Day 34: Luke

Looking down the invitation-list of people who are at the party which is Luke’s gospel, we can see a host of colourful, even controversial, characters we might meet. There’s Luke himself, the physician and painter, companion of Paul and chronicler of the early Church, who sets out the testimony of many eyewitnesses to the great events he records. This host par excellence will introduce us to Elizabeth and Zechariah, Simeon and Anna, angels and shepherds, the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, the Pharisee and the Publican, Zaccheaus and the thief on the cross, Herod and Pilate … and many of them only appear at this party, in this gospel. Now Luke wants us to meet all these people; but, more than this, he wants us to meet someone else – the person who speaks about or to each of them, and speaks through this gospel to us, too. Of course, he wants us to meet Jesus, not just as one more character in the story, but as the person who makes sense of the story itself. Right at the end of the gospel, it’s Jesus we meet – with the two disciples – on the road to Emmaus and at supper in the inn. He unfolds the meaning of the scriptures and of the story of his own life and death and resurrection. Jesus restores their hope and faith, fills them with fresh meaning and purpose. And Luke wants us to meet this Emmaus Jesus, too, so that we might experience the understanding and meaning only he can offer. May we encounter the Jesus of this great gospel as he unfolds the scriptures to us and meets us in the breaking of bread.

Philip Hobday

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/luke/1.html

Day 33: Mark

A child comes home from school and blurts out,

“You know what happened today Mum? We had a visitor, XXX, and she showed us how to abcdefg… She’s terrific, I’ve watched her play on the tele. How do you get to be that good?”

The writer of the 2nd Gospel is excited. He writes like a child blurting out a piece of news that he himself can hardly credit. As if something in connection with God’s promises had been puzzling him (and the rest of his compatriots) and suddenly the pieces of the jig-saw fit together and he has to tell everyone.

His writing is racy, factual, urgent and excited. He starts, not with Christmas, but with Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in John the Baptist who baptizes Jesus. Immediately Jesus is identified as the Son of God. The writer substantiates this claim on the basis of the nature of Jesus teaching, -”with authority”, the fact that he is recognised by demons, Jesus’ healing miracles and his authority to forgive sins. That is all in chapters one and two.

Mark then goes into more detail, how Jesus the Son of God coached his missionary team, firstly by miracles, parables and symbolic acts such as feeding thousands and calming the sea.

In the last five chapters Mark shows how Jesus prepares his team for the time He is no longer there and prepares them specifically for the events that He knows they will see only as utter tragedy, leading to complete disillusion.

Suspense and excitement continue to build, right up to the two Marys entering the tomb and being told, “…He has been raised….. He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

The stone is rolled away and the light of the Good News penetrates the darkness of despair and confusion. When Mark’s Gospel is read at one sitting, the writer’s excitement, urgency and joy burst through, – like that of a young child wanting to share her uninhibited enjoyment of God’s Plan coming together for him and for us.

John Blackburn

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/mark/1.html

Day 32: Matthew

Note from + David: An Easter Alleluia is allowed even though it is still Lent as RTB40 reaches the New Testament and the Gospels!

Every reader is entitled to know what the author’s intention of his or her writing. Here Saint Matthew’s intention was to write the Gospel to tell the life and work of Jesus Christ to the Jewish people as prophesied in their own scriptures. The evangelist starts the gospel with the genealogy of Jesus to explain His Jewish Kingly lineage that He is the” King” and the” Messiah” foretold by the prophets. Matthew wants his readers to know and understand the crux of the ministry of Jesus Christ is “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.” (Matt: 4:23) The above three aspect of Jesus ministry are vividly explained by the evangelist through narrating incidents and Jesus sayings. Matthew refers Jesus teaching to his disciples and the people through parables focusing on the kingdom of heaven. His preaching was started by saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. The Sermon on the Mount, The Lord’s Prayer and Parables, are points where we can see much about the kingdom explained. Jesus was compassionate towards people and healed them even dead to come back alive. And Matthew puts all of them systematically in the gospel to the readers for easier to accessible. During my time in Cambridgeshire, I met different chaplains such as College Chaplains, chaplains to people at work (Police Chaplain, Fire Chaplain, Prison Chaplain and Court Chaplain and also a Parish Nurse). In Prison Chaplaincy, it is interesting to see the chaplain combine holding the prison keys with their pastoral services to the convicts. I preached in Littlehay prison chapel and talked with the prisoners. Another unique opportunity for me is to see the Crown Court Centre with the Court Chaplain and Police chaplain with the Police officers; the officials explained their works for the people to bring out justice without any intimidation. They maintain a good relationship and co-work with the Chaplains. This work is living the gospel as Matthew tells it. Unlike other gospels, Matthew gives an elaborate account of the Signs of the End and the Last Judgement of the Son of Man, His death and Resurrection and His glorious second coming. He draws attention to and ends the gospel with the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to His Disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” with a profound promise of “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age”. Though the Matthew Gospel has the first place in the New Testament, it is not the Gospel written prior to other books in the New Testament.

Rev.Noble C.Gembeeram, CSI, Vellore Diocese, India.

(During the autumn and winter, Rev Noble spent 4 months with the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council and the Diocese of Ely, as part of our link with the Diocese of Vellore)

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/matthew/1.html

Day 31: Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

How often do we find ourselves questioning God’s wisdom, love or rule?  What are the things that draw our focus away from God?  What is it about our lifestyle, our relationships, our priorities, which make it difficult to live as God’s people?  Time and again throughout the Old Testament we see stories of God’s absolute justice, demonstrated in His judgement and His mercy.  These themes underpin our readings today.  God judges not only His enemies, but also those who belong to Him.  To those who have turned, or drifted, away from God there is a call to repent, to return, to reawaken longing for God and relationship with Him.  God is merciful and many chances are given, but ultimately on those who do not turn back, or who stand in the way of those who are returning, God’s judgement is severe.  God cares too much about sin to let it go, and He will use our circumstances to remind us of this.  His people are to be different, holy.  To those who do refocus God promises hope and restoration.  Written years before Jesus is the promise of the One Who will come as a purifier, to wash away sin and make us fit to come to God: a future hope for the biblical writers but a present reality for us.  Now as then He calls us to reconsider our priorities, but this time with the example of His Son to follow and the help of His Spirit living in us.  What does it mean for us today to ‘Return to me’?

Ruth Dennigan

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/nahum/1.html

Day 30: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah

Today we round the corner into the final straight of our studies of the Old Testament and there we encounter the first six of the twelve “minor” prophets, so-called because their writing is far shorter than that of prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel. Minor in word content they may be but minor in prophecy they are not. Each has a voice with which he draws our attention to God’s concerns and warnings for his people and each has his own particular take on the subject. Though a hundred years may separate their writing, there is cohesion in their prophecies – the day of the Lord will come and his judgement will not be good news for those who have turned away from him. The lion will roar. The prophecies may be addressed predominantly to the people of Israel but there is much we can consider for our own time as we read them. Oppression of the poor, adultery, drunkenness, idolatry, corruption, lack of justice….. do these sound familiar? Almost 3000 years later the issues are as alive for us as for Obadiah, Joel, Hosea, Amos and Micah and then there is the Jonah in his “big fish”. Make of that story what you will, the rapid response to his prophecy by the people of Nineveh surely provides us with comfort that God is compassionate and that, for those who turn to him, there can be a good end to their story. However, not everyone (as with Jonah), will immediately rejoice in that fact and so we are continually challenged to realise our “Good News” of the faith we profess may not be universally welcomed by those with whom we share our daily lives.

Jan Payne

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/hosea/1.html

Day 29: Daniel

Today we are much more familiar with the first six chapters of Daniel and their graphic stories of lions and fiery furnaces than with the apocalyptic visions of the second half of the book. The New Testament reverses that pattern and refers more often to the visions from chapter seven onwards. Christians often face pressure to conform or even outright hostility from our world today; we need both halves of Daniel to sustain our faith. The battles which Daniel and his friends endured on the earthly plane inspire us with their realism; the prophetic perspective of the heavenly conflict, complete with beasts and angels, encourages us that more is always happening than we can see with the naked eye. Central to everything is the glorious Son of Man figure – very human, but so much more than a human: ‘his dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom in one that will never be destroyed.’ (Daniel 7:14, NIV). As Godfrey Fox Bradby put it in verse: ‘The kingdoms of the world go by In purple and in gold. They rise, they flourish and they die And all their tale is told. One kingdom only is divine; One banner triumphs still – Its king a servant and its sign A cross upon a hill.’

Simon Scott

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/daniel/1.html

Day 28: Ezekiel 16 – end

Chapters 16 – 24 contain prophecies concerning the ruin of Jerusalem, 25 – 32 are prophecies about God’s judgment on nearby nations and 33 – 48 contain prophecies concerning future restoration and God’s new covenant with His people. Ezekiel was ministering to people who were exceedingly sinful and without hope. He attempted to bring them to immediate repentance. Ezekiel taught that God works through human messengers and that even in defeat and despair God’s people need to affirm His sovereignty. Other key themes of his writing are: God’s Word never fails and is transformative; God is universally present and can be worshipped anywhere; knowing and obeying God; God’s kingdom will come. The key verse is 33:11 with its themes of the call to repentance and God’s life-giving Word. Chapter 36 is significant in that it foreshadows Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The challenge of Ezekiel resonates today in its call to have a life-changing vision of God’s power, eternal presence and holiness; to allow God by His Word to direct and transform us; to recognise that God holds His servants responsible for warning all of their peril when in sin and to announce the good news of repentance and lives transformed. Ezekiel is the prophet of individual responsibility.

Angela Watts

Read the Bible on line at Bible Study Tools. Today’s passage (NRSV) is here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/ezekiel/16.html