Month: January 2024

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them [Mark 1:29-31]. My reading of Mark’s Gospel reveals—at least to me—that the author often carefully uses contrasting scenes to make his points. For example, in last week’s Gospel reading, Mark 1:21-28—that last week I chose the OT selection from Deuteronomy for my meditation—Jesus publicly entered Capernaum, along with Simon (Peter) and…

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet [Deuteronomy 18:15]. For a number of years, prior to our migration to Blacknall Presbyterian about four years ago, I had the pleasure of being part of an engaging, devoted men’s study group at Trinity Avenue Presbyterian that meets each Wednesday morning. I recall one Wednesday’s discussion of the Israelites’ “golden calf” incident set forth in Exodus 32. I’m sure you recall most of the details. In any event, during the discussion, one of my friends posed an interesting question. He said, Of all the sins named…

And after that, John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, “The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel” [Mark 1:14-15, Douay-Rheims Bible]. I’m clearly showing my age here, but in 1970, about the time that Jane and I began our yearlong engagement to be married—at the time, we were both mature 19-years-olds—the most popular movie was Erich Segal’s Love Story, starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw. At some point in the movie, Ryan’s character says something in anger to Ali’s character, but then he quickly apologizes. Those in my generation…

  And the lad Samuel was ministering to the LORD in Eli’s presence, and the word of the LORD was rare in those days, vision was not spread about. And it happened on that day that Eli was lying in his place, his eyes had begun to grow bleary, he could not see. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying in the temple of the LORD, in which was the Ark of God [1 Samuel 3:1-3, The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Robert Alter]. Over the past year or so, I have had multiple separate—although parallel—conversations with two close friends who have never met, and…

When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light [Genesis 1:1-3, The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Robert Alter]. For those who follow the liturgical calendar, for the first Sunday after Epiphany, the focus is always on the Baptism of our Lord. This Sunday’s Gospel reading is Mark 1:4-11, the first recorded Gospel’s brief account of John’s baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. At first blush, the pairing of that Gospel text with the assigned OT reading [Genesis 1:1-5, RCL, Year B]…