Category: Lenten Series 2018

Mark 16:1-8 We have a difficulty with this last chapter. Your Bible probably has a note saying that verses 9-16 do not appear in the earliest manuscripts. English Bibles continue to include this section, but many scholars are of the view that it was a later addition, perhaps because it was believed that Mark’s ending […]

Mark 15:42-47 Today’s reading serves as an introduction to Holy Saturday, though Mark does not even mention it. There is only one sentence in all four Gospels which deals with that day. Luke states: But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. We have a difficulty with this day because we have […]

Mark 15:1-41 This chapter is the climax of Mark’s Gospel. We have all read it, perhaps hundreds of times. Still, each time it strikes us anew with its horror, its injustice and its pathos. I hesitated to comment on it, and considered just letting the text speak for itself. But to be faithful to my […]

Mark 14:12-72 Today’s reading commences with a reference to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is a Jewish Festival dating from the time of the Passover – the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. It involves the removal of yeast from every part of the house. Yeast is a symbol in the Bible […]

Mark 14:1-11 Go back and read the first two verses again. The outrage! Here’s this layman, going around healing people, making blind people see, delivering them from demons, and delivering sermons that people actually want to listen to. The priests and wardens call together some members of the Parish Council, invite the Bishop ’cos they […]

Mark 11:27 to 12:44 This is a very long reading, so we’ll make it a (relatively) short devotion. After a series of intellectual skirmishes, where various priests and teachers try to trick Jesus into saying something which they could use to condemn him, we finally meet a teacher of the law who takes Jesus seriously. […]

Optional Study: We will resume Mark next Monday. The book of Isaiah is crammed full of prophetic references to Jesus Christ. Today, we will cram into just two A4 pages, one of Isaiah’s reflections on the death and triumphal resurrection of our Lord, written many hundreds of years before his birth.  Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful […]

Mark 11:1-26 This is a long reading, as are quite a few from here on, but we must get to the end of Mark by Easter Sunday. I’ll focus today on just a couple of short reflections. What an entry this must have been for anyone who witnessed it – either the friends of Jesus […]