Canter Bridge

Matthew’s rehearsal of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus twice employs the Greek term λάθρᾳ (lathra) meaning ‘secretly’ or ‘privately’. Given that the word is used only four times in the entire New Testament and in a context in which the evangelist suggests that important activity is occurring behind the scenes, the word brings to hand a conspiratorial tone.

It is not clear, on the surface of things, what Matthew’s characters are up to.

Joseph, who has already undertaken the formal arrangements that will lead to his marriage to Mary, becomes aware of the awkward fact of the young woman’s pregnancy. (more…)

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Contrary to widespread suspicion, In Christian experience doubt comingles persistently with belief. Doubt is only seldom faced down as an adversary, in contrast to, say, hardness of heart. Though well-armored hearts produce doubt with regularity, the condition should not be mistaken for the result. Doubt occurs for many more reasons than simply that obstinacy which opposes itself to all evidence that God may be about. (more…)

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The narrative of Jesus’ judicial execution balloons with expressions of contempt. Even the sign placed above his head gets at its truth only by the prickly way of sarcasm:

Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.’

It seems every single protagonist of the tragic story manifests only derision for the crucified messiah. (more…)

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Jesus’ stunning rejoinder to the conundrum regarding a wife whose husbands seem to fall like raindrops hints at the liability of low expectations. A hostile delegation stages the scene of a serial widow’s multiple marriages and fairly taunts Jesus to resolve the dilemma of which of her husbands will accompany her ‘in the resurrection’. (more…)

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Children are both central and essential.

They are central to the drama of human life. Jesus ‘puts a child among them’ in more ways than the mere physical positioning of the child whose nature he employs in the teaching that follows as the image of how his Father wishes all of us to be. They are central in that Scripture time and again locates critical importance in their essence and their activity.

They are essential because adults would, it appears from the teaching of Jesus, be rudderless without the reframing, refocusing presence of the little ones. Like so many other creatures whom we find it easy to marginalize, the children are here for us. (more…)

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Jesus’ parable of the sower stands out from similar stories transmitted to us in the four gospels. It is unusually allegorical. Elements of the story point to real-world referents in an almost one-for-one fashion that is extraordinary when compared to the body of Jesus’ signature teaching style.

There is tragedy in this tale of seeds, soil, and a sower. For multiple reasons, seed is wasted. The promise of life and harvest turns out to have been betrayed. Rocks, hard-packed earth, and thorns are for the most part the unattractive victors in this story of long odds. (more…)

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The focus of the gospels on presenting Jesus within his real-world Palestinian millieu does not allow for a nuanced portrayal of the Pharisees. It is all too easy to fall into caricature.

Yet even when the proper interpretive precautions have been taken and caveats installed in all the right places, the Pharisee movement appears to have got some things quite wrong. At least when viewed from the perspective of Jesus and his chroniclers, a well-intentioned commitment to fostering holiness across the breadth of their ‘Israel’ had engendered some ugly myopia. (more…)

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As the old saw used to put it, ‘Children are to be seen and not heard.’

Jesus’ teaching on righteous behavior is even more severe. Good deeds ought to be neither seen nor heart, at least not in a way that reflects creditably upon their practitioner:

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus tackles both the horizontal and the vertical axes of piety with this potent offensive against religiosity. That horizontal sharing of resources with one’s human neighbor is to be carried out unnoticed. It’s objective is the mere application of mercy and allocation of resources where they are needed. No referendum on the actor’s stature is to figure in the equation. (more…)

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It is possible even through the centuries of transmission and the editorial layers of the gospels themselves to discern the deep affection that Jesus’ earliest followers had for their ‘master’ and friend. Some of them would choose to die for him rather than renounce his memory. (more…)

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