Mark 8:3-38
“Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.”

One of the commentaries I read pointed out something that I had never noticed before. What does it mean when Jesus says that the Son of Man “must” do these things? He didn’t say “will” or “should” but “must”. Is he saying that his suffering and death are not a part of God’s plan but instead the way he understood his personal call? Is he saying he’d rather not but God is pretty insistent about it?
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Mark 1:9-15
“In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee ans was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”
The first insight I have here is hardly interesting or innovative. However, I have to say that it seems to me that Jesus is the only one who sees the Spirit and hears the voice. I find this important for two reasons. The first is that it underscores the interior, personal aspect of relationship with God. The second, related, reason is that it reminds us that, even when we are dealing with the Son of God, we cannot expect to see the visions and miracles we ask for as signs. We have to trust in what God teaches us, and compare that to those who claim to speak in his name. (more…)

Mark 9:2-10
“Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.”
After proclaiming last week my undying love for the immediacy with which everything happens in Mark, we have this passage that begins “[s]ix days later”. What the hell? Six days after Peter’s confession of Christ, Peter’s misunderstanding of Messiahship, and one of my favorite of Jesus’ teachings, they do this thing. I can’t figure out why. There’s no indication what day this might be, so there doesn’t seem to be a sabbath teaching. Why the wait? Or is this just one of those historical particularities that don’t really have any significance? (more…)

Mark 1:40-45
“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’”
Maybe it’s just because of the narrow range of commentaries I look to, but I was surprised that I didn’t read much about the odd formulation of the leper’s question. How one understands “[i]f you choose” will significantly affect one’s choice in the textual variant in v. 41. Is the leper being presumptuous, or is he truly concerned about Jesus’ desire to purify him? (more…)

Matthew 13:1-9
Call me a Jesus Seminarian (Seminar-ite? Seminar-izer?), but I’m cutting short the reading for this week. I don’t think Jesus gave the explanation that the lectionary includes, so rather than read it from the pulpit and ignore it, I’ll just leave it out.
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Matthew 7:21-29
“‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” The I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”
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Acts 2:1-21
I’m always interested in the narrative structure of the biblical books, and Luke never disappoints. The Magnificat preceding Jesus’ birth, the opening of his public ministry by reading Isaiah to his home town, and having Jesus ascend into space to cap off his ministry are all interesting things to explore. A lot of what he does is similar to how comic books tell stories, as I talked about in a sermon once. There was limited space, so everything included had to be important, like Spider-Man letting the guy who later killed his Uncle Ben escape. Each detail is significant.
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