Dear Partner in Preaching, A lot rides on how you interpret Jesus’ surprising reaction to the request of the Syrophoenician woman. Okay, “surprising” is an understatement. How about down right rude? After all, she comes to him bowed down, in the posture of worship, begging that he cure her daughter of an unclean spirit, something we already know he can easily do. And yet he brushes her off, refusing her request and casting her aside, throwing in an ethnic slur just for good measure. And the haunting question is, why? Here’s the traditional answer to this question: He is not actually refusing her but rather testing her. That is,...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Welcome back to Mark! After six weeks in John’s “bread of life” chapter, you’re probably more than ready to come back to the extended story Mark is telling about Jesus. But what an odd place to land: right in the middle of an argument so routine it feels peculiar to read about it in the Bible. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure I’ve not only overheard this argument before, but actually participated in it. About washing your hands before dinner, that is. In fact, it was a fairly routine part of the day when my kids were younger (and only occasionally – but still! – a part of our...

John 6:56-69 Dear Partner in Preaching, Aren’t there moments – maybe many! – when you want to say just what “many of his disciples” said: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” Once again, it is as easier for me to identify with the crowds who misunderstand and question Jesus than with Jesus himself. Because what Jesus has been saying, and what we have heard these past four weeks, is indeed hard to listen to and hard to understand. That Jesus is the bread of life? That he provides the only food which truly nourishes? That he gives us his own self, even his own flesh and blood, to sustain us on our journey? These are...

John 6:51-58 Dear Partner, I’ll confess that there are times as I read the upcoming texts and prepare this letter to you that I am temtped to think – as, I imagine, many people (and perhaps some in our pews) think – that the Bible has precious little to do with real life. This week was one of those weeks. I mean, here we are, stuck in the middle of this argument between Jesus and the crowd who was following him about bread from heaven and Jesus’ nearly unintelligible and rather grotesque assertions about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Biblical scholars, I realize, can show that behind these verses a controversy rages...

John 6:35, 41-51 Dear Partner in Preaching, Once again I find that the crowd who follows Jesus speaks for us, or at least for me. St. John narrates that these people who have followed Jesus, regarded him as a teacher, and witnessed his miracles, also know him as one of their own. That is, they knew his parents and his brothers and sisters, they watched him play and learn his trade, grow up and eventually leave home. In other words, they know him, just like they know all the kids from their old neighborhood. And for this reason, you see – because he is just like them, because he is common –he can’t be all that special, and he...

John 6:24-35 Dear Partner in Preaching, How do you feel about surprises? I’ll be honest: I’m not wild about them. In fact, I’ve always been a bit leery of people who love surprises. Call me dull, but, for the most part, I like the predictable, the planned, the ordered. For surprises, good or bad, have this way of upsetting plans and catching you off guard, of making you feel all unsettled and unprepared and insecure. Now, don’t get me wrong, surprises in some areas of life are fine, even fun; but I still get rather nervous around people who love to surprise other people. Now, I know, I know, most people are well-intentioned when they...

John 6:1-21 Dear Partner in Preaching, For the next few weeks, as you undoubtedly know all too well, we are taking a break from Mark’s Gospel and foraying back into John. “Back” because of the amount of time we spent in John’s narrative in Lent and Easter. But now rather than jumping hither and yon through John’s story of Jesus, we’ll immerse ourselves for five weeks in just one chapter. A chapter rife with significance in John’s Gospel and in our own understanding of the sacraments. So rather than wonder how or why the lectionary makes this jump – a constant temptation for me, I must admit! – I’m simply going to suggest...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I am writing from a family cottage on the shores of Otsego Lake, in Cooperstown, NY, a place my family has come for more than a century. In this setting, and after a night’s sleep to the sound of gently lapping waves and anticipating a day of fun on the water with my kids, I’m inclined to write, as I did three years ago, on the importance of rest, of Sabbath, and of the role of the church to provide and encourage restorative rest. And, indeed, I am most grateful for this time of rest and recreation. Yet – perhaps precisely because I’ve had a few days rest after a pretty intense year – I will instead write...