Lections for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, September 16, 2018.

Who do you say that Jesus is? (Mark 8:29) Yes, the people needed a new hero. Some decades back, Herod the Great had failed to keep the Roman legions at bay. Israel was once more a vassal state, militarily occupied and economically controlled by gentiles. The Sinai covenant shattered. A once proud and faithful nation …

Lections for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, September 9, 2018.

Be Opened (Mark 7:34) Mark brings to us this weekend perhaps the most unconventional of the encounters Jesus has with anyone in the gospels. It is one that breaks many conventions of the time, and some that we experience yet today. Jesus is by himself, in an undisclosed residence, most likely taking a break from …