It can’t have been comfortable to be John the Baptist. Camel’s hair clothes and locusts aside, it’s never pleasant to be the
Keep ReadingChapter twelve of Mark’s gospel is rich with interlocking characters and critiques. In keeping with Mark’s earlier intercalations, the Gospel writer continues his method of multi-storytelling. That is, Mark’s interwoven, inter-related stories remain myriad, even as we near the cross and his Gospel’s end. In this piece, I interpret the
MoreEnglish Spanish English Mark 9: 2-13 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, 3 and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached
MoreMark 8:22-26 is a passage that has lived with me for a very long time. In my deliverance years, I used these verses to comfort myself when I still felt ‘same-sex attracted’ after so many aching prayers. It takes time. I even preached a sermon one evening, when they had
MoreThere is a term that has been able to transcend generations as a normalized colloquial term. I hear boomers like my mom, millennials like my friends, and zennials like my godchildren all using this familiar word. And although my generation, Gen X, coined the phrase, it has the innate ability
MoreThe opening scene in the sixth chapter of Mark is one that too many of us find familiar: Jesus, having left home to discover who he is, the call of God on his life, the literally miraculous fullness of his being, goes home. He returns to the synagogue. These are
MoreAmong the many challenges of 2021 and 2022, anti-trans bills, proposed and passed, have soared across the United States. From the harshest in Alabama making gender affirming care for anyone under 19 a felony, to the many states that have passed laws prohibiting trans girls from playing sports with their
MoreMark’s Gospel uses concrete, sensory language to speak to the everyday needs of Jesus’s followers, and asserts that the kingdom of God is the here-and-now, not a lofty, disembodied hope that compels us to ignore our current realities. Mark portrays Jesus as a humble yet controversial rabbi who lived the
MoreAll my life, I have felt like an outcast. It’s a common story. As a child, I was small and often timid or awkward. I didn’t really fit in with the popular crew, the nerds, or the jocks. I couldn’t hit most things involving a ball and even though I
MoreWho is on the outside trying to get in? Isn’t interesting that no one turned and saw the man who couldn’t get and then pressed their siblings to make room, make a path and let him in. While this great crowd has gathered and pressed their way to hear, see
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