The Narrow Path

  Friday, 31 October, 2025 Psalm 83 2 Kings 11:1-16 Matthew 20:1-16 Observance: Martin Luther (d. 1546) and other Continental Reformers Generosity Begrudged? (Matthew 20:15) Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? In this parable we get a vastly different idea of what Jesus means when he says “the last will be first”. Yesterday we heard about the apostles sitting in judgement on thrones because of how much they gave up in this life. Today we hear a parable about the last workers to be hired being given their reward before anyone else. It is not so much a contradiction as it is a deepening of what Jesus is telling us. Not only will those who give up all in this life will gain more in the next (and everything they need here besides), but God is impartial in his generosity to the faithful saints of every age. It is perhaps an encouragement to us, two thousand years later, with a whole ...

  Thursday, 30 October, 2025 Psalms 148; 149 2 Kings 10:18-36 Matthew 19:16-30 The First And The Last (Matthew 19:30) Jesus said, ‘ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’ Jesus lays out some pretty extreme expectations. Today is probably one of the more extreme of the extremes. There is no wiggle-room for our own interests here. The first will be last, and the last will be first. This is delayed gratification on a cosmic scale. Elsewhere, Jesus talks about those who wear fine clothes and receive accolades from others, and remarks that they already have their reward. Meanwhile, poor old St Peter points out that he has given up everything in order to follow Jesus. Will they get anything for their efforts? Yes, in fact – and more than they could possibly imagine. Those who have followed him will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel – this is a pretty big deal. It sounds a lot better than a new suit and some...

  Wednesday, 29 October, 2025 Psalm 145 2 Kings 10:1-17 Matthew 19:1-15 See My Zeal (2 Kings 10:16) And Jehu said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord .” So he had Jehonadab ride in his chariot. If we look at today’s reading from one angle, we see a real “boys” type of reading. We have beheadings, and chariots, and a victorious king – lots of blood and guts and goodies and baddies. From another angle, we see something horrific: slaughter and bloodshed, all, apparently, in the name of the Lord. I have heard one way of approaching this sort of thing that seems to have worked in the past. That is, we take these Old Testament narratives and read them with the eyes of Christ. Yes, it was another age; but I think it would be chronological snobbery to say we are more spiritually enlightened than they. Rather, I think it was a different age in the sense that there were things going on that we have no idea about. When Christ died on the cross,...

  Tuesday, 28 October, 2025 Psalms 143; 146 2 Kings 9:17-37 Matthew 18:15-35 Observance: Simon and Jude, apostles and martyrs For Your Name’s Sake (Psalm 143:11) For your name's sake, O Lord , preserve my life!     In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble! Something I really love about God and being a Christian is that we are able to hold two wildly different things together at the same time: first, that we worship the terrifying, holy, glorious, all-powerful living God, and pay him the honour due to his name. At the same time, he has revealed himself to us in the Person of his Son, Jesus Christ, our brother and our friend, flesh of our flesh, intimately close to the nth degree. I wonder sometimes, however, how are we to hold these two things together well, without going too far in either extreme, while still respecting the extremes of both? Today’s sentence, from Psalm 143, seems to hint at this dynamic. T...

  Monday, 27 October, 2025 Psalm 140 2 Kings 9:1-16 Matthew 18:1-14 Life With One Eye (Matthew 18:9) And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. I had to delete social media off my devices again recently. It’s a personal thing I have, and I don’t want to bind anyone’s conscience about social media. But it’s just too much; every second I spend on it I regret, because of all the other things I could be doing with my life. A benefit I find from avoiding it, however, is that I am (almost) blissfully unaware of church politics, or human politics, or international gossip, or any other number of things that have almost zero effect on my life. And I thought about this when I read today’s words from Jesus cutting out an eye and therefore entering life. I couldn’t help but think of my lack of vision from less time spent on the interne...

  Saturday, 25 October, 2025 Psalm 135 2 Kings 8:16-29 Matthew 17:14-27 The Sons Are Free (Matthew 17:26) [Jesus said] “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.” Who is your king? Imagine my surprise when I discovered that our prayer-book collects for the King of England are not universally admired by Australian Anglicans! It would seem that we descendants of convicts still have a bit of a republican streak in us. But one of those prayers for the monarch teach us a lot about how to think about human authority. There is one where the priest prays that the king, remembering whose minister he is, would govern according to the teachings of Jesus. It is a helpful reminder that “there is always a bigger fish”. Even the king rules only at the pleasure of the living God. And so when Jesus asks St Pet...