John J. Kilgallen

John s Gospel tells of the exorbitant use of myrrh at a banquet Lazarus Mary and Martha put on for Jesus nbsp In the course of this celebration Mary anointed Jesus feet with precious myrrh then wiped his feet clean with her feet nbsp This gesture was criticized by Judas for its cost could n

The Prodigal Son parable has many notable aspects to it nbsp I wish to point up two of them First the figure of the prodigal presents less than what we might hope for nbsp That is the motive for his return to his father is simply getting something good to eat regularly nbsp His motive is no

One looks for a glimmer of hope in this Sunday s Gospel reading nbsp The reading unfolds as a remembrance of two of Jesus threatening statements and one of his parables nbsp The threats nbsp from Jesus are the results of a certain way an audience tells Jesus about Galilean blood that Pilate ev

The Transfiguration of Jesus is a story meant to light hope in the reader nbsp Each of the Synoptics – today we look to Luke – nbsp wants to have his Gospel speak of this extraordinary event nbsp Indeed extraordinary for there is nothing like it anywhere in the rest of Jesus public life The

In Luke s Gospel Jesus undergoes three temptations these are the same temptations Matthew reports nbsp While Satan s words to Jesus are meaningful what makes most sense of the story are the three answers of Jesus indeed they help makes best sense of Satan s intentions nbsp Satan s first sug

This Sunday we have the second half of a story Luke means to introduce in a schematical way the entire rest of his Gospel nbsp Jesus had explained the purpose of his Baptism to announce a year which signaled God s good will a year of nbsp beginning a new covenant of divine union with God s peopl

In Chapter 3 Luke presented a traditional story about what occurred around the time of Jesus baptism this story in the main agrees with what we read nbsp Matthew and Mark nbsp But it is Luke who returns for a moment to that coming of the Spirit upon Jesus in order to explain a purpose for tha

Certainly the changing of water into wine is an astounding accomplishment its being the first miracle story told by John nbsp about the public life of Jesus shows its ability to make clear the identity of Jesus nbsp It was the first of Jesus signs and the disciples believed in him nbsp Bu

Elohim is something of a generic name for god it can be used to talk about many other gods than the God of Israel Each god had his proper name in the case of Israel that name was Yahweh nbsp When Matthew comments on the child described to Joseph by the angel of the Lord he says that this chil

One of the most important titles used to describe Jesus is King nbsp Given that Jesus and the people of the Gospels come from the culture of the Old Testament it is no surprise that when they wish to express their deepest hopes and desires they think of the greatest benefactor of their histor