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<P><FONT size=4>Mark’s story thus meets his hearers at many levels. It is as
though he invites them and us to find ourselves mirrored in these scenes. Out of
the reality of history he creates a stage which extends into our reality and
invites us to participate, to step into the story, to expose to ourselves our
will to power, our lords and our gods and somehow in the process to disentangle
ourselves, our ‘Lord’ and our God from the system. It is dangerous - because all
who want power must exterminate sources of threat.</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkPentecost20.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkPentecost20.htm</FONT></A></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>William Loader</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Perhaps the authors of the Lectionary have gotten tired of
hearing Jesus lecture us on the topic of his impending betrayal, arrest,
degradation, brutal execution and rising again, but omitting </FONT><FONT
size=4>Verses 32-34</FONT><FONT size=4> completely removes the context for
appreciating the shocking display of stupidity and arrogance by James and John.
Jesus has just said, "The Romans are going to kill me in a way that they have
perfected through practice to cause the maximum possible amount of shame and
pain for the longest possible time." And James and John then ask, "Well, after
that's all done with, could you give us the best seats in
Paradise?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.holytextures.com/2009/10/mark-10-35-45-year-b-pentecost-24-29-sermon.html">http://www.holytextures.com/2009/10/mark-10-35-45-year-b-pentecost-24-29-sermon.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV id=alpha><FONT size=4></FONT><!-- sidebar1 --></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>David Ewart, 2009</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Again, Mark’s Jesus overturns our
presuppositions about power and privilege. In fact, as philosopher Alfred North
Whitehead has noted, to single out omnipotence as a defining feature of divinity
smacks of a regrettable tendency to pay God “metaphysical compliments,”
concocting lists of attributes we mistakenly think praise-worthy. As if God
needed our flattery, our heaping up of omni’s (omnipotent, omniscient, and the
rest), our creation of terminology does little more than land us in the
sophomoric puzzle with which we started. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=12">http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=12</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Mary Louise
Bringle, 2009</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4> The problem
is, "we know not what we ask, when we ask for the glory of wearing the crown,
but ask not for the grace to bear the cross in our way to it", Henry. The crown
is ours as a gift of asking, but in the getting, we often join the disciples in
self-seeking.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday29bg.html">http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday29bg.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Bryan Findlayson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>As you read this text, you know something
the disciples could not comprehend: Jesus aimed to give his life away in order
to reconcile the whole world to God. He was ransoming the disciples who remained
so in the dark about his mission, ransoming those crucified at his right and
left, ransoming the ones who had manipulated systems of justice to bring about
his unjust death. </FONT>
<P><FONT size=4>What does that ransom free you from? What does it free you for?
</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4><A
href="http://maryhinkle.typepad.com/pilgrim_preaching/2003/10/secret_ambition.html">http://maryhinkle.typepad.com/pilgrim_preaching/2003/10/secret_ambition.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Mary Hinkle</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Tension is in the air as Jesus & his
friends move towards Jerusalem. He's already given fair warning of what lies
ahead. No doubt the tension builds as he goes on to develop in more detail
what's going to happen to him, & by association, maybe to them. That kind of
tension is completely lacking in the churches to which most of us belong. From
an Australian point of view, Christians in our neighbour Indonesia probably come
closest to knowing what Jesus really means. In the face of Islam run amok with
churches burnt & bombed, Christians murdered, racial hatred feeding the
flames of a new intolerance foreign to both Islam & Christianity when they
are true to the One God & not crazed fanatics - on either side.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/marginallymark/MMK103245P19.html">http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/marginallymark/MMK103245P19.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Brian McGowan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4> Perhaps James and John, who had been
with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and had seen the splendor of Jesus,
Moses and Elijah on the mountain, that spiritual experience “went to their
heads” and they thought that they were the “greatest of the disciples.” James
and John had become puffed up with religious superiority after the Mount of
Transfiguration.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_having_the_hearts_and_hands_of_a_servant_GA.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_having_the_hearts_and_hands_of_a_servant_GA.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=module-header> </DIV>
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