The gospel accounts about Jesus are stories of belief. In Mark’s account we see the Scribes who believed He was evil (liar), and His family who believed he was mentally unstable (lunatic). Theologians in the church of the last few centuries, enabled by a naturalist worldview, have believed he was just a good teacher (legend) whose supernatural identity was […]
The scribes from Jerusalem opposed Jesus because He threatened their concept of Moses, the temple, and Yahweh. They smeared His name relentlessly. In calling Jesus an agent of Beelzebul they committed the unforgiveable sin of blasphemy and by this undermined the very hope that could have been their salvation–a Savior powerful enough to defeat Beelzebul and free mankind from […]
What is God’s will for our lives? Jesus’ call upon the disciples into service as apostles serves as a reminder of God’s call on our all our lives. All vocations fall under God’s dominion. Our place in God’s kingdom is one of living for Him and His glory no matter what occupation we have. His will is our life […]
This account shows Jesus at a high point in his popularity. His ministry reaches beyond Israel to Gentile areas, revealing further evidence of the new exodus ushered in by Jesus. The multitudes hungry for His message of hope bear down on Him in crowds that nearly crush Him. Is our hope in Christ as theirs? Do we pursue Him […]
This episode in Mark’s gospel traces a sobering encounter between Jesus and the increasingly hostile Jewish leaders. When He heals the man with the withered hand, He reveals the Pharisees hard hearts about God, and exposes their contempt for Him and His authority even to the point of seeking His death. They were not willing to repent […]
Is worship on the Lord’s day your supreme delight? For the pharisees in Jesus day it was not. They defined the fourth commandment too narrowly. They could not see the day as a day to enjoy God even when God Himself was present with them. Is our love for Jesus and our yearning to be near Him satisfied […]
What does our piety indicate about our worldview? The object and motives for our fasting differ from those of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. For the disciples after Jesus ascended, and all believers since, Jesus is the object of our attention in our fast, as we seek His face, His forgiveness, and His guidance in our grief […]
When Jesus calls us to repent and believe, it is a command to follow Him. He calls us to trade a life lived for ourselves for a life lived for Him, just as he did Levi the tax collector. But his call is not only to live for Him but to live with Him. When Jesus sat at […]
Mark’s gospel continues to reveal more of the authority of Jesus, this time as He forgives the sins of the paralytic. Israel’s prophets announced forgiveness but only as third parties speaking for the God that could forgive. Jesus was not only offering the forgiveness of sins, but was the agent of forgiveness itself by the divine authority […]
In this passage we continue see the Jesus Mark has introduced, with authority to heal disease, and with compassion to heal the sick and despised. By healing this leper He cleanses the unclean and gives him new life. But this passage also prepares us for a greater revelation about Jesus: Our sin is more shameful than any disease. It makes […]
Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. The gracious mercy of God is what Jesus’ hearers received once they believed this good news preached to them and placed their trust in Him. But Jesus was unable to preach effectively without first seeking His Father’s will through persistent, fervent prayer. So it is with […]
Mark’s gospel continues to reveal the inbreaking of the kingdom of God through his account of the earthly ministry of Jesus. Here Jesus’ power and authority over the effects of sin were revealed as He alleviated the suffering of the sick and demon-possessed. But His compassion was revealed as well through his longsuffering attention all who came […]
When Jesus began teaching in the synagogues His words were like no others. They bore an authority not attributed to the scribes, the revered arbiters of Jewish doctrine in that day. The strength of His teaching evoked astonishment, even fear in His hearers. His command over demons demonstrated His unique power to subjugate sin and its effects, and […]
In his letter to Titus, Paul continues to shed light on why Jesus came. Jesus came to redeem us, to purify us, to make us his treasured possession so we are predisposed to serve Him and our neighbor with good works. What a bright outlook this is for us as we begin a new year. Note: If […]
In asking “Why did Jesus come?”, we have looked primarily to the gospel accounts. But Paul’s epistle to Timothy also adds this explicit declaration “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. We may often agree that we sin, but we shrink from the painful truth of our entire identity as sinners. Paul, in noting the depth of his […]
In this text, the apostle John continues to answer our question, “Why did Jesus come?” Here he declares that Jesus came to take way sins and destroy the devil’s work. We are incapable of cleaning out the accumulated guilt from the sin of our lives, no matter how hard we try. Only Jesus can exchange our sin for […]
Jesus came into the world to make the Father known. He also came to bring sight to the blind. In this text an incident in Jesus’ ministry reveals who He is, the Light that illuminates both our sin and the path to eternal life. Blindness was found in both the man who could not see and the Pharisees […]
When we enter the Advent season, we are reminded of that profound moment in human history when the Second Person of the trinity took on human flesh. Jesus was God incarnate, God with us. The scriptures teach that this was not one of God’s afterthoughts, or a reaction to events on earth, but the outcome of a […]
Like a Caesar or an Alexander the Great, Jesus sets out to take over the world. But He doesn’t use money or political power or sword. He fulfills the prophetic announcement of John the Baptist, receives the blessing of His Father and the Holy Spirit at His baptism, repels Satan in the desert, and begins preaching. In our […]
In this text, we hear a declaration and a command. Jesus prophesies the arrival of a new age, the kingdom of God, embodied in Jesus himself. He proclaims this gospel to all who will embrace the truth of it and look to Him as their king for their salvation as they live a life of repentance. Even though this […]