BRF

Mothering Sunday: The motherhood of God Mothering Sunday is a day for celebrating motherhood and giving thanks for our mothers. On this day we reflect on the place and importance of our mothers in our lives and thank them for everything they’ve given us. Everyone has (or has had)…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Startling Symbolism

by BRF - Dick France

STARTLING SYMBOLISM The Passover meal consisted of a series of courses interspersed by cups of wine (four in all), and for each course and each cup there were appropriate words of blessing and explanation repeated by the head of the family. Jesus, as head of the ‘family’ of his d…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Passover Meal

by BRF - Dick France

The PASSOVER MEAL Jesus died at the festival of Passover, and it was at a Passover meal on the night before he died that he instituted the central act of Christian worship, the Lord’s supper…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - GOD SO LOVED the WORLD

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

GOD SO LOVED the WORLD THINGS As we saw before, this passage can be read either as the end of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, or as a separate comment by the evangelist. Who says it, is less important than what it says, for it is one of this gospel’s supreme passages, full of…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - The TEACHER is TAUGHT HEAVENLY THINGS

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

The TEACHER is TAUGHT HEAVENLY THINGS After Jesus’ comparison of the Spirit with the wind, poor old Nicodemus has to ask for yet further explanation (3:9). As ‘a teacher of Israel’ (3:10), he should have known the old prophecies about God giving his people ‘a new heart and a new …

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Priests & Judas Iscariot

by BRF - Dick France

The PRIESTS & JUDAS ISCARIOT We have had plenty of indications of how the religious authorities are reacting to Jesus. Even as far back as 3:6 they were plotting his death. Now he is in Jerusalem, within their grasp, and the time has come…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - THOMAS: from DISBELIEF to FAITH

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

THOMAS: from DISBELIEF to FAITH Thomas is immortalized as ‘Doubting Thomas’, an unfortunate nickname which does not do him justice either in this story or earlier in John. He is first mentioned when Jesus is returning to Judaea to raise Lazarus—and Thomas says ‘let’s go and die w…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - SENT OUT in the SPIRIT

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

SENT OUT in the SPIRIT Mary saw some angel-messengers at the tomb, but through meeting the risen Jesus she became a ‘messenger’ herself. The same happens now to the disciples in a climactic scene which draws threads together from throughout the gospel. In the Farewell Discourses,…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - I HAVE SEEN THE LORD

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

I HAVE SEEN THE LORD After Peter and other disciple have gone home, Mary stays outside the tomb, frozen in her grief (20:11). She has been through the desolation of watching Jesus die on the cross; at least she was there, unlike Peter (19:25). But now she suffers a second grief w…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - WHAT SORT of KING?

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

WHAT SORT of KING Although Mary’s anointing Jesus’ feet hinted at a burial, rather than anointing the head as for a king, the next scene looks like a coronation. Once again, John tells it differently from the other gospels with a particular focus on what it means to call Jesus ki…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - LIFTING UP the SON of MAN

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

LIFTING UP the SON of MAN The coming of the Greeks to see Jesus meant that the ‘hour for the Son of Man to be glorified’ had finally arrived. Jesus is clear that the way to glory lies only through his self-sacrificial death. No one can face imminent death without some pause. Jesu…

Written
1 credit

JOHN: The people's bible commentary - The King's Last Words

by BRF - Richard A. Burridge

THE KING’S LAST WORDS The soldiers have finished crucifying Jesus and shared out his clothes; there is nothing left now, but to wait for death to come. John’s focus moves to the foot of the cross, where there are four women: the mother of Jesus; his mother’s sister; Mary wife of …

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Woman To Be Remembered

by BRF - Dick France

A TELLING CONTRAST In these verses a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of the religious professionals is followed by an example of true piety. But the example is not of a prominent religious figure, but of a poor widow whom everyone (and especially the scribes?) would overlook. Tr…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Telling Contrast

by BRF - Dick France

A TELLING CONTRAST In these verses a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of the religious professionals is followed by an example of true piety. But the example is not of a prominent religious figure, but of a poor widow whom everyone (and especially the scribes?) would overlook. Tr…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Demonstration in the Temple

by BRF - Dick France

A DEMONSTRATION in the TEMPLE Mark has carefully interwoven two themes here, as the scene shifts repeatedly between the temple and a fig tree on the Bethany road, thus: Verse 11, temple; verses 12–14, fig tree; verses 15–19, temple; verses 20–25, fig tree; verse 27, temple (which…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Arrival of the King

by BRF - Dick France

The ARRIVAL of the KING Passover time It is important to remember that in the week or two leading up to Passover large numbers of pilgrims would be arriving in Jerusalem, which at this time of the year had to accommodate something like six times its normal population. Jesus and h…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The Veil Is Drawn Aside

by BRF - Dick France

The VEIL is DRAWN ASIDE There is a further possible meaning of Jesus’ puzzling saying in verse 1 about seeing that the kingdom of God has come with power. For ‘some’ (only three) of those who heard it would indeed have a more immediate vision of power and glory, a foretaste of wh…

Written
1 credit

Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Ultimate Realities

by BRF - Dick France

ULTIMATE REALITIES Gaining and losing Verses 35–37 are hard to translate, since the same Greek word, here translated by ‘life’ (but sometimes also by ‘soul’), means both the fact of being physically alive and not dead and also the real self which is far more than physical life an…

Advanced Search

How to use Advanced Search

Lectionary Search