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This is the third week of our “What if?” approach to texts from Mark. We’ve approached the encounter between the Syro-Phoenician woman and Jesus (7:24-37) and Peter’s encounter with him (8:27-38) through the lens of (...)

Last week, we began a three week exploration of the question: “What if?“ A big “What if?” question for the Gospel of Mark is: “What if the disciples had been more perceptive and not such (...)

Psalm 119:97 proclaims: “Oh, how I love your law!” This statement may seem strange to many Christians, especially those of us for whom the law has been contrasted with grace and described as something negative, (...)

The opening verse of Psalm 15, asking who can be admitted to worship at the tabernacle/temple, makes for a daunting introduction to this “entrance liturgy” psalm.1 On one level, such questions may seem as remote (...)

Having been introduced to King Solomon in last week’s reading, we meet him now eleven years later, as he finishes the work for which he is perhaps best remembered: building of the Temple in Jerusalem. (...)

With the concluding verses of Psalm 34, the author has returned to the subject matter with which he began, namely the suffering from which God delivered him (verse 4). Along the way, as we saw (...)

The long, violent conflict between David and Absalom has finally run its course. Absalom is dead. David’s kingdom is again secure. And David pours forth his grief: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son (...)

Elijah’s story lends itself well to preaching, with plenty of miraculous deeds and his challenge of the ungodly authority of Ahab and Jezebel. This particular section, however, may be overshadowed by the more dramatic or (...)

This Gospel reading begins with an account of the disciples’ return after they had been previously sent out by Jesus in Mark 6:6-13, and follows the unpleasantness of John’s beheading described in Mark 6:14-29. Verses (...)

Psalm 107 opens with a typical call to praise. All those who have been redeemed from trouble and exile by the Lord are summoned and called upon to give thanks for God’s steadfast love and (...)