John The People's Commentary - Bread from Heaven
John The People's Commentary - Bread from Heaven
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Bread from Heaven Jesus and the crowd have been debating the meaning of the feeding and the last section concentrated on the issue of Jesus’ identity. Suddenly it is no longer a matter of whether he is ‘the prophet like Moses’ who can feed people in the mountains as Moses did. Hi…
Mark The People's Commentary - How do you explain Jesus?
Mark The People's Commentary - How do you explain Jesus?
by BRF - Dick France
How do you explain Jesus? Mark sometimes likes to enfold one story within another (or to ‘sandwich’ it) so as to help his readers to listen to the one in the light of the other. He has done that in the latter part of chapter 3. Within the story of how Jesus’ own family responded …
John The People's Commentary - I Am the Bread of Life
John The People's Commentary - I Am the Bread of Life
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
I Am the Bread of Life After the miraculous feeding and Jesus walking on the water and the discussion about bread, attention is now focused on Jesus by his direct claim, ‘I am the bread of life’ (6:35). Since the gospels are a form of ancient biography, the focus will be constant…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Wives as the Symbol of Kingship
The Women's Bible Commentary - Wives as the Symbol of Kingship
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Wives a as Symbol of Kingship Whatever justification Absalom might have claimed for killing Amnon, such as Amnon’s rape of Tamar, Absalom’s own royal ambitions are not hurt by having Amnon out of the way…
Mark The People's Commentary - Food in the wilderness
Mark The People's Commentary - Food in the wilderness
by BRF - Dick France
An Abortive “Retreat” This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel that the Twelve are called ‘apostles’. The word means ‘those sent out’, and it describes well the experience they have just shared as Jesus’ emissaries. But having been ‘sent out’, they now return and report back to the…
Mark The People's Commentary - More Healings
Mark The People's Commentary - More Healings
by BRF - Dick France
More Healings Once again Mark allows us a brief respite from the breathless series of amazing events. This more general summary of what Jesus was doing in Galilee at this period, like that in 3:7–12, shows us that the relatively few specific miracles which he has included in his …
John The People's Commentary - Feeding the Five Thousand
John The People's Commentary - Feeding the Five Thousand
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Feeding the Five Thousand Jesus’ miraculous feeding of a vast crowd is such a well-known story. This is the only miracle narrated in all four gospels—indeed, it is the only incident from Jesus’ ministry before his last week which they all include. The Synoptic gospels each descri…
John The People's Commentary - More Questions and Answers
John The People's Commentary - More Questions and Answers
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
More Questions and Answers We have seen how John likes to move from signs into a dialogue between Jesus and others which ends with a discourse. So here, we start with three questions from the crowd, each answered by Jesus, which pick up the signs and begin to explore the themes t…
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dance of Death
Mark The People's Commentary - The Dance of Death
by BRF - Dick France
The Dance of Death Mark 6: 17-29 Mark The People’s Bible Commentary In the previous study we thought about why this story is here, and why Mark may have felt it appropriate to insert it into the story of Jesus. But now we shall look at the story of the death of John in its own ri…
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
by BRF - Dick France
Jesus and John the Baptist A change of scene The disciples, sent out on their mission in verses 7–13, will return and report back in verse 30. The intervening space is filled with an unexpected return to the person with whom Mark’s story began….
Mark The People's Commentary - Mark 4
Mark The People's Commentary - Mark 4
by BRF - Dick France
Mark 4 In the middle of both the first and third acts of Mark’s drama (see study 2 for the three acts) we find what seems like an interlude, where we are offered a concentrated collection of Jesus’ teaching before the story resumes at its previous breathless pace. In chapter 13 t…
Mark The People's Commentary - Old and New in Religion
Mark The People's Commentary - Old and New in Religion
by BRF - Dick France
DISREPUTABLE COMPANY Tax collectors are probably never popular, but in Roman Palestine their reputation stood at an all-time low. In Galilee they represented Herod Antipas, the unpopular half-Jewish ruler, who in turn represented Roman occupation. So a tax collector was a collabo…
Mark The People's Commentary - More trouble on the Sabbath
Mark The People's Commentary - More trouble on the Sabbath
by BRF - Dick France
More trouble on the Sabbath The encounter in the cornfields may have been just a chance meeting which gave rise to an argument. But this time there is certainly nothing accidental about the confrontation in the synagogue. It almost looks as though the man has been ‘planted’ to pr…
Mark The People's Commentary - In the cornfields
Mark The People's Commentary - In the cornfields
by BRF - Dick France
In the Cornfields The sabbath was one of the most distinctive features of Judaism, and was guarded with fierce national pride. The Old Testament itself gave little specific guidance as to how it was to be ‘kept holy’, beyond the general injunction to ‘do no work’. But what is wor…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - A First Monster