The New Christian
Bible Study

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of his disciples while they were walking to the village of Emmaus. They didn't recognize him at first.

In the Easter story, in the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb first, on the Sunday morning. She sees that the stone has been rolled away from where it was sealing Jesus's tomb, and that Jesus's body is not there.

In this story, on the Monday after Palm Sunday, Jesus re-enters Jerusalem, goes to the temple, and drives out the moneychangers and people who were selling animals for sacrifices. He overturns tables, and takes a whip, and uses it to clean out the temple. So, what's this story about for us?

What does the New Church teach about Easter? It's a short question, but it involves a big network of connected ideas. It can't be answered right in a sound bite, so bear with me…

Jesus tells a story - the parable of the talents - in which the master goes away and the servants are able to use the master’s wealth as they wish. It is by investing the Lord’s truths in life for His sake, even though He seems absent, that we gain something more which will serve us in the next life.

It's a busy day at the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Martha's working hard, feeding guests, and Mary is sitting and listening to Jesus. Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help. He doesn't; instead reproving her gently. It doesn't seem fair, on the face of it. But here's what's going on in the internal sense of the story...

God is often described as angry or jealous in the Old Testament. How does this fit into our idea of God being loving and forgiving? The answer is in understanding the difference between anger and zeal.