Claimed, gathered and sent

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 ...

The gospel reading for this Sunday is Mark7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Here is the message I'll be sharing with the people of God at Bethel Lutheran Church,, Portville, NY where it is my privilege to serve as pastor.             Jesus has been busy in Mark’s gospel. He has already fed the 5,000, walked on water, and healed the sick. Jesus was like a rock star. The people would not leave him alone. The verse preceding today’s reading says, “ And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak …” (Mark 6:56).      Some of the scribes and Pharisees had come from Jerusalem to observe Jesus. He and his disciples were in Gennesaret, in the Galilee. That is over 97 miles away! It was no easy trip to get there in Jesus’ day. Why did the scribes and Pharisees go to Galilee? The crowds followed Jesus every...