Reading Plan for Mar. 1 - 7

March 1, 2026 | Mark 10:1-12
Reflection:
The framework of this teaching is that there are some who are testing Jesus’ interpretation of the Law. Sometimes Jesus seems to be lax on the Law. Healing on the Sabbath? That is permissible. Divorce? Not permissible. Why? The center of Jesus’ teaching on divorce has to do with what God has knit together. Jesus is calling us to the core of the law. Marriage & divorce become symbolic of covenant-making and breaking. In God’s covenant with humanity, God is the one who has knit us together with God in great love. Breaking covenant with God is negating the loving commitments we have made. Throughout Jesus’ own scriptures, turning away from God to another god is spoken of as “adultery.” The deeper message Jesus speaks here is to honor the loving commitments we make with one another and with God. Jesus repeatedly calls us to the core of the Law as he sees it: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. We all know that divorce happens at a high rate in our time. Jesus’ teaching calls us to consider how every action either draws us away from or toward the core of loving, covenant action.

March 2, 2026 | Mark 10:13-16
Reflection:
This is the second time we hear how much Jesus prizes the presence of children in his ministry, the ushering in of the kingdom of God. I wonder how these children lived out the rest of their lives, having had Jesus touch them and bless them? Was there something noticeable about them? Did they do fantastic deeds? Did they glow, like the saints in medieval paintings? Or did they go about their day-to-day living with their hearts held high, knowing they were loved? How would we live differently, knowing that we too have been touched and blessed by Jesus?

March 3, 2026 | Mark 10:17-31
Reflection:
This is a longer set of verses, but they are all connected. These verses are all about one thing: reversals. The rich man is anticipating becoming poor. The wealthy, in general, will have trouble buying their way into the kingdom. The disciples fear they’ll get nothing in return for their investment into what Jesus is doing, as if it were a divine pyramid scheme. Jesus points them all to a greater vision of what God’s reversals are all about: repentance. Hmm? When Jesus preached his first sermon, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!” (Mark 1:15), “repent” means, “turn around, head in the other direction, change the orientation of your mind, body, and spirit!” Jesus’ first sermon occurs in the context of the great reversal that God is already enacting: making the Lord’s path straight by lowering the hills and raising up the valleys. Our passage today is no less about God’s great reversals: the lofty are brought lower, and the lowly are raised up, so that we might all be together on God’s even plain. What reversal in your life might bring you onto God’s plain?

March 4, 2026 | Mark 10:32-45
Reflection:
Notice the connection between these two stories: Jesus announces his coming persecution, death, and resurrection & some of the disciples are still arguing about who will get the best seat in the throneroom of God. They didn’t get the message of God’s great reversal: Jesus is no earthly monarch. His death will appear to show that the world has power to bring the lowly even lower, yet his resurrection will show that in God’s realm, there is a reversal of all earthly degradations. And when the disciples miss the message of reversal, Jesus intensifies it: if you want to be great, become the servant of all. There’s no other way. In God’s reversal, power looks like great, self-giving love.

March 5, 2026 | Mark 10:46-52
Reflection:
The gospel writers sometimes tell us the names of people who are healed and sometimes not. Here we learn about a certain Bartimaeus and his receiving his sight, but we never hear of him again. Notice one thing: the blind man sees something others do not. He intuits that this Jesus of Nazareth is to be called, “Son of David,” and from him mercy is petitioned. Even though Bartimaeus’ identity is obscured in the early church, Christians for centuries have joined him in his cry, “Kyrie eleison!”, that is, “Lord, have mercy!” What Jesus says to Bartimaeus after such a plea is “Your faith has made you well.” This could also be translated, “Your belief has saved you” or “Your trust has made you whole.” How would you want Jesus to respond to you when you pray, “Son of David, have mercy on me”?

March 6, 2026 | Mark 11:1-11
Reflection:
Something is afoot. Literally! Jesus and his walking band of followers are about to step onto the world’s stage, even if this part of the stage is at the fringe of the empire. There is nothing random about what takes place. Jesus seems to have made arrangements about which the disciples know nothing. Jesus, who has been walking everywhere so far in the gospel, enters the city, riding on a pre-arranged donkey, one that seems to mirror ancient prophecy. You may not see it in English, but the Aramaic word “Hosanna!” has the same root as the name Jesus. Both words are connected to what God has been up to in the world since time immemorial: saving, rescuing, delivering, emancipating, freeing, and making whole. As Jesus steps onto the world’s scene, it is God who is setting things right. The great reversal is in motion. Nothing can stop it. From the first words of the Gospel until now, “Make straight the highway of our God,” no matter what the world thinks is going on, it is God who is setting things right…all in good time. It is already late.

March 7, 2026 | Mark 11:12-19
Reflection:
Our first story here seems so uncharacteristic for Jesus. Isn’t he the peace, love, and joy guy? It is important to notice the close connection between the story of the unproductive fig tree and the corrupt temple. Jesus’ frustration level seems to have been heightened by what he saw the evening before as he “looked around” Jerusalem. In the morning, Jesus is “hungry.” This could mean more than physical hunger. Could it be that Jesus is hungering for righteousness and justice? Is he calling for a deeper devotion to God, free from the corrupting forces of this world? If this is what he’s up to in both stories, notice what’s soon to happen to him after he “cleanses the temple,” disrupting the economic exchanges that are happening. No one cares too much about the fig tree being called out for its failure. But when Jesus steps into the place where religion, politics, and economics intersect, and he calls for a righteousness that threatens the powerful, things are quickly set into motion. The plot thickens.