Claimed, gathered and sent

Here are some thoughts on this coming Sunday's gospel text, which were sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  Gospel: Mark 10:35-45 35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”   36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?”   37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”   38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”   39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;   40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”     41 When the ten heard this, they began t...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 10/14 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Mark 10:17-31.   In 1967, Dusty Springfield sang: The look of love Is in your eyes A look your smile can't disguise The look of love Is saying so much more than Just words could ever say And what my heart has heard Well it takes my breath away In the first scene of today’s gospel, we hear of Jesus’ look of love and the response he gets from a very religious, self-sufficient, well-to-do man.  Right from the get-go, Mark tells us that this gospel passage is about discipleship because the Greek says Jesus is “on the way,” not “setting out on a journey.” In Mark’s gospel, that is code for walking the way of the cross because Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Early Christians were referred to as those belonging to “the Way” (Acts 9:2). All we know at the outset of this gospel is that this man is humble, for he knelt before Jesus and addressed him as “G...