The Lively Lectionary New Testament is a blog by Rev. Dr. John Holbert that reflects on the Gospel text from the Revised Common Lectionary each week. It offers a 1000-1200 word post that relates the text to contemporary life.
People who think of the sea as a scenic view from the boardwalk as they slurp their snow cones don't understand where Mark is coming from in characterizing the sea. People who have been through a hurricane or a tsunami, however, get it.
Chapter four of Mark is taken up with seed parables: the parable of the sower (4:3-8), the seed growing secretly (4:26-29), and the mustard seed (4:30-32). They teach us that God's rule is "something hidden, indirect, surprising in its manifestation and not easily perceived." (Barton, 41-42)
In Mark’s Gospel, Satan is always behind the opposition to Jesus, no matter who or what the vehicle may be. In our scene from Mark 3, Jesus is hemmed in by critics, lobbing accusations at him.
The new birth is a breaking free of unbelief into belief. It is a breaking free of darkness into light. It is a breaking free of restricted, judgmental life into abundant life.
We don’t have to huddle in a room for fear of our circumstances and wait for the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is not an event we wait for. It’s one in which we participate. Every moment is Pentecost.
Given the story of the ascension of Jesus in the sight of his closest followers, the reader might well expect that the great story of the Pentecost experience would ensue immediately. Instead, we get a detailed account of the destruction of the circle of the innermost community of Jesus’s disciples by the abhorrent actions of one of their members, one chosen and active in the ministry as they all were, but who “went to his own place” at the end, leaving them all for his own interests.
Have you ever seen a triptych (pronounced trip-tik)? It's a work of art divided into three sections or panels. Taken together the three panels tell one story. Our gospel text for Ascension Day is a triptych. I like the metaphor because it conveys that the three parts of our text are related and that the text can be folded up and made portable for easy transport wherever we go.
The best quote on friendship of all comes from the best friend of all. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). The friendship of the best friend of all is highlighted in John’s gospel.
In this passage John’s Jesus is saying: “I am the true vine. The Father is the vine grower. (15:1) As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love” (15:9).
We may not all be called to dramatic situations in which our physical lives are on the line. But there is the less dramatic, daily sacrifice we make when we allow the Good Shepherd to guide us in offering guidance and nurture to those around us. That means being vigilant to all that would threaten our flock and not abandoning our post in trying times.
In the odd plot of our lives in which people come and go, pop in and pop out, it is good to have one person we can count on. The resurrection appearances in Luke remind us that Jesus says goodbye only to say hello. Jesus is with us in the presence and person of the Holy Spirit. He only left so he could stay.
The painting called “Christ at Heart’s Door,” by Warner Sallman is based on Revelation 3:20. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to you and eat with you and you with me.” Pairing that text with that painting has produced many a sermon that encourages listeners to open the door of their hearts to Jesus. The message is that he will not come in unless you invite him. But that is not the message of John 20. For one thing, Jesus in John 20 doesn’t have shoulder-length auburn hair and blue eyes. Nor does he wait patiently for us to open the door from within. The text simply says that, although the disciples were locked in, for fear of Jesus’ adversaries, “Jesus came and stood among them. “ (John 20:19b) He comes in to break them out.
© SMU Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence
