Author: trob

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us [Mark 9:38]. About a half dozen folks who routinely read these weekly meditations shared the second grade with me back in 1958-59. Mrs. Davis, who taught about 40 miscreants…

Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me" [Mark 9:36-37]. The irony in this week’s Gospel lesson, Mark 9:30-37…

Losing Lives He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the…

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs” [Mark 7:27-28]. In last week’s Gospel, Jesus confronted “the Pharisees and some of the…

So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in…

And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered…

At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you” [1 Kings 3:5]. While some—perhaps many—might not recall the specifics of how Solomon came to be gifted with wisdom, few within our Judeo-Christian society would be unaware of that important Solomonic characteristic. Indeed, politicians,…

Introduction This week’s Gospel reading [John 6:35, 41-51, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B] confronts us with Jesus’ provocative self-identification, “I AM the bread of life” [John 6:35a]. In this week’s reading, Jesus repeats his statement three more times. His was not a slip of the tongue. For years now, I’ve been struck…

So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly,…

When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for…