In Mark 10:2-16, the assigned Gospel reading for Proper 22B, Mark (and Matthew) has placed back-to-back Jesus’ teachings on marriage and divorce and receiving the kingdom of God like a child as the first teachings he delivers on the road to Jerusalem. In the region of Perea, east of the Jordan, we find Jesus responding…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 21B
The readings in Proper 21B come around Mark’s recording of Jesus’ final teachings to his disciples in Galilee prior to his departure for Jerusalem. The appointed Gospel reading out of Mark 9:38-48 begins with our Lord’s response to John, who had reported the twelve attempted to stop a man from casting out demons in Jesus’…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 20B
At Proper 20B, we continue following Jesus (in Mark) in the last year of his ministry. It is obvious by Mark’s ordering of events and dialogue that Jesus is communicating his hardest teaching to his disciples in preparation for his departure. The Church assigns Mark 9:30-37, the narrative following last week’s Gospel reading. In it,…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 19B
At Proper 19B, the church moves forward the last year of Jesus’ ministry (two chapters ahead in the Gospel of Mark) to an incident immediately following the Transfiguration. Mark 9:14-29 tells the story of Jesus’ healing a boy with an evil spirit, a deed his disciples (those who did not climb the mountain) could not…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 18B
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…
