shake that dust — Mark 6:1-13 — July 25

Sometimes it’s hard to forget.
There are times when we’ve been hurt, deeply hurt, and it’s hard to put that behind us.  Whenever we’re in that same situation, or with those same people, we tend to remember what happened, and it seems as if it’s happening all over again.  Maybe this is why, when asked how [...]

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superior power — Mark 5:1-20 — July 23

Sometimes I wonder if God really is in charge of this world.  Is He the major Player, the superior Power, or is there another?  As I read, hear, or watch the news, I begin to wonder.  Sometimes it seems as if the hosts of evil, some of them present around us and in us, actually [...]

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other boats — Mark 4:35-41– July 22

Some of us have seen Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”, a ribald film humorously depicting the life of a follower of Jesus who’s just a little too far from the action to figure out what’s going on.  Though the film is certainly far from being a vehicle for teaching us much of anything, nonetheless its [...]

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for the birds — Mark 4:21-34 — July 21

Did you ever notice how birds figure significantly in the Scripture?  From the dove which brought the news of the end of the flood (Genesis 8), to the pigeons offered for sacrifice (Leviticus 12:6) to the ravens which fed Elijah (1 Kings 17), birds are important to the Lord.  God is “for the birds”.  Jesus [...]

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the secret — Mark 4:1-20 — July 20

To those accustomed to egalitarian thinking, Jesus’ promise to His disciples seems unfair.  After giving a parable to a large crowd of people, including His disciples, He said privately to His disciples, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that [...]

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ingenuity — Mark 2:1-12 — July 14

You gotta hand it to them: it was ingenious.
Being prevented by the large crowd from bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus on Terra Firma, they resorted to ingenious means to get Him in the face of this amazing rabbi.  So the four of them dragged him up on the roof, and clawed through the roof above [...]

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the longest day — Mark 1:29-35 — July 13

“I just don’t have any time!”  How often have you heard somebody say that, or, perhaps, you’ve said it yourself?  It comes up in Christian settings, when we consider giving time to prayer, worship, fellowship, service of others, or the like.  We just don’t have the time, since, as everyone attests, life is so incredibly [...]

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the beginning — Mark 1:1-13 — July 10

Having only yesterday finished Luke’s orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us (Luke 1:1), the life of Jesus the Messiah, today we go back to the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1).  As we do so, it’s worth noting the differences between Mark’s [...]

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open minds — Luke 24:36-53 — July 9

For the past 40 years there’s been lots of talk about people needing to have an “open mind”.  Generally this advice comes in situations where a more relaxed kind of morality is being proposed, or some new philosophy or religion.  Those who raise questions about such innovations are told that they need to have an [...]

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eyes wide open — Luke 24:12-35 — July 8

“I can’t look.”  Perhaps you’ve said these words when watching some terrible, either on the media, or in life.  It’s too much for you to take in and so, quite naturally, you close your eyes to what you’re looking at, to somehow lessen the pain of apprehension.
Perhaps that’s what happened to these disciples of Jesus [...]

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