Gospels-Acts
Facing the Shadows
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangolo
audio (5MB)
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes (v1)
So Jesus and the disciples made a trip to the other side of Lake Galilee, and what happened while they were there?
Oddly, not very much at all. Jesus had just this one encounter with a demon-possessed man, and then he went back across the river.
So Jesus made some strange choices. He chose to go to the other side. Then he chose to help this demon-possessed man and then when the townspeople asked him to leave he chose to leave immediately. And that’s it. That’s all that happened in the country of the Gerasenes.
So, you know if you where Jesus’ pa or his agent, let’s say … you might say, that was all a bit of a waste of time; that it wasn’t a very productive use of time or energy. The disciples could have just stayed on the other side of Lake Galilee, where the crowds were waiting to see Jesus.
Not only was it unproductive, but it was also unpleasant. Horrible really.
God Has Favourites
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangolo
God has Favourites audio (5MB)
‘The Incarnation’ as we call it, God becoming a human being, is the fundamental belief that sets us apart from Judaism and all other religious followings.
It really is where the rubber hits the road in terms of the Christian faith.
We Christians are the only people on this earth who believe that God himself became one of us.
We believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
We believe in the Great I Am who spoke to Moses at the burning bush, who parted the sea and led his people out of slavery.
We believe in the God who went before his people in the wilderness as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day … who chose to reveal himself to the Jewish nation.
We believe in the God who’s glory appeared as a thick cloud … descending over the tabernacle
… who’s holiness shook Mount Sinai, striking the earth with thunder and lightning that made the people tremble.
We believe in the God who is so holy that we can’t look on his face; that the Israelites couldn’t touch the mountain when his glory descended, that Moses’ face shone when he met with the Lord in the tent of meeting.
We believe in the God who is ‘holy, holy, holy’. Who appeared to the prophet Isaiah, who in the Lord’s presence was terrified.
We believe in YHWH, the Great I Am, the one who is so holy that even his name cannot be spoken.
And we share all of this in common with the Jewish people.
But we part company when we open to chapter 1 of Luke’s gospel, because we believe that that same God became a man.
Jesus Christ Superstar
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangelo
Matthew 4:12-25
Jesus Christ is a Superstar.
By chapter 4, Matthew has finished telling us all the background, about who Jesus is, where he was born ..
Now Jesus is a grown up. He’s left his home in Nazareth, and it’s time to launch his big mission to save the world … and Matthew puts him on centre stage, with his name in big Broadway lights …
As if to say, ‘Come and see the show. Jesus Christ Superstar. The greatest show in the world!’
And then he adds rock music, flashing lights and glitter falling from the ceiling. Have a look, you’ll see it all in chapter 4 (v15-16) …
“The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light” and, more accurately than your translation there .. “the ones who sit in the land and darkness of death, on them a light has risen.”
The land of death … is the world we live in.
… Matthew paints a picture of this dark place where the crowds gather in, and then he adds big lights, spotlight on Jesus. Everyone who he touches gets healed, and he travels from town to town and his fame grows.
Jesus Christ is a Superstar. You could almost make a musical out of it.
Jesus Walks on Water ... So What? (Mark 6.45-56)
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- Written by: Adam Cetrangelo
audio (6MB)
For the past few months we have taken a closer look at Jesus, the miracle worker. Like the first disciples who traveled with Jesus, we’ve revisited all these miracle stories in a succession almost as if we were there. We’ve seen blind people receiving their sight, lame people walking, demons being cast out of people, lepers cleansed, a multitude of people fed, even a raising from the dead. We get it … right? Jesus is pretty amazing, he can do all sorts of things and now this? Jesus walking on water … I mean … what’s the point of that? So what? It’s a little bit showy isn’t it? I mean healing someone who is suffering or feeding a hungry crowd is one thing but what benefit does walking on the water actually have? The Sea of Galilee was pretty small, surely Jesus could have seen the boat in trouble and just calmed the sea from the land … why this flashy display? … Had he run out of cool tricks?
I wonder … perhaps … if today’s miracle story kind of brings us to the heart of what this whole series is about – why did Jesus perform miracles? Jesus was not the only character in the bible who performed miracles. There were miracles in the OT. There are recorded miracles that the apostles performed in the Acts of the Apostles in the NT. Other Jewish and Greek literature of the first century was also rich with miracle-stories. Yet by far the highest concentration of miracle stories in the Bible is found in the Gospels! So clearly this is a significant aspect of WHAT JESUS DID throughout his earthly ministry.
So I put this question to you: Why?
John 1:19-28 A Voice in the Wilderness
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- Written by: George Hemmings
A Voice in the Wilderness audio (2.6MB)
John 1:19-28
Christmas is over, the presents are unwrapped, even the leftovers have been eaten. Which means the start of a new year is almost upon us. (I know for some the new year is almost a month away!) Now’s when we start looking forward to what’s to come isn’t it? It’s a time when people make predictions about what 2014 will hold. We’re told what to look out for in fashion, technology, politics and finance. And there’s all sorts of ads and articles telling us what TV shows, or movies, to watch out for in 2014.
