Moses’ reception of the Law was a key moment in the formation of the people of Israel. A disparate group of tribes and hangers-on emerged from Egypt into a land they did not know. The challenges that could pull them apart were many. The things that held them together were few.

In this context, the people make a promise together to be a people governed by the laws that were being handed down to them. Not only would these principles shape the way they conducted themselves with each other, they would come to be a key identity marker for the people.

All human authorities in Israel stand under this Law. Neither king, priest nor prophet may disregard it. Yet, while the law protects the people from destroying themselves, it does not have the power to save. That will be the task of Messiah!

St Peter wants his readers to be aware that their sins have been forgiven. The believer has been brought close to God... made alive in spirit! Those who were once locked up within the prison of their self-interest have been set free by the grace-shaped love of God.

Just as the ark saved Noah and his family from the flooding waters, the baptism of the believer offers the safety of assurance amidst the flooding tempest of accusation and half-baked motives.

Left to either a peer-assessment or a self-assessment, we would be lost. But having given ourselves to Christ, and marking that with the act of baptism, we can be confident that we are accepted by God. We have no need to hide or pretend. We can confess, be honest and draw near!

Our confidence is in Christ. The one who was condemned and crucified. Yet, he is also risen. All authorities are now subjected to Him! Christ’s way is the eternal way.

Elijah is certainly an enigmatic character in the history of Israel. Coming (as he does) after the period of institutionalisation of temple worship and the monarchy, he is a most unconventional presence in the stories he inhabits.

The story of Elijah’s death and the passing of his prophetic mantle to Elisha (his successor), is designed to ensure no one is left in any doubt about how important Elijah’s ministry has been. The prophetic voice must be heard and understood as integral to the wellbeing of the people of Israel.

When Jesus is transfigured, he is seen with two crucial figures from Israel’s history - Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets). These two elements of law and prophetic spirit continue to be in dialogue with each other… and sometimes in tension.

We do well to listen for what the Spirit might be saying to us as we discern what it means to be the people of God today.

The ups and downs of life can be wearing at times. Not only the continual changes in circumstances that life often brings, but also the combined overall mood of the culture around us that can lift us or pull us down.

Isaiah spoke to the people of Israel at a time when they had been wearied by their years in exile. The people were struggling to believe life could get better again for them.

The prophet reminds the people that from where they take their bearings, radically alters one’s sense of what is going on.

Look to the powerful people (and their regimes) and you will get a particular impression. Look past those people, to One who can extinguish their temporal power in the blink of an eye, and you will get a very different, and invigorating, impression.

Isaiah recommends the latter!

If we hear teaching with authority, there are a number of ways in which that authority might function.

The sense of authority in the teaching might be by virtue of the identity or position of the teacher. It might be the critical mass of the group who’s attention the teacher commands. It may be the teacher’s qualifications, experience and expertise in a given field.

Jesus’ teaching with authority addressed the heart of his audience. He managed to activate an innate sense of what is true and what is in accordance with love. Then he called for a response.

He called people to follow him as he lived his teaching in front of them.

Despite the sense that history keeps repeating, the story of humanity is going somewhere. There has been a steady development of the ways in which societies have structured themselves and cared for the most vulnerable.

There have been key moments in this process. Jesus’ entry into history is one of these key moments.

Jesus wants people to know of God’s grace shaped love for all. He lives it and embodies this love among them. Jesus calls disciples to join him in the task of living and sharing this love. The story of human history has been changed irrevocably as a consequence.

Thanks be to God.

The process of being found by, and consequently finding Jesus, is one that changes the way we perceive everything.

We are brought up in an environment that tacitly indicates it is our responsibility to placate the divine powers. The reality is that the real threat is from within our own human survival instincts that will ultimately pit one against an other.

Jesus challenges this instinct and calls us to die to it. In its place we are instructed to give ourselves. A new approach that equips us to be for one another.

This is where divinity and humanity come together.

When we encounter paradox, it should alert us that our categories may be too small for the data we are observing.

Paradox is that moment when the way we have understood a thing (up to now) contradicts the way we have understood another thing (up to now).

This suggests there may be a way of understanding one or other (or both) things that we have not yet come to realise.

We may be hindered in perceiving in this new way due to the imprecision of our capacity for observation... or sometimes our unwillingness to see clearly(?!).

John’s prologue is full of paradox!

Not many of us would consider ourselves to be slaves. Yet, for how many of us is it the reality that we are driven?

The dynamic of God’s kingdom is that we are no longer slaves. We are no longer driven. We have been adopted as children. Called. Invited!

As children, we also inherit good things from our Heavenly Father. Not material stuff... eternally important stuff. The stuff that brings life to us and to the world.

When St Paul writes of a mystery that has been made known through the scriptures that leads to an obedience of faith to the glory of Jesus Christ, he is not simply stringing together a bunch of ideas because they sound interesting.

Paul is referring to the central awareness that the revelation of good news (news that has always been good) can only be engaged by faith. It has always been accessible by faith. But nothing and no one in all of history has displayed it quite so clearly as Jesus.

The glory it reveals is a uniquely Jesus shaped glory. Not the glory of monarchs, millionaires or movie stars. This is the glory of a love stronger than death!