Tag: lent

  • Preaching Paths 13 April 2025

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary A careful, thoughtful public reading of the gospel text on Palm Sunday this year (Luke 19:28-40) may warrant a brief introduction. We can alert listeners that Luke’s presentation of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem omits details found in the other gospels. They will hear no mention of…

  • 6th April 2025, 5th Sunday in Lent

    John 12:1-8 Mary anoints Jesus for his burial 12:1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 12:2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. 12:3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of…

  • Preaching Paths 30 March 2025 Lent 4 Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary In today’s reading (Luke 15:1-3,11b-32), Jesus responds to Pharisees who condemn his habit of sharing his table with notorious sinners and tax collectors. We focus today on what many know as the parable of the “Prodigal Son,” the third in a triad of parables about God’s concern…

  • Third Sunday in Lent, Yr C, 23rd March 2025

    Luke 13:1-9 The parable of the fig tree 13:1At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 13:2He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 13:3No, I tell…

  • Preaching Paths 23 March 2025  Lent 3 Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The Gospel text for Lent 3, Luke 13:1-9, continues the apocalyptic tone of Jesus’ teachings in ch 12.  Four themes shape these verses: 1) the fragility of human life; 2) the imminent inbreaking of God’s reign; 3) the narrowing window of opportunity to take appropriate action (repentance);…

  • 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,…

  • 9th March 2025, Lent 1, Year C

     The temptation of Jesus 4:1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 4:2where for forty days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 4:3The devil said to him, “If…

  • Preaching Paths 17 March 2024

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s gospel lection, John 12:20-33, forms part of the “bridge” in John between Jesus’ public ministry and his Passion (arrest, trial, crucifixion, resurrection).  In John, Jesus refers to this as his “glorification”—the revealing, through his dying, of the glory of the Father  (Jn 1:14, 18). John’s gospel…

  • 5th Sunday in Lent, 17th March 2024

    John 12:20-3312:20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 12:21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 12:22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 12:23 Jesus answered them,…

  • 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…