Reformation Day • John 8:31–36 • October 30, 2016


Reformation Day • John 8:31–36 • October 30, 2016

By Travis J. Scholl Commemorating the sixteenth-century events that came to be called the Protestant Reformation is more complicated than it used to be. Triumphalism—a certain weirdly coiffed presidential candidate notwithstanding—is no longer in vogue. We left it behind in favor of our more cosmopolitan sensibilities. Moreover, the drop in religious literacy has further problematized our ..


Proper 17 · Mark 7:14-23 · August 30, 2009


Proper 17 · Mark 7:14-23 · August 30, 2009

By Travis J. Scholl If last week’s Gospel reading dealt with things external (defiled hands), this week deals with things internal (an unclean heart), part two in Jesus’ teaching on what makes things (and people) clean and unclean. The audience has changed: “Then he called the crowd again and said to them …” (v. 14, emphasis ..


Proper 9 · Mark 6:1-13 · July 5, 2009


Proper 9 · Mark 6:1-13 · July 5, 2009

By Travis J. Scholl Here we are at the first week of July—Fourth of July weekend no less!—and the Gospel of Mark gives us no “summer vacation” from its cruciform sense of faith, discipleship, and the way of Christ. In this text (a continuation of last week’s Gospel text from Mark 5), Jesus has returned ..


Lent 2 · Mark 8:27-38 · March 8, 2009


Lent 2 · Mark 8:27-38 · March 8, 2009

By Travis J. Scholl This second Gospel reading in the season of Lent begins with a significant geographic border-crossing. Jesus has left the friendlier confines of Galilee, heading north to Caesarea Philippi. The name itself suggests the heavy hand of the Roman Empire, and the city was a significant site of pagan worship. Jesus has ..


Lent 1 · Mark 1:9-15 · March 1, 2009


Lent 1 · Mark 1:9-15 · March 1, 2009

By Travis J. Scholl This is the second time in this liturgical year we have encountered Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism by John. The first was on the Baptism of our Lord, January 11. There, the baptism ends the pericope, preceded by John the baptizer’s ministry in the wilderness. Here, it prefaces Jesus’ own journey ..