The Narrow Path

  Tuesday, April 8, 2025 Psalm 89:1-18 Exodus 7:25-8:19 Luke 20:19-26 Observance: Georgiana Molloy, pioneer church leader and botanist from WA (d. 1843) The Things That Are God’s (Luke 20:25) Money, money, money. We just can’t seem to get away from it! At least when Jesus was out in the regions speaking to regular people, he was able to give relatable lessons. Now in the capital, money has been transformed. Where normal people see money as what it is – that is, a means to get more of other things – the schemers in the capital see it as a means to wield power. Jesus’ interrogators must have known something of Jesus’ earlier teaching, that all wealth has been given by God as a means to increase God’s kingdom. Now that Jesus has self-identified as God, they want to see if Jesus wants us to give our money to him. But Jesus’ concept of the kingdom of God is vastly different to wicked men who use religion for their own financial gain. Lest we are confu...

  Monday, April 7, 2025 Psalm 90 Exodus 7:8-24 Luke 20:1-18 By What Authority? (Luke 20:2) I wonder if you have ever had the chance to speak to door-knockers. We used to get a fair amount of them where I live – mostly JW’s, but I have seen Mormons once or twice as well. Unfortunately, if you are a Christian, you only seem to get one chance with them: once they learn you love the Triune God, they must put you on a “do not knock” list or something. Despite the claims of these door-knockers, there is plenty of material in the Bible that speaks of Jesus as if he were God. And today gives us a wonderful example. The chief priests and the scribes with the elders come up to Jesus and ask him by what authority he teaches the people and preaches the gospel. Never one to make things too easy for those who hate him, Jesus traps them in their own schemes. Yet, in the parable that he says afterwards, he answers their question beautifully: he speaks by his inh...

  Saturday, April 5, 2025 Psalms 82; 84 Exodus 6:2-13; 6:28-7:7 Luke 19:28-48 The Things That Make For Peace (Luke 19:42) When we speak of Jesus as King, we speak of things far greater than the Caesars or Hapsburgs of this world. Where mere men gain kingdoms by birth or conquest, our King’s rule comes from the greatest, holiest, most sacred of virtues. Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem comes hot on the heels of his Parable of the Ten Minas, which as we reflected upon yesterday, was an application of the doctrine taught in Psalm 2. As King and Messiah, he now rides into his capital, and everyone around him is filled with the joy of the promises of scripture coming true before their very eyes. The whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, quoting Psalm 118:26. One wonders if they knew what Jesus knew; if they had connected the dots of the ancient prophecies they...

  Friday, April 4, 2025 Psalm 80 Exodus 4:27-6:1 Luke 19:11-27 Receiving For Himself A Kingdom (Luke 19:12) When reading a parable like today’s, we get a sense of the wisdom of our Christian forefathers when they decided it was appropriate to read several Psalms a day, alongside other readings. Because Jesus’ words make wonderful sense when read alongside Psalm 2. In that Psalm we read about a populace grumbling at their ruler, and that ruler being given a great kingdom. There is also the lesson that this ruler is one whom we can and should kiss; but should we spurn that love, then his anger is very great, and the results for that person very poor indeed. Jesus is that ruler in the Psalm, and the nobleman in today’s parable. He is about to approach Jerusalem, and perform that great work of redemption on the cross. By virtue of this he will be raised from death, ascend into heaven, and be given all things by the Father. The people to whom Jesus told th...

  Thursday, April 3, 2025 Psalm 78:16-38 Exodus 4:1-26 Luke 19:1-10 Observance: Richard of Chichester, bishop (d. 1256) Received Him Joyfully (Luke 19:6) We are now half a chapter away from Jesus’ final approach into Jerusalem. And we are also a week and a half away from Holy Week, and two and a half weeks away from the Resurrection. Our Lord has been very emphatic about the difficulty of balancing a love of money with a love of God, for one cannot serve two masters. And Jesus is a much kinder and loving master than money. Remember the rich ruler who went away very sad when he was told that he had to give away everything he had in order to follow Jesus? Jesus finished that conversation by announcing that “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27) Today we have another rich ruler: Zacchaeus, the tax collector. And so what is impossible with man, Jesus will make possible; for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. A m...

  Wednesday, April 2, 2025 Psalm 77 Exodus 3 Luke 18:31-43 Everything Will Be Accomplished (Luke 18:31) As we get ever closer to Easter in our calendar this year, so too does Jesus in our morning readings. For the third time in this Gospel now does Jesus tell his disciples about his death and resurrection. And yet they still “understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” (Luke 18:34) Perhaps it is difficult for us to remember what Christ went through on the cross. We celebrate Easter every year – so we remember it at least once every 364 days. Perhaps your church celebrates Holy Communion every week – we remember it one in every seven days, then. But do we, like the twelve in today’s reading, still find that we understand none of these things? There is certainly plenty to know about God. We will never know him fully, even if we do know him truly. Every aspect of our lives, of how we sh...

  Tuesday, April 1, 2025 Psalm 74 Exodus 2 Luke 18:15-30 What Must I Do? (Luke 18:18) As we read through the Gospel according to St Luke this Lent, we find ourselves today on the precipice of Jesus’ final days. We have been travelling with him from his birth, seeing and marvelling at him, for he has done all things well. Soon Jesus will enter Jerusalem for the final time and complete his purpose in life; that he was born to die. There will be arguments and disputes with various vested interests in the Holy City, and wisdom will spill from his lips like water from a waterfall. But his final lessons before he enters the viper’s cave surround the danger of the love of money. His last words to the normal people living in the regions outside the big smoke are to love God and serve him, and beware the fact that to enter the kingdom of God while wealthy is the most difficult thing in the world. This is a tough lesson to learn. Our politics are all about who ...