The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the moneychangers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out...
Epiphany 4 B: First Things First
posted by DJL
Dear Partner in Preaching, I suspect there are days when you wonder if what you do makes much of a difference. Days when you worry about attendance, struggle to find a Sunday School teacher, look ahead to the prospect of an uninspiring committee meeting, or wonder if any of the kids in confirmation even want to be there. Days that drain the body, wear on the spirit, and cause you to question, not so much your vocation in general, but the usefulness of it in particular. And then comes a passage like this one. A passage on an exorcism, of all things, using words like “rebuke” and “unclean spirit,” and you fear that if your people ever...
John 2:13-22
posted by DJL
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the moneychangers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out...
John 2:12
posted by DJL
After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days. This is, by and large, a transitional verse, moving Jesus from the setting of his first “sign” in Cana to the stage for his first major public encounter in...
John 2:11
posted by DJL
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. Just one more word on this first public event in Jesus’ ministry. Notice that when John describes Jesus’ act of turning water into wine he doesn’t describe it as a...