Maundy Thursday (Year 1, NL)

Jesus is saying, Love should feel like this.

The story of Jesus’ unjust trial and wrongful conviction must not be romanticized.

Do antisemitic appeals to the Bible always constitute an abuse of scripture? Would that it were so simple.

In Matthew, Jesus’ identity as king is the major source of conflict.

When does compromise descend into treason or apostasy?

Pontius Pilate shows us what happens when the historical and the eternal intersect.

Judas is hardly the only one who lets Jesus down.

Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 26:14–27:66; Philippians 2:5–11

During Holy Week, it's common for worship leaders to ask people to consider their place in the drama of Jesus' final days. To what extent do we betray him, deny him, insult him, crucify him? When do we, like the crowds, find ourselves gawking at suffering with prurient glee? When do we, like the thieves, alternately ridicule the truth, then believe in it? When do we, like the centurion, make our confession--though perhaps a moment too late?

How does a crowd turn from shouts of joy to cries of murder in such a short span?

After Jesus shared his last supper with his friends, they sang a hymn together. There is every reason to believe it was the Hallel, Psalms 113 through 118. How have I missed this before?

At one end of Matthew, Jesus goes free. At the other, cruel, ritualized slaughter befalls him.

Maybe the real reason we show betrayers so little compassion is that we’re afraid there is some Judas chromosome within all of us.

The passion narrative is the story of a series of violations. Is it good for us to find our identity in it?