Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Bible and the Land by Charles Page (archeologist and Bible scholar) as cited in
http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/NT/02-Mark/Mark-01.14-20-FishersMenMcLarty.htm
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oldtestament/section4.rhtml
(http://www.jewishtreats.org/2009/07/laws-of-inheritance.html)
(http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8114-inheritance)
Remember the story of Cain and Abel? Cain was the first
born of Adam and Eve. After he kills Abel, God curses
Cain from the ground and he is estranged from his family.
Cain protests to the Lord:
. . . My punishment is greater than I can bear!
Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I
shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive
and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who
meets me may kill me. (Gen 4:13-14)
In Cains case, God removed his inheritance (cursed
from the ground) and separated him from his mother
and father (I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the
earth). And without Gods intervention, what would this
mean for Cain? Death (anyone who meets me may kill
me.)
Its not surprising then, that everyone thought Jesus was
crazy.
[A]nd the crowd came together again, so that
they could not even eat. When his family heard it,
they went out to restrain him, for people were
saying, He has gone out of his mind. (Mark 3:2021)
In todays gospel reading Jesus rejects his biological
family, forfeiting his right to be an earthly heir, preferring
to be an heir to the Kingdom of God. Was he crazy?
Think about it. Those things that are most important in
life, that make life worth living, can only be realized
through covenant relationships.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost
This name comes from an expression in Leviticus 23:16, which instructs people to
count seven weeks or fifty days from the end of Passover to the beginning of the
next holiday, Feast of Weeks.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/what-is-pentecost-why-does-itmatter/
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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/what-is-pentecost-why-does-itmatter/
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http://www.trinitycranford.org/?page_id=3666