John 8:2-11

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Painting by Yongsung Kim

This series was originally preached at James’ church Wellspring Worship Centre - a diverse and Jesus loving community found in Toronto.

Matthew 14:22-31

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Can’t you just hear the disappointment

Once again Peter you’ve tried and you failed.

Much better to be those disciples who didn’t try at all. And the artwork around this…really reflects Peter’s failure.

But what if we read this differently. What if read this as Jesus helps Peter walk on water.

This series was originally preached at James’ church Wellspring Worship Centre - a diverse and Jesus loving community found in Toronto.

For the next few weeks we shall be focusing on some of the sub-headings in the bible - things that translators have added to help make the bible more accessible. But also take a closer look at how they can sometimes miss a lot of the story.

These sub-headings shape our reading of the text. If a sub- heading tells me about a prodigal son I’m not likely to pay as much attention to the other characters in the parable. Ultimately these subtitles were put there by people, often with very good intentions to help make the bible easier to read…but sometimes they miss the point. And sometimes scripture is just so rich that there is no way that a few words could sum it up.

So join us as we flip the script and dig deeper into the scripture that we love so much.

Here is the picture of the NIV translation team that we mentioned in the podcast

This series was originally preached at James’ church Wellspring Worship Centre - a diverse and Jesus loving community found in Toronto.