Creative Space for Wanderers
Read: Love God. Love neighbors. Love yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. Done. Publish. Not quite so fast. Not because I’m trying to add words to Jesus’s very clear answer here, but because I want to step into the shoes of the man who had the opportunity to ask one question of Jesus …
Read: Let’s play Stump the Rabbi. Here we see a fictitious scenario dreamed up by some of the Sadducees for the true purpose of tripping up Jesus. John Mark begins by reminding us that the Sadducees are a group that don’t believe in the resurrection, so we get the sense that their perspective is at …
Read: The battle between church and state has raged for centuries. Today we are reminded of how we should approach this classic face-off as we read John Mark’s account of the interaction. Unholy Alliance In light of several things I’ve learned through this present study, here is another example of an alliance that is significant, …
Read: In this powerful parable, Jesus speaks directly at the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the leaders of the religious right. The words are so pointed and accurate that the crowd understood implicitly. And since the crowd understood, the religious leaders were unable to act publicly. Their plot thickened. The Parable “A man planted …
Read: As we finish chapter 11 today, we see Jesus and his disciples return to Jerusalem. As Jesus enters the temple courts, various religious leaders approach Him with malcontent on their minds: …while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By …
Read: Yesterday we read the bookends to this story as a way of understanding their meaning. Today we’ll look at Jesus direct actions in the temple courts and try to process the entire scene, so many details in just a few verses! Prior to this chapter, we’ve read several times where Jesus performs a miracle …
Read: The cursing of the fig tree cannot be extracted from the surrounding text; otherwise, we simply walk away confused. There are two sections, bookends if you will, that encapsulate Jesus’s actions in the temple (see the next post). While difficult to appreciate by itself, I hope we can venture into this place and walk …
Read: As we turn the page from chapter 10 to 11, the story shifts dramatically. The words of prophecy and prediction begin to come into focus as we move into Passion Week. John Mark carefully weaves the narrative for us as he guides us along his perspective of these challenging, and ultimately most important days. …
Read: Today we’ll read the familiar story of another bold person that is miraculously healed by Jesus. This is the last healing recorded by John Mark as he is about to shift gears and focus on the final days of Jesus’s earthly ministry. Passover is coming–the HUGE festival that attracts thousands of faithful followers as …
Continue reading “Mark: Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight”
Read: The way John Mark collected these stories, Jesus just told the disciples He would be arrested, tortured, crucified, and rise again — then two of His closest disciples ask about being seated on his left and right. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in …