Gospel of Matthew

“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant.…

Here, Luke changes the word found in Matthew, debts, for a new word, sins, “probably to make the petition more intelligible for Gentile Christian readers”, as the word for debts does not fully contain a religious sense to the readers of that period (Fitzmyer 906). Nolland draws a parallel between…

"I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream." -Bruce Springsteen. F. Scott Fitzgerald even brilliantly combines the golden age and bible teachings to portray this message that, the American Dream of getting rich is far from the reality of how people actually get rich, in his novel The Great Gatsby. But Unfortunately as the story goes on, we begin to see that F. Scott Fitzgerald commits blasphemy and compares one of his deceitful characters to Jesus…

A DAY OF REFLECTION Theme: SHARED MEAL… SHARED LIFE! I. Welcome: A grace-filled morning, everyone! Today, we continue to immerse ourselves in the abundance of God’s grace in our lives through this day of reflection. This is an opportune time for us to spend a special moment of silence, prayer and reflection with God, the Source of all goodness. God continues to share with us His infinite goodness by giving us Jesus Christ, His only Son, who selflessly share Himself with us through His…

Hell is confusing. One of the greatest preachers in American history, Jonathan Edwards, proclaimed, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire” (Edwards 97). Yet, another great theologian Jürgen Moltmann stated, “In hell the trumpet signalling liberation has already been…

“The Last Supper” is in the Holy Bible in the book of Matthew chapter twenty-six verses seventeen through thirty. This particular story in the Bible has Jesus Christ preparing for the Passover meal. He directed his disciples to go into the city and tell a specific man as Jesus has requested that “The Teacher says: My time has come and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.” (Matthew 26:18). While Jesus and his twelve disciples are eating, he announces that one of the men…

In the New Testament (NT) readers are now given a divine and direct example of Wisdom. The synoptic gospels through their similar nature all portray Jesus as a wise teacher. The foreshadowing of the evolution of Wisdom in the OT is seen in Jesus’ presence in the New Testament. The form of his Wisdom is often seen in aphorisms, maxims, prohibitions, beatitudes…

Differences of Nouthetic and Integrative Counseling The field of psychology has been divided many times into many different schools of thought and even in Christian counseling these differences in opinion still come forth. The two sides to Christian counseling are Nouthetic/traditional counseling and Integrative counseling. Nouthetic just focuses on using the New Testament and the Old Testament together to teach people and to try and help them with any issues. Integrative counseling not only…

Santiago’s Sacred Struggle Many know the story of Jesus of Nazareth and are able to confirm the historical figure whether they believe in him or not. The holy story can be divided and interpreted to explain Christ 's struggle, death and resurrection for the sake of mankind. Many see the modern-day allusion to Christ’s story in Ernest Hemingway 's The Old Man and the Sea. When compared side-by-side, these plot situations may help the reader see beyond the text on the page and visualize and…

When it comes to Jesus Christ many Christian thinkers and authors use story, metaphor, or parables to express their Christology. Gregory of Nyssa and Julian of Norwich are two examples. Their writings contain an illustration to illustrate the work of Jesus. For Gregory it is fishing and for Julian it is a story of the Lord and Servant. This essay unpacks these exemplifications thus uncovering the authors’ individual beliefs about the saving action of God for humanity through the work of…