Neli ML

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost 2024 Mark 8:27-38 Rev. Neli Miranda   Today, Jesus and his disciples are journeying to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, a city known for its grandeur and political significance, where Roman authority and pagan worship were very prominent. Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, had granted the location to King Herod who built a marble temple in honor of the emperor. Later, Herod’s heir Philip the tetrarch, named the city Caesarea Philippi as a tribute to Caesar Augustus. During this journey, near a center of human power and arrogance, Jesus engages his disciples in a significant dialogue.   He poses two key questions to lead them in a deep understanding of his mission. Jesus begins the dialogue by asking, “Who do people say that I am?” Some months earlier, Jesus had begun his ministry in Galilee and his reputation has spread widely, garnering recognition from the people. His influence has extended to Judea in such a way that some Pharisees a

  Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost 2024 Mark 7:24-37 Rev. Neli Miranda   Last Sunday, in Mark’s Gospel we witnessed a tense encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees and Scribes when they engaged in a discussion about the strict purity code that ruled the people of Israel. During this exchange, the Pharisees and Scribes accused Jesus and his disciples of neglecting the traditional practice of washing hands before meals, as prescribed by the “tradition of the elders”. Essentially, they called Jesus and his disciples impure, and in response, Jesus replied, “ There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile… It is what comes out of a person that defiles” (7,15).   The Jewish purity code also influenced any relationship with Gentiles. Since Gentiles did not adhere to these regulations, they were considered impure, resulting in a clear practice of segregation between Jews and non-Jews.   Throughout the book of Mark, Jesus repeatedly crosses the boundaries of purity an