Year B is not just the ‘Year of Mark’: in some ways it’s also the Year of John. The brevity of Mark’s Gospel allows for excursions into the Gospel John on numerous occasions throughout the year.
During the weeks following Pentecost the readings from the Old Testament focus on the books of Samuel (1 and 2) (Israel’s demand, “Give us a king…”; David’s rise to kingship; the Succession narratives) with a ‘footnote’ near the end of the Year from Ruth. In between, we read briefly from Song of Songs and Proverbs. Over the same part of the year the Epistle readings are spread over portions from 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, James and Hebrews.