Recent highlights include discovering that in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’
transfiguration, only Matthew mentions Jesus touching his disciples (whom I
call his apprentices): But Jesus came to them and touched them gently with his
hand to encourage them. He said, ‘Stand up. Don’t be afraid.’ (Matthew
17:7).
Or how about this the use of ‘conveniently forget’ relating to ‘Corban’ in Matthew 15: <3>Jesus answered them, ‘Why do you reject God’s commandments in order to
respect your traditions? <4>For example, God commanded, “Honour your father and
mother” and, “Whoever insults their father or mother is sure to be put to death.” You
are to treat your parents with great respect. <5>But you say that if anyone tells their parents that the support they were going to give them is instead “committed to
God”, <6>then they no longer need honour their father or mother. In fact, in so doing, you’re conveniently forgetting God’s word. Your traditions have become
more important than God’s word and you’re cancelling out God’s message for the sake of your tradition. <7>You’re hypocrites! Isaiah hit the nail on the
head when he prophesied about you …