It doesn’t happen very often, nowadays, that the media refer to Bible stories. Recently, however, I read at least two references to today’s gospel reading about king Herod. First of all the pope, on a visit to Asia, compared those who build walls and separate children from their parents, or hold them in prison camps, [...]
The gospels contain many stories of miraculous healings, both by Jesus himself and by the apostles. But even in the Bible there are also many cases of people who are not healed, like Paul’s famous thorn in the flesh, and the illnesses of Epaphroditus, Timothy and Trophimus. It is important to realise that in the [...]
When I say “distractions”, what comes to mind? I think one of the top distractions of today must be our smartphone. If we are not careful, it uses up all our spare time, time which we could have used to reflect on things, like the direction of our lives, on how to forgive someone, or [...]
The Saturday before Easter used to be a popular day to be baptised. You were given a white robe, and you would wear it until this Sunday, the Sunday after Easter. Then the real challenges would start, how to live your ordinary life in a Christian way. The ecstasy was nearly over, now you had [...]
Years of celebration and reflection Western Christian tradition The following table contains various Christian "High Days and Holy Days". They form an annual cycle, the so called liturgical year. It always starts with Advent, the expectation of the coming of Christ. Not all festive days are necessarily kept by each local Church. The order of [...]
This morning we are as it were invited to join the crowds at the shore of the lake of Gennesareth. Imagine you have come to listen to this strange new teacher, Jesus. He has already performed several miracles, like casting out an unclean spirit in Capernaum, healing Peter’s mother in law and then healing or [...]
In today’s gospel story, James and John are lobbying to sit on the right and the left hand of Jesus in His Kingdom. In St. Luke’s version of the story, it is the mother of James and John who does the lobbying. Now in itself there is nothing wrong with wanting to be close to [...]
The letter to the Hebrews is essential for our understanding of the concept of priesthood in the New Testament, as it focusses on the priesthood of Christ himself and the accompanying changes under the new covenant. The first three chapters provide a necessary introduction, explaining that Jesus, although fully human, is higher than the prophets, [...]
On the 7th of September 2018, following a meeting with the Chief Rabbi, several media reported on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s appeal to the Church of England to formally adopt “the full IHRA definition” of antisemitism. Within 4 days the bishops of the Church of England rallied behind him. By praising the Labour MP’s who [...]
Countless times already, various fringe groups within Christianity have predicted a date for the second coming of Christ. They did not care about this being a clear violation of Jesus’ own words in Matthew 24:36, that no one knows the day and hour, except God the Father. Other groups (sometimes the same ones later on) [...]
