Tag: calling
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“What’s Our Motivation?”
What are we supposed to learn form the disciples’ immediate, enthusiastic response to Jesus’ call? That depends …
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Studying Mark 10 46-52
Jesus heals Blind Bartimaeus in the story we are studying for Sunday, September 19 as told in Mark 10:46-52. The story exemplifies Christ’s call and the ideal human response. [Here are some questions on this text.] Here are a few notes on that text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: We are reading this story in Mark’s gospel.…
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Studying Luke 5 1-11
Jesus shows up and changes the lives of Simon, James and John dramatically in Luke 5:1-11, the text we are studying for Sunday, January 10. I usually think of this as Luke’s version of “calling the disciples,” but we may want to ask ourselves whether that’s accurate. [Some questions on the text are here.] Here…
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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We were confident we understood the meaning of the Luke 14:15-23 text: “it’s about salvation, everyone is invited, some people turn it down, and eventually it will be too late.” It means some other things, too, like that if someone takes the trouble to make a party, you should take the trouble to attend; and…
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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
We did finally talk some about Daniel 9, but mostly our class turned into an occasion for people to confess some of the stresses and concerns of the immediate political season. “We are at an anniversary, you all.” “I wonder whether things have changed so that they can’t go back …” “I don’t know what…
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion (Acts 9 10-19)
Here are some questions related to Acts 9:10-19, the Uniform Series text for Sunday, August 20, that we might try to discuss in class: The reading opens with the Lord appearing to Ananias in a vision, and announces that Saul has also seen a vision while praying. From what we know about Ananias and Saul,…
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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Something a little less than a sermon on the Uniform Series text for this Sunday, Acts 6:1-8:] As we look in on this episode from Acts, this story of the life of the early Church, here’s what we see: a conflict is taking shape. That’s the first thing. These early Christians do their best to…
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Exegetical Exercise (Acts 6 1-8)
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, August 6, is Acts 6:1-8. Here’s the text (Inclusive Bible version), and my notes: 1In those days, as the number of disciples grew, a dispute arose between the Hellenistic Jews and those who spoke Hebrew, that the Greek-speaking widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2The…
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Exegetical Exercise (Isaiah 6:1-8)
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, July 9 is Isaiah 6:1-8, “the call of Isaiah.” Here’s the text (version: Inclusive Bible) and my notes on it: 1/In the year of the death of Uzziah, ruler of Judah, I saw YHWH seated on a high and lofty judgment seat, in a robe whose train filled the…
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Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[A sermon on Exodus 3:1-12, the Uniform Series text for Sunday, July 2, delivered at a small church in southern Indiana] Rashi, who is widely recognized as the greatest medieval Jewish commentator on scripture, says that when God tells Moses that “this is the sign by which you will know that it is I who…
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Exegetical Exercise (Exodus 3:1-12)
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, July 2, is Exodus 3:1-12 – a portion of the text that’s often short-handed as “the call of Moses.” Here’s the text (in Inclusive Bible version), and my notes on it: 1/ Moses was leading the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock deep…
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Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The text today continues the exploration of God’s call in the book of Judges, with the call of Samson – although the call is more properly, as we’ll see, the call of Samson’s mother. Scripture doesn’t tell us her name, but we know she must have had one, and according to Jewish tradition it was…
Matters of Interpretation 