Proper 22 Year B 2024: Mark 10:2-16
When I was a hospital chaplain intern, I worked at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, VA. 45 minutes - without traffic - South of Washington, DC, this Episcopalian was firmly in Baptist country. Therefore, every so often, I was asked what my favorite Bible verse was. I liked to answer John 3:17. Not 3:16, 3:17. Most people who ask you what your favorite Bible verse is know John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. The problem is, that verse gets used in a pretty aggressive way to try and scare people away from perishing into eternal life by believing. One of my favorite quips is, “I can do all things through a single verse taken out of context.” Which brings me back to John 3:17: Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Maybe 3:16 is about more than being afraid of death. Maybe, with some more