Text: Mark 6:45-56
Date: Pentecost IX + Proper 12B + 7/26/15
Last Sunday we heard of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Mark told us that when Jesus “saw a great crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk 6:34). We are to know that you and I are in that great crowd, that is, that Jesus has compassion on you! Continue reading “The Ruler of All Cares for You”
Text: Mark 6:30-44
Date: Pentecost VIII + Proper + 11B + 7/19/15
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Jesus and the apostles took a break for rest in a desolate place. But the crowds figured it out and ran ahead of them. When Jesus saw this huge crowd, as many as ten thousand or more, St. Mark says, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Surely the people knew and often prayed Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Jesus saw them as sheep. Do you think they saw Jesus as this shepherd, this Lord? Continue reading “Symposia”
Text: Mark 6:14-29
Date: Pentecost VII + Proper 10B + 7/12/15
Did you notice what’s missing in today’s Gospel? We are called every Sunday to worship and to proclaim the name of Jesus, yet His name doesn’t even appear once here. Oh, it is supplied in your printed version but our Lord is there actually only referred to with the pronoun “his” in the original. Why all of a sudden does St. Mark go on and on here about Herod Antipas tetrarch (not really “king”) of Galilee and Perea (4 bc-ad 39), and all of the confusing actors and actresses of Herod’s family, Herodias, his brother Philipp (spelled with one “l” and to “p”s at the end!), and the daughter of Herodias by another marriage? Very confusing; and how all of this gives us the most detailed information regarding the martyrdom of John the Baptist than we get from any of the other Gospels. So what are we to make of all this that it may allow us to preach about Jesus? Continue reading “A Man of His Word”
Text: Mark 6:1-13
Date: Pentecost VI + Proper 9B + 7/5/15
The call to salvation of the Christian gospel begins with the word “repent.” When the prophet Ezekiel was called, summoned, commissioned by God he was sent to preach repentance “to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me,” said the Lord (Ezek 2:3). When John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the Lord he “appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). The first sermon Jesus preached was identical to John’s saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Today we hear of our Lord sending out the twelve to proclaim “that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). Martin Luther said as of first importance that the Christian life consists in daily repentance. And so today, as every Sunday and every day, we hear the call again, “Repent.” We need to hear that divine summons because we sin daily, “Repent.” The community of those around us need to hear that call, for all have sinned, “Repent.” The whole world and especially our nation needs to hear the command, though leaders and people, all clans, all races, all mobs, all gangs be flying off the tracks of morality and sanity, “Repent.” Continue reading “Receiving or Rejecting the Word–"Repent"”
Text: Mark 6:1-13
Date: Pentecost VI + Proper 9B + 7/5/15
The call to salvation of the Christian gospel begins with the word “repent.” When the prophet Ezekiel was called, summoned, commissioned by God he was sent to preach repentance “to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me,” said the Lord (Ezek 2:3). When John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the Lord he “appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). The first sermon Jesus preached was identical to John’s saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Today we hear of our Lord sending out the twelve to proclaim “that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). Martin Luther said as of first importance that the Christian life consists in daily repentance. And so today, as every Sunday and every day, we hear the call again, “Repent.” We need to hear that divine summons because we sin daily, “Repent.” The community of those around us need to hear that call, for all have sinned, “Repent.” The whole world and especially our nation needs to hear the command, though leaders and people, all clans, all races, all mobs, all gangs be flying off the tracks of morality and sanity, “Repent.” Continue reading “Receiving or Rejecting the Word–"Repent"”
