Holy Textures is a spot for my musings on the various Biblical texts that come our way through the Revised Common Lectionary.
My goal is to provide timely, short, easy to use and faith-provoking background commentary for your sermon or bible study preparation.
Year B - Season after Pentecost - 2018, Part 2
September to Reign of Christ or Christ the King
One of the things I like about Year B with its focus on Mark is that we get a fuller reading of the Gospel text. A richer, more detailed hearing of Mark's narrative, of Mark's testimony, of Mark's proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The questions I ask myself in each of the commentaries below are always: "Why was this Good News at the time of Jesus? Why is this Good News for us, here and now?" I pray you will be able to use these offerings to respond to those questions in your own context.
Note that in Pentecost, the Sundays are numbered as "after" Pentecost Sunday. So the first Sunday after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, is Pentecost 1. And because the dates of Easter and Pentecost change each year, so do the number of Sundays that follow Pentecost.
Pentecost 15
September 2, 2018
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
"The struggle that every community in every age - including our own - faces is how can the 'tradition of the elders,' which has given us our identity, now be changed so that what was good in it - the desire to live according to the will of God - can actually be expressed in our current circumstances."
Pentecost 16
September 9, 2018
Mark 7:24-37
"The racial and religious differences between Jesus and the Gentile woman are unchanged. But what has changed is that courage and caring for a daughter have been shown to be acceptable to God - even when they come from a Gentile heart; even when they come from a woman's heart; even when they come from the heart of a woman who has publically shamed herself by being out alone, by speaking to a man, and by daring to speak back to a man."
Pentecost 17
September 16, 2018
Mark 8:27-38
"Poor old Peter. In verse 30, he calls Jesus, the Messiah. Three short verses later, Jesus is calling Peter, 'Satan.'"
Pentecost 18
September 23, 2018
Mark 9:30-37
"The disciples response of not understanding, being afraid to ask, and then being silent echoes the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Their initial reaction of being afraid to ask breaks communication with Jesus; breaks their relationship with him. It leaves them with only themselves to talk to, and it leads them to do things for which they feel ashamed to name."
Pentecost 19
September 30, 2018
Mark 9:38-50
"The Good News in this parable is ... that Jesus knows we will stumble and expects us to show up in Heaven lame and scarred by the inner struggle to be true to our loyalty to God as frail and faulty human beings."
Pentecost 20
October 7, 2018
Mark 10:2-16
"Jesus is being tested for his detailed knowledge of the Torah and his ability to demonstrate wisdom in his application of it to real life issues."
Thanksgiving Sunday (Canada)
October 7, 2018
Matthew 6:25-33
"The opposite of worry / fear / anxiety is faith - or better still - trust."
Pentecost 21
October 14, 2018
Mark 10:17-31
"The only way to 'inherit' eternal life is to be the eldest son of the one who owns eternal life. Everyone else can only receive eternal life as a freely given gift from the owner."
Pentecost 22
October 21, 2018
Mark 10:35-45
"Jesus says that his followers are to treat one another as they would treat their own family: meeting each other's needs without concern for pay back."
Pentecost 23
October 28, 2018
Mark 10:46-52
"Notice that Mark says Bartimaeus is told that it is 'Jesus of Nazareth' - which identifies Jesus only by his low cast, peasant, hillbilly status by birth - but Bartimaeus SHOUTS out, 'Jesus, Son of David' - identifying Jesus by his God-given status."
All Saints
November 1, 2018
John 11:32-44
"Using this text for All Saints is problematic because it confuses RESTORED life with RESURRECTED life."
Pentecost 24
November 4, 2018
Mark 12:28-34
"No one in that crowd of both opponents and admirers would dispute, "Love of God," as the greatest commandment. But when Jesus goes on and links it to, "Love of neighbour as oneself," he has lifted attachment to the welfare of one's neighbours above all other duties and obligations."
Pentecost 25
November 11, 2018
Mark 12:38-44
"The widow who has given "all she had to live on" foreshadows the coming contribution of Jesus to his mission of proclaiming God's Good News of non-violent justice in the face of Rome's violent injustice. Like the widow, Jesus holds nothing back."
Pentecost 26
November 18, 2018
Mark 13:1-8
"Whatever system of government may currently be in power, God's Royal Proclamation comes as a Word that evokes an accounting from - and possibly a confrontation with - earthly rulers. And as Jesus simply observes: don't be led astray, earthly rulers never accept accounting kindly. There will be resistance."
Pentecost 27
Reign of Christ or Christ the King
November 25, 2018
John 18:33-37
"Thus the tension in the Gospels is not between Jesus and 'the Jews.' The tension is between Jesus the Galilean hillbilly proclaimer of the coming of God's Kingdom of non-violent justice and the Judean snobbish elites who are also collaborators of the Roman Empire of violent non-justice."
Thanksgiving Sunday (USA)
November 25, 2018
Matthew 6:25-33
"The opposite of worry / fear / anxiety is faith - or better still - trust."
Short, easy to use, faith inspiring explanations of the meaning of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John for your sermon, homily, bible study, or reflection.
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