Author: Al

Text: Mark 7:14-23
Date: Pentecost XIV + Proper 17 + 8/30/15

Last week at the beginning of Mark chapter 7 we heard the exchange between the officials from Jerusalem accusing Jesus’ disciples (and therefore Jesus Himself) of lawlessness, violating the rules and traditions of the elders concerning the ceremonial washing of hands before a meal. Jesus countered by labeling them hypocrites and legalists. In our discussion of the way of the Law and the way of the Gospel we ended with the observation that love is the fulfilling of the law. Today in the second half of chapter 7 Jesus turns from addressing the merely man-made religious traditions to the divine Law of God itself as summarized in the Ten Commandments. We discover that not only is love the fulfilling of the Law but that the love of Christ is actually the goal and end of the Law! Continue reading “My Heart Thy Royal Throne”

 

Text: Mark 7:1-13
Date: Pentecost XIII + Proper 16 + 9/23/15

Today St. Mark begins to describe the increasing hostility to Jesus by the official Jewish leadership which, of course, will culminate in our Lord’s crucifixion and death. In this confrontation by the high ranking Pharisees and selected scribes from Jerusalem Jesus refers to our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 29. In this word of the Lord we heard God’s accusation, saying, “You turn things upside down!” This, of course, is the habit of the rest of the world of spiritually blind sinners separated from the truth of God. This is why when Jesus delivers His Sermon on the Mount and specifically the Beatitudes that His words sound upside down to us! We refer to this classically as the confusion of Law and Gospel. The Law suggests a person is saved “only if,” only if you do the right works and lead the right kind of moral life. The Gospel on the other hand says clearly that salvation is, nevertheless, the free gift of God to all who will receive it. Continue reading “The Wor(l)d Upside Down”

Text: John 6:51-69
Date: Pentecost XII + Proper 15B + 8/16/15

There was just something in the way He spoke that drew us to Himself. Then there were the amazing healings. But even more amazing He fed us out in the middle of nowhere. I tasted the bread and the fish that He gave to His assistants to distribute to us sitting on the green grass. Then He disappeared for a time. We figured out that He took a boat to the other side of the lake. So I got into one of the boats while others ran around to the other side on land. Continue reading “You Will Live Forever”

Text: John 6:35-51
Date: Pentecost XI + Proper 14B + 8/9/15

They followed Jesus who healed them, who miraculously fed them and who was teaching them many things. They followed Him but they would not believe Him. Last week in John 6 we learned that our true, real and deepest need is not as much for food, clothing, shelter and health for this life but for an answer to sin and death and our eternal destiny. Today Jesus tells us about His mission of salvation with the goal of the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. But it’s not enough just to know about Him and His mission merely intellectually. A person must come to the point of believing in and trusting Him for Who He is and what He has done. Continue reading “Living Bread from Heaven”

Text: John 6:22-35
Date: Pentecost X + Proper 13B + 8/2/15

We have been following Jesus in Mark’s Gospel as the crowds followed Him around the Sea of Galilee. The people witnessed our Lord healing many sick people. While He taught them many things He also miraculously fed the 5,000 from just a few loaves of bread and some fish. Then we heard about Jesus walking on the sea to His distressed disciples and finally arriving on the other shore. St. John in his Gospel relates those same things but today he fills in some further words and teaching of Jesus to those who were following Him that are not mentioned in the other accounts. Continue reading “Miraculous Bread”

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"”