Creative Space for Wanderers
Read: As I began to process chapter 13, The Olivet Discourse, I simply had to stop and observe the first few verses through the eyes of the disciples, with a bent toward the current state of so many churches in this country. As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, …
Read: Once again, Jesus warns the people about the hypocrisy of the teachers of the law. Matthew devotes and entire chapter to the subject, while John Mark and Luke provide a very brief summary. As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes …
Continue reading “Mark: Warning Against the Teachers of the Law”
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: 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: 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: 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”