Mark 10: 46-52 John 8: 31-36 Romans 3:19-28 Dear Partner in Preaching, It’s a peculiar pattern in Scripture that those who have every reason to worship and give thanks, too often don’t, while those who seem afflicted and have all kinds of reason to doubt or complain, often surprise you with their profound faith. Or maybe it’s not so much that it’s a peculiar pattern in Scripture, but in life. Blessings for which we were once grateful are all too soon taken for granted. No longer unmerited blessing, they quickly become, at least in our fallen imagination, somehow accomplishments or, worse, entitlements. And then life gets in the way...

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...

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...