Christ Church Mandurah Resources

 OCT 18 MATT 22:15-33 CCM The Pharisees don’t have a very good reputation as far as most of us are concerned. They always seem to be either in conflict with Jesus or trying to catch him out in some way. But they opposed the Roman occupation of Israel, unlike the sadducees. These groups were actually bitter enemies, but they were united in their opposition to Jesus. They had a foolproof plan: ask Jesus what he thinks about paying taxes to the Roman authorities. If Jesus said pay the taxes, the Pharisees would say that he was opposed to the God of Israel, the only King they recognised. If Jesus said that taxes should not be paid, then he could be handed over to the Romans on a charge of rebellion. The plan could not fail, could it? Jesus is not fooled by their flattery, but he does agree to answer the question. But first, he reframes the issue subtly by asking to see the coin used to pay the tax. The tax the Israelites were forced to pay actually funded their occupation by the Romans...

 Exodus 32/matt22 In our reading from the Hebrew Scripture last week, we heard God give the Ten Commandments to Moses. They were the rules of guidance from a loving God to his people, to keep them holy and to set them apart from other nations. The people of Israel are still in the wilderness and Moses again goes up the mountain to commune with God. And while he is away, the Israelites develop selective amnesia, forgetting all that God has done for them. They decide that an animal which they fashion from gold will be their leader and protector. These are the people who have been freed from slavery in Egypt, they have witnessed the promises and power of God through the plagues on the Egyptians, and they have crossed the Red Sea on foot and seen the pursuing Egyptians drowned. Now they are in the desert, they are given water to drink and food to eat, and they still don’t get it. When I read this passage from Exodus, I have to ask myself – what on earth were the people thinking? What m...

 MATTHEW 16:13-20 RAAFA MANDURAH This is a wonderful Gospel passage. A passage which makes us think that suddenly something has changed for the disciples. Do they finally get it? It’s also a very significant event for Peter, because for the first time he understands exactly who Jesus is. Jesus is the messiah, son of the living God. And Peter is anointed as the rock on which the church is built. This is the same Peter who tried to walk on the water and failed, Peter who runs away when Jesus is arrested. But for all his failings, Peter has finally realized who Jesus is. Thankfully, just who becomes a disciple of the church does not depend on human considerations, rather on God’s divine intervention. It is God who looks into the heart. I find it a great comfort that Jesus never lost faith in his disciples even when they appeared to have let him down. So, if as I were to ask you who you believe Jesus to be, what would you say? Sometimes we are called to give an account of our faith and...

 MATTHEW 16:13-20 RAAFA MANDURAH This is a wonderful Gospel passage. A passage which makes us think that suddenly something has changed for the disciples. Do they finally get it? It’s also a very significant event for Peter, because for the first time he understands exactly who Jesus is. Jesus is the messiah, son of the living God. And Peter is anointed as the rock on which the church is built. This is the same Peter who tried to walk on the water and failed, Peter who runs away when Jesus is arrested. But for all his failings, Peter has finally realized who Jesus is. Thankfully, just who becomes a disciple of the church does not depend on human considerations, rather on God’s divine intervention. It is God who looks into the heart. I find it a great comfort that Jesus never lost faith in his disciples even when they appeared to have let him down. So, if as I were to ask you who you believe Jesus to be, what would you say? Sometimes we are called to give an account of our faith and...

 Matt 15: 21-28 16 August 2020 There are some stories which are common to each of the Gospels but there are some events which we may only find in one Gospel. To understand why, we need to understand first of all why the Gospels were written and for whom. Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community of Jewish Christians who were struggling with their new faith and identity. They were a small community within a larger Jewish community, so any messages relating to the status of non- Jews was of special importance to them. The Jewish people had been waiting for the promised Messiah, and Matthew’s Gospel shouts that Jesus is the Messiah. That is one of the reasons why Matthew’s Gospel begins with the long and quite frankly tedious lineage of Jesus. Matthew wants everyone to understand that the Messiah is here. I must say that when I saw the Gospel passage for today, I think I groaned. For this is one of those passages which has us wondering exactly what is going on. Could Jesus really h...

Matthew 14: 22-36 When I meet people socially and they ask me what my work is, they are usually quite surprised when I tell them I am a priest. If they have had no connection with the church, they are usually even more surprised. It’s as if they know priests exist somewhere, but they are very surprised to actually meet one. A little bit like UFOs or aliens. And one of the things they then ask is if I have ever had a “proper job”. I don’t know if their perception is that priests are somehow hatched in middle-age, or we have spent our whole lives in cloisters and know nothing of the real world. I used to be a bank manager for one of the big banks, and I was priested alongside a lawyer, a geologist and two businessmen. So yes, I know what the real world is like. So what is it that makes us think that we can be called to serve God? For me, it is knowing that God calls us, understanding our flaws, our doubts and weaknesses, and still loves us anyway. When we read Scripture, we know that we ...

MATT 13:24-43      CCM 19/7/20 Today’s Gospel sees Jesus still in farming mode: last week we had the parable of the sower and today we have gone from the sower to the seeds, or more importantly, the weeds.   This is real life for those who heard it.   They know about sowing seeds and they know all about weeds which can infiltrate the crop.   Jesus seems to be implying that it is sometimes difficult to tell what are weeds and what is wheat, and it is not until they are grown and ripe for harvest that the differences can be seen. Since the foundation of the church, people have been trying to discern who amongst them will produce a good harvest and who will fail, who is wheat and who are the weeds. And there has also been a desire by some parts of the church to purge what they saw as the weeds from their community.   We know that Jesus was criticized for associated with people who might be the weeds of society:    societ...