This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 10:35-45. In March, I discussed this passage under the title A Good Leader Spends Himself. Then, I focused on servant leadership. Now, I’ll focus on suffering. Recently I heard the Canadian historian Dr Henry Abramson say that at the end of the last century, a Japanese …
Hypocrisy, meaning, and the special calling of Lutherans Read More »
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to consider Mark 10:17-31. The English Standard Version supplies the passage with the title “The Rich Young Man.” We frequently use two measures of wealth. First is annual income. Second is capital, or value of properties and cash. Magazines like Forbes publish lists of wealthiest people. The wealthy are …
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 10:2-16. The English Standard Version divides the portion into two passages. It supplies the title “Teaching about Divorce” to the first, and the title “Let the Children come to me,” to the second. I’ll focus on the first. In this passage, Mark tells us that “Pharisees” …
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 9:38-50. The English Standard Version divides the passage into two parts and supplies the headings “Anyone not Against us is for us,” and “Temptations to Sin.” I’ll focus on verse 38, which reads, John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your …
Can you define “transgender”?[1] If you think you can, stop reading this. Take out your pen or voice note recorder. Record what you think transgender means. Then, continue reading. I’ll assume that you’ve heard the word transgender before, that you know it has something to do with sex, and that you’re aware there’s controversy over …
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 9:30-37. The English Standard Version divides the passage into two portions. To the first, it supplies the heading, “Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection’” and to the second, the heading, “Who Is the Greatest?” Mark places the narratives after his account of the transfiguration of Jesus on …
This Saturday is the 14th day in September. It’s Holy Cross day. On this day, the lectionary invites us to ponder John 3:13-17. In the English Standard Version, these verses span two sections, with the headings “You Must Be Born Again,” and “For God So Loved the World.” Chow Kit is considered one of the …
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 7:24-37. The English Standard Version divides the passage into two parts and supplies them with the headings “The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith,” and “Jesus Heals a Deaf Man.” A year ago, I wrote about the parallel account in Matthew 15, about the Syrophoenician woman’s faith. I titled …
Jesus’ weird route and speech with a sharp mother, a deaf man, and his friends Read More »
This Sunday the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 7:1-23.[1] The English Standard Version divides it into two parts. It titles the first part “Traditions and Commandments” and the second part, “What Defiles a Person?” In the previous chapter, Mark described Jesus sending out the twelve members of his inner circle. He sent them out …
For the fifth and final week in a row, the lectionary invites us to ponder a passage from chapter 6 of the gospel of John. Today’s reading is John 6:56-69. The English Standard Version supplies it the title “The Words of Eternal Life.”[1] What do the words “eternal life” mean? For the majority of people, …
