Lent 3 B: A Thin Place Every Place

John 2:13-22   Dear Partner in Preaching, John has something to say and he doesn’t mind messing with the standard story in order to say it. John the Fourth Evangelist, I mean. We are familiar with the story he tells in this week’s Gospel reading – Jesus cleansing the Temple – but if we pay attention we’ll realize he doesn’t just give it his own distinct spin, but actually takes great license with the details, symbolism, and even chronology. And all for a very good reason. Let’s start with chronology. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple comes much later in the story, just after his triumphal entry...

John 19:1-4

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look,...

Luke 19:41-48

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and...

Mark 12:41-44

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has...

Mark 12:1-12

Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watch-tower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share...