Tag: christianity

  • Proper 29 (34), 24th November 2024

    John 18:33-37 The kingdom of Christ 18:33Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 18:34Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 18:35Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief…

  • Preaching Paths 24 November 2024, Feast of Christ the King, Year B

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary On this final Sunday of the Year B lectionary cycle, the Feast of Christ the King, we turn to John for the gospel text, John 18:33-37. Before us is the second of seven short scenes that make up a brief, but intense and decisive drama in John’s…

  • Preaching Paths 29 September2024

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Mark scholars agree: today’s gospel lection, Mark 9:38-50, presents interpretive challenges.* John’s question about an “unauthorized” exorcist, as well as Jesus’ reply, seem at first glance far removed from our experience; yet they prompt us to think more deeply about the freedom of God’s liberating power to…

  • Proper 20 (25), 22nd September 2024

    St Mark 9:30-37 Prediction of the Passion 9:30They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it, 9:31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed,…

  • Preaching Paths 22 September 2024 Proper 20B

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Jesus predicts his arrest, death and resurrection a second time in today’s reading, Mark 9:30-37. His disciples, uncomprehending as before, are afraid to ask for clarification—even the three who witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountaintop (9:2-8). For them, this is Jesus’ third mention of resurrection. Descending the…

  • Preaching Paths 11 August 2024 Proper 14B**

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s 2nd NT reading, Ephesians 4:25-5:2, is concerned with practices befitting the Christologically-anchored, revolutionary reconstruction of human community described in Ephesians chapters 1-3. There is nothing specifically Christian about most of the vices, virtues and practices described in today’s text. Similar lists abound in ancient literature. What…

  • Preaching Paths 28 July 2024 Proper 12B

    Preaching Paths 28 July 2024  Proper 12B Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The two miracle stories that comprise today’s gospel reading, John 6:1-21, were of utmost importance to early Christians. All three Synoptics have some version of the feeding of the multitude; all but Luke include the story of Jesus walking toward…

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • Trinity Sunday, 26th May 2024

    Romans 8:12-178:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– 8:13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 8:14 For all who are led…