You might recall a scene that occurred in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus was at Assyria, and he asked the disciples who they thought he was. And you remember that the disciples first responded that he was one of the prophets. Then others said he was John the Baptist. And then finally Peter responds and says, you are the Son of God, the Messiah.

Continue reading “Homily – 29th Sunday Ordinary Time” →

We listen to a lengthy selection from the gospel of Mark, and it comes with a young man coming up to Jesus and basically asking, what must I do to be saved? And Jesus then gives him the commandments as we have come to know them. And the young man responds and says, well, I have done all of those things.

Continue reading “Homily – 28th Sunday Ordinary Time” →

We are with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. And what happens is there in the area of the Transjordan, which would be the lower end of the Galilee region, an area that was under the control of Herod? And so the Pharisees come and again, they’re looking for an excuse, some reason, to have Jesus condemn. And because they want him out of the way.

And so what they do is they pose this question to him to test him. And they do it very deliberately because they know that they’re in the area of hatred. And because of that, they know that Herod is the one who had John the Baptist killed, because John kept telling him that it was wrong for him to be married to Herodias, the wife of his brother.

Continue reading “Homily – 27th Sunday Ordinary Time” →

We continue with the selections from the gospel of Mark, and one of the things that we note in Mark’s Gospel is that there is always a tension, and it is a tension between Jesus and who he is. And the disciples. You saw that last week when Jesus first announces or shares with them what is going to happen as they continue on the way and ultimately will end in Jerusalem?

Continue reading “Homily – 25th Sunday Ordinary Time” →

We listen to the Scripture for this 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, and the scriptures are all very well connected. Today, the first reading from the prophet talks to a people who are in exile, and it speaks to them that God has not forgotten them, but that God will be bringing about a new day for them, and that new day will be signified by the actions of the one who will restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to those who are speechless.

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They come back from having gone, as they were instructed by Jesus, to the towns and villages, to preach the good news, and to show the good news in action as they healed those who were impaired. And they come back now and they come back to Jesus, and they’re filled with excitement for what they were able to accomplish. But Jesus also sees something in them.

Continue reading “Homily – 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time” →

Throughout the gospel of Mark, one always comes up with these incidents where Jesus acts in a certain way, and yet the disciples remain somewhat disbelieving and want not yet sure of who this person is. And certainly this is one of the incidents where we see that, but Mark has that as one of the elements that he builds throughout his gospel in the sense of saying that faith is a very challenging part of our lives.

Continue reading “Homily – 12th Sunday Ordinary Time” →