Mark 6:30-44 I find this passage in Mark’s Gospel to be an absolutely amazing and instructive passage – and not just because of the Feeding of the 5000. We will have plenty of opportunities to meditate on that famous miracle, but today I see something else of great importance in this passage: in fact, several things. If you look closely, Mark 6:30-44 (and the passages leading up to it), provides a 7-step mini-handbook for the life of a disciple of... Read more
Mark 6:7-13 In this passage Jesus the Great Master sends out His disciples, in particular the 12, to go and be His presence in the world. Jesus knows that in His human form He is limited in space: He can only be in one place at a time. He also knows that His time is limited, for He knows the terrible mission He is on. Therefore, in keeping with the Kingdom parables He tells, He insures that His Kingdom will... Read more
James 1:1-11 Et tu, James? You, too, along with St. Paul are commanding me to rejoice in my trials? To which St. James replies simply: “Exactly.” I welcome the break from St. Paul’s weighty letters, hoping to catch a breather from his demanding gospel, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the apostolic tradition that we are to keep. I was looking forward, to a break from Paul’s constant emphasis on how we are to respond to suffering... Read more
2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 I get upset when I hear of those who call themselves Christians and yet insist on their right to disobey God – and I’ll bet you do too. As an Anglican, in the past few years I’ve heard a lot of self-professed Christians insist that homosexuality is not a sin – in clear violation of God’s holy commandments. It’s relatively easy to see this as a clear refusal to obey God’s commandments, but I’m constantly surprised at... Read more
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 Why is St. Paul so concerned about the “abundant life”? What is this abundant life of which he speaks? Some would have you believe that this “abundant life” is the same thing as material prosperity. If so, I think St. Paul would have been surprised that he wasn’t living a very abundant life after all! In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, Paul urges and exhorts the Thessalonians to “abound more and more,” and in verse 4:10 he urges them... Read more
1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 There are a lot of myths that we receive in American culture that are not necessarily consistent with the life in Christ revealed in the Bible. One of these is what I call the Myth of Graduation. We like graduations, and with good reason. Graduations mark the times when we have graduated or progressed from one stage of life to another. So we graduate from high school or college, not only because we have survived a particular... Read more
1 Thessalonians 2:1-13 St. Paul’s ministry is both so fruitful and so apostolic that we might be tempted to think that such fruit is only for apostles, or bishops or pastors. Not so! While none of us will ever have the same apostolic ministry Paul had and very, very few will ever have the scope of his ministry (maybe if you’re a pope or a patriarch you might), we can all minister in the same way that St. Paul ministered.... Read more
Monday of Epiphany 5 – 1 Thessalonians 1 In 1 Thessalonians we are privileged to see the remarkable ministry of St. Paul in action in a different church, the Church at Thessalonica. While for so much of 2 Corinthians Paul’s focus was on his ministry and how he has served, needing to defend his apostolic ministry against those who would undermine his ministry, the focus on 1 Thessalonians 1 is equally on the Church at Thessalonica. Often, we have a... Read more
Saturday of the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany – John 7:37-52 “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” This image of rivers of living water is scattered all throughout the Holy Scriptures. Jesus may be referring to passages such as Isaiah 12:3 (“Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”); Isaiah 43:20 (“Because I give waters in... Read more
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Tuesday of Septuagesima Sunday – Mark 6:14-29
Mark 6:14-29 “The truth is out there.” So says the TV series The X-files. And the Truth is indeed out there, but what John the Baptist proved by his life is that the Truth needs truth-bearers to stand up and proclaim it. Only if those who know the Truth proclaim the Truth will the Truth be known to a false and lying world. We have a problem with the truth, though. It begins early with lying. As a parent, I’ve... Read more