What do you want me to do for you? Mark 10:46-52 Bartimaeus was a marginalised person, literally at the roadside. He was blind and unable to do anything about his situation, so was dependent upon help from others by begging. He asked Jesus for ‘mercy’. Jesus’s intervention in his life comes from his compassion. Bartimaeus’ request echoes our general human need for God to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Not necessarily Read more…
Not to be served but to serve Mark 10:32-45 Jesus and his disciples were travelling towards Jerusalem, and Jesus made it plain to them that very bad things were going to happen to him when he got there. Somehow, James and John heard ‘glory’ instead of ‘suffering’ and wanted some of it for themselves, the best places at the party. When the others heard, they began to be angry. We might suspect not because James Read more…
The first will be last, and the last will be first Mark 10:13-31 Mark keeps telling us that God doesn’t see things the way humans do. Jesus keeps on turning our expectations on their heads, and cutting across accepted way of doing things. People wanted Jesus to bless their children. To the disciples this seemed an irrelevant distraction. Jesus had a very different take suggesting that their dependence, acceptance and need of parental support, made Read more…
Do not stop him Mark 9:33-50 On the surface our last few verses of this chapter might seem unrelated, just a collection woven together; yet once again, they teach us about following Jesus. I do wonder whether the predictions Jesus had made concerning his suffering created a situation whereby the disciples became involved in a power struggle. Perhaps their fear of the future was driving their behaviour. There could be no bigger contrast as we Read more…
If you can? Mark 9:-14-32 Following on from yesterday, one hymn reads, ‘Stay, Master, stay, upon this heavenly hill; a little longer, let us linger still’. It goes on: ‘No! says the Lord, the hour is past, we go; our home, our life, our duties lie below’. Ordinary everyday life is the place of following Jesus, yet sometimes would-be followers of Jesus falter! Perhaps there might be a temptation to seek the ‘glory’ moments rather Read more…
This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! Mark 9:2-13 I wonder if you have ever had a moment, a time within human experience when you were just so filled with a sense of awe, it caused the hairs on the back of your neck to rise – our passage today has this ‘feel’. It begins ‘Six days later’ (NRSVA); linking back into the previous chapter when Peter ‘confessed’ Jesus as Messiah and Read more…
What good is it to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul? Mark 8:31-38 So what does it really mean to follow Jesus for those who see who Jesus really is and what he came to do? Yesterday the penny dropped for Peter but it was clear that he hadn’t got the whole picture and his very next step was to try and hold Jesus back from fulfilling God’s saving plan to heal the Read more…
Who do you say that I am? Mark 8:22-30 Perhaps we have all had the experience of a moment when revelation comes to us and the truth dawns. How many times in a story, whether a book or film has the penny dropped? You come to realise who the arch villain is or the true identity of the story’s hero. These nine verses today are pivotal, the tipping point for Mark as he tries to Read more…
Don’t you get it? Mark 8:1-21 Sometimes the facts are there, staring us in the face but we don’t see it, yet to others these facts are really plain to see. The first seven chapters of Mark have gently been opening us up to see who Jesus is and what he has come to do. The followers and disciples with Jesus haven’t quite got it. So here in chapter 8 there comes a tipping point Read more…
Ephphatha! be opened! Mark 7:31-37 Jesus is in Galilee, a popular spot, and friends of this man bring him to Jesus for a miracle. Jesus must be struggling to go anywhere in that area without being recognized now. I noticed that Jesus doesn’t perform this miracle in front of the crowd though, I wonder if it’s so the dignity of the man is respected, that he isn’t just a demonstration of Jesus’s power but a Read more…