Author Archives: NextSunday Reflections

Mark 5:18-20 The quiet ending in these last three verses of the Gerasene demoniac’s story are as fascinating as the dramatic plot in the first seventeen. The man Jesus heals is begging to stay with this Great Physician. This healed man, now in his right mind, is understandably concerned about his future. What could he […]

Mark 5:14-17 What news would you run to tell—and how would you spin it? The pig herders run to town to tell everyone what’s happened. They are more concerned with the deaths of the pigs then with the healing they just witnessed. Picture them trying to explain to the owners of the herd: “It wasn’t […]

Luke 5:12-14 The leper asks the question we all want answered: Lord, do you choose me? Do you choose to hear me? Do you choose to see my needs? Do you choose to reach out your hand to do something to help? More often than not, we assume the answer to our specific request will […]

Mark 5:9-13 Horror stories aren’t my thing. Apparently the Gerasenes didn’t like them either. They go to great lengths to distance themselves from anyone like this possessed man who runs to Jesus. Without a health facility for the mentally ill, they send this man to live on the margins. He’s left in a Gentile cemetery, […]

Mark 5:1-8 Neuroscientists differ about how many thoughts pass through our brains each day. Whatever the number actually is, it’s larger than we realize. Our tens of thousands of daily ideas include info fit for trivia nights, “what ifs,” unanswerable questions, things we never want to forget, and hurts we can’t erase. Their quantity can […]

Psalm 126 Whether we were this psalm’s first readers or its most recent, all of us yearn for the joy that we cannot create on our own, the joy we only receive as a divine gift. When we don’t experience that grace, we try to achieve it, pursuing whatever promises happiness, climbing whatever ladders that […]

Mark 4:33-34 When editors have to read a sentence more than twice to understand it, that’s usually their cue to help writers find a better way to express what they’re trying to say. But when I read why Jesus speaks in parables, I always find myself reading his sentences multiple times. I know that’s not […]

Mark 4:30-32 I’ve always thought about that famous tiny mustard seed in Jesus’ parable as something to possess and protect. I imagine holding it in my hand, then clenching my fist around it so tightly that I won’t lose it. But as I grow in my understanding of the Gospel, I realize that holding onto […]

Mark 4:26-29 Remember The Carrot Seed (1945), Ruth Krauss’s classic children’s book that Crockett Johnson illustrated? A little boy plants a seed, then waits—and waits—for it to grow. Every day he checks and waters it. He makes sure it has plenty of sunshine and pulls the weeds around it. Every day a family member walks […]

Mark 4:21-25 The “Happy Birthday” song has been sung and the candles blown out. The parents start scooping ice cream onto cheerful party plates. Children wait for their little slice of heaven to be placed in front of them, then dig in. Except for the birthday girl’s younger brother who pouts when he receives his […]