Monthly Archives: July 2023

Reflections on Mark: Mark 3:1-19 The Ones He Wants!

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Three groups of people are mentioned in this passage: The Pharisees who hated Jesus. The large crowds who followed Him wanting His healing touch and to see miracles. The inner circle of Jesus, His disciples.

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” Mark 3:13-15 NIV

The disciples, the ones closest to Him, His friends are described as the ones “he wanted”. He appointed them “that they might be with him and that he might send them out…”. What a privilege to be one of the ones to walk and talk with Jesus to learn from Him and to be used by Him! The disciples were blessed!

We are blessed!! When we follow Jesus and have the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are His disciples too. We are the ones He wants! We are the ones He is with and He sends out!

Good News!

Reflections on Mark 2:18-27: The New Wine

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Jesus rocked the world of the religious elite of His time. They could not wrap their minds around His teachings and the miracles that followed Him. They were shocked when He didn’t follow all their traditions and man made rules. They wanted Him and His disciples with Him to fast.

Jesus explained that what He was proclaiming to them was “New Wine”. It could not be put in the constricted old wine skins. In other words. What God wanted to do in their lives could not be confined by the old ways of the law. It was New.

God wants to do the same within us! Where we have been with God is only the surface of where He desires to take us! His relationship to us is New and it is living!

We don’t have to be stuck in the ways of the past! Jesus gives us New Wine and changes our hearts so that it is put into New Wine skins that can receive the New He wants to do in us!!

This is Good News!

““No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”” Mark 2:21-22 NIV

Reflections on Mark: Mark 2:1–17 The Cure!

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“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The teachers of the law could not stomach the idea of Jesus forgiving sins. Only God could do that! This would mean Jesus claimed to be God! And it would upset all their traditions and ways. But the Good News is that Jesus is the One who forgives sins!

Jesus went to eat at Levi’s house. He was a horrible and hated sinner, a Jewish tax collector working for the Romans.

“When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Good News is once again proclaimed! Jesus came to bring healing to those sick with sin! He came to call to sinners that He could set them free!

Jesus has not changed! He is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be the same tomorrow. He has come to forgive our sins and to bring healing from its horrible effects on our life. What made the difference in the man paralyzed and the tax collector’s lives? They came to Jesus! He invites us to come too!
Good News!!

Reflections on Mark: Mark 1:21-45 The Kingdom Comes Near!

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When the Kingdom of God comes near healing and restoration occurs. Everywhere Jesus went lives that were broken were fixed, lives that were occupied by evil were set free, unclean lives were made clean. The people were amazed. Yet in all this activity, Jesus took time to get alone with His Father.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”Mark 1:35 NIV

Why? Jesus was God and there was so much to do? Why would He need time to pray? He was One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit. He was in relationship with them. He still is! Out of this relationship God’s Kingdom love and power flowed!

We are invited to enter into this relationship and be One with God. Then God’s Kingdom flows through us! As Jesus ambassadors of the Kingdom, we are a part of His plan to restore and heal. This was Good News then. This is the Good News now. The Good News that goes on and on!

Reflections on Mark: Mark 1:1-20 The Good News

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(This month I’m going back to the gospels, the books that tell about Jesus’s life- the Book of Mark)

Mark starts his book by proclaiming that Jesus and His coming is Good News! It is Good News indeed! John the Baptist testified of this Good News in his ministry before Jesus came. John said this:

“And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”” Mark 1:7-8 NIV

In the first 12 verses of Mark, the Holy Spirit is mentioned three times. Why is this important? Jesus came as God with us! He walked in our world. Jesus came so that He could baptize us or fully immerse us with the Holy Spirit, who is God in us! As we come into that relationship we will find the Holy Spirit to be such a precious friend.

This same Holy Spirit that fills us is the same Holy Spirit of whom John the Baptist spoke. The same Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove at His baptism. He is the same Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness afterwards.

Jesus offers us Good News as well today! The Kingdom of God has come near! We can be a part of that Kingdom! He wants us to follow Him just as He called out to Simon and Andrew. 

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And as we follow Him others will want to follow as well! Empowered by the Holy Spirit and sharing the goodness of God we receive. Good News for all!