Mark 10:35-45 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t know about you, but I find the irony of this story as painful as it is abundant. Actually, make that plural: ironies. First, and lest we forget the verses just before these, James and John make their secret request to Jesus for greatness just after his third – and most graphic – declaration that he will go to Jerusalem where, among other things, the religious authorities will “mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him.” Just what kind of glory are you thinking he’ll be giving you, James and John? Second, two will indeed be seated at Jesus’ right and left in just...

Mark 10:17-31 Dear Partner in Preaching, I am blessed to have far more wonderful things to do each than I can possibly accomplish, so I am running behind on this post yet again. Because the week is quickly running away and my to-do list is still quite long, I’ve simply jotted down a few observations from previous and more recent encounters with this text below, hoping they are minimally helpful. In no particular order, an uneven, but biblically significant :), seven thoughts: 1) On how these stories work: It’s easy to think that this is somehow about a guy who lived a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away?) who loved his...

Mark 10:2-16 Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes the issue isn’t really the issue. Do you know what I mean? Someone comes to you with an issue – perhaps a criticism of something going on in the parish or, more personally, of something you’ve done – but the real issue isn’t that at all, but rather that that person wasn’t invited to join the committee working on that project… or wasn’t visited in the hospital (even though they didn’t let anyone know they were in the hospital!)… or is experiencing a rupture in an important relationship… or just received a terrifying diagnosis and can hardly make sense of it. And sometimes...

Mark 9:38-41* Dear Partner in Preaching, From whom would you accept a cup of cold water? I ask that question because I think this week’s reading contains some of the more heart-breaking lines in Scripture: “And we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” Just pause and think about that for a moment. The disciples come across someone who, as they report to Jesus, was “casting out demons in your name.” That is, they came across someone who was relieving intense misery, following Jesus’ example (keep in mind that Jesus’ first act of power to demonstrate God’s coming kingdom is to cast out a demon), and doing so...

If you happen to be in or near the Twin Cities September 30 or October 1, I want to invite you to Mount Olivet Lutheran Church (5025 Knox Ave., Mpls) for several events featuring Dr. Timothy J. Wengert, Emeritus Professor of Reformation History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Beyond being a world-renowned Reformation scholar and the author or editor of more than 20 books, Tim is one of the finest teachers in the church today. He was my advisor and mentor while I was a student at LTSP and the most important and influential teacher in my career. If you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll come by. And feel free to...

Mark 9:30-37 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t think that the question of greatness has gone away since Jesus’ day. From Muhammad Ali’s signature boast a generation ago about being “the greatest” to the best-known slogan of the 2016 election – “Make America great again” – we continue to discuss and debate what constitutes greatness. And that question is at the heart of the passage chosen for this Sunday. The scene has a familiar ring to it. Having just heard Mark’s account of Jesus’ prediction of his passion at Ceasarea Philippi, and Peter’s rejection of that mission, our hearers will likely note the similarity of...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I’m going to take a brief hiatus over the next five weeks as we traverse the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John. The last time I took a break from writing this weekly column was six years ago and at the time I wrote a column at Working Preacher suggesting a sermon series on the Bread of Life passages and offering a few thoughts and a question each week to help with that, which is linked here. I’ll also put links to the letters I wrote to you on these texts in this space three years ago. While I don’t like offering up previous work, I will admit – which is not easy for me to do – that I...

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Dear Partner in Preaching, So late in the week, I know (and apologize), so just a few thoughts for those who have been procrastinating. 🙂 “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” (Mk 6:31) – one of my favorite verses as it offers such a gracious invitation. I can almost imagine Jesus’ voice saying these words and always start to relax the moment I hear or read this verse. And yet… And yet the get no rest. Crowds see where they are going and get there ahead of them. Or, I should say, crowds in need get there ahead of them and Jesus can’t refuse them. Not here, and not a...

Mark 6:14-29 Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ll be honest, when this story comes along once every three years, my first response is to scratch my head in bewilderment. I mean, what is going on? Or, more particularly, what is going on with Mark? Usually the soul of brevity whose favorite word, if not middle name, is “immediately,” Mark luxuriates over this gruesome scene for sixteen whole verses – a veritable novella in relation to the rest of his Gospel! Not only that, but it is the only story Mark tells in which Jesus makes no appearance. And it’s told in flashback, the only time Mark employs this particular literary device. So,...

Mark 6:1-13 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t know about you, but I think it was rather gutsy of Mark to share this story. I mean, he didn’t have to tell his readers about a time when Jesus seems nearly powerless. Some writers might have omitted this story for fear it undermined their larger portrait of Jesus. Not only that, but it stands in such sharp contrast to the previous chapters where Jesus’ power – over illness and evil spirits and even over death itself – seems nearly limitless. No, he didn’t have to tell this story. Or did he? This week we have, on the one hand, two rather discreet stories from Jesus’ ministry that...