So, three things to start. The first is that Jesus is talking to an unspecified crowd in this moment. In 4:10, it says, “When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.” We don’t know if these are some of the people he’s healed. We don’t know if they’re religious leaders. We don’t know if they are followers who have been around him a while or are brand new to the following. And maybe that helps us to feel more represented in this mix. We can just be part of this small gathering. And that’s what makes this next part so brilliant in Mark’s crafting. The second starting point is that we have jumped over a really important part. It’s the part where Jesus says why he’s speaking in parables. And as I mentioned in my commentary last week, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven (4:11-12).’” Mark is indicating that the parables are not necessarily for greater understanding. In fact, quite the opposite. They are here for confusion.
Mark 3:20-35 (3rd Sunday after Pentecost) – June 9th, 2024
What most commentators LOVE to talk about with this pericope is that it is one of Mark’s intercalations (a sandwiched story for teaching). Sure, that’s true and it’s a neat writing style BUT, this is really (at least) a double decker sandwich. This story is more meaningful when we see that Jesus has just selected the twelve in the previous section. And he has specifically called the twelve to be “with him” (3:14). This is in contrast with the word that is translated as “family” in 3:21. In the Greek, οἱ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ is literally, “the ones beside him.” This is often seen as familial but could be more inclusive than just immediate family (also friends and other relatives). But even before we get to the intercalation, we’re already being connected to the passage before. And immediately, we are dealing with a larger theme of who is “in” and who is “out.”
Mark 2:23—3:6 (2nd Sunday after Pentecost) – June 2nd, 2024
In Mark's narrative, Jesus faces conflict in Capernaum with religious leaders. Despite debate over Sabbath rules and healing actions, the Pharisees interact with Jesus in good faith. Jesus, upsetting norms, asserts his authority and challenges their beliefs. The story prompts reflection on Jesus' unconventional approach and the significance of Sabbath observance.
John 3:1-17 (Trinity Sunday) – May 26, 2024
It’s another Trinity Sunday and another John 3:16 Sunday. What more could we ask for, right? But I’d like to start with a few permissions (if you need them). First, you do not need to preach on the Trinity. You don’t need to try to explain a mystery and you don’t need to try to explain the heresies. Second, you don’t need to say the Athanasian Creed. In fact, I encourage you not to. Unless you plan on doing a lot of teaching around it, please don’t use it. Third, it’s okay to cherry pick this one. We’ve been in Easter and Maundy Thursday for so long that trying to jump back into the narrative of John will be difficult. And while the story of Nicodemus is a little familiar to some, it’s not so familiar that people will know exactly where we are in the story of Jesus’ ministry. All of this to say, you can be easy on yourself this week. If you needed to hear that, I hope that it’s helpful.
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 – Pentecost – May 19, 2024
Have you ever experienced that hindsight moment when maybe days, months, or even years after the fact, you realize that someone told you something was going to happen, and it did?
John 17:6-19 (7th Sunday of Easter) – May 12, 2024
Because we’ve been in the Maundy Thursday scene for so long, I won’t rehash the context from the last few weeks too much. This text is in line with the last few Sundays. It is the conclusion of Maundy Thursday. As we heard last week, Jesus was giving the disciples his final teachings and his final commands. “Love one another as I have loved you.” This week, we hear Jesus’ final prayer to God for his disciples. The disciples are overhearing Jesus praying for them. It is a beautiful moment. I am going to jump right into interpretation and preaching possibilities this week.
John 15:1-8 (5th Sunday of Easter) – April 28, 2024
We are smack dab in the middle of the Farewell Discourse this week. In the Gospel of John, 4 chapters, 4 whole chapters are dedicated to Maundy Thursday. Jesus’ final night and his final meal with the disciples. It begins in chapter 13 with him washing their feet and Judas leaving. Then from chapters 14 through 17 Jesus is sharing his final words with them before he will be arrested. Many call this the “Final Discourse,” the last words to his disciples, to his friends, before he is killed. So, in chapter 15, our text for today, we are in the middle, the heart of his last words to his friends. And really, the words immediately after this are the essential portion: 9“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” If you talk with many pastors, they feel that John is just kind of ramble-y. There are SO MANY WORDS! And yet, they all build on each other. While John is wordy, he isn’t often talking just to talk. There is always a theological point or nuance that he is making. And so, we can’t really understand the vine and the branches without looking at these verses that come immediately after. And we can’t understand that vine and the branches without looking at the entirety of this night and the days to come.
John 15:9-17 (6th Sunday of Easter) – May 5th, 2024
There is a fascinating logic in this short passage this week that I think carries some interesting things to think about. Of course, this is following right on the heels of last week’s text (the vine and the branches) and so if you went a different direction last week, you could reference my commentary from last week for some other perspectives. But what a lot of introductions and prayers talk about this week is friendship and love. But today, Jesus indicates that friendship wasn’t possible until this moment. So, what does it mean that Jesus is introducing the idea of friendship now? And how does that inform us as a church?
John 10:11-18 (4th Sunday of Easter/Good Shepherd) – April 21, 2024
Truthfully, I struggle with the Season of Easter each year at this point. Often the last 4 Sundays are from the Gospel of John and they jump around from chapter to chapter without a lot of narrative connection. In my interpretation, those compiled the Revised Common Lectionary were trying to do one major thing by choosing these later Easter Season texts. They were trying to establish a hindsight perspective. So, every year we jump back to different portions of the Farewell Discourse (John’s foot washing/Last Supper scene) when we hear about the commandment to love one another (John 15:9-17 - which we’ll get in 2 weeks) or “I am the vine, and you are the branches” (John 15:1-8 - which we get next week). These texts, as you look back make you see the crucifixion and resurrection in a new light. Even Good Shepherd Sunday (this week) which makes us look at this even earlier text from chapter 10 through the lens of a Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. But, reading these texts narrative order (from chapter 1 to the crucifixion), they have a more sinister tone. When we read the commandment to love on Maundy Thursday, it is with the knowledge that Jesus is about to be betrayed and killed. When we hear that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we know that it is with religious leaders plotting to have him killed. Our anxiety is peaked. We know that Good Friday looms over it all. But when we read them in hindsight, it is through the glory of the resurrection. Easter has happened. The tomb is empty. Jesus is Risen! We are experiencing what the disciples on the sea experienced from last week’s (Luke 24:36b-48) when Jesus opened their mind to the scriptures. When we hear these words now, they are promise and filled with glory, not anxious anticipation. So, how does this inform how we preach this text that takes us back in time?
Luke 24:36b-48 (3rd Sunday of Easter) – April 14, 2024
There are a lot of oddities to this text but I’m not sure that’s where the focus should be. Yes, it’s weird how many points are addressing Jesus being a ghost. Yes, it’s weird that Jesus is given broiled fish. From a narrative perspective these just make sense. There are only a few explanations for how a man who was killed could be alive again. Either 1) they’ve begun to lose their minds, 2) Jesus is a ghost, or 3) his words could actually be true, and he could be risen from the dead. He has flesh and he has bones, and they can touch him. He is eating in their presence. His words must be true.
Micah Krey 