"podcast" Tagged Sermons (Page 107)

       Mark’s gospel is frustrating. The beginning is odd and the ending, well, the ending isn’t really an ending at all. Throughout this liturgical year, we’ll try to figure out if the Jesus we “know” is Mark’s Jesus. You see, each of the four Gospel’s take a different approach to Jesus. We just finished working through Matthew who went out of his way to hammer home that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and the new Moses. Yet, Mark takes a different approach. And we know Mark is going to be different from the second verse when we hear of the prophets. With our attention on the prophets, we meet John the Baptist, and we notice that he acts, talks, and dresses like, well, a prophet from the Hebrew Scriptures…

We are almost done. Next Sunday is the last Sunday of the church year. As the church year changes, we get to move on to a new gospel. You see, we follow a three-year cycle of readings called the Revised Common Lectionary. Each year we focus on a different synoptic gospel – Matthew, Mark, or Luke – and John’s gospel is spread across all three years. While similar in some ways, each Gospel emphasizes something different. This year we’ve explored Matthew on 38 of the 52 Sundays, that’s 73% of the year. In comparison, next year we’ll hear from Matthew only once. If you’ve been here regularly, you may feel like an expert on Matthew. Since you’re knowledgeable, it’s time for a “pop quiz!”…