The Great Commission in Matt 28 and preaching on the Trinity video discussion

The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity Sunday in Year A is Matthew 28.16–20, the so-called Great Commission which concludes the gospel. It has been picked for this week because it contains the triadic/Trinitarian formula ‘baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.’ Apart from the fascinating details of … Continue Reading

When is Jesus ‘coming on the clouds’?

In my teaching and reflection on issues around eschatology and the ‘second coming’ of Jesus, there is one phrase that keeps coming up, and to which people thinking about these things keep returning: the language of the Son of Man ‘coming with the clouds.’ When I have offered an alternative reading to the key passages … Continue Reading

The Trinity and John 16

The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity Sunday in this Year C is John 16.12–15. It is another very short reading (four verses) from the ‘farewell discourse’ of Jesus, and I think is actually quite a difficult reading to preach from. Like much of this part of the Fourth Gospel, it is reflective, repeats things … Continue Reading

Who Are the Seven Spirits in Revelation?

Brandon Smith writes: Who are the seven spirits in Revelation? This question arises in the opening lines of John’s vision in which he refers to “the seven spirits who are before [God’s] throne” (Rev. 1:4). The seven spirits are named again in Jesus’s message to Sardis (Rev. 3:1), as well as twice in the throne-room scenes … Continue Reading

Jesus’ radical inversion of community values in Mark 9

The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 16 in Year B is Mark 9.30–37. In our reading of Mark, we have leap-frogged from the confession at Ceasarea Philippi, over the Transfiguration (which is considered at other times in the lectionary) and the following deliverance episode, to a short cluster of sayings, though stopping short of … Continue Reading