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Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
Proper 28B
Comments and Observations All right! Enough already! For what seems like the 10th time, the author of Hebrews comes back to his theme that Christ is better than the whole system of the Jewish faith (a theme that will seem politically incorrect to many a contemporary reader and listener). He covers the same ground again…
Mark 12:38-44
Proper 27B
Comments and Observations Preachers don’t always pay much attention to the acoustics of Bible stories but they should. How something sounded may be the key to getting a passage correctly. But as I say to my preaching students, this is where the Bible does not help us a lot. It is a rare Bible verse…
Hebrews 9:24-28
Proper 27B
Comments and Observations The lectionary reading for this Sunday is the high point of the argument of the letter to the Hebrews, but for many people today, including many Christians, it is the low point. Way back in 1926 Harry Emerson Fosdick preached a now famous sermon in which he labeled the whole idea of…
Mark 12:28-34
Proper 26B
Comments and Observations: Today Jesus would be seen surrounded by reporters and cameras, with a half-dozen microphones being shoved toward his face. Today Jesus would be hounded by paparazzi as the center of a small media blitz. Passersby would be leaning in, camera phones held out in front, to take a selfie with the rebellious…
Hebrews 9:11-14
Proper 26B
Comments and Observations Many modern congregants will want to run from this text, and not just because of the strange old priest-haunted world to which it is addressed. More than the unfamiliarity of its cultural background, our text for today is hard for our congregations to hear because it reeks with blood. And we are…
Mark 10:46-52
Proper 25B
Comments and Observations Bartimaeus. Jericho. Just names, right? Well, not really. Sometimes the Bible discloses some of its most vital points in the details we tend to just skip over en route to the “main” story or the “meat” of a given passage. But in the case of Mark 10, the two names mentioned above…
Hebrews 7:23-28
Proper 25B
Comments and Observations The Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and the recent sex scandals in the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church will make this text (and much of Hebrews) a real challenge to preach. With its emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, the Reformation made the intercession of human priests unnecessary. All believers…
Mark 10:35-45
Proper 24B
Comments and Observations: They just don’t get it. Period. The disciples do not understand. Again. Readers of Mark know the by-now all-too-predictable pattern: Jesus predicts his death and so commends humble and sacrificial living and the disciples respond with an argument over rank, power, and position. Even as readers we are getting a bit weary…
Hebrews 5:1-10
Proper 24B
Comments and Observations In the verse right after our reading, the author admits that what he has just written is “hard to explain.” That is an understatement. It is particularly hard to explain today’s lectionary reading to a 21st century church that isn’t one bit interested in closely reasoned arguments about a “high priest in…
Mark 10:17-31
Proper 23B
Comments and Observations: Don’t forget, bracket out, or lose sight of verses 10-13!! This Lectionary text may include only Mark 10:17-31 but trust me: the four verses prior are the kicker. Here’s why: Picture the scene: Jesus has just lifted his hands off the heads of the little children he had been blessing. His words…
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