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Preaching Paths 16 March 2025 Lent 2 Yr C
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s text, Luke 13:31-35, presents preachers with interpretative challenges. Luke joins two short scenes, each of them surprising. First, sympathetic (?) Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod plans to kill him; Jesus responds. Luke follows this scene with Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, which in Matthew occurs much later,…
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Preaching Paths 9 March 2025 Lent 1 Yr C
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Luke’s version of the wilderness temptations of Jesus (Lk 4:1-13) follows Mt closely, yet with variations. Luke brackets the wilderness experience with statements that Jesus is “full of [the] Holy Spirit” (vv 1, 14; the definite article is missing in the Greek text). While Mt tells us…
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Transfiguration Sunday, 2nd March 2024
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a) Jesus is transfigured on the mountain 9:28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 9:29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.…
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Preaching Paths 23 February 2025 Epiphany 7, Year C
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s text, Luke 6:27-38, begins with Jesus’ command, “Love your enemies.” Later, when Jesus teaches about love of neighbor, there will be questions; but apparently no one needed to ask, “Who is my enemy?” Status-defining social, ethnic, religious, and economic divides and hierarchies set groups against one…
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Preaching Paths 16 February 2025, 6th Epiphany Yr C
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s gospel reading (Luke 6:17-26), the opening scene of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain,” includes beatitudes similar to those that open Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 5:1-11). Yet, these texts are markedly different. In Matthew, Jesus’ beatitudes are in the third person plural, addressed to his…
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Preaching Paths 9 February 2025
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Luke 5:1-11 describes what happened the day that Simon Peter, James, and John—the three disciples who became, ultimately, Jesus’ closest associates—left the fishing business to follow Jesus. Here again, Luke’s account differs from the accounts of both Matthew and Mark. For preachers, the most striking difference is…
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 