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hey everyone. welcome to my blog. enjoy some reading about various thoughts that are making their way out of my head.

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thoughts on Mark 2.13-17 Tuesday, October 31, 2006 |

The count up to this point is: Jesus, Simon, Andrew, James, and John. The addition of one more, Levi (Matthew). This is curious, because not only does Jesus pick mere fisherman to be his followers, (which is unheard of in the rabbi's selection of students), but now he is calling a tax collector.
Tax collectors won't give you that positive publicity you are looking for. They charge extra and get to skim off the top for their own profit. Jesus calls this hated member of society.
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus has a purpose::to go throughout the villages and preach.
Jesus has an audience::the sick and the sinners.
So Levi joins the crowd of followers and that makes 5.

thoughts on Mark 2.1-12 Monday, October 30, 2006 |

There seems to be a theme already starting to form in Mark, that Jesus isn't on earth to take the easy route. This isn't a suprise to anyone who knows the end of the story. Here is Jesus speaking and a large crowd has gathered. Four men carrying a paralytic, thinking, "I don't care how big the crowd is, we are going to get you in front of Jesus."

I'm captured by this. Sometimes numbers are intimidating and they are a lot of times a barrier between us and Christ. I want an attitude like these men, who trust so much in Jesus' authority and power. My desire is to bring others to see Christ no matter what the number looks like. One, or twenty, or hundreds, or thousands...what does it matter?
What matters is Christ's authority and power. And Christ honors the faith demonstrated by forgiving the sins of the paralytic. (This is not to say that paralysis is a result of sinfulness) Jesus is asserting his authority to another level. "Why, only God has the authority to forgive sins?"
Yeah there is a definate parallel going on here between Jesus and God, and it's less than implicit.
Jesus has again amazed the crowd and they "praised God". I have to think that Jesus was extremely pleased to see that the result is that God is receiving praise for what he is doing.

thoughts on Mark 1.40-45 Thursday, October 26, 2006 |

Be Clean! I need to come to Jesus. I need to clean up. It's an everyday type of thing. This leaper has been ousted from the Temple because of his unclenliness. He is wanting desperately to be healed and clean.
Jesus cures him and he is healed.
As a result the man goes and tells everyone about Jesus and this miracle that has occurred. Jesus can no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.
Lonely places because no one will go out of the towns to mingle among people who have been cast out or unclean. Yet, this is where Jesus stays. Yet the people still come to him from everywhere.
How great the reverse, with people staying outside of towns in the suburbs and the inner cities being the place that looks most like the place where Jesus would have been hanging out.
Jesus challenges people to come to him, even though his surroundings are not ideal. Is the character of Jesus compelling and attractive enough to me to seek him out even in the most uncomfortable environments?

thoughts on Mark 1.35-39 Wednesday, October 25, 2006 |

Jesus is interested in solitude. In trying to wrap my mind around his whirlwind schedule: baptism, fasting, temptation, preaching, healing, casting out demons. And this is just the first chapter!

I think some solitude might be in order. Then I think about my whirlwind schedule: meetings, phone calls, youth programs, sunday school class, hanging out with my wife, studying, driving, constantly on the move. I think some solitude might be in order.
Now, this isn't explicitly stated in the text, but when Jesus is found he says, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come. (emphasis mine) I make this emphasis to show the clarity of mission and purpose that Jesus has following this time of solitude.
This is just an inference, but it stands to reason that clarity would come from solitude in which Jesus prayed. Where is my solitude? Do I just get away to pray? Am I missing clarity of mission in my life because I am missing solitude?
"Before God will ask you to do something for him, he wants you to spend time with him."

thoughts on Mark 1.29-34 Tuesday, October 24, 2006 |

You know what I love about these verses is the community mindset. Look at 32 and 33, "That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door..."
Everyone in the town had heard about Jesus' synagogue incident. All the townspeople were convinced that Jesus was the one who could heal people from their sickness and uncleanliness.

They recognized Jesus' authority, but that's not what impresses me.
They cared about people.
They saw people who were sick and imprisoned by an evil spirit and they wanted to help them. They wanted them to be healed.
This challenges me.
The clean helping the unclean. They don't come to Jesus for themselves, they have seen and they want others to see this incredible authority that has power over disease and demons.

thoughts on Mark 1.21-28 Monday, October 23, 2006 |

Jesus' teaching in the synagogue is amazing to the people because it has authority. Authoritative teaching that is not found in the teachers of the law. I wish I could have been in that synagogue in Capernaum and witnessed first hand the way Jesus taught. I wish I could have seen the difference between the way he taught and the way the TotL taught.
What was it about his message that made his teaching amazing?
How could they tell the authority by which he was teaching? (i'm sure some Jewish Rabbinical study would shed light on this.)
A tangible demonstration of his authority in the casting out of the unclean spirit from a man in the synagogue.
New authority.
Not like the teachers of the law.
Casting out evil spirits.
The first stop, recorded in Mark, of Jesus and some of his disciples. I have to think that these guys (Simon, Andrew, James and John) are already thinking that choosing to follow Jesus is going to be a wild ride.
They're just following a rabbi that called them.
They've never heard of any rabbi doing anything like this before.
!muy interesante!