Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias Anita Mathias

Christ’s theological and political enemies try, always try, to catch him out with multitudes of trick questions. Which is the greatest commandment in the law? they ask, craftily, ready to make a case for the one he does not choose.And from the morass of the 613 commands in the Torah, Christ chooses just two. The great and first commandment, the megale and protos commandment, he says, is to love God, with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind. Love God, because he, creato...

Jesus, wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove, brave as a lion. Outraged at those who attempted to make money off people’s faith and longing for God, he rampages through the temple, overturning the tables of the moneychangers. He heals, he teaches; he’s proclaimed as Messiah. And he incurs the wrath of his old enemies, the chief priests and elders who ask: Who gave you the authority to do such things? But Jesus coolly answers their hostile questions with a loaded question o...

So, Joseph, intending to quietly break up with his fiancée, Mary, found pregnant, though not be him, is assured by an angel that she had conceived by the power of God’s spirit, and the child would be the long-awaited Messiah, who would deliver people from the chokehold of their sins.And Joseph is not afraid, and lightning-bolt “coincidences” verified the angel’s words. A new star appeared in the heavens, and astrologers from the East, laden with gifts for the new King, followed it, until it s...

Tamar, who seduced her father-in-law, Judah. Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute. Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, who was raped by David. Jacob, scammer and inheritance thief! Solomon, with 300 concubines and 700 wives. They were all among the chosen ancestors of Jesus. From them, he came. Iraqis, Canaanites, Moabites, Hittites, Ammonites--were all named as his ancestors. From all of them, Christ came.And he came for everyone. All can dive into the cascades of his love. He is Jesus for everyon...

So counter-cultural were Jesus’s values, that even those who lived with him continuously for three years could not fully grasp them.So his spirited apostles, James and John, whom he called “The Sons of Thunder,” get their mum to ask him for the places of the greatest prestige and visibility, on his right and left, in his court, once he came into his Kingdom.And the other ten are indignant! Jesus asks them to cluster around him and explains (once again!) the ground rules of the topsy-turvy kin...

So Jesus makes a beautiful offer to the earnest, moral young man who came to him, seeking a spiritual life: Come, follow me. Remarkably, the young man claimed that he has kept all the commandments from his youth, including the command to love one’s neighbour as oneself, a statement Jesus does not challenge.The challenge Jesus does offers him, however, the man cannot accept—to sell his vast possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus encumbered.He leaves, grieving, and Jesus look...