The Good Word

Paul begins this next section by comparing the Galatians interest in the law of Moses to the stoicheia the natural elements which were sometimes treated as gods see A A Long and D N Sedley The Hellenistic Philosophers Vol 1 Cambridge 1987 280-89 The comparison is clear enough but h

Following the marvelous miracles of multiplication of food and walking on water and a host of still other wonders Mark again interjects a conflict story Here Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem want to know why Jews followers of Jesus do not obey the Tradition of the Elders but instead eat

The episode following the feeding of the 5000 through the instrumentality of the Twelve is the story of Jesus walking on the water No doubt one can study individual episodes to learn their meanings but we do recognize that it is Mark and his intentions that linked certain stories with others

Paul s initial argument regarding Abraham and the law of Moses is that the promise to Abraham on the basis of faith cannot be annulled by the coming of the law of Moses 430 years later see Exodus 12 40 for the likely origin of Paul s chronology What does he mean Paul argues that the promise

Mark 6 34-56 no 19 Oct 13 The Twelve have returned from preaching repentance and performing miracles to support their trustworthiness Jesus has asked them to come away to rest a sign Mark indicates which shows the extreme attraction of all that Jesus is The crowds will not let Jesus an

Toyota has a new television commercial in which the line saved by zero is sung over and over Since I have no idea what the kids listen to anymore except my own – and yes what they listen to scares me just like my punk albums scared my parents – I was not certain if Toyota was digging into so

Is it foolish NRSV Galatians or stupid NAB Galatians It s so hard to know and so hard for a Galatian to catch a break one way or the other Paul writes in a polemical style common among ancient writers but jarring to our ears It is hard to imagine a papal encyclical beginning with stupid

The Greek words that lie behind the English translations of justify justification and righteousness in the letters of Paul are the verb dikaioo and the nouns dikaios and dikaiosyne This Greek verb and associated nouns originally referred to justice and the results of justice delivered that is

With the mission of the Twelve underway Mark has asked his reader to look beyond the life of Jesus to the continuation of God s offer of His kingdom to those who repent As their mission proceeds they keep central the call to repentance so as to enjoy the Kingdom and support their call with ast

The first reading for October 8 is Galatians 2 1-2 7-14 but we will look at the whole of the chapter Paul moves to explain the acceptance of the Gospel he preaches by the Church as a whole and he describes his encounter with the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem described also in Acts 15 Paul doe