Mark starts his book by declaring, “This is the good news about Jesus Christ.” There is no birth narrative here but instead there’s the birth of a literary genre—the gospel (from the old English “god-spel”—“good news”).
There is so much meaning packed into the first two sentences of Mark.
Read More Scripture, language, communicationJesus comes to the Jordan River where two events occur that mark the beginning of his public ministry. First, Jesus is baptized. Given John’s vocal teaching of repentance and baptism, why did Jesus submit to a baptism of repentance? He was sinless. Secondly, why did the Holy Spirit come down to him like a dove during his baptism only to then whisk him “right away,” as Mark puts it, into the desert where Satan tested him for 40 days?
Read More Satan, anointing, testingLeprosy, the law, and loquaciousness—these are just three of the things Jesus was dealing with in this short six-verse story.
The law strictly prohibited anyone with leprosy approaching anyone else.
Read More power, compassionThis passage gives us a strange and even intriguing picture of forgiveness. Most often forgiveness is portrayed as God’s response to our confession of sins. In this passage we see something very different. Here it is not because of the crippled man’s faith that Jesus pronounces him forgiven but rather the faith of the man’s friends: “When Jesus saw how much faith they had…”
Read More friendship, forgiveness, faithIt’s natural in our fast paced, chronically busy, technology driven culture to feel isolated and alone. As we go through our days and weeks we wonder if there is anyone who knows us, anyone who loves us, or anyone who would love us if they really knew us.
Read More acceptance, loveThe disciples of John and the Pharisees are at odds with the disciples of Jesus. In accordance with Scripture, the disciples of John (and the Pharisees) regularly fast. All faithful Jews do. That’s what Scripture teaches. But the disciples of Jesus do not. Why? Isn’t Jesus teaching them to obey the Scriptures?
Read More fasting, newnessThe Christian life is difficult, even with God’s Word to guide us. Not only does our own sinfulness get in the way, but his guidance is so easily abused by those we look to as leaders.
This was certainly the case in ancient Israel as the Pharisees, zealous to lead the people of God, distorted the meaning and purpose of Scripture. Sabbath observance was at the core of Jewish faith.
Read More missing the point, rules, Sabbath, life