90 seconds on the parable of the two sons (5)

This is the text of a fifth 90 second slot on Spirit Radio that are being broadcast each week-day this week at 11.30am. Spirit won the first national licence in Ireland for a Christian radio station and began broadcasting earlier this year.

The remit was to draw out five easily accessible mini-conversational pieces based on Matthew 21:28-32 The Parable of the Two Sons.

Had fun doing them! Feedback welcome.

Believe

Guinness do great ads. My favourite is the anticipation one – the guy doing the mad dance to great music while desperately waiting for the pint to settle.

More recently they had the major BELIEVE campaign. Maybe you remember some of them. One had Tom Crean the great Irish Antarctic explorer stuck in a dark cave and getting inspired to make it home by imagining the snow at the entrance being like the swirling head of a pint of the black stuff.  And it is true he became a publican when he got home to Kerry.

The Guinness guys are smart. They know their advertising. And they were selling Guinness as something worth believing in.

But however brilliant their ads, when you think about it, it’s a pretty silly idea to believe in a drink or in a company brand.

But what does it mean to believe?

Lots of people say they believe in God. But the challenge Jesus puts before us is much more than just believing facts about him.

No, Jesus calls us to a much deeper belief than this. He calls each one of us to believe in something worth believing in. Far better than any drink, even if it is ‘good for you’.

Christianity isn’t just believing in facts, it calls us to believe in a person. To worship him and follow Jesus the risen Lord who has given his life for us and who alone is worth believing in.

Don’t believe in anything else, however good it tastes.

90 seconds on the parable of the two sons (4)

This is the text of a fourth 90 second slot on Spirit Radio that are being broadcast each week-day this week at 11.30am. Spirit won the first national licence in Ireland for a Christian radio station and began broadcasting earlier this year.

The remit was to draw out five easily accessible mini-conversational pieces based on Matthew 21:28-32 The Parable of the Two Sons.

Had fun doing them! Feedback welcome.

Repent

A couple of weeks ago a woman was jailed for driving, while drunk, 23 miles the wrong way down the busy M5 motorway in England. Now I’m not having a go at women drivers! All the statistics say men are much more likely to cause accidents.

No the point is that hundreds of drivers must have been screaming at her to turn around, you’re going the wrong way!

Well in this parable of Jesus, that’s also what John the Baptist was saying to Jesus’ opponents. Repent literally means ‘turn around’. Go the other way.

John had come to preach about the coming Messiah and the need to be ready to welcome and follow him. But when Jesus came they didn’t want to listen. They refused to repent.

Why? Because they didn’t think they needed to. Who was this Jesus to tell them they needed to turn their lives around, give up everything and follow him?

You see, each one of us is faced with the same question as the Jewish leaders – how do we respond to Jesus? And our answer to that question all depends on who we think Jesus is.

We’re back to the first four words of the parable – ‘What do you think?’

If you think Jesus was just a teacher from Galilee who stirred people up and then got crucified for his trouble, then he’s just another man with no claim over your life.

But if he truly has been shown to be the Son of God, the risen Lord of all, then the only response is to repent, admit our need of him, turn our lives around, and follow him with all of our hearts wherever he leads.

Which Jesus do you believe in?

90 seconds on the parable of the two sons (3)

This is the text of a third 90 second slot on Spirit Radio that are being broadcast each week-day this week at 11.30am. Spirit won the first national licence in Ireland for a Christian radio station and began broadcasting earlier this year.

The remit was to draw out five easily accessible mini-conversational pieces based on Matthew 21:28-32 The Parable of the Two Sons.

Had fun doing them! Feedback welcome.

Who is the kingdom of God for?

Let me ask you a question.

Who are the most despised and hated groups of people in Ireland today? The people who bankrupted the nation? The Bankers? The Property Developers? The politicians who failed to govern while greedily misusing their positions of power for personal profit? Drug dealers who exploit the weaknesses of the vulnerable? Paedophiles who use and abuse children?

Maybe as I mention these groups you can feel your blood boil or your stomach lurch. Maybe there are people you know personally who, if you are honest, you can’t stand the sight of – maybe even for good reason.

But here’s the sting in the tail of Jesus’ parable. He says that it’s exactly those sorts of people who are entering the kingdom of God. That shocked and angered his listeners and if we get this parable it should shock and anger us too.

It’s not that Jesus overlooks their wrong actions and says what they did doesn’t matter. He doesn’t. He calls tax collectors and prostitutes to a new life of following him.

But the point I want to leave with you is that entry to the kingdom of God does not depend on how good or successful we are or even how corrupt and greedy and exploitative we have been.

No, there is ONE entry point into the kingdom and it is the same for everyone, whoever they are and whatever they have done. What is it?

That new life begins with repentance and faith. And more of what those words mean tomorrow.

90 seconds on the parable of the two sons (2)

This is the text of a second 90 second slot on Spirit Radio to be broadcast today at 11.30am or so. Spirit won the first national licence in Ireland for a Christian radio station and began broadcasting earlier this year.

The remit was to draw out five easily accessible mini-conversational pieces for Monday-Friday this week based on Matthew 21:28-32 The Parable of the Two Sons.

Had fun doing them! Feedback welcome.

Religion versus repentance

Have you ever worked with these two types of people?

One’s first reaction when asked to do something is always to find a reason to say no. ‘Oh, can you find someone else to do that? I don’t have the time’, but when the deadline comes, they’ve made sure it has been done.

The other’s first reaction is always to say, ‘Sure, no problem, I’ll do that’ but when the deadline comes the task isn’t done.

In the story the Pharisees are the second son; they spoke the right words and did the right religious things like praying and tithing, but when push came to shove their actions spoke louder than their words.

They rejected John the Baptist’s call for repentance and faith. They considered themselves good enough already. ‘We know what it takes to keep the law, to be a true Israelite’ they thought. We’re already there.

That’s religion. When we think that we are good enough based on what we do.

Jesus’ simple story posed a challenge to the Pharisees and to each one of us today. Which sort of person are you? Someone who thinks you are already a fairly decent person – who maybe goes to church now and again and doesn’t do anything too bad –  therefore I don’t need to think much about what Jesus is saying?

Or one who, like a tax collector or prostitute, knows their need of God’s love and forgiveness, and joyfully grabs hold of Jesus’ offer of new life through repentance and faith?

90 seconds on the parable of the two sons

This is the text of a 90 second slot on Spirit Radio to be broadcast today at 11.30am or so. Spirit won the first national licence in Ireland for a Christian radio station and began broadcasting earlier this year.

The remit was to draw out five easily accessible mini-conversational pieces for Monday-Friday this week based on Matthew 21:28-32 The Parable of the Two Sons.

Had fun doing them! Feedback welcome.

What do you think?

What do you think? Have you been asked that recently? I guess you probably have. If you are a student in school or college, your teacher will inevitably be asking you what you think – either in class or in an exam. We’re asked what we think in online surveys, by marketing questionnaires on our doorsteps, by our partners and by politicians – but only whenever they want to get elected!

So it’s interesting that, as Jesus begins to tell them a parable, he asks his listeners what they think of him and his message.

Now as you read Matthew’s gospel, his audience wasn’t sympathetic. By and large they were suspicious and opposed to his message that he was the long-awaited Messiah of God. They didn’t think he fitted the bill. He was welcoming into the kingdom of God what they considered to be all the wrong types of people – tax collectors for the occupying Roman Empire and prostitutes for example.

Now if you are like me, I tend to avoid conflict and difficult conversations with people who are likely to disagree with me. But Jesus doesn’t do this. Rather than dismissing or ignoring his opponents, he engages them in discussion and debate. He tells them stories (parables) like this one about the two sons. He challenges their attitudes and provokes them to listen to what God is saying to them.

So if Jesus were to ask you today, What do you think of him, what would your answer be? As he says, have you ears to hear and eyes to see?