Heaven

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. (Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:47, NRSV).

Kingdom.2

Familiar old words to many. Note - Jesus wanted his friends to request that God's kingdom come.  For what were they asking? What had Jesus/the Gospels to say on the kingdom and its coming?

"Sinner's" & Sinner's Friend

The Gospels contain numerous references to the reputable being offended by Jesus’ dealings with the disreputable. The upright seem to have to found it easy categorise others as “sinners”. The Gospels' focus is on welcome to rejected people. Jesus was not deflected by labels.

Marriage v.2

Jesus said a bit on marriage and adultery and divorce. We read Gospel exchanges, when Jesus was being challenged by religious critics about his word. I would say they were attempting to show him up. I do not find Jesus setting out a systematic prescription on human sexuality, or addressing contemporary issues for 2017. That is not surprising

Worship (edn 2)

 

 

 

Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” (Matthew 4:10, NRSV)

Religion (EDN 2)[updated]

🔕 ↓↓↓ 👎 🕀
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the analysed data from the 2016 census. The results portray a decline in the "religion" category. The ABC has produced a neat graphical representation of some overall data. (More on the data story below). "Religion" is a Bible word (rare), a word with limited and specific use in the text, nowhere near as prominent in the Bible as it is in Australian culture or publications.

Copied from ABC website graphic: Each dot for 1% of population
www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/census-australia-as-100-people/8634318

Raised/Rose

By the time of Jesus, even if disputed, there was an expectation of resurrection in his community. One example comes from the account of Lazarus, where his mourning sister spoke with Jesus:
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 
Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[a] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 
She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,[b] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” (John 11: 23-27, NRSV) I think Martha was flummoxed by Jesus' astounding claim. She had a belief in a "last day" resurrection (noun; anastaseos) and in the person of Jesus. Lazarus' sisters knew well enough that, had he but arrived in time, Jesus could have saved their brother from his death-causing illness. That Jesus would, then and there, be resurrection and life for Lazarus was an unimagined blessing. Clearly Jesus was saying he himself would raise (verb; anistemi) Lazarus, and in fact Jesus will raise all who believe in him. There is an overlap between this miracle and Martha's "resurrection on the last day." (The chapter describes Jesus calling Lazarus out of his tomb, struggling with his funerary wrappings.)