As part of our Lenten self-denial, in the spirit of Lent, today’s message will be a little longer than usual, and I do know that I can already run, um,…
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Prestige, status, honor, respect, deference—marks of power and authority. The authority comes by virtue of the office, the position. We tend to show respect and deference to a police officer…
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Mark presents what’s happening over these Sundays as a consecutive series of encounters, sharp arguments and stunning responses, all in the Temple, in the course of a single day, just…
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The resurrection—one of the essentials of the Christian faith. I’m not really sure that a person can properly call him or herself a Christian without believing in Christ’s resurrection and…
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The Sabbath was God’s gift, God’s blessing for His people. The one thing you do not do, then, is fail to honor and respect the gift. That would dishonor the…
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People were just floored by how Jesus spoke and taught. “[H]e taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Mk 7:29). The rabbis said,…
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But we’ve always done it that way. What is that tried-and-true definition of insanity: repeating the same actions while expecting a different result? Because Jesus did not do the things…
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The Word of God stands, complete. We don’t quite know what to do with it, though. We know the Old Testament is part of the Bible. We don’t quite know…
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“[T]he eternal Son of God was a guest at a feast.”[1] You could do worse than to have Jesus as a guest at your celebration. I haven’t been sure how…
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About a century ago, a man named Henry H. Halley brought out his Bible Handbook: An Abbreviated Bible Commentary. In his comments about what I just read from Mark, Halley…
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