Creative Space for Wanderers
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: 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: 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: 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”