Month: October 2024

Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that [‘YHWH] is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself — this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question [Mark 12:32-34]. Two weeks into my first Economics course at Wake Forest, I was hooked. I couldn’t…

Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way [Mark 10:49-52]. In this Sunday’s Gospel reading [the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B], Jesus is making his final journey to Jerusalem. On the…

So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” [Hebrews 5:5-6]. In 1969-70, during my freshman year at Wake Forest, one could drive one’s car from Winston-Salem to Gastonia in a bit less than three hours (the Interstate system hadn’t yet been completed). Of course, that fact was mostly theoretical for me. I didn’t have a car to drive. And, even if I had, it would have made little difference;…

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God [Mark 10:25]. Since the Revised Common Lectionary repeats itself every three years, it must have been 33 years ago, when one of our sons, Blair, was 10 (and I was 40), that he and I had a memorable conversation regarding the Gospel lesson appointed for this upcoming Sunday, Mark 10:17-31 [Proper 28, The Season after Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. You know the lesson well. It’s the one about “Jesus and the rich man.” At the time, my day job was at Duke Law School,…

When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars You fixed firm, what is man that You should note him, and the human creature, that You pay him heed, and You make him little less than the gods, with glory and grandeur you crown him? [Psalm 8:4-5]. For a number of years now, Jane and I have joined some of our closest Erskine College/Gastonia friends for a Spring get-together, either on Edisto Island or Pawley’s Island. The beach house on Edisto offers an unusual vantage point. Many ocean-front homes provide a beautiful sight of the morning dawn, since the sun rises in the east.…