Mark 9:30-37 The disciples are thick-headed, of course. Or at least that seems to be the impression Mark wants to leave with us as he portrays their conversation with Jesus now. I mean, can there be any other reasonable explanation for the content of their conversation immediately in the wake of Jesus’ harrowing description of …
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Then and Now: Picking Up Our Crosses
Mark 8:27-38 When I was in my first year of seminary, it was ours to translate these powerful, oh-so-familiar words from Greek to English. Indeed, by now these words from Mark’s Gospel have been part of me for so long it is hard sometimes to find anything new to say about what it is to …
What to make of Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman?
Mark 7:24-37 First, this: I have struggled with my writing now for like many, I hardly know what to make of the scene we witness in Mark’s Gospel today. What you have here are my first thoughts on a difficult passage. I would welcome your thoughts as well. I know the woman Jesus meets in …
Orphans and Widows in Their Distress…Seeing the Invisible
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 James 1:17-27 As a pastor raised in the Lutheran tradition, I long ago learned to be cautious of the letter of James. Perhaps too much so, it seems to me know. Especially as the urging in his letter so perfectly brings home what seems to be the intent of the episode …
Near to the Brokenhearted
Psalm 34:15-22 I have been pastoring a long time now. And while the world has changed a great deal in the last three decades with the result that many of the ways in which my work is accomplished has also changed, something I learned early on through the modeling of others has not changed. And …
Bread and Wine, Flesh and Blood
John 6:51-58 It is an old story, this one, but one I still find myself standing still in from time to time. It came to mind in a particular way in these last days as I considered the down to earth grittiness of Jesus’ words for us this week. “Those who eat my flesh and …
The Bread of Life in Ordinary Bread
John 6:35, 41-51 It is a theme where I often pause, this one, where Jesus takes something we know so well we barely pause to take note of it, and imbues it with meaning far beyond that which was first intended. Surely not by the one who first discovered the rising power of yeast. Nor …
The Food that Endures…
John 6:24-35 I know that too much of the time I am among those who ‘work for the food that perishes’ rather than that which ‘endures for eternal life.’ I worry about things that in the end, do not matter. I check my bank account and my retirement account more often than I ought. I …
Multiplying Loaves and Fishes — and the Space in Our Hearts
John 6:1-21 It is so that we hear stories like the one in John’s Gospel today and it is easy to believe miracles like this don’t happen any more. I am here to tell you that they do, though. That there are times even now when unexpectedly the meager gifts we have are divided in …
Called to Reflect God’s Kingdom Economy…
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Now it is so that on a first read through there may not appear to be much that actually ‘preaches’ in this week’s Gospel. Indeed, the folks who put together our lectionary selections completely skipped over the vivid scene of Jesus feeding the five thousand (not counting the women and children) with …