Tagged: Jesus

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

This text is used for the Lectionary Year B on July 19, 2015.

Lambert Lombard
Lambert Lombard

These two sets of verses in Mark present summarized statements about the ministry of Jesus and his disciples.  Verse 30 sums up the disciples’ ministry activity and calls for a reader to recall an earlier commissioning of the disciples in Mark 6:7-13.  In these earlier verses, the disciples are sent into villages to proclaim the message of repentance (v. 12).  This message imitates the core of their teacher’s proclamation also, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news” (1:14).  Not only did they testify to the good news, they also healed and performed exorcisms. For this reason, only here in the Gospel does Mark use the title apostles for the disciples.  They demonstrated both in word and deeds that they were sent out and empowered, as representatives of their teacher, with the message of the kingdom.

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Matthew 1:18-25

This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on December 22, 2013.

Sometime the greatest challenge for the preacher is not the mysterious text, but the familiar one.  We confidently approach familiar texts presuming to know what they say, and we find it difficult to really listen to them.  We present them to congregations who yawn when they see the text printed in the order of worship because they, too, assume that they know these passages.  Matthew 1:18-25 is such a text for preaching.

The initial challenge of this text is to allow it to stand on its own.  We easily conflate the story of Joseph’s encounter with the angelic messenger and Luke’s account of Gabriel’s visit to Mary (Luke 1:26-38).  However, allowing Matthew’s account to stand on its own first would be a valuable discipline.  Matthew does not have a footnote that says “for more information, see Luke 1:26-38.  He says, “The birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way . . .” (Matthew 1:19, NRSV).  He simply states as a fact that Mary was “found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”  He does not explain how she knew that.

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