Tag: faith

  • Preaching Paths 10 March 2024

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary John 3:16, nested in today’s text (John 3:14-21), is a verse recognizable even to non-Christians. This reference, and sometimes the entire verse, has been emblazoned on everything from placards held aloft in a football stadium to highway billboards and bumper stickers. Unfortunately, it has been reduced in…

  • Preaching Paths 3 March 2024 (Lent 3B)

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The violence of Jesus’ clearing of the Temple courtyard in today’s lection (John 2:13-22) can lure an unwary preacher into presenting a sermon with an anti-Semitic slant. It is crucial for preachers to make clear that John is a Jewish gospel. Jesus is a Jewish teacher and…

  • Third Sunday in Lent, 3rd March, 2024

    John 2:13-222:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2:14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the…

  • Preaching Paths 25 February 2024

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The gospel lection this week, Mk 8:31-38, falls into two sections. First, verses 31-33 bring to a head questions about Jesus’ identity and mission that have been intensifying since the middle of Mark’s first chapter. Verses 34-38 then spell out the costs of discipleship, reframed now by…

  • Preaching Paths 18 February 2024

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Most of the verses comprising today’s lection, Mark 1:9-15, are familiar. We’ve encountered vv.9-11, Jesus’ baptism and divine commission, on the Sunday of Baptism of Our Lord. John the Baptist’s arrest and the inauguration of Jesus’ preaching ministry were read on Epiphany 3B.  Today’s new material, vv…

  • Preaching Paths 11 February 2024 Transfiguration Sunday

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Mark’s gospel presents the ministry of Jesus as the pivotal event in a two-tiered struggle for the triumph of the reign of God, fought on both an earthly plane and a heavenly one. Mark presents Jesus confronting Satanic temptation and evil spirits long before he contends with…

  • Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, 4th February 2024

    Mark 1:29-391:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 1:30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 1:31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever…

  • Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 21st January 2024

    Mark 1:14-201:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 1:16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew…

  • Second Sunday after the Epiphany, 14th January 2024

    John 1:43-511:43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 1:44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,…