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Epiphany 6 | Ordinary Time 6, Cycle B

“Lord God, mercifully receive the prayers of your people. Help us to see and understand the things we ought to do, and give us grace and power to do them; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
It is in the portions of The Prayer of the Day for this Sunday that are italicized above that we see the unifying factor in the four texts selected for this day. Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, needed help from the Lord God through Naaman’s own servants before he could understand the things that he should do in the cleansing of his body from leprosy in the 2 Kings 5:1-14 Elisha story.

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Epiphany 5 | Ordinary Time 5, Cycle B

Isaiah 40:21-31 God is acclaimed in this text as not only the Creator of all of the splendor of the universe, but also as the one who watches over and actually mini-manages everything, without ever growing weary or lacking in understanding. Although even young men and women become tired and weak during strenuous activity, all [...]

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Epiphany 4 | Ordinary Time 4, Cycle B

The issue of absolute authority and of derived authority is the most significant factor that is considered in these texts. In Deuteronomy 18:15-20 it is said that the absolute authority of God is so awesome that the people of God pleaded that they would not hear the voice of the Lord God again or see [...]

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Epiphany 2 | Ordinary Time 2, Cycle B

In the texts selected for this day, the Epiphany themes of the omniscience of the Lord God and of the Johannine Jesus is proclaimed, along with the guidelines that in response to God we must be open to the revelation of God, especially in terms of our sense of hearing and of sight. This will define for us the message that we should proclaim and the guidelines for life that we should share in our sermon or homily for this occasion.

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Baptism of the Lord | Epiphany 1 | Ordinary Time 1, Cycle B

With these texts we return to the Gospel According to Mark. In the Baptism of Jesus account in Mark 1:4-11 we have the core of what has often been called the “Adoptionist Christology” of this First Gospel. We read here that Jesus came along with multitudes of people from the rural areas of Judea and [...]

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Authors of
Lectionary Scripture Notes
Norman A. Beck is the Poehlmann Professor of Theology and Classical Languages and the Chairman of the Department of Theology, Philosophy, and Classical Languages at Texas Lutheran University
Dr. Norman A. Beck
Mark Ellingsen is professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Mark Ellingsen

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