Creative Space for Wanderers
Read: Under the category of “Passion Predictions,” much has been written about the words of Jesus as He predicted His arrest, death, and resurrection plainly for the disciples to hear*. I love the way John Mark intersperses the predictions in chapters 8, 9 and 10 (). In my mind, there’s no doubt that he looks …
Continue reading “Mark: Jesus Predicts His Death for the Third Time”
Read: The reward for following Jesus cannot be understated. The risk associated with putting Jesus first might require all we have on earth. Am I willing to let go of everything? I know the right answer, but I have to wonder as I read through the encounter with this man of great wealth. Jesus looked …
One of the sections in Multiply* prompts us to examine how we study the Bible. Beyond some good ideas on mechanics, the questions get more intrusive as they ask us to evaluate our motivation behind diving deep into Bible studies. So far, I’ve gone through this section twice with guys I’m meeting with and the …
Read: People were bringing their children to Jesus for Him to touch them. Wouldn’t you? How I wish Jesus could touch our children while they were still innocent little ones. Yes, I would press in to see my girls touched by the savior! The disciples, the chosen ones, misread the situation and begin to rebuke …
Read: Hardened hearts create a great deal of trouble in our world. We saw this all throughout Exodus, well, throughout history, merely highlighted in Exodus. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus …
Read: Jesus is pretty clear in teaching here: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. Not just any millstone, but a large millstone to ensure you’re not …
Continue reading “Mark: Beware of Causing People to Stumble; Be Salty”
Read: Are you a church club member? Wear the t-shirt, have the bumper sticker, know the lingo, the logo, the mission statement and tagline? Is any of that important or useful for building up the kingdom? Those rhetorical questions have a rather obvious answer, I get that, yet many times we see people walk into …
Continue reading “Mark: The Church Club — Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us”
Read: The title of this passage is “Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time,” does indeed include the explanation that Jesus will be delivered into the hands of men, but this isn’t the main point of the text. The concern here centers on pride and position. To begin with, Jesus continues to show this select …
Continue reading “Mark: Jesus Teaches on Pride and Position”
Read: Before we get to the details about healing the boy, step back and imagine yourself being one of these people: As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. Would you drop all pretense and run to see Jesus? By this point in Mark’s account, …
Continue reading “Mark: Jesus Heals a Boy Possessed by an Impure Spirit”
Read: I’m not actually going to back-track and cover Mark 8:34-38 again, but I wanted to surround 9:1 by the words as it seems it is intended. Just reading 9:1 by itself is confusing to me. I tried to blog on it yesterday by itself, but I think that was a mistake. Reading it in …