Tag: resurrection

  • Preaching Paths 16 November 2025 Proper 28C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary In today’s gospel reading (Luke 21:5-19), Jesus continues to teach a mixed crowd of disciples and other listeners in the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, a building project of Rome’s appointee, Herod the Great. In Jesus’ time, its expansive outer courts and lavish embellishments were still under construction.…

  • Preaching Paths 9 November 2025 Proper 27C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary After several weeks of Luke’s action-filled parables and stories, today’s Gospel text, Luke 20:27-38, may strike some preachers—and their listeners!—as odd or simply irrelevant. To open a pathway to  the pulpit, a first step is to review the setting and timing of the debate presented in this…

  • 27th April 2025, 2nd Sunday of Easter

    St John 20:19-31 Beholding the wounds of the risen Christ 20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20:20 After he said this,…

  • Preaching Paths 27 April 2025 Eastertide 2 Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The Gospel text before us today, John 20:19-31, is regarded by many scholars as the original ending of the Gospel of John.* In v 31, the writer states the purpose of his book: that those who read or hear it “may believe that Jesus is the Messiah,…

  • Preaching Paths 20 April 2025  Easter Day Year C John 20:1-18*

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Each of the four gospels describes events that take place at Jesus’ tomb early on the first day of the week following Jesus’ crucifixion. All are different; yet, on two points they agree: the tomb was found open, and Mary Magdalene was there. One may disagree with…

  • Preaching Paths 3 November 2024 Proper 26B

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary In this week’s lection (Mark 12:28-34), Mark surprises us. We meet a scribe who is sympathetic, not antagonistic, to Jesus. We find him lingering nearby, listening in while three sets of Jewish leaders question Jesus, hoping to catch him opposing either Jewish or Roman legal codes. First,…

  • Second Sunday of Easter, 7th April 2024

    John 20:19-3120:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20:20 After he said this, he showed them his hands…

  • Preaching Paths 7 April 2024 Eastertide 2B

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary John’s gospel reports four post-resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples. Mary is the first to meet the risen Lord; she does not know him until he speaks her name. The fourth appearance is on the lakeshore, where some disciples have been fishing (Jn 21). The second…

  • Preaching Paths 31 March 2024 Easter Yr B

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Mark’s gospel ends with Easter morning (Mk 16:1-8). Three women carry burial spices to the tomb “early in the morning, when the sun had risen.” They are relieved, at first, when they see from a distance that the immense stone closing the tomb has been rolled aside. …

  • 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…