Coming to Proper 18B in the lectionary, we find Jesus and his disciples (in Mark’s Gospel) at the beginning of an eventful trek away from Galilee in the region of Decapolis, east of the Jordan River. There, according to the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:31-37, Jesus heals a deaf and mute man. In response,…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 17B
At the end of the series of Gospel readings from John 6 just completed, we received the hint that Jesus had returned to Capernaum (see Jn. 6:59). This week at Proper 17B, we return to the Gospel of Mark, where the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:1-23 records Jesus’ address to Pharisees and teachers of…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 16B
At Proper 16B, still following Jesus in his ministry in Galilee, we come to the assigned Gospel reading from John 6:60-69, where Jesus delivers a rebuke to his disciples (not the Twelve) concerning their stubborn hearts. Having finished with the unbelieving Jews, our Lord finds many of his supposed followers also grumbling about the expectations…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 15B
The basis for the readings selected for Proper 15B (except for the NT reading from Ephesians, which continues its own course) is the forceful determination with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks into the teeth of opposition by those John the Evangelist calls the Jews. The appointed Gospel reading from John 6:53-59 gives us the last…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 14B
In this next week of the Pentecost season, following the Proper 14B schedule of readings, we dig deeper into our meditation on Jesus as the bread of life. The assigned Gospel reading out of John 6:37-51 takes us to the next phase of our Lord’s conversation with the Jews who refuse to believe what he…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 13B
After taking us in our worship through Mark’s account of Jesus feeding the multitude and walking on water, the church now assigns readings on what happens next from the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, for the next four weeks. The Gospel reading John 6:24-35 relates the beginning of a tense dialogue between Jesus and some…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 12B
We come to Proper 12B, and, following Mark’s Gospel, we come to the narrative immediately following last week’s account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Mark 6:45-52 contains that Gospel’s briefer (compared with Matthew) but detail-rich account of our Lord’s walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee. My commentary below seeks to demonstrate…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 11B
This Sunday, in Proper 11B, we continue our liturgical walk with Jesus in Mark’s account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This is one of the few pre-Crucifixion incidents in Jesus’ ministry that appears in all four Gospels, and in Year B of the lectionary, it is scheduled so that we hear it twice…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 10B
In the Sunday lectionary, there is significant coverage of Jesus’ instructions to the apostles sent out on mission as recorded in the Gospels. In Year A, for three Sundays, we hear consecutive sections of Matthew 10 (a significant teaching discourse in Matthew on principles of missionary conduct). In Year B, Proper 10, the shorter version…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 9B
The common theme found in the assigned readings for Proper 9B is the dangers of speaking up for the Lord in answer to a prophetic calling. The church moves us forward in Mark’s narrative of Jesus’ ministry to Mark 6:1-6, the brief account (paralleled in Matthew 13:54-58) of a ministry stop of our Lord in…
