The following is a reflection on Mark 4:35-41, the Gospel Lesson for Proper 7B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever felt like you were sinking in a raging sea, and no matter how hard you prayed, and how intently you looked for Jesus, Jesus just didn’t seem to be listening? Did you ever feel like you would […]
The following is a reflection on Mark 4:26-34, the Gospel lesson properly appointed for Proper 6B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. If you had to describe the sight of the ocean, to someone who’d never seen it before, where would you even start?
The following is a reflection on Mark 3:20-35, the Gospel lesson appointed for Proper 5B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. A couple of weeks ago, while sermonizing, I talked about The Way, the stunning movie about the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. It’s a story of journey, and grief, and loss—but it’s also a story of a group of complete and total misfits who come to hate each other…and […]
The following is a reflection on John 10-11-18, the Gospel lesson for the Easter 4B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. When talking about John 10, verses 11 through 18, it’s hard not to also talk about the first ten verses of the chapter—because for Jesus it’s one teaching with related metaphors. In 10:1-18, Jesus talks about a gate, a shepherd, a gatekeeper, a group of sheep, and a group of thieves and bandits. And […]
The following is a reflection on Luke 24:36b-48, the Gospel lesson for Easter 3B and the Thursday in Easter Week, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. The Gospel authors (especially Luke and John) go to great lengths to show that there’s something different about the resurrected Christ. Something so different that Mary Magdalene doesn’t recognize Jesus, and in fact mistakes him for the gardener, on Easter morning. And then the disciples on the road to […]
The following is a reflection on Mark 16:1-8, the secondary Gospel lesson for Easter.
The following is a reflection on the Passion in the Gospel of Mark. For a version of the Prayers of the People based on the Christ Hymn in Philippians, suited for use on Palm Sunday, click here. The portrayal of the Passion and Crucifixion in the Synoptics differs from the Gospel of John. In the Synoptics the Crucifixion is a moment of agony. Jesus is screaming screams of abandonment while being tortured.
The following is a reflection on John 3:14-21, the Gospel lesson for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. The scene of the brazen serpent (in Numbers 21:4-9) immediately makes me recall the serpent in the Garden of Eden. That the Israelites were punished for their thanklessness with deadly biting serpents, and then forced to look upon the image of another serpent to find a cure, makes me think […]
The following is a reflection on John 2:13-22. the Gospel lesson for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. But he was speaking of the temple of his body. In my imagination, it went something like this: It was a stunningly beautiful morning. You know that kind of morning? When the sun just seems to shine brighter, and the sky is so brilliant blue that it makes you stop […]
On the cross you don't just lose your life, but you do so in a wholly unfashionable way.