On the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
27th Sunday, Year B
What We Celebrate
Our Sunday gospel takes the form of a story with controversy in which the Pharisees seek to bring Jesus into conflict with what they regard as the clear teaching of Holy Scripture – in this case referring to the Hebrew scriptures, known to us as the Old Testament. Their intent was clear: they were testing (peirazo) Jesus. When this word is used in Mark, it is either Satan (1:13) or the Pharisees (8:11; 10:2; 12:15) who are “testing/tempting” Jesus. Their question begins, “Is it lawful…?” However, they aren’t really asking Jesus to tell them what the law says. They already know what the law says: “When a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, is later displeased with her because he finds in her something indecent, and therefore he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house” (Deuteronomy 24:1). There is a lot to “unpack” in that single verse and the context in which it is recalled in the gospel passage
As always, a lot going on in the gospel reading. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and take a moment on the back porch with the Word of God.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
The Pharisees and the Sadducees Come to Tempt Jesus | James Tissot | Brooklyn Museum, PD-US
In the image of God…
Jesus moves the dialogue with the Pharisees to a deeper question and asks about what God intended in His creation: “But from the beginning of creation…” (Gen 1:27) – and apart from the questions of marriage and divorce, what there something more that Jesus is pointing to as part of this dialogue. Let me suggest that the most fundamental statement about human nature is captured in Gen 1:26 – “Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion…”
We are created in the image of God…. to what end? Take a few moments and watch the video on what it means to “have dominion” in the context of being made an image of God.