Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

There have been many accounts provided of the deaths of individuals. Some of them were martyrs, others were courageous soldiers, others were coping with diseases. Some of the accounts have been embellished with details that the readers cannot know if they are true or not. Matthew presents facts about the death of Jesus that people had observed taking place and they could be verified by individuals still alive when he wrote his account. The demeaning of Jesus After Pilate had pronounced the death sentence on Jesus, some soldiers took Jesus to their barracks and forced him to endure the entire battalion’s contempt. It is possible that they engaged in a game called The King’s Game which may have included the various details mentioned here. Yet it may also be the case that their actions reflected the reasons why Jesus was condemned by Pilate – he had been accused of involvement in an attempt to overthrow the Roman authorities. The intention of the soldiers was to demean Jesus an...

Matthew now brings his readers closer to the cross and does so by referring to some of the trials that Jesus experienced on this important day. The religious trial (Matthew 27:1-2) Events start to move quickly as Friday morning comes. Matthew here describes the official meeting of the Sanhedrin, which probably occurred at daybreak. It met to ratify the decisions taken earlier about Jesus by the Jewish leaders.  ‘When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.’ This trial was followed by the trials before Pilate, although Matthew combines them and does not mention that Jesus was sent by Pilate to appear before Herod and then sent back by him to Pilate. The disciples of Jesus are not part of the account, apart from what Judas said and did, because they have fled from the situation. Nevertheless, several people and grou...

Philippians 3:1 is the introduction to a new section in Paul’s letter which initially is concerned with true service of God and then moves on to other aspects of sanctification.     Since he begins this section with a reference to joy, and inserts similar terms throughout the section, it is reasonable to assume that, for Paul, joy was a feature of all aspects of the Christian life.   Obviously, a believer should have joy because of his conversion (Paul describes his experience in this section); Paul also mentions joy coming from progress in the faith, from anticipating the transformation that will occur in believers when Jesus returns, from working towards unity in the church, from a healthy prayer life, from suitable meditation and from practical expressions of brotherly support. The first area of life to which Paul applies joy is the area of worship. The importance of spiritual joy Why is spiritual joy so important? One aspect that we must consider is that th...