Season of Growth
Blind Faith
28 October 2018
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
Although the idea of journey is not as strong in the Gospel of Mark as it is in Luke, the disciples have still been following Jesus along the way for many kilometres now. And still they are struggling to make sense of who Jesus is and what it means to follow him on the road….
Cross of Glory
21 October 2018
A few verses before our passage today we read that “And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.” (Mark 10:32, RSV) Then Jesus takes the twelve aside and announces to them what is about to happen…
Generous giving and freedom
14 October 2018
The Gospel today should probably carry a warning message before it is read. So many saints across the centuries have been cut to the heart when they have heard this proclaimed, and realise that Jesus is looking at us, no gazing with love at them and you and me. He is going to redefine the…
Hard Hearted Divorce
7 October 2018
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
Today we get to reflect on everyone’s favourite topic: divorce. The verse before our Gospel begins today provides a little more context when it tells us that Jesus was travelling with his disciples and the crowds down through the Jordan Valley into Judea and onto Jerusalem. When the Pharisees approach Jesus and ask the question:…
Chronicles of struggling disciples
23 September 2018
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
The Gospel has some very strong reminders about service and humility. The Gospel of Mark continues to highlight the deficiencies of these clueless disciples who continue to get things wrong. Not that we should be too hard on them perhaps – Jesus is making things a little harder than he may have by telling them…
Who is this man?
16 September 2018
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
The Gospel of Mark is both the shortest and earliest of the gospels written. It is also perhaps the most primal and simple of the gospels lacking some of the sophistication of the later offerings. But scholars have discovered a new appreciation for this gospel and its more raw and basic presentation of both Jesus…
Jesus does all things well
9 September 2018
The Fathers of the Church remind us that there were many miracles that Jesus performed; when a particular one stood out in the memory of the evangelists, it was perhaps for a particular spiritual lesson that the story can offer to us as we read and listen to it. As always, we are invited to…
A turning to the heart
2 September 2018
I am sure you have had the experience of telling a joke where the execution and timing have been rather good – and yet one or more of your friends in the group that surrounds you just don’t get the point. Perhaps you have also had the similar experience of hearing a joke and while…
Give thanks – for the Word become Flesh
26 August 2018
The Gospel this Sunday concludes our readings from John 6 where Jesus now addresses himself only to his disciples, rather than to the whole crowd. We hear that many of his disciples draw back and grumble and complain about the teaching of Jesus. Not because they could not understand what he is saying, but because…
Give thanks – Flesh and Blood
18 August 2018
The Gospel this Sunday once again from John 6 presents a most remarkable promise: anyone who eats his body and drinks his blood will live forever. Jesus will raise us up on the last day. One of the reasons that this is so remarkable is that one of the best known prohibitions in the Jewish…
Give thanks – for the rhythm of life
12 August 2018
The prophet Elijah should have been at the very peak of his game. He marched dramatically onto the pages of history at the beginning of I Kings 17 with a whole series of mighty deeds that he performs that already sets him apart from the ordinary run-of-the-mill followers of God. These deeds reach their crescendo…
God is always enough
5 August 2018
When you read the Gospel of John, you must always be aware of the broad canvas upon which John writes his Gospel. He is always mindful and aware of all that has gone on before in the past – the history of the people of God; and he is also aware of what may come…
Give Thanks
29 July 2018
Last Sunday Jesus and his disciples arrived by boat at what they thought was going to be a deserted place. Jesus is grieving the death of his cousin John. The disciples have returned from their mission of announcing the kingdom to the villages of Galilee. They are elated but exhausted. Instead, it is shortly before…
Crowds and Compassion
22 July 2018
The twelve “ones sent out” return from their successful mission, given in the Gospel last Sunday (see 6:7-13). Now, after an interlude during which the death of John the Baptist – slain for his faithful sharing in the mission of Jesus – has been reported (6:14-29), ‘the ones sent out’ return to Jesus (v. 30)…
Mission
14 July 2018
Ready for a huge challenge? Jesus is on a mission, and he wants his followers to join him. The Gospel of Mark began with the announcement that this is the Good News about King Jesus, the Son of God. When Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, he announced “The kingdom of God is near!” Jesus…
Jesus goes home
8 July 2018
Ready for some bible trivia? We read in the gospel of Matthew 2:23 that Jesus made his home in a town called Nazareth. This was to fulfil we’re told what “the prophets” had spoken, that “He will be a Nazarene.” Yet, the small village that Jesus grew up in, Nazareth, did not even exist during the period…
Don’t be afraid – just have faith
1 July 2018
Do you remember the exact moment when you fell asleep last night? I’m not sure that I do, but I do know that the feeling of slowly drifting off to sleep is rather wonderful. In the Gospel today we have these two healing stories that the author Mark binds together so closely that you need…
Seeds and Growth
17 June 2018
As Jesus has wandered around Galilee preaching about the Kingdom of God, he has been receiving very mixed responses and reactions. In the light of this, he begins to teach the crowds in parables about growth. The two that we have today are very similar and closely linked to the everyday experience of the people…
Strong Friends
9 June 2018
You know that things are not going well when everyone is so busy and that so many people gathered that Jesus and his disciples could not find time to eat. But perhaps it is a bit of a stretch to jump to the conclusion that the wider family of Jesus does – ‘he’s out of…
Living Festival
2 June 2018
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year B
Think back to the last time that you celebrated with friends or family some significant occasion. Was it a special birthday, an engagement party, graduation or wedding? The desire to mark such a special occasion with a meal is a deeply human and spiritual instinct. So much happens when we gather together and are bound more…
Gathered and Sent
27 May 2018
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year B
The Church gathers the community together today and reminds us of the mission that we receive through our belief in the Trinitarian God. Like the disciples who had scattered during the passion of Jesus, we are gathered to worship – even if some distazo – the word that Matthew uses to describe the doubt of…
Isolation and Healing
11 February 2018
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared,…
Choose Good
3 February 2018
One of the great dangers of modern life is our obsession with proving how valuable we are. This is seen in the busyness with which we surround ourselves. Being “so busy” becomes this strange and perverted badge of honour. Even though Jesus may well have been extremely busy – and we see it very clearly…
Education Mass – darkness transformed by Jesus’s authority
29 January 2018
As we begin a new education year today, it is interesting that the readings of the day provide significant guidance. The first reading (from 2 Samuel 15-16) provides the odd description of David discovering that his son Absolom has now won over the majority of the people and was gathering troops against the King –…
Amazed and astonished at Authority
28 January 2018
Over the last few weeks during the readings from the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, we have heard of the first teaching and preaching of Jesus in his call to repentance because of the breaking in of the kingdom of God. Last Sunday we heard the call of the first four disciples. Today, Mark…
Call and Response
21 January 2018
Last Sunday we were invited by Jesus in the Gospel of John to “Come and See” and this week when we resume in the Gospel of Mark and hear the first words of Jesus in this Gospel, we are invited to “repent and believe the Good News” and to join with Jesus as he walks…
Come and See
14 January 2018
The first Gospel that we hear as we plunge back into the season of the year with Mark in year B is not from the Gospel of Mark, but from the first chapter of the Gospel of John (John 1:35-42). The Gospel opens with John seeing Jesus walking by and John declares to two of…
Christ, the King of Justice
25 November 2017
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year A
Justice is something that we learn very early as children. We have this strong instinct for when something doesn’t just seem to be fair. Perhaps as a result, justice is one of the most profound longings of the human race. When there is no justice, then we know that something is wrong from deep within…
Hidden Talents
18 November 2017
When you get to the end of the year, there are always tests and exams and assignments for students. Some of these may be less serious – merely serving to help teachers know what they will need to spend more time revising in the new year. But for others, these tests will assess everything that…
The reality of heaven
11 November 2017
What we come to when we wish to ponder the place where Jesus has gone, and where our beloved dead have gone to – it is not another where, not another place, but another way of being. Heaven is not some place elsewhere, but it is a different way of being – the place where…