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Preaching Paths 7 July 2024 Proper 9B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Mark sets two closely related pericopes side by side in Mark 6:1-13. Both stories advance a now-familiar theme: those who share news of the reign of God, in word or deed, should be prepared to face opposition or downright rejection. Jesus did, even in his own hometown.…
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Preaching Paths 30 June 2024 Proper 8B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary In Mark 5:21-43, Mark deliberately embeds one striking healing event inside another. The dramatic tension unfolding in each story is generated by their interplay. They need to be preached together. The supplicants in these interwoven stories could not be more different. Jairus, who seeks healing for his…
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Preaching Paths 23 June 2024 Proper 7
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The story known as “the stilling of the storm” (Mk 4:35-41) is one of two such stories in Mark (cf 6:47-53). The vast majority of sermons based on today’s text treat this boat-in-a-storm metaphorically: the boat is either the church or one’s life situation; the storm represents…
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Preaching Paths 16 June 2024 Proper 6B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s Gospel reading, Mk 4:26-34 offers us two agrarian parables portraying the reign of God, followed by brief commentary on Jesus’ teaching methods with crowds and disciples, respectively. Both parables—literally, sketches “alongside-thrown” (para-bole) widespread popular expectations about the reign of God—employ a popular Semitic trope: the marvel…
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Preaching Paths 9 June 2024 Proper 5B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The scene of our gospel text, Mark 3:(19b) 20-35, is Jesus’ home town. No warm welcome awaits. In a chiastically structured narrative, Mark presents three groups that, in one way or another, impede Jesus’ ministry of healing and exorcism. First, the admiring crowds (vv 20, 32) press…
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Preaching Paths 2 June 2024 Proper 4B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s text, Mark 2:23-3:6, presents two scenes in which questions around sabbath observance are at stake. If we trace our way backward through these scenes and the preceding ones, we discover a concatenation of issues, each “nested,” in a sense, within a broader one. We find that…
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 