Today’s 18-minute message – on the transfiguration of Jesus Christ – locates this spectacular moment in a brief liminal space between Epiphany (and even before with the Annunciation and Jesus’ birth) and Lent, leading to Holy Week and Easter. This high point, which seems to last for only a few minutes, before Jesus leads his disciples back down the mountain and instructs them not to share the event with others, suggests that the mountain top is not the place for us to live, but rather one of those moments that strengthen us to deal with the ups and downs of life.
Mosaic in the Roman Catholic Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, Israel
Watch the video below of this 42-minute message. Yes, much longer than usual! I’m sorry about that, but it is – I think – worth the time, as a close reading of John 20:19-29 sheds to much light on Jesus’ character, his relationship with the disciples and his work as the Son of God. My notes are available below the video
Verses 19, 26 Both times Jesus “stood right in the middle of them”
Christ is the centre – not the priest, Bible, APB – only the person Christ
Christ-centred church
1, 19, 26 Easter Sunday morning – Jesus appears to Mary
Easter Sunday evening – Jesus appears in the upper room
Following Sunday (today) – Jesus appears again, to Thomas
19, 21, 26 Peace be with you – Shalom alechem x3
Easter Sunday – Christ made peace between us and God
Forgiveness of sins – done, paid for, wiped clean, forgotten, cast the deep
Everything is good. It’s all okay
Easter is the Great Forgiveness!
20 He showed them his hands and side
Emphasis on bodily resurrection, reconnected to his people
Not just some spiritual, esoteric thing
He is fully embodied, albeit with some unusual capacities
20 He could have come back healed, but doesn’t. Why?
His identification with us, solidarity with our pain & suffering
He remains the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (4-5):
He took up our pain and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
20 The disciples were overjoyed – full of joy
Joy (chara) & grace/gift (charis) – joy is a gift of God – because Jesus is back
21 “As the father has sent me, I am sending you”
We are to continue God’s work. We are sent, just as Christ was sent
Jn 3:16/7 “God so loved the world that he gave [sent] his one and only Son … For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save it”
Every Christian is sent – not just clergy or evangelists
22 He breathed on them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”
Hebrew for spirit & breath are both? Ruach
Gen 1:2: Spirit of God hovering
22 Gen 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”
To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is to be made a new living being
22 To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is a grace/gift (charis)
As the Spirit/breath was active in the creation of earth and humanity
2 Cor 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come.”
22 Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost: Easter Season is from Easter Sunday to Pentecost
23Forgive anyone’s sin
The gift of HS is not so much miraculous signs, etc.
Instead the central commission – sending – is to forgive
And to warn that to not repent = no forgiveness
The Great Forgiveness!
24Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Where was he? He should have been in church! We should be in church!
27 Touch, see
V20. Jesus showed them his hands and side.
Thomas wants what the others got – to see. But also to touch
Our Eucharist is a see and touch moment
– receive the body of Christ broken for you (not receive this bread)
– receive the blood of Christ (not receive this wine)
Not clear if Thomas did actually touch: “Thomas answered and said…”
Perhaps seeing and the invitation to touch was enough for him
27 Stop doubting and believe. Be a believer!!
Accept the small and periodic signs of God and believe into him
28My Lord and my God!
Hebrew: Yahweh & Elohim – names for God
Greek: Kyrie & Theos – names for God
The only place in the Gospels where Jesus is referred to as God – A profound statement of faith – perhaps the most
Click below to watch the video of this message on Jesus’ style of leadership, preached on Maundy Thursday, 17 April 2025, drawing on the reading from John 13:1-17. Jesus’ leadership is all about partnerships, delegation, setting an example, serving, and humility. All this, terribly out of sync with most modern leadership styles.
This 20-minute message is part of a larger reflection on Jesus’ beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Today, the day before Maundy Thursday, we reflect on peacemaking in a broken world, by considering the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego’s encounter with the grandiose, narcissist, golden King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3. This passage – about imperialism and oppression, about the power of God, and about tyranny’s downfall – has great relevance in this world in 2025. The passage speaks to the presence of Christ in suffering. It speaks to the downfall of empires. It speaks to the power of disobedience, and the triumph of faith and smallness. Daniel 3 is a passage for today.
Below is a video of this 19-minute message about God’s persistence in offering salvation to each one of us.
Throughout the scriptures, God is reaching out to humanity with the offer of salvation. Isaiah 55 is filled with words of invitation from God. Joshua 5 links the liberation of the Israelites from slavery with the first Passover meal in the promised land. 2 Corinthians 5 has Paul telling us, that if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation – the old has gone, the new is here! And Luke 15 tells the remarkable story of the prodigal son – or perhaps it is the story of the forgiving father, who welcomes back his wayward son. The father runs down the road to embrace him and celebrate his return. The prodigal son is saved, thanks to the generosity of his father.
Watch the video recording of today’s 16-minute message here at YouTube.
We focus a lot on Jesus’ love, generosity, healing, and forgiveness – and so we should. But emphasising these gentle qualities of Jesus can sometimes lead us to diminish him – gentle Jesus, meek and mild. The transfiguration, in Luke 9, reminds the disciples and us that Jesus is the Son of God, a divine being, creator of all that is, and our God. It is a sober reminder that we are accountable to God, who is both demanding of holiness and generous with forgiveness. We must live in that space between these two qualities of Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate Christ’s baptism, which inaugurates his ministry. John the Baptist had been preaching a Gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, made tangible through baptism. And Jesus came to him to be baptised, even though Jesus was without sin.
As Jesus comes up out of the water, the heavens open and the Spirit of God descends on Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This is the only place in the Bible where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are tangibly present at the same time. This is an expression of the Epiphany, which is the season we’re currently in – Epiphany being all about God’s revelation of God’s self to the world. And this scene is certainly a great revelation of the triune God!
We could also think about this moment as an incarnation not only of Christ himself, but of all three persons of the Trinity – Jesus is there in the flesh, the Holy Spirit comes in bodily form like a dove, and God’s voice is audible to human ears (sound waves moving through the air). Father, Son and Spirit all materialise in the human world in that brief moment. This conveys the sense that the triune God works together for the salvation of humankind.
In our service, I invited three people to create a tableaux of the Father, the Spirit and the Son, similar to the paintings of Jesus’ baptism (see picture below). They are standing with their arms outstretched in love. This is an image of the triune God: three persons working in perfect harmony to pour out God’s love and salvation on humanity.
This expression of the triune God is flooded with love. Today’s first testament reading from Isaiah 43:1-7 contains these words from God: I created you, I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, I will be with you, I love you, I am with you, I will bring you, I will gather you, I formed you, I made you. And in Luke 3:22, we hear God saying, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. We hear in these words the great enduring love that God has for his son and for us. And this is expressed through the incarnation and through the epiphany. It reminds us that love is the central characteristic of God – the foundation on which God engages within the triune Godhead and on which God engages with us.
We are encouraged, therefore, to rest into the great and generous love that God lavishes on us, which we see so clearly in the baptism of Christ.
From back to front: Father, Spirit, Son – replicating the painting below of Jesus’ baptismJuan Fernández Navarrete: The Baptism of Christ (c1567)
Epiphany, which we celebrate today, centres on revelation of Christ to the world, and in particular to the Gentiles (those who are not Jewish). Our key text is in Matthew 2:1-12, where we learn about the magi (wise men or kings) who came from the East (possibly Persia, now Iran). Seeing a star in the sky they studied it and concluded that a king had been born in Bethlehem. They followed the light, which is a keyword in today’s message. Even though Jesus’ ministry was primarily to the Jews, the magi represent everyone else – the Gentiles, and they are among those few who recognised and followed the light of Christ. The opening verses of John 1 emphasise Christ as the light and life of the world.
In Ephesians 3:1-11, Paul shares his experience of Christ and his calling to the Gentiles – the other disciples had focused mostly on sharing the Gospel with the Jews. Paul emphasises that while God’s will and working in human history had been restricted to the Jews, now God’s will and working were being made available to everyone. This is a breaking open of the ‘people of God’ as God throws open the doors and invites everyone in.
Isaiah had already had a sense of all this, as found in Isaiah 60:1-5. In the first two verses, God writes about his own light that is shone upon us:
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
In these opening verses it is clear that the ‘you’ refers to the people and that the ‘light’ is God’s light.
But in the following three verses, there is a shift:
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
Here, the words you and your still to the people. But now God says that the light is theirs. It is no longer the Light of God that rises, but the people’s light. And people will come to this light – to the light of God shining out of us. We are the light of God – we are given the light of God and called to reveal this light to the people, so they may come to believe in God.
Today is the last Sunday in Advent, a few days before Christmas. During this Advent season, we’ve been reflecting on Christ’s coming into the world, both 2000 years ago and one day in the future. We’ve also reflected on John the Baptist, and the prophets before him, who prophesied Christ’s coming in the past and his coming again one day. And we’ve reflected on Christ’s birth in our hearts this Christmas, 2024.
Today, as we bring Advent to a close, we read about Mary’s and Elizabeth’s pregnancies, and about what they and the prophets thought about the kind of person the Messiah would be. Although he came as an infant, he was set to turn the world upside down. God’s emerging into humanity was a profound change for the universe – disruptive, outrageous and exciting. Watch the 18-minute video of today’s message, and let’s be challenged by the readings from Micah 5, Hebrews 10 and Luke 1.
In John 10:11-18, Jesus strives to convey to us the depth of his love for and connection with us, and his desire and expectation that we should love one another. This passage is part of a larger set of “I am” statements related to Jesus being a shepherd – the good shepherd. Central to this message is this:
Jesus knows you. Jesus loves you.
I encourage you to hear these words and to take them to heart. In our service, I gave each person a paperclip, and asked them hold and fiddle with it during the sermon. A paperclip is used to hold things together, and today’s message is about Jesus holding us to himself and to each other.
Twice, Jesus says that he is the good shepherd – not just a shepherd, but the good shepherd (vv 11 & 14)
Jesus emphasises, “I know my sheep”. We are not merely a mass of sheep in a large flock. He knows each one of us. Indeed, Jesus says that he knows us and we know him “just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (vv 14-15).
Four times, Jesus says that he lays down his life for his sheep – for you (vv 11, 15, 17 & 18). This points to the extravagance and not-withholding nature of Jesus love. Indeed John says (in 1 John 3:16): “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
It is hard to ignore these words of affirmation and extravagant love from Jesus. His love for you is immeasurable.
In the middle of this passage, Jesus says something a little different (v16):
I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Outside of this verse, there is a sense that Jesus loves only me. But v16 suggests not only that Jesus loves you, but also that he loves completely different groups from you. And the words, “I must bring them also”, are extremely strong in the Greek, conveying the sense that, “I absolutely have to bring them also”.
We should also note the sequence that Jesus presents: [In the present] I have other sheep [and now] I must bring them [and then in the future] they too will listen to my voice [and then after that] there shall be one flock with one shepherd. While these sheep do not yet know Jesus’ voice, Jesus still regards them as “his sheep” (“I have other sheep…”), and he loves them.
Who might these ‘other sheep’ be? The possibility that Jesus engages other groups outside of our group, outside of our congregation, outside of our denomination and even outside of the Christian faith, is tantalizing. But even if we do not go that far, think of those in your group, in your flock, that you dislike, those you think are not living an adequate Christian life, those you think are not adequately committed, those you think don’t believe correctly, those you think should rather leave your group.
Perhaps these people are sheep in Jesus’ other sheepfold. If so, Jesus loves them just as he loves you. And who are we not to love them, since Jesus loves them? Every sheep is loved by Jesus. And he is the Good Shepherd, who brings them into his fold. And so should we.
Reflections of God's Love 
