Thirty Seconds or Less

The good news in Mark’s gospel is that Jesus understands you. You meet not only the fully divine son of God who performs miracles but also a person with real life problems. At the beginning of the gospel, for example, his own family thinks he’s crazy and tries to “restrain him.” Mark’s gospel reminds you...

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In the gospel of Mark we meet a Jesus who conveys a great deal of urgency. The word “immediately” is used 40 times in Mark’s gospel. Jesus is always doing things immediately: Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat. People’s response is that way too: Immediately they left their nets and followed him....

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The way Mark tells it, Jesus is a community organizer, Teaching principles that build and sustain powerful leaders and movements. Through repentance, we learn that “the first revolution is internal.” Through uncommon encounters, he affirms that “power is in the relationship.” Through solidarity, he reminds us to “stay with the experiences of our people.” And...

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The Gospel of Mark reads like good news for Habakkuk’s runner. The vision is made plain from his coming out of the river to his coming out of the stone tomb. And this coming out, this good news, like the prophet’s vision – is public. It is not just to individuals and insiders – but...

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The Gospel of Mark is the oldest of all the gospels. I love it because it’s written by a regular person. It’s original language is full of grammatical errors and reminds me of a misspelled tweet that gets shared over and over because that message is just that dope. I love it because it’s like...

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Matthew was formed by the Hebrew scriptures. When he tells us the good news of Jesus he uses the stories of his heart and of his people. He sings of the saving love of God in the person of Jesus, with melodies he grew up humming. May we see Jesus as the culminating conclusion of...

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The Gospel of Matthew is the Gospel of Mountains. Jesus is tempted by the devil on a mountain, he preaches the beatitudes in a sermon on the mountain, he prays alone on a mountain, feeds four thousand freshly healed and hungry people on a mountain, is transfigured by the illuminating love of God on a...

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More than any other book, Zechariah looks forward to the coming of the Messiah. Hope for the people is found not in a great conqueror, but in one who comes on a donkey and who will be pierced and will die. The allusions to Jesus are thick, but let’s get behind that. God steps in...

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God is always listening. Our world is getting warmer. The voices of the hateful — the racist, the bigoted — seems to grow louder, families are fleeing their homes, their countries pleading and praying for somewhere safe to belong, Walls are growing taller and taller and our apathy grows with them. We shake our head...

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In the Christian Bible, Malachi is the last of of the prophets and the final book of the First Testament. For years and years and years the People of God hoped for the temple to finally bring the ideal kingdom. The temple has been rebuilt but there are still lots of problems. There is still...

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