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The lectionary reading for this coming Sunday is one that I devote a chapter to in my book\u00a0What Jesus Learned from Women<\/em><\/a>. If you\u2019re a minister still trying to figure out what to preach this Sunday, I commend it to you. Indeed, I\u2019d like to hear from anyone who uses my book (whether an individual chapter or the whole thing as a sermon series) for the purpose of preaching. I could see it being helpful, and can even imagine preachers reading the short fiction to their congregations in that context. (Obviously, if you don\u2019t have the book yet and need it for sermon preparation for this coming Sunday then getting the Kindle version of the book<\/a> is probably the best way to go.)<\/p>\nLet me include other things related to the book in this post. First, I\u2019m grateful to Myrna Kostash for mentioning my book in her recent blog post, \u201cWho Framed Mary Magdalene? Part One.\u201d<\/a> There she quotes a sentence from the book part of which serves as the title of this blog post. Here it is in full:\u00a0\u201cThe tradition that Mary was a prostitute is among the most extraordinary and implausible inventions ever woven out of Gospel texts\u201d (p.229).<\/p>\n Returning to this week\u2019s lectionary text, John Squires discusses my treatment of the number twelve in the story about Jairus\u2019 daughter and the hemorrhaging woman<\/a>. See also:<\/p>\n