Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is a 43 year old woman from Iran who was found guilty of adultery in 2006. Her punishment is to be stoned to death. The latest news is positive for her, however, since Brazil – a key ally of Iran – is to offer her asylum. While some Islamic scholars apparently deny that stoning is recommended as a punishment in the Koran, some Muslim traditions still insist that it is an option and ...

For as long as I can remember I have had a lot of anger in my heart. This anger rarely spilled out in public – but it destroyed my first marriage. And because I generally kept a lid on it, this anger was turned inwards and resulted in a lot of depression over the years – a depression that resulted in two episodes of serious ill-health needing medicine.

To read Jesus saying that keeping a lid on anger won’t do in the Ki...

To live consistently as a follower of Jesus in a counter cultural way is one thing – to do so in regard of keeping the law is quite another. Being counter culture could be no more than being nice to your neighbours or not rushing out to buy the latest in iphone technology but to be consistent with the law, to live up to its requirements is something very different and far harder to accomplish.

And yet this is ...

For the effect of an upside down Kingdom value to be itself turned upside down really is a difficult concept to hold onto! But this is what Jesus seems to be saying in his words about being salt and light (Matt 5:13-16). In the previous paragraph Jesus says that being his follower will draw persecution; in this one he says that it will get people glorifying God. Confused? I am – no wonder I keep getting migraines!

To be a foll...

It is not a coincidence that those listed as being blessed after the peacemakers are those who are persecuted (Matt 5:10-12). To be a peacemaker in a world that has learned the perverse value of confrontation is no easy task and will surely draw opposition. But in the face of such opposition Jesus is saying that the correct stance to take is to be one of peacemaking.

Today in the west and in the UK especially the...

Of all the Kingdom values and virtues listed by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount it is being a peacemaker that we have moved farthest away from. We struggle with some of the others, too – especially being poor – but peacemaking is probably the one we have most difficulty with. Few Christians today would renounce the use of violence even though the church in the first three hundred years of its existence did ju...

Jesus’ emphasis on the upside-down values of the Kingdom continues with his words about the ‘pure of heart’ and how they will be blessed by seeing God. In Old Testament Hebrew thought ‘seeing God’ had a cultic element to it since it was by going to the Temple, to be involved in its cultic practices, that one would see God. Closely attached to this act of Temple worship was being clear of sin – or havi...

When Matthew records Jesus calling on his followers to be merciful he could have used one of two different Greek words: one referring to a human feeling, the other meaning acting with mercy. Matthew chose the second.

Thus Jesus calls on us to act mercifully in our dealings with other people. Like all the other characteristics to be displayed in the Kingdom listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, mercy is in ...

When Jesus talks about those who ‘thirst and hunger for righteousness’, what is it that they have desire for? Is it that they desire to be righteous in the sense that they are in a right relationship with God, that they live a life that is holy and set apart for him? This would probably be the usual reading of this verse.

But in a book I read over the Easter holiday – Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’...

A fine example of the upside down values of the Kingdom of God can be seen in the blessing poured out onto the gentle (or humble or meek) – theirs is the earth as an inheritance. This beatitude has an echo from Psalm 37 in it. There it is the wicked who take the earth and its possessions to themselves. They smash and grab their way through life not worried about who gets left behind or who gets trampled underfoot.

How di...

There’s plenty to mourn about in this world. In fact, you would have to be pretty insensitive to not be mourning at times, if not for yourself then for all the injustices, the wrongs, and the general condition of the world.

To what extent is the ‘mourning’ referred to by Jesus in the second Beatitude an action of choice, I wonder? If the being ‘poor in spirit’ is about recognising your own poverty and ...

It seems to me that the ‘Beatitudes’ deal with the marginalised, that Jesus speaks a great blessing of life and power into their lives. This reflects his life’s work – it is to the margins that he went looking for people to heal and restore; to the margins looking for broken people to bring them to a place where they could flourish.

There seems to be little that attracted Jesus to the centre, be that the...

Before getting stuck into the meat of what Kingdom living is all about Jesus does something profoundly loving: he affirms the very people he calls into this new lifestyle. The demands of that life will be great. Maintaining those choices will not be easy. And so before going into the detail Jesus tells his hearers that the Kingdom is for people just like them. If they are broken, if they are small, if they are do...

One of the most powerful criticisms of Christians in the West today is that we seem no different to anyone else living in society. Our values, lifestyle, choices are pretty much the same as those who have no faith or a different faith. ‘You’re no better than the rest of us,’ is a common refrain. Is it true? Take a few seconds to think about that before reading on.

If we followed Jesus and his teachings the...

Restoring the whole of creation lies at the very heart of God’s mission in our world and this will include the salvation and restoration of humanity. Our part of that mission is not only to extend the boundaries of the Kingdom through such work as evangelism and social action, but also just by living out the redeemed life we now have. And a central aspect of that is to express the creative side of ourselves. So...

Blogging through Mark’s gospel took me 60 posts over some 18 months. When I have time (or rather, when I make time) I will gather all those posts together and see whether they make any sense as a whole, for I wrote them post by individual post – in micro rather than macro. But the theme I was trying to draw out of each passage was that of the emerging Kingdom of God in and through the life of Jesus.

The two ...

Most translations while including Mark 16:9-20 actually say that the passage did not form part of the original text. And when you read these verses it does have that feel to it. Nevertheless there is little in the passage that we should discount as being a part of the original story. It does tie in with the post-resurrection accounts.

However, the challenge that is presented in this passage is immense and its ce...

The tenderness shown by both Joseph of Arimathea and the three women – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome – was surely a beautiful thing (Mark 15:42-16:8). The contrast between their actions towards Jesus and the actions of all who had contact with him over the previous three days is great. Thoughtful and gentle, they came to his body to ensure a good burial. They bought linen and spices to care for the body. Their motives were the highest possible.

And yet they ...