Palm / Passion Sunday B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 28, 2021

Liturgy of the Palms B

The Last Supper

The Last Supper (c.1560), oil painting on panel by Juan de Juanes (1523-1579). Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click image to enlarge.)

Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

As we sing this ancient hymn of celebration and praise, traditionally titled “A Song of Victory,” imagine a joyous crowd approaching the Temple, clapping hands and singing out as they celebrate the Lord their God, whose steadfast love endures forever. Its words of joyous praise for God’s works and mercy foreshadow the words we sing in the Great Thanksgiving as our Eucharistic Prayer begins: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! … Hosanna in the highest.”

Gospel: Mark 11:1-11

Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday were once celebrated on separate Sundays, but the celebrations were brought together in the time of ecumenism that followed Vatican II. As a result, we take a quick and startling turn in the course of one Sunday’s worship. First we hear of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding a donkey and greeted as a King by throngs spreading their cloaks and leafy branches in his way, shouting “Hosanna!” But then, later in the liturgy, we undergo a dramatic change of tone when we hear those same crowds angrily shout “Crucify him!” This contrast sets a tone for Holy Week as we follow Jesus to the cross: God is with us in joy. God is with us in sorrow.

Alternate Gospel: John 12:12-16

All four Gospels tell of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding a modest mount and hearing the acclaim of crowds; as is always the case, each Gospel narrative tells a slightly different story. John’s version, for example, is the only one that explicitly declares Jesus the King of Israel, and the only one that tells us the disciples did not understand what was going on. But all four versions share the triumphantly waving branches – here explicitly described as palms – and the joyous shouts of Hosanna.

Liturgy of the Passion B

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a

These familiar verses from Isaiah introduce us to the suffering servant. Written about the people in exile in Babylon, it prophesies a servant leader who who would receive the enemy’s blows for the people in exile, and eventually guide them back home. While we respect the original intent, Christian readers can hardly encounter these verses without seeing parallels with Jesus, our messiah and king, who suffered for us and taught us to give our backs and turn our cheeks to those who strike us.

Psalm: Psalm 31:9-16

Perhaps the Psalmist had Isaiah’s Suffering Servant in mind as he wrote this Psalm of lament, with its litany of sorrow, distress, grief, sighing, misery, scorn, horror, dread and more. He suffers, his neighbors scheme; they plot his death. Have you ever heard a plaint more pitiful than “I am as useless as a broken pot”? Yet amid all this misery, hope glows like the sun breaking through clouds: Trust in God, place our faith in God’s love, and wait to be saved.

Second Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Might Paul have been thinking of the Suffering Servant, too, as he wrote of Jesus’ death on the cross? We understand Jesus as both fully human and fully divine, and all the Gospels show us glimpses of a Jesus who knew his stature and God-sent mission. Yet in this relatively early letter of Paul, perhaps quoting an even older Christian hymn, Paul tells of a Jesus who willingly set aside his divinity, his equality with God – “emptying himself” – to bear the horrific pain of crucifixion as a vulnerable, frightened human. Jesus took on the full weight of all that suffering to show us the true exaltation of God’s love, calling us only to respond with love for God and our neighbor.

Gospel: Mark 14:1-15:47

Now we come to Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion and death. The palm branches and hosannas are only memories now. We hear the dark, painful way of the Cross as we prepare to walk through Holy Week with Jesus. Watch closely as we see first Jesus’ followers, and then even his friends, slip quietly away, deserting him, leaving at the end only those few most close to him, and a Roman centurion – a pagan, a soldier of the hated empire – whose faith showed him the light and thus opens the way to us all.

Lent 5B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 21, 2021

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34

The Lectionary readings during Lent follow a consistent pattern: The Sunday Gospels take us on a quick journey through the life of Jesus, from his baptism in the Jordan to his last week in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem (1630), oil painting on oak wood by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. (Click image to enlarge.)

The Hebrew Bible readings showcase God’s continuing covenants with the people. In Sunday’s first reading, the Prophet Jeremiah, recognizing that the people suffered exile because they broke the covenant their ancestors made at Mount Sinai, announces a new covenant. This will not be written on mere stone but directly on our hearts. Having God’s love indelibly marked on our hearts offers us a way to remember, even when we’re struggling, that we are commanded to love God and our neighbor.

Psalm: Psalm 51:1-13

This familiar Psalm is attributed by legend to King David himself. It imagines David wracked in repentant guilt over sending his general Uriah to certain death in battle so he can have Uriah’s beautiful wife, Bathsheba, for himself. In poetic words that mirror the promises of the covenants, we hear of David’s shame and grief. He makes no excuses, but begs for God’s mercy and forgiveness. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” David begs: a clean slate on which God can write a new covenant of love.

Alternate Psalm: Psalm 119:9-16

Psalm 119, the longest of all the Psalms, carries a message of covenant throughout its many verses: Those who follow God’s laws and teaching, modeling their lives on Torah so as to walk in God’s ways, will reap rewards. Within that framework, though, each of its 22 eight-verse stanzas offers its individual approach. Its verses addressed to God, “With my lips will I recite all the judgments of your mouth,” echo Jeremiah’s first conversation with God when he was called to be a prophet: “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy,” to which God responded, “you shall speak whatever I command you. … Now I have put my words in your mouth.”

Second Reading: Hebrews 5:5-10

The letter to the Hebrews is not a letter to a specific congregation but a broad appeal to formerly Jewish Christians who had returned to their original faith late in the first century to avoid persecution aimed at Christians by Rome. Its unknown author makes the case that Jesus, as Christ, stands in the great tradition of Jewish high priests that extends all the way back to Melchizedek, the king and great high priest, who blessed Abram just before God made the first covenant with Abram and Sarai. Since Jesus has become the source of eternal salvation who intercedes on our behalf forever, the writer tells the people, there is no longer need for priestly sacrifice.

Gospel: John 12:20-33

In the verses just before these (which we will hear next week on Palm/Passion Sunday), Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem, riding a young donkey through joyous, palm-waving crowds. This week hear about a group of Greeks who ask Philip to arrange a meeting with Jesus. When Philip and Andrew take the request to him, Jesus responds with a surprising reply: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Just as Jesus must die to bear the fruit of salvation through his resurrection, Jesus says, we are the seeds of faith, called to grow in discipleship like kernels of wheat that must fall on the ground and die in order to grow.

Lent 4B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 14, 2021

First Reading: Numbers 21:4-9

In Sunday’s first reading we hear a strange account of poisonous snakes sent by God to punish an ungrateful people – and a curative bronze serpent that seems suspiciously like an idol.

Moses and the Brass Serpent

Moses and the Brass Serpent, (late 16th century), oil painting on oak wood, by the flemish painter Jacob de Backer (c.1555-c.1591). Schorr Collection, United Kingdom. (Click image to enlarge.)

This might just strike us as another of Scripture’s ancient legends, easily ignored. But then we turn to John’s Gospel and find Jesus alluding to this strange passage to set the context for his famous words in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”! This connection makes the serpent story a little more difficult to ignore. Perhaps it’s as simple as this: When we feel that we’re surrounded by serpents, look up and remember that God is with us.

Psalm: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Following that startling passage about poisonous snakes and bronze serpent idols in the first reading, the Psalm appointed for this day provides some relief. Give thanks for God’s enduring mercy, the Psalmist tells us. Even when we are foolish; when we rebel and when we sin, and even when we are afraid, once we cry out for God and repent, return, and give thanks for God’s mercy, God hears our prayers and showers us, like children, with healing and salvation.

Second Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10

We find no actual serpents in the Letter to the Ephesians, a document likely written in Paul’s name by a later follower. But it imagines something just about as frightening and potentially deadly: a shadowy spirit, a “ruler of the power of the air.” Those who prefer passion and the flesh to life in Christ can be lured by this spirit, the writer says. But like those healed by gazing at Moses’ bronze serpent, we are saved by God’s mercy and raised up by God’s gift of grace through Jesus; not by anything that we can do to try to earn salvation.

Gospel: John 3:14-21

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” For many Christians, this week’s lessons could start and finish right there. But wait! What is that serpent doing there? We might wonder if Jesus is teaching from Torah, with which he and his followers would have been intimately familiar, and Numbers is his text. We cannot yank John 3:16 out of its context without considering the verses that surround it. In his nighttime conversation with the Pharisee Nicodemus, Jesus makes clear that we all have power to choose between darkness and the light. Just as God provided the Israelites a way to repent and be healed, so God offers us healing grace through Jesus.

Lent 3B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 7, 2021

First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17

During the first three weeks of Lent we remember God’s three great covenants with the people: God’s promises through the ages given to Noah, Abraham, and now Moses.

Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple

Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple (1626), oil painting on oak wood by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669). Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. (Click image to enlarge.)

God’s thunderous voice shakes Mount Sinai as the awed people hear the Ten Commandments that sum up the principles by which we live with love for God and each other. Hear God’s voice and follow these commandments, God has told Moses in the verses just before these bedrock principles, and you will be God’s treasured possession among all the people.

Psalm: Psalm 19

In an appropriate sequel to the first reading, we hear this familiar hymn of praise and thanksgiving, sung in beautiful, poetic language, exulting at the beauty and wonder of all God’s creation, God’s gift to all the people of the world and to all the span of the universe. Within that creation, the hymn sings on, God’s laws and statutes – the great commandments – give us wisdom and joy and lead us to righteousness.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Paul’s first letter to the people of Corinth begins with a simple but challenging pastoral issue: The community is splitting into factions, each following a different leader. Paul urges them to stay united by following the Cross, Paul urges them. Never mind if their Jewish and Gentile neighbors mock Christians as foolish for worshiping a man who was brutally executed on the Roman cross, he says. The cross was a symbol of pain, shame and degradation, a seemingly foolish conclusion in the eyes of people who were expecting a warrior Messiah who would overthrow Rome with power and might. But that doesn’t matter, Paul writes, because Christians prefer God’s foolishness to mere human wisdom. God’s weakness far outweighs human strength.

Gospel: John 2:13-22

During the first weeks of Lent we quickly touched on Mark’s narrative of Jesus’ public ministry, from his baptism and prophetic teaching to Peter’s recognition that Jesus is the Son of Man, the Messiah. Now we turn to John’s Gospel for the rest of the season, beginning with John’s colorful account of Jesus throwing the money-changers out of the temple. This narrative appears in all four Gospels, but curiously, while Matthew, Mark and Luke all place it at the beginning of Holy Week, in John we find it near the beginning of the Gospel, during an earlier trip to Jerusalem for Passover that none of the other Gospels mention. Moreover, John alone goes into such detail: Not only did Jesus throw over the money changers’ tables, but he made a whip of cords to lash them in his anger at their exploiting the poor in the name of God. At the end, Jesus foreshadows his own passion and death. To the outrage of temple leaders, Jesus likens his own body to the temple and declares that he will raise it up three days after its destruction.

Lent 2B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Feb. 28, 2021

First Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

The lectionary readings for Lent continue recalling God’s covenants with the people.

Abraham, Sarah and the Angel

Abraham, Sarah and the Angel (1520s), oil painting on panel by Jan Provoost (1462-1525 to 1529). The Louvre, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

This week our attention turns to Abram and Saraai, the Aramean couple called by God to go to a new land at a great age. God gives them new names – Abraham and Sarah – and promises that they and their offspring will yield a great multitude of nations. This seems surprising, since Abram is 99 and they have had no children, but all things are possible with God. In contrast to the unconditional covenant with Noah, the covenant with Abraham requires reciprocity: In order to gain the Promised Land (a promise made in verses that the lectionary reading skips over), Abraham and his people are to “walk before God and be blameless.”

Psalm: Psalm 22:22-30

Today’s Psalm repeats the theme of God’s covenant from Abraham and Sarah through their son Isaac and grandson Jacob, who God later renamed Israel. The Psalmist exults in the eternal nature of that covenant, shouting thanks and praise that Jacob’s descendants will serve God and will be known as God’s own forever. Even today we remember those words in baptism, when those being welcomed into the household of God are anointed with blessed oil, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever.

Second Reading: Romans 4:13-25

Paul recalls God’s eternal promise to Abraham’s descendants in his letter to the people of Rome, but he adds something new: He extends that covenant to include Gentile Christians as well. While Abraham’s descendants received God’s covenant through the law, Paul writes, the Gentiles who become Christians now receive it through their new faith. Seeking to unify a faith community in Rome that included both Jewish and Gentile Christians, Paul assures them that all are now children of Abraham and Sarah through faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

In Sunday’s Gospel we find Jesus telling the disciples things that they do not want to hear. In the verses just preceding these, Jesus asked them who they think he is, and bold Peter blurted out, “You are the Messiah!” Now, Jesus warns that the road ahead will not be easy. He will face rejection, punishment and death before rising again after three days. Peter argues with Jesus, taking him aside to challenge that approach, but Jesus’ quick response to Peter is startling: “Get behind me, Satan!” If you want to follow me, Jesus tells them, you must deny yourself. Take up your cross. You will have to give your life if you wish to save it.

Lent 1B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Feb. 21, 2021

First Reading: Genesis 9:8-17

Lent has begun. In this liturgical season Christians are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

Jesus and the Tempter

Jesus and the Tempter (c.1500), oil painting on panel by Juan de Flandes (c.1465-1519). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our readings throughout the forty-day season often focus on these practices. Our First Readings will recall God’s covenants, binding agreements between God and the people that call us to love God and our neighbors. We begin this Sunday by hearing the covenant with Noah after the Flood, when God promised never again to send a flood to destroy all living creatures: a promise marked by a rainbow in the clouds.

Psalm: Psalm 25:1-9

Attributed by tradition to King David, this Psalm of praise expresses the joy of holding up our hearts and souls with willing trust in God’s everlasting compassion and love. Some of the Psalm’s language, calling for protection against humiliation by enemies and scheming foes, may reflect the hard-won status of a tiny nation. But its tone rings of praise, not fear; and at the end it recalls the people’s covenant to follow God’s ways.

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22

This passage from the First Letter of Peter follows on the themes of Sunday’s reading from Genesis and the Psalm. It reminds us that we are now saved in the water of baptism, just as Noah and his family were saved in a world covered by water. Both saving acts, we hear, are the work of God: We are saved through the resurrection of Jesus, who now sits at God’s right hand as lord of all creation.

Gospel: Mark 1:9-15

We heard part of this Gospel on the first Sunday after Epiphany. Now we return to it, and learn more, on the first Sunday of Lent: Jesus is baptized, and he sees the Holy Spirit coming down as a dove; he hears a voice from heaven declaring him God’s beloved son. Now we move quickly onward: First, the Spirit immediately drives Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days, where he is tempted by Satan and served by angels. Then we learn that John was arrested, so Jesus comes to Galilee to proclaim the good news of God: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent, and believe in the good news.”

Ash Wednesday

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Thoughts on the Lessons for Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021

Alternate First Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12


Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a season set aside for acts of devotion and sacrifice as we reflect on the wrongs that we have done and on the simple truth that we will not live forever.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday (1866), oil painting on panel by Charles de Groux (1825-1870). Stedelijk Museum Wuyts-Van Campen en Baron Caroly, Liere, Belgium. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our readings begin with the Prophet Isaiah, who reminds us that public demonstrations of fasting and prayer, sackcloth and ashes are not enough to please God. We should show our righteousness instead in service and love of neighbor. As Jesus would later teach, God calls us to oppose injustice: free the oppressed, feed the hungry, house the homeless, and clothe the naked.

First Reading: Joel 2:1-2,12-17


Joel ranks as one of the minor prophets. The book that bears his name is only three chapters long, and modern theologians aren’t even sure when he lived. We know that “Joel” means “The Lord is God” in Hebrew; and Joel may have prophesied after the return from exile to Jerusalem. Much of the short book deals with the people’s prayerful response to a plague of locusts, and in that setting, this alternate reading offers a liturgical look at a period of penitence and sacrifice … something to think about as we enter Lent.

Psalm: Psalm 103 or 103:8-14

God, who made us from dust, knows well that we are but dust. We are human: broken and sinful, often wicked. Yet God’s compassion and God’s mercy are far greater than God’s anger. God does not punish us as we might fear that our sins deserve, but rather shows mercy wider than the world itself, forgiving our sins and welcoming us in a parent’s warm embrace.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Paul devotes a lot of energy in his less familiar second letter to the Corinthians to trying to work out an apparent quarrel with the people of this contentious little church. Here he speaks of reconciliation, enumerating the many pains he has endured as a servant of God, and calling on the people to accept God’s grace and work together in Christ, who reconciled us with God by taking human form and dying for us.

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

It is hard to imagine a more appropriate reading for Ash Wednesday than Matthew’s account of Jesus. midway in the Sermon on the Mount, teaching us how best to practice almsgiving, prayer, fasting, and self-denial of worldly pleasures. All of these have become traditional Lenten practices. Simply put, in words that might remind us of today’s Isaiah reading, we are advised to practice humble piety. Shun hypocrisy. Don’t show off. Keep our charity, our prayers and our fasting private. Don’t brag about our fasting. Don’t hoard fragile, transient earthly riches, but store in heaven the treasures that last.

Last Epiphany B/Transfiguration

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Feb. 14, 2021

First Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-12

Our Gospels in the season after the Epiphany follow Jesus through the early years of his public ministry as told by John and Mark, gradually unveiling his status as leader, teacher, and healer.

The Transfiguration of Christ

The Transfiguration of Christ (1605), oil painting on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy, France. (Click image to enlarge.)

This week we conclude this rather brief journey from Christmastide to Lent with the revelation of Jesus as prophet and messiah. Sunday’s readings glow with the light of God revealed in shining glory: Elijah’s fiery chariot; the rising sun and consuming flame of God’s justice; God’s light to the world, and finally the Transfiguration of Jesus with the patriarchs Elijah and Moses on a mountain top. Our first reading tells the ancient story of Elijah taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot while Elisha, his young successor, looks on in awe.

Psalm: Psalm 50:1-6

This week we read only a portion of Psalm 50, about one-fourth of its 23 verses. But it is a memorable passage, a resounding hymn of worship and praise, calling the people who have joined in covenant to come together in worship. Come near, the Psalmist shouts, and hear the God of gods speak, revealed in glory, calling the earth together from sunrise to sunset. God will speak and not keep silence, we sing, standing before a consuming flame while surrounded by a raging storm, calling the heavens and the earth to witness God’s judgment.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

God brought light into the world, and God shows us the glory of God’s image in Christ. Because they believe, Paul tells the people of Corinth in his second letter to them, they can see the light that those who do not believe do not see. For those who do not believe, he continues, that light is veiled by worldly concerns. Christians are called to proclaim Jesus, not ourselves, Paul declares. We are to serve others humbly for Jesus’ sake.

Gospel: Mark 9:2-9

On the first Sunday of Epiphany, we watched John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan, where Jesus heard God’s voice saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Now Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a mountain top, where Jesus is joined by Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, who was transported into heaven to await the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus’ face and garments glow in a scene reminiscent of Moses receiving God’s commandments as his face glowed on another mountain. Jesus is revealed as Messiah as his friends look on in awe, and God’s voice rings out again with the same refrain: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Epiphany 5B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Feb. 7, 2021

First Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31

God is very large. We are very small. God is very powerful. We are very weak.

Christ Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law

Christ Healing Peter’s Mother-in-Law (c.1650-1660), pen drawing with watercolor wash, by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn ((1606–1669). Fondation Custodia, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

In Sunday’s first reading, the Prophet Iāsaiah musters striking poetic language that likens the people to grasshoppers and their earthly rulers to dandelion puffs blown apart in the wind. As the people begin to ponder the challenges of return from exile, Isaiah portrays a transcendent God who is far beyond our imagining. And yet, the prophet foretells, this mighty, eternal and all-powerful God will lift us up on eagles’ wings and give us the power and the strength to follow God’s ways.

Psalm: Psalm 147:1-12, 21c

Echoing Isaiah’s message in one of the six exultant hymns of praise that conclude the book of Psalms, the Psalmist celebrates the glory of the powerful, all-knowing God who counts and names even the stars of heaven, and who has guided the people home from exile and bound their wounds. God is unimpressed by the powerful and the strong, the Psalmist sings, but gently tends the broken and the brokenhearted. God lifts up the lowly, but casts the wicked to the ground, we sing, celebrating a liberating theological idea that we hear again in the Song of Mary and the teaching of Jesus.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

It’s tempting to argue with Paul’s message in these verses. Even for a worthy purpose, it’s not good to pretend to be something you’re not. But that’s not really what he is saying. Paul is getting at something deeper than just being a moral chameleon when he claims to have been “all things to all people.” As in last week’s discussion about eating meat sacrificed to idols when Paul warned Christians not to be a stumbling block to others, Paul urges the people of Corinth to love one another and work together. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Jewish, Gentile, strong or weak, he tells the people. Honor each other in your differences. Then unite to share the good news of the Gospel.

Gospel: Mark 1:29-39

The season after Epiphany is ending early this year because Easter, and Lent before it, fall relatively early. In this Sunday’s Gospel, we’ll hear another of Mark’s accounts of Jesus healing, throwing out demons, and telling the Good News before we move along to the Transfiguration, Ash Wednesday and Lent. In this Gospel passage, Jesus goes from the synagogue at Capernaum to the home of his friends Simon and Andrew, where he cures Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever, a scary symptom in those days before modern medicine. Restored to health and strength, she gets up to serve them. The Greek word for “serve” used here is “διηκόνει,” from which we get the word “deacon.” The same word is later used in Acts to name those who came forward to support the Apostles who were busy spreading the Gospel. Just as Simon’s mother-in-law served Jesus and the apostles, deacons vow to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.

Epiphany 4B

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Jan. 31, 2021

First Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Hearing God’s voice. Listening for God’s call. This theme echoes in many of our readings through the season of Epiphany, as each week’s Gospel shines more light on the reality of Jesus as Messiah.

Christ heals a man possessed in the synagogue of Capernaum

Christ heals a man possessed in the synagogue of Capernaum. Eleventh century Romanesque fresco in the former bell house of Lambach Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Austria. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our first reading brings us to Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah, the story of God’s covenant with Israel. The people have reached the promised land, and the long narrative of their travels is drawing to a close. Moses is dying, and now the people worry how they will know God’s wishes once their prophet is gone. Moses reassures them that God will raise up another prophet from among them, and that God will expect them to pay attention when this prophet utters God’s words.

Psalm: Psalm 111

The Psalms – the Hebrew Bible’s book of hymns and worship poetry of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem – take many forms. Some ask God’s favor. Others weep in lament. Some offer thanks for past blessings. And some of the most joyous, such as today’s familiar verses, exultantly sing God’s praise. All of God’s work, all of God’s majesty and splendor, all of God’s justice last forever, the Psalmist exults. God feeds us. God’s covenant redeems us, and the people shout “Hallelujah!” “Praise God!”

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

These passage might not seem to say much to us in modern times, but it offers us a fascinating insight into understanding Paul as a pastor working with his flock. A question had arisen about whether it was acceptable to eat meat that had been sacrificed in pagan temples. This was a common practice in pagan Greece, where meat from animals who had been sacrificed in the temples were made available to the public. Paul accepts the notion of Corinth’s Jewish Christians that pagan gods aren’t really God at all, so sharing temple food could be morally neutral to Christian believers who are strong in their faith. But the rest of Paul’s conclusion transcends time: Even if we do nothing wrong, our actions may influence others who are not so strong – in this case of the Corinthians, for example, recent converts from paganism. “If food is a cause of their falling,” says Paul, “I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.”

Gospel: Mark 1:21-28

We are still in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, and the ministry of Jesus is getting under way. Jesus, who now has a group of followers, goes to Sabbath services in Capernaum, a small town near the Sea of Galilee where we often find him in Mark’s Gospel. Two remarkable things happen there: First, this young rabbi amazes the congregation with profound teaching that reveals him as one “having authority,” in contrast with the less authoritative scribes. Then Jesus further astounds the people by commanding a noisy unclean spirit to come out of a troubled man. Unclean though the spirit may be, it shouts wisdom, declaring Jesus “the Holy One of God.”