Will Vaus

I would like to highlight for you seven aspects of the passion narrative of Jesus from John 19:16-42.... First, there is the timing of the Passion. As William Barclay points out, John gives us a different picture of the timing of the Passion from the Synoptic Gospels. Barclay writes, Undoubtedly Mark wished to show the Last Supper as a Passover meal and that Jesus was crucified on Passover day; and Matthew and Luke follow Mark. On the other hand John is quite clear that Jesus was crucified on the day before the Passover…. There is here a contradiction for which there is no compromise solution. Either the Synoptic gospels are correct or John is. Scholars are much divided. But it seems most likely that the Synoptics are correct. John was always looking for hidden meanings. In his story Jesus is crucified at somewhere near the sixth hour (Jn 19:14). It was just then that in the Temple the Passover lambs were being killed. By far the likeliest thing is that John ...

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples  2  and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.  3  If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’”  4  They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it,  5  some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”  6  They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it.  7  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it.  8  Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.  9  Then those who went ahead and t...

This past weekend at  Stowe Community Church  we hosted my friend  Steve Russo  for a youth outreach. On Friday, he spoke in our local public high school on the topic of choices. Then we had a youth event at the church that evening. On Saturday, Steve spoke to parents. And on Sunday he spoke in our two worship services at 9:30 am and 4:30 pm. Here is a link to the audio of Steve's message from our morning worship service:  Psalm 139 . Enjoy!

I would like to do something different this morning instead of simply reading the Scripture from Mark 2:1-12. I would like for you to imagine the scene described…. Imagine that you are living in first century Palestine and that you are standing outside a house in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee. Can you picture the stone walls and the roof made of earth and straw? Do you see a crowd gathered around, wearing robes, and having dusty, sandaled feet? Can you smell the sea air? Do you hear the sound of the seagulls in the distance? Can you feel the warmth of the sun on the back of your neck? Perhaps you can smell the sweat of bodies packed close around and in this simple house with its few small rooms clustered around an open courtyard. Can you still savor the strong taste of the fish you had for breakfast? Now I want you to imagine who you are in this scene. First, there is a crowd of people. Why are you there in the crowd in the first place? Perhaps you’ve heard the rumors sp...