Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon one of my parishioners, Trish Pecuch,  preached on Sunday, 9/22 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Mark 9:30-37.  I was home with COVID.         After Jesus had taught the disciples, he gives them a demonstration. He takes a small child to illustrate what he is trying to teach them. Our response is, “Oh, how sweet!” Our ideas of children and childhood are far different from those of first century Palestine.   Parents loved their children, but in general, small children were considered non-persons. The Greek word used by Mark indicates a young child.There was no reason to interest oneself in serving a small child. There was nothing they could do for you. Children represented “the least.” By embracing a child, Jesus is demonstrating his love of the unlovable.    Now the answers to who is the greatest. The first answer Jesus gives the disciples is “Whoever wants to be first must be least of all and the ser...

These are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel that I shared electronically with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  Gospel: Mark 10:2-16 2 Some Pharisees came, and to test [ Jesus ] they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”   10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her ...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Sunday, 9/20. The text is Mark 9:30-37.  "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." Don't we get all mushy gushy when we read of Jesus' interaction with little ones? They're so cute and innocent. How we wish we had more of them here at church. Today, our gospel is about the second of Jesus' three predictions about his approaching suffering and death. There is an identical pattern in each of the three predictions. First, Jesus teaches that he will suffer and die. Second, the disciples are confused and misunderstand Jesus' meaning. Third, Jesus spends more time   teaching his disciples. In today's gospel, the whole point of the secrecy about Jesus and the disciples passing through Galilee until they got to Capernaum...