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| Summary: The value of a human being is more than what he or she can do. We are called to treat all as people of infinite worth in the kingdom of God. |
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| Summary: When we consider Jesus’ teaching on divorce, we walk a line between respecting the authority of scripture and acknowledging the pain of a destructive relationship. Our contemporary understanding of marriage differs from the understanding in Jesus’ day. From Jesus’ other teachings, we can affirm that marriage is for people, not people for marriage. The promise of the kingdom of God offers grace, both now and in the future, for those damaged by a relationship. |
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| Summary: Perhaps no words by Jesus have been interpreted so literally and so misinterpreted so painfully than those from this passage. There’s no question Jesus said what he did about divorce and remarriage — but who was he speaking to, what was he telling them and what does it mean for us today?
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| Summary: We are always looking for a rationale to justify why a particular rule does not apply to us in our given situation. But if moral guidelines and the ethical teachings of scripture do not work in difficult cases, then they have no value at all.
In the gospel story for today, Jesus twice reminds his audience -- and us -- about the rule behind an exception, and thereby gives a valuable corrective in matters of faith and ethics.
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| Summary: Divorce is an intensely emotional issue which often places a burden on people that they cannot easily carry. Jesus was as compassionate about those who suffered from divorce as he was about those who were hurting for other reasons. He made it clear that people “on the outside” were not to interfere with a marriage’s natural growth. On the other hand, there are some God-honoring things we can do to help the husbands and wives in our community stay together. |
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| Summary: Jesus welcomes children: both literal children and the inner child in all of us. |
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| Summary: When discussing the nature and the purpose of marriage, the meaning, the wonder and the power of marriage are often missed. When God brings a couple together it is by way of an assignment to learn and to teach love. |
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| Summary: We live in a world where divorce is common. For many married couples, it seems like divorce is just a misstep away. We hear things like “falling out of love” and “the spark is gone” and the next thing you know, the couple is divorced. How should we look at marriage? What is God’s will in all of this? And what about the kids? |
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| Summary: The rich young ruler came to Jesus asking what he needed to do. Jesus showed him that it’s not what we do but rather being a follower that leads to eternal life. |
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| Summary: Following Jesus wholeheartedly means making our whole life of one piece. That’s not easy to do, for our tendency is to keep things compartmentalized and treat our faith as something separate from other aspects of our lives. Yet Jesus wants access to every part of our lives. |
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| Summary: If you want to experience eternal life, you must come to Jesus and offer yourself without conditions to his mission. God is looking for those who are desperate to receive that which God alone can provide. |
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| Summary: Fifty years after the story about the rich man in our text, he reflects on that incident and his life. He explains to himself that the decision he made then was the sensible and responsible one. He has always lived that way — not taking serious risks. But he still keeps thinking about his meeting with Jesus. |
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| Summary: Rather than teaching us that we can buy our way into heaven, that we can keep our money as long as we don’t love it or offering a message about grace, Jesus calls us to take a risk to build up treasure in heaven. |
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| Summary: Eternal life is not a reward for following the commandments — or even for following Jesus! We are on the path to eternal life only when the life offered by God, through Jesus, becomes our one and only priority. We need to discover and relinquish whatever in our lives has a greater claim upon us than eternal life with God. |
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| Summary: If you want to experience eternal life, you must come to Jesus and offer yourself without conditions to his mission. God is looking for those who are desperate to receive that which God alone can provide. |
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| Summary: Sin has given us longing eyes, but not wise ones. We want what we do not have, what is easy, what satisfies our desires.
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| Summary: How difficult it will be for those who have wealth — for those who are rich like we Americans are — to enter the kingdom of God. Unless you can find a very big needle or a very, very tiny camel, it’s going to be an awfully tough road ahead for you. |
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| Summary: Our text for today is not about social classes. It does not give us the opportunity to make claims that the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer; such claims are inappropriate within the context of the text for today's sermon, within the context of Mark 10, and within Scripture as a whole. |
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| Summary: James and John ask Jesus to “do whatever they ask of him.” Jesus uses their asking for places of honor in the kingdom as an opportunity to talk about true discipleship, which is seen not in positions of glory, but in places of service. Indeed, for followers of Christ, it is a “race to the bottom” — not seeking to be recognized so much as to be in service for God. |
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| Summary: When disciples John and James asked Jesus to let them sit by his side once he occupies his heavenly throne, they received a pointed lesson in the real purpose of their lives and their calling as followers of the anointed one. The lesson, it turned out, had almost nothing to do with heaven.
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| Summary: In this reading, James and John call “shotgun,” the seat of honor next to Jesus. When the other disciples hear of their power play, they are angry. Jesus responds to them all by challenging their understandings of status and inviting them to follow him away from their ideas of power and glory to a new idea of service and sacrifice. That’s our challenge, too. |
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| Summary: When James and John requested seats of honor in the kingdom of God, they had no idea that true greatness in that kingdom belonged to those who carried a cross and those who served others.
That’s a lesson we are still learning today.
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| Summary: Sooner or later, God answers all prayers — but not every answer is in the affirmative. Sometimes the answer is “No.” And sometimes that negative answer is truly what’s best for us. |
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| Summary: James and John, in requesting seats at the right hand of Jesus, were enamored with power. They viewed the kingdom of God as a place where power would be wielded over people rather than for them. The answer Jesus gave them helps us to know how we should choose to use power today. |
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| Summary: When James and John requested seats of honor in the kingdom of God, they had no idea that true greatness in that kingdom belonged to those who carried a cross and those who served others.
That’s a lesson we are still learning today.
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| Summary: Jesus is approaching the culmination of his mission on Earth. His disciples, dumbly following along, have no idea, really, what that mission is. Yet they follow. Through their missteps and stumbles, we learn what it is to place ourselves under the discipline of Jesus. In this particular episode, we learn Christ’s truth about power. |
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| Summary: Jesus tells his disciples in this passage that he is giving his life as a ransom for many. But how many of us want nothing to do with being ransomed? |
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| Summary: Jesus’s encounter with Bartimaeus demonstrates respect for Bartimaeus’ innate humanity as a child of God. The response to Bartimaeus by others in the crowd seems to address only his perceived disability. |
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| Summary: Like Bartimaeus, we have obstacles to face, but Jesus gives healing and mercy by which we can overcome even our blindness and fear. |
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| Summary: Some of the experts in prayer are not theologians or poets. You may be one of them. |
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| Summary: Saint Mark is the only gospel writer who gives us a name for an unfortunate beggar who had the good fortune of meeting a well-known miracle worker whose fame was growing. Although the beggar was blind, he could quite clearly see an opportunity when it showed up. And when Jesus came near, he saw that he’d better seize the moment; he was not likely to get another one.
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| Summary: Bartimaeus was sidelined in life by his inability to see. But in encountering Jesus as the Savior came by, he gained his sight, and a new way of life. So can we. |
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| Summary: Bartimaeus’ faith was affected by his physical challenges. He was blind and his faith was blinded. He did not have blind faith, but rather blinded faith. Blinded faith comes from need, from desperation, from pain and struggle and from injury … and Bartimaeus was both injured and desperate. His blinded faith frantically led Bartimaeus to find what Jesus had to give. |
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| Summary: In the healing of blind Bartimaeus, Jesus subverts notions of the rights and privileges of power by showing that true power is exercised in service to others, especially those who are desperate for what only God can do. |
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| Summary: With whom do we identify in this story — the crowd, the disciples or Bartimaeus? If we’re honest, we are most like the disciples, or perhaps like the crowd. We need to consider the blind, bellowing beggar as a role model. |
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