Jesus, the Scroll, and the Avoidance (revised)

One day Jesus went back to Nazareth and to the synagogue. The time ended with a crowd wanting to eliminate him.

Jesus, the Helpless, and Faith in Jesus (edited)

The word (noun) faith is common enough, is it not? But what does it mean? What did it mean when Jesus used it? What does it mean in relation to Jesus?

Buns, Cross, Hot on (edited 2)

On Hot Cross Buns

Buns, cross, hot on the heels of Christmas fruit pies.

January 2026 arrived local supermarket

Jesus at The Hanukkah (edited)

The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out (John 1:5 CEV).

In a long ago winter, during one Hanukkah*, Jesus was again recorded in the Temple. (He may well have been to many Jerusalem Hanukkah celebrations, as to the other recurring events in his culture.) John here gives us a note of the chronology of Jesus' life. In chapter 7 we see Jesus in Jerusalem even when the climate had become very threatening. He had been there (approximately in October) for the celebration called Booths (Tabernacles). Enmity against Jesus reached a peak with official action being by taken primarily by the elite, "the Jews", and their followers.

Jesus and the Temple Donors

The setting (context)

And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,  “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation” (Luke 20:45-47 ESV). Then....

The event

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.[a] Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-45 NLT).

What do you think of that brief pericope about the widow? Jesus' words sound odd, do you agree?

For All the So Many Victims (Edited 3)

MARY PUZZLED; JOSEPH CONFUSED ! (Edn 2 revised 4)

Break off quietly ….?  Really? Divorce? What? Why?

Joseph the Carpenter seems to have been a decent man and a kindly one. He faced these troubling questions. But, of course, that is not the beginning...

Below is the core story, as we have it.