Proper 18 Year B

Proper 18

Isaiah 35. 4-7a
James 2.1-17
Mark 7. 24-37

I suppose it’s comforting, in an Eeyore-ish kind of way, to know that ours is not the only generation of Christians to think that belief is simply a matter of the words you use, and that it doesn’t need to affect ordinary life in any way. James is writing to a Christian church that is, apparently, just like ours. The people who go to James’s church are convinced enough of the claims of the gospel to call themselves Christians, and to meet regularly with others. But they don’t see this as a matter that affects their fundamental under- standing of the structuring of the universe. James finds this almost incredible...

Taken from Lectionary Reflections – Year B by Jane Williams