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More demons

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany; 4 February 2024; Epiphany 5B (RCL); Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39.

The first actual healing (not exorcism) in Mark’s Gospel is the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law. It is four sentences long. Mark relates it almost as a throw-away — no theological reflection on the episode; just, oh, by the way. We may cringe at the ending, that she immediately began to serve them, but I think Mark is making the point that she was re-integrated into her proper place and honor within the community of Simon’s household. We never even learn her name.

Idols and demons

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany; 28 January 2024; Epiphany 4B (RCL); Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28.

Burton Mack points out that Jesus’ first public act in Mark’s Gospel is the exorcism of a demon from a man in the synagogue. This sets up the struggle between Jesus and the synagogue at the very outset of the Gospel, and shows Jesus as a man of power, more effective than the power of the synagogue. This might have been good for propaganda in the ancient world, but tragic ever since.

Decision

Third Sunday after Epiphany; 21 January 2024; Epiphany 3B (RCL); Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20.

The first thing I noticed about the readings for this week is that they are all short. And abrupt. Jonah’s sermon in Nineveh has to be the shortest, most successful sermon in historical record — eight words long, and the whole city repents and sits in sackcloth and ashes. Jesus calls Andrew and Simon, James and John, and without question, they leave their nets and fishing, and follow — abruptly. Paul tells us the time is short, and certainly the people in the other readings seem to have heard that message. Act now.

Angels of God

Second Sunday after Epiphany; 14 January 2024; Epiphany 2B (RCL); 1 Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51.

What a mish-mosh of readings for this week. I suppose the 1 Samuel and the Gospel both address the issue of the call of God, but the 1 Corinthians sticks out uncomfortably like a sore thumb. I’ve chosen to leave off the optional verses of the 1 Samuel reading, so as not to have to explain the crimes of Eli’s sons, although the whole story does give insight into the role of the priesthood in the religion of ancient Israel. On the other hand, the passage from John’s Gospel is an important set-up for the outcome of the Gospel.

Baptized in the Spirit

First Sunday after Epiphany; 7 January 2024; Epiphany 1B (RCL); Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11.

I’ve always had a hard time figuring out what the authors of the New Testament meant by the phrase, “the Holy Spirit.” Part of that difficulty comes from the fact that sometimes it appears with the definite article, and often without it. With the definite article, the phrase refers to some specific thing; without it, to what exactly? perhaps a quality, or some ‘stuff.’ Equally confusing is the word being translated “Spirit” – pneuma, which can also mean (always mean?) “breath.” We recognize this as the root for many words in English having to do with the lungs.

Who are you?

Third Sunday of Advent; 17 December 2023; Advent 3 B (RCL); Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8; 19-28.

Before John’s Gospel can move on to the question of who Jesus is (a question at play throughout the entire Gospel), it must settle the question of who John the Baptist is. The Evangelist uses the device of having the Pharisees question the Baptist (the rabbis would have been successors to the Pharisees, and it was to the rabbis that the Evangelist’s community had to make its defense). The Baptist begins by telling us who he is not, in emphatic terms, using the ego eimi formula (with a negative) that Jesus will use in the great I AM statements.

A highway for our God

Second Sunday of Advent; 10 December 2023; Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8.

The textual history of Mark’s Gospel is puzzling. The most ancient manuscripts end with 16:8, which itself ends with the post-positive conjunction gar. It is simply impossible to end a sentence with a post-positive conjunction: it makes no logical sense. And the Gospel appears to begin just as abruptly. The first sentence reads like an incipit, and its text is contested in early manuscripts, some including the phrase “the Son of God,” and others omitting it, and the phrase, “as it is written in the prophet Isaiah” seeming like it should be explaining something coming before it.

Last days?

First Sunday of Advent; 3 December 2023; Advent 1B (RCL); Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37.

Always on the First Sunday of Advent, we have readings suggestive of ‘last days’ or the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ. In the Corinthians passage, Paul expresses his confidence that God will hold the Corinthians blameless until “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the passage from Mark, Jesus begins with the phrase “in those days, and after that suffering,” and then refers to the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds with great power and glory. And the author if Isaiah prays passionately and eloquently that God would tear open the heavens and come down. What, exactly, are we expecting?

The door was shut

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost; 12 November 2023; Proper 27A (RCL); Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13.

Matthew likes closed doors. I’m surprised that he didn’t add weeping and gnashing of teeth to this story for the five foolish bridesmaids. A wedding of course recalls the story of the king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and when those he invited wouldn’t come, he burned their city, and then threw out to poor guy who didn’t dress according to code. In that story, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Summary of the Law

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost; 29 October 2023; Proper 25A (RCL); Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 22:34-46.

Remembering that 1 Thessalonians is the first literary evidence we have of the Christian movement, I am struck how carefully Paul distinguishes his teaching from that of other philosophical schools (or at least their parodies). Cynics in particular poked fun at teachers in the other schools as seeking glory, or teaching for tuition, for flattering their students (to get more tuition), and the list of things Paul lays out in these verses.