Luke 2:6-7 When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they found that it was heaving with people who had arrived for the census, which the Romans had demanded. In the Jewish law, censuses were forbidden and so the holding of a census was a furthe...
Luke 2:4-5 If you travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem these days it is a relatively easy journey. The roads are good, and you should get there by car in about two and half hours. Mary and Joseph’s experience would have been completely different. On...
Matthew 1:22-23 Loneliness is one of the greatest problems of our society and it is on the increase. This matters because loneliness is incredibly dangerous. It increases the risk of death by 26 per cent; is more damaging to health than obesity;...
Matthew 1:19 At the centre of the account of Jesus’ birth is a man about whom we know very little. Joseph was the legal father of Jesus and Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus’ family line through Joseph. But after the birth of Jesus, we meet Jose...
Luke 1:78-79 Tender mercy is an exquisite expression and takes us to the heart of the nature of God. Much of the Old Testament is an agonising description of God’s people’s rebellion against him. There were some good times, but they were few in n...
Luke 1:76-77 Zechariah’s prophecy focused on the coming of the Messiah, but that didn’t mean that his son John the Baptist’s role was a minor one. John would be the first prophet in the land since the time of Malachi, 400 years before. It had alw...
Luke 1:72-73 As Zechariah praised God upon the birth of his son John the Baptist, he was acutely aware of history. The coming of the Messiah was not a random historical event but was rooted in the long history of God’s dealings with his people. Z...
Luke 1:67-69 Zechariah and Elizabeth were an old couple. At the time, being childless was a matter of shame and disgrace and they had lived with this burden for many years. One day, Zechariah was doing his priestly duty in the temple and was conf...
Luke 1:51-53 The world has seen many revolutions but, arguably, nothing as revolutionary as this. The revolution that Mary was singing about here is moral, social and economic shaking the whole fabric of society. God’s intention is to turn everyt...
Luke 1:46-48 It would have probably taken Mary about four days to travel down south to meet up with her elderly relative, Elizabeth. During that arduous journey she had plenty of time to reflect on the incredible things that were happening in her...
Luke 1:44-45 What an exquisitely beautiful moment this is! It seems that no one remained unmoved or unexcited about the news that Mary was going to give birth. Even the baby in Elizabeth’s womb wanted a piece of the action! We can’t be entire...
Luke 1:38 Aren’t these words amazing? Mary has just learned that her whole life was going to be turned upside down. Having a baby is a completely life-changing event for anyone, but to learn that she was going to be the bearer of the Son of God m...
Luke 1:29-31 The birth of Jesus and the events that led up to it are so familiar to us that it takes some adjusting to realise that it was all a complete surprise to those who were involved. We know exactly what’s going to happen next but, for t...
Proverbs 10:19 There is a huge amount of advice about words in the book of Proverbs. The writer knew that the tongue is capable of bringing death or life (18:21) and so he went to great lengths to encourage his readers to use their words carefull...
Proverbs 10:18 This is one of those verses that makes you sit up. On the face of it, it might seem to be a very good thing to hide hatred because hatred is an ugly and destructive experience. How would we ever cope if everyone was totally honest...
