Author: Phillip Brandt

In the second half of the summer, the readings from the Gospel of Matthew direct our attention to the Church. For the past several weeks we have heard Jesus speak

Forgiveness has been our theme for three weeks now. Sept 10 we heard the first verses of Matthew 18 with the famous formula for restoring a brother. We too often

What are the limits of forgiveness? Peter asked Jesus that question in this week’s reading and I think we are still asking it. Our current age doesn’t put much stock

We come to the topic of forgiveness this week and we will stay there for some time. Two weeks ago we heard Peter confess the Christ and Jesus said that

What a difference a week makes, or how about a few verses. This past week we heard Peter make his confession of faith. Jesus is the Christ the Son of

Frederick Dale Bruner wrote a very good commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew which I have recommended elsewhere. He divides it into two volumes, the first he entitled “The

Are you ready to have your world turned upside down? Of course not. Who is? But you might want to brace yourself this week. Jesus is flipping the tables and

Jesus walks on water in this week’s Gospel reading. The phrase has remained in our popular parlance, even when people have no idea of the Gospel referent. Of course, we

Jesus feeds the multitudes. This miracle must have made an impact on the disciples. All four Gospels record it and the synoptics even record that Jesus repeated it with the