Hangry

9th Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 17), Year B
Texts: 2 Kgs 4.42-44; Jn 6.1-21

I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to realize that, somewhere, I’ve picked up a kind of elitism when reading stories from scripture. It’s easy—perhaps too easy—for me to condescend to the people in these stories who “don’t get it.” Take, for example, the crowds in St. John’s story today. When Jesus miraculously feed them, they want to make him a king. Given his reaction, and what we will read in the coming weeks, this is clearly not the response he was hoping for.

Broken By Design

6th Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 14), Year B
Texts: Ezek 2.1-5; 2 Cor 12.2-10; Mk 6.1-13

As we read this story from Mark’s gospel today, I wonder: does it make you uncomfortable? Mark says that Jesus “could do no deed of power there,” in Nazareth. How does that square with your image of Jesus? Does it change how you think about him?

If it does make you uncomfortable, I think that’s okay. It sure made Matthew uncomfortable. Matthew read Mark’s gospel before writing his own, using it as a kind of a template. When Matthew tells this same story, he changes it slightly, saying Jesus “did not do many deeds of power there,” but leaving it open as to whether or not he was able.