My reading of this very famous scene, the root of the centuries old church celebrations of Palm Sunday, carries a particular weight during this decidedly peculiar time in the world’s history. All humanity is under caution due to the worldwide pandemic of the Coronavirus. In my city of Los Angeles, all bars, dine-in restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, sporting events, concerts are closed or cancelled until further notice. Even my barber has closed his small shop, where he has practiced his... Read more

We are definitely in it now, a real, honest-to-goodness pandemic, birthed by the wide spread of the Coronavirus. Yesterday in my state, California, the governor first urged restaurants and bars to search for ways to keep patrons somehow distant from one another, but quickly decided it was far better to close such establishments completely for at least two weeks until the end of March. It is nearly certain that that period will be extended. The mayor of my city, Los... Read more

At the end of Lent, it is common for the lectionary of whatever sort to present the preacher/teacher with the apocalyptic material from whichever gospel is being addressed. This is so, because next week brings the start of Holy Week with Jesus’s immortal donkey ride into Jerusalem that kicks off the tragedies and triumphs of Good Friday and Easter. Mark, as the first gospel writer, set the tone by presaging the end of his tale with this strange and elusive... Read more

I have been meeting once a month over the past couple of years with a group of members from the church I attend. It is an early morning breakfast group that has been assembling for nearly fifty years to discuss issues that affect the church and the world of which it is a part. There are usually 10-15 people who come. It is billed as a “men’s breakfast,” but over the years our church has been ably lead by women... Read more

As usual Mark gives us something quite unique in his recounting of the confrontation between Jesus and a “scribe,” more fully understood as a teacher of the law, one who expounds the meanings of the Torah for the Jewish community. Mark sets the dialogue between the two in the context of a disputation between Jesus and the Sadducees concerning the proper interpretation of what happens to a childless widow who marries seven brothers in succession in fulfillment of the command... Read more

In spite of all those alliterative “p’s,” of the title, I really do have something serious to say today about the ongoing, seemingly interminable, presidential election season. Let me be clear: the upcoming November, 2020 election is the most important election in my lifetime, both for our nation and for the planet’s future. This is no exaggeration at all. In my 73 years I have witnessed several important presidential elections. The 1960 context between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon was... Read more

I write this article at the end of a fascinating political week. This past Tuesday 14 states held their presidential primaries, the result of which vaulted Joe Biden to the head of the Democratic pack. Various adjectives were employed by the pundits to describe Biden’s rise from the ashes of almost certain defeat after his dismal showings in Iowa and New Hampshire; in fact, many of those same pundits had consigned Joe to the dustbin of history and had anointed... Read more

As the Markan Jesus becomes increasingly dark with predictions about the coming catastrophe, the disciples grow increasingly dense in their inability to grasp what their leader must face. In reality, the disciples are likely obtuse precisely because they do not wish to understand what his brooding comments may mean; if even a glimmer of insight breaks into their brains, they do not desire to participate at all in what Jesus will undergo. They, like us, wish to bask in the... Read more

The idea of Sabbath is a very difficult sell in 21st century America. In the capitalist USA, a place that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the notion of a “day of rest” is well nigh laughable. After all, someone is always working around us, from the night watchman in the building to the sanitation worker in the early morning to the CEO on her way to another overseas meeting. Even those of us who are retired... Read more

In this brief section of Mark’s Gospel we find four separate pieces of story and teaching that Mark splices together to again confront the readers with the strict and all- encompassing demands of discipleship. The section begins as “someone” ran up to Jesus, “knelt before him,” and questioned him, “Good teacher, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life” (Mark 10:17)? More famously in Matthew and Luke, this “someone” becomes “a ruler,” hence the more familiar designation, “the... Read more