Neli ML

  Easter Sunday 2024 Sermon 31 March 2024 St. Alban Episcopal Mission Rev. Betsey Moe   “New Every Morning”   John 20:1-18: "Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached t

  Palm Sunday 2024 Mark 11:1-11 Rev. Neli Miranda “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” with this great acclamation the pilgrims entering Jerusalem hail Jesus and mark the beginning of Jesus’ final week before his crucifixion. Crossan & Borg, two Bible scholars say that “Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30.   It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year. One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession…”  (2006, p.2) . From the east, riding on a donkey, Jesus led a procession of peasants who came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. From the west, on the opposite side of the city, Pontious Pilate the Roman Governor, riding on a warhorse entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial soldiers. It was customary for Roman governors to be in Jerusalem during the celebration of Jewish festivals, especially during Passover. They did not come as reverent pilgrims

                                                              Fifth Sunday in Lent 2020 John 12:20-33 Rev. Neli Miranda               The fifth Sunday in Lent brings us to Jerusalem, where Jesus has entered hailed by a great crowd that has come to celebrate Passover.   Jesus knows that the Jewish authorities have put a price on his head. Both the chief priests and the Pharisees have given orders that anyone who knows where Jesus is should inform them so that they can arrest him.   Jesus comes from the home of Lazarus in Bethany, where a dinner has been celebrated in his honor. During the dinner, Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard. Jesus read Mary’s action as a preparation for his upcoming burial. His hour has come!             In the preceding chapter we learn that after Jesus raised Lazarus, the chief priests and the Pharisees held a meeting and discussed the signs Jesus has been performing. They were concerned about Jesus’ growing popul

  Fourth Sunday in Lent John 3:14-21 Rev. Neli Miranda   Today we are celebrating the fourth Sunday in Lent, and as we approach Holy Week, John’s Gospel brings us an advance of the moving image of Jesus on the cross.   In the preceding verses, we learn that Jesus was talking with a Pharisee called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews and teacher of the people. Nicodemus was seeking a deeper knowledge of God, and he knew that Jesus could enlighten him.   Jesus has explained to Nicodemus the imperative of being born again to enter the Kingdom of God. Now, Jesus gives a great revelation about himself to Nicodemus. Jesus compares himself to the serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, “ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (3, 14-15). Jesus is recalling an incident in the Book of Numbers (21) when the people of Israel were afflicted by poisonous serpents when the Israe

Third Sunday in Lent 2024 John 2,13-22 Rev. Neli Miranda   Today’s gospel begins by telling us that Jesus went up to Jerusalem to the celebration of Passover. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus celebrated three Passovers in Jerusalem, and it is in the first celebration when Jesus enters the Temple, liberates, and cleanses it from the corruption that was taking place there.  By including this event at the beginning of the Gospel, John seeks to establish Jesus’ authority and his mission. John does not give us many details about Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem but immediately places him in the temple where, instead of finding a place of worship, he finds “people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables” (2,14). Jesus and his disciples had left Galilee and traveled many miles to Jerusalem to worship God in the temple; however, upon their arrival, they found that the sacred place had been coopted by the ruling economic class in Jerusalem. As a prophet