Luke 23:13-25 This is an upside down world! Atlas may have held the world on his sturdy shoulders, but Adam did him one better: he turned it upside down. Down is up and up is down in Adam’s fallen world. The least godly proclaim themselves to be the greatest, and the last people that are likely to turn to God end up first in most things. Our moral compass which should point straight up to God instead only points back... Read more
Luke 22:63-23:12 “Are you then the Son of God?” This was the question asked by the council which consisted of both chief priests and scribes. Jesus’ answer is simple and explosive: “You rightly say that I am.” In other words, “You are right in saying that I am the Son of God.” But Jesus’ answer could also be construed to read: “You rightly say that I AM,” for in Greek it reads “eco eili” which some scholars believe should be... Read more
Luke 22:47-62 “Surely it is not I, Lord!” Surely I am not the disciple who will betray You. That is what we all say whenever read this passage, for we cannot help but have our hearts burn within us when we read of the betrayal of our Lord once again. First, we read of betrayal by Judas, one of the 12. How terrible this betrayal is! How chilling when we read, in St. John’s account (John 13), that the devil... Read more
The Didache, or “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” is probably the most important church document outside of the Bible itself. Why? Largely because of its extreme antiquity. While we have some of the writings of the Church Fathers (for example Clement ofRome) that date to the end of the first century A.D., the Didache is now dated to that same period. This makes it, along with Clement’s letters, the oldest Christian documents outside the New Testament. What makes the... Read more
Peter Leithart’s latest book, “Defending Constantine,” should, in my opinion, be considered THE Christian Book of the Year. “DefendingConstantine” is a stunning work of scholarship on a closely related collection of issues that are among the most important in Christianity: the life ofConstantine, the meaning of Constantinianism, and the radical transformation of the world that took place while he was Emperor. Leithart’s work is especially impressive because he has taken on a host of scholars who have so thoroughly denigrated... Read more
Luke 22:31-46 What a privilege it is to pray with our Lord Himself! That is exactly what we are doing here this morning in Luke 22: praying with Jesus in theGardenofGethsemane. In fact, what we are participating in this morning is nothing less than the Lord’s Prayer in action. In the Garden, Jesus is living out and praying through the one prayer He commanded His disciples to pray: the Lord’s Prayer. In so doing, the Great Teacher who is Himself... Read more
Luke 22:14-30 Personally, I find time a very confusing creation. I look back to when I bought my first Beatles record in 1974, and it seemed as if the Beatles must have at that date been broken up for an entire generation. In fact, it had been 4 years. But now it’s been 35 years since I bought that record, which is not only much longer than the time between the Beatles’ breakup and my first Beatles record, but is... Read more
Luke 22:1-13 It feels strange to approach so close to Easter while still in summer! Now that Jesus has commanded the disciples to make the Passover ready, I can smell Holy Week in this passage, for there is an indescribable and terrible feeling of holiness I feel whenever Holy Week is here. And why shouldn’t it be here in the middle of August as well, for what Jesus did at the Passover has meaning for Christians every day of their... Read more
Luke 21:20-38 I’ll admit it. This is a difficult passage to meditate on. Difficult because we are immediately faced with the difficulty of having to apply such a passage that has eschatological (pertaining to the “Last Things”) implications. I would like to continue Saturday’s perspective, which requires us to avoid twin errors: first, that the passage is so completely connected to the past events of Jesus and His disciples that we can find no relevance for us today, and second... Read more
Give Us This Day
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In
Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
Profound and Pastoral, Scholarly and Faithful! “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection” is the sequel to Pope Benedicts XVI’s first book on the life of Christ: “Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordanto the Transfiguration.” What I am writing, I write as an Anglican priest and professor who has read previously only a few articles by Pope Benedict XVI (back when he was Cardinal Ratzinger). I’m happy to say that I... Read more