just worship me, and you can have it all.”

8  Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say:

‘Worship the Lord your God
    and serve only him!’ ”

9 Finally, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on top of the temple. The devil said, “If you are God’s Son, jump off. 10-11  The Scriptures say:

‘God will tell his angels
    to take care of you.
They will catch you
    in their arms,
and you will not even hurt
    your feet on the stones.’ ”

12  Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘Don’t try to test the Lord your God!’ ”

13 After the devil had finished testing Jesus in every way possible, he left him for a while.

Ash Wednesday Reflection – March 5, 2025

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How To Guide to Faithful Living

Matthew 6  When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven.

2 When you give to the poor, don’t blow a loud horn. That’s what show-offs do in the synagogues and on the street corners, because they are always looking for praise. I can assure you that they already have their reward.

3 When you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know about it. 4 Then your gift will be given in secret. Your Father knows what is done in secret and will reward you.

5  When you pray, don’t be like those show-offs who love to stand up and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners. They do this just to look good. I can assure you that they already have their reward.

6 When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private and will reward you.

16 When you go without eating, don’t try to look gloomy as those show-offs do when they go without eating. I can assure you that they already have their reward. 17  Instead, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then others won’t know you are going without eating. But your Father sees what is done in private, and he will reward you.

19  Don’t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them. 20  Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21 Your heart will always be where your treasure is.

Lent 2025

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I don’t know about you, but this year Lent came upon me before I was ready. The events of the world, and the political and social action in Canada, have been my focus of late. We are in a very different place as we approach this Lent than we have been in years past, and our Lenten study this year will reflect that.

How to Lent for Teens and How to Lent with Kids are now up on the website. These are journeys that can be shared by all ages, not just those who fall into the age categories of Teens or Kids.

On Ash Wednesday, March 5th, I will be posting an Ash Wednesday reflection.

The following five weeks beginning Wednesday, March 12th, will include a Lenten Study on how to be inspired by scripture as we deal with a new social order and face some of the fears that have arisen along with the rise in fascist governments. We will be turning to the shorter prophetic books along with other Biblical reflections and Jesus teachings on how to resist and challenge authority, how to be brave when we are full of fear, and how to stand on our principles in a world that seem to be sacrificing people to the highest bidder while forcing others into abject poverty, all so a small group of people can indulge their greed.

For Holy Week we will be walking through Jerusalem with Jesus and his followers, this year inspired by insights from John Legend’s version of Jesus Christ Superstar, which can be purchased on YouTube (I don’t get any financial benefit from that recommendation). Watching it recently, the staging helped me look at the story in a new light.

Our podcast The Preacher & The Pagan will return during Lent with a new tone and focus, influenced by the changing world around us. Rather than just looking at history and contemporary discussions, we will be discussing the Christian and Pagan traditions of social and political action and what we can learn from our past that will help us stand strong in our present, and hopefully change our future.

I welcome you to this season of reflection.

Kids Korner: Not welcome (February 2nd)

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Read Luke 4:21-30 with your family.

This is part two of the passage we looked at last week.

Jesus sat down when he spoke, which was not the usual practice from someone visit. They usually stood and gave their opinions on the scripture they had read. Not Jesus.

They he proceeded to do something that truly upset the people of his home town – he told them that the he would not be doing anything for them that he had done for people in other towns: no miracles, no special teaching, no healing, nothing.

The only explanation he gave was the prophets, or special teachers, were not welcome in their hometowns. He had not even tried to see if that was true, he just said no, he wasn’t doing it.

He told them the scripture had been fulfilled just by his being there. He knew they knew what to do, but Jesus did not have high expectations of any of them. God’s word meant they had to participate in justice for everyone, not think they were special just because they knew him as a child and could claim special privileges.

Kids Korner: Spirit of the Lord (January 19th)

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Read Luke 4:14-21 with your family.

The video of our story shows part one and two, but this week we are focusing on part one: Jesus reading the scrolls and then sitting down to start teaching.

This is the first story of Jesus returning to the town he grew up in after his baptism, and after he started his ministry teaching everyone about God’s new world. The people of Nazareth were so excited to have Jesus return, that they gave him the honour of a visiting teacher and asked him to read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus was becoming famous and they wanted to claim him as their own and listen to what he had to say.

However, when Jesus finally spoke it was not what they had expected.

They expected Jesus to talk about important things like faith in God and being special, but instead Jesus read the scroll and then sat down and said he was the answer to the promise in the scripture.

No one was prepared for that message.

Kids Korner: Water into wine (January 19th)

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Read John 2:1-11 with your family.

One of the stories everyone knows, whether they are familiar with the Bible or not, is Jesus turning water into wine.

What a lot of people don’t talk about, however, is how that story showed Jesus being unsure of himself and his mother, Mary, telling him that he was ready. He tried to tell her that it wasn’t time yet, but she knew Jesus had everything he needed to start his new ministry to change the world.

Even Jesus was scared to start something new. His mom had to push him a bit, and she was right.

We talk a lot about Jesus being the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord, but we don’t talk enough about Jesus also being a young man who loved his mom and didn’t know where or when to start his big job.

Mary was the first to believe in him.

Kids Korner: Jesus is baptized (January 12th)

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Read Luke 3:15-15, 21-22 with your family.

Do you remember your baptism? Have you been baptized? What even is baptism?

For Christians, baptism is the time we officially join the family of Jesus followers. It is a ceremony that can either have water sprinkled over our head, or our full body dunked in water. It can be in a church or outside in a river. It can happen when we are babies or not until we are fully grown. There is no right way to do baptism, there is only the traditions in the faith community in which we are raised.

Baptism is an old Greek word that means to “cover yourself with water”. In Jesus day it was the practice of Hebrew people to wash themselves before they went into the temple to pray. They believed almost everyone was “unclean” so they went into special baths to get “clean” before they could worship God.

One group, known as the Essenes, washed themselves every single day, and we think John the Baptist was one of the Essenes.

For Jesus’ baptism, he was outside in a river. John the Baptist (named that because we read in the Bible that he baptized Jesus), was helping people get that ceremonial cleaning all while telling them that one was coming soon who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John was talking about Jesus. But before Jesus could baptize others, he wanted to be baptized himself, probably to show that he was an ordinary person just like everyone else, even if he was also the Messiah.

When Jesus came out of the water that very Holy Spirit came upon him, and ever after Jesus’ baptism, that means one cleaning ritual, a single ceremony of baptism was all anyone needed. Unlike the Hebrew tradition, for the Jesus followers, they only had to be baptized once.

Today we still only need to be baptized once, and the words “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” are said to remind us what family of faith we are now a part.

Kids Korner: Is Jesus a king? (November 24th)

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Read John 18:33-37 with your family.

In the days when Jesus was teaching, people tried hard to understand what he was trying to say, especially when the things Jesus said were so different from what they understood of the world around him.

We have the same problem today. We expect Jesus’ stories and teachings to fit into our 21st century world, and really struggle to force it to fit when it doesn’t easily.

But Jesus asked us to think outside the box, to not use our assumptions to understand what he was saying, but rather to use our heart and our ears to hear the message and vision of something new.

When Jesus was asked if he was king, he knew Pilate was only asking about political leadership the way Pilate understood it. But Jesus was never interested in leading a country or an empire, Jesus was trying to change all of it into a better world for everyone, not just the rich.

Jesus didn’t answer Pilate because Pilate could not understand. Now it’s our turn. Do we understand Jesus?

Kids Korner: The tomb is empty (Easter Sunday, March 31st)

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Read Mark 16:1-8 with your family.

One of the strangest parts of the story of Easter Sunday found in the Gospel of Mark, is that the women ran away when they heard about Jesus being alive again, because they were scared.

In every other gospel the women run to tell people, but in Mark they just run away.

That’s because the Gospel of Mark was written like a Greek play where the audience who first heard the story and those of us today who are hearing it again, are expected to finish the story. We are the ones who are now supposed to tell everyone that Jesus has risen!

Christ has Risen! Christ has risen indeed! Hallelujah!!

Sunday Reflection – November 26, 2023

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Separating the sheep from the goats

Matthew 25 31  When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. 32 The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats.

33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. 35  When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, 36 and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

37 Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? 38 When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear 39 or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

40 The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

41 Then the king will say to those on his left, “Get away from me! You are under God’s curse. Go into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 I was hungry, but you did not give me anything to eat, and I was thirsty, but you did not give me anything to drink. 43 I was a stranger, but you did not welcome me, and I was naked, but you did not give me any clothes to wear. I was sick and in jail, but you did not take care of me.”

44 Then the people will ask, “Lord, when did we fail to help you when you were hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in jail?”

45 The king will say to them, “Whenever you failed to help any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do it for me.”

46  Then Jesus said, “Those people will be punished forever. But the ones who pleased God will have eternal life.