John 6:24-35 I find myself tagging along with the crowd today… wondering at what compelled them to keep after Jesus. Oh, Jesus says, and he is probably right, that they are persistent in their pursuit of him because of the free lunch they had just enjoyed. And this rings true, of course, because most of …
Month: July 2021
All These Broken Pieces: Twelve Baskets Full
John 6:1-21 This time through this familiar story, I find that I am really caught by Jesus telling the disciples to ‘gather up the fragments’ after so many had been fed with a boy’s lunch. Indeed, my imagination deepens when I look more closely at the translation, realizing that these ‘fragments’ are also often described …
Seeing With the Eyes of Jesus: Like Sheep Without a Shepherd
Psalm 23 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 I only have glimpses of what it is to see as Jesus did — harried as I often am even as those disciples must have been “with many coming and going and no leisure even to eat.” It is far too occasional that I am able to look at the …
The Beheading of John: Why Is This Story Even Told?
Mark 6:14-29 This has been a dark place to ‘live’ this week, with the fateful, gruesome end of John before us now. In fact, I have found myself wondering why Mark and Matthew chose to include this story at all, with all of its awful detail. Perhaps it is simply to ‘close the loop’ on …