Write down the revelation...

Let’s be honest, Jesus demands you to make a decision. It is not possible to be on the fence about him. Either you love him or hate him. Either he is a nut job (and deserved to die), or he is the Son of God (and had to die). His message is offensive to the proud and religious elite but to the desperate Jesus is the only source of hope they have. By chapter two in the gospel of Mark, Jesus has a reputation as a healer and travelling preacher-man. He has a significant group of followers. If you want to see Jesus, it’s best to arrive early because there isn’t even standing room if you are late. The religious elite, the teachers of the law, are probably keeping an eye on the new guy but are not very concerned because Jesus tends to stay with the working class; he’s fairly removed from religious leadership and doesn’t seem to be gunning for their positions. But in Mark 2:5-7, suddenly he goes too far. He forgives sin. What Jesus did was offensive for two reasons. First, the Pharisees ...

When you have many decisions to make, how much time do you spend listening to God for the answer? If I’m honest with myself, a lot of the time I spend with God is spent by my talking and filling in the space, and then after getting nothing but silence from the other end, I make my own decisions. It’s not the most effective way to achieve a peaceful decision. Sometimes things work out but often I create needless toil and effort than if I had waited a little longer to hear clearly from God. Fortunately for me (and anyone else who can relate to making rash decisions on their own), Jesus models a different way. Mark 1:35-38 offers an example of how Jesus made decisions – by solitary prayer to listen to the Father and seek his direction from him. If we back up even earlier, we learn from Jesus he understood the importance of by-passing his natural decision-making abilities and rely on the spiritual direction from the Father. In Matthew 4:4 , Jesus responds to temptation by saying we r...

Jesus is explosive, not the man but what he represents. Some could argue he is not safe. Historians and scholars have not come to a consensus about Jesus for 2000. I do not have any thoughts of grandeur that I will be able to make sense of him in a post of 500 words and yet, I’m intrigued by the question, is Jesus safe?   When I have questions, I look for answers and I’ve invited you to pick through the gospel of Mark with me to [hopefully] discover new revelation to the age-old debate. Mark 1:14-15, Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “ The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. ” These are not Jesus’ first recorded words, but they are the first words of Jesus in the book of Mark, and they tell us quite a bit about the course Mark is going to take in his writing. I grew up in the church and these words have been rendered innocuous by their familiarity but they are in ...

Last Friday I asked a question. Is Jesus safe? The question is more loaded than I initially thought which is why I’m having a problem to write this post. I couldn’t do it for Friday’s post and I’m not any wiser now after having the weekend to think about it further. But my lack of ability or knowledge has never stopped me from moving headlong into a challenge so I invite you to come along with me for the journey to answer this question, reading through the gospel of Mark to look at the life and works of Jesus. Add to the conversation with your own thoughts and perceptions. This will be a multi-post theme. I am so familiar with the Christmas story I can easily tune out when I hear, read or listen to sermons on Bible passages pertaining to his birth. I’ve on the story for 30+ years but this year a small fraction of the scripture in Matthew 2:16 gave me cause for pause. Herod ordered all the boys in the vicinity of Bethlehem ages 2 and under be killed. Two thousand years of hindsight l...