Authors /
John K. Stendahl
John Stendahl is pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Newtons (ELCA) in Newton, Massachusetts.
Open up
"Ephphatha!" Jesus cries in Mark 7. "Open up!" In that passage the command is specifically about hearing and speech. But the image seems emblematic of the gospel in many ways.
Sunday, September 29, 2013: Luke 16:19-31
Years later I still feel the shame. I was visiting a young man in a facility for people with severe brain injuries....
Wealth is unfair
“Life isn’t fair,” my four-year-old granddaughter once told me. She offered this judgment as a thoughtful observation, not a whining complaint.
I remember taking genuine pleasure in her remark—not just a delight in her early capacity for philosophical reflection, but also a sense that this particular wisdom could be of blessing in the life ahead of her.
Sunday, September 22, 2013: Luke 16:1-13
On a wall in Stockholm’s cathedral hangs a huge 17th-century painting of the Last Judgment that depicts the falling bodies of the damned....
The beginner's Gospel (John 3:14-21)
Look, people are sinking under the waters. Here in this wilderness, people are perishing.
Consuming zeal: John 2:13-22
In the synoptic accounts of the cleansing of the temple, Jesus is being provocative. In John, he is provoked.
Messianic complex: John 1:6-8, 19-28
John the Baptist baptized Jesus of Nazareth. The synoptic Gospels all say so, and the kerygma in Acts connects the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with that baptism. But although Mark seems to find it quite right that Jesus should have been among those who heeded John’s preaching, all the other evangelists seem discomfited by the suggestion that Jesus was somehow a disciple of this other preacher.
On your mark: Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Like a starter’s pistol, this brief first verse rings out and Mark’s narrative is off and running....
Holding promise: Luke 2:22-40
Picture the old man with the baby in his arms. He stands chuckling with giddy joy, or perhaps he gazes with streaming tears on his cheeks, or is lost in transfixed wonder. He says that this is enough now, he is ready to die. He has seen salvation and he can depart in peace. But what has he seen, really?
Mary says yes: Luke 1:26-38, 47-55
At Christmas even the most Protestant among us can be drawn to the contemplation of Mary. It seems right to recall her humble courage, her receiving and carrying and giving birth, and her joy as she sang of the saving work of God.
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On your mark: Mark 1:1-8
In my Swedish childhood, the signature image of Advent was Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.