Tag: Mark

Morning Musing: Mark 12:29-31

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“Jesus answered, ‘The most important is “Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other command greater than these.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Something a little different this week. I have the privilege of chaperoning some of our kids to camp this week for what I suspect will be the final time. That’s a little bittersweet, I’ll confess. It’s a lot to do this each year, but it really does make for a fun week. Like the last few years, this week we’ll take a break from our normal fare to explore a bit what the kids are learning this week. These will likely be pretty short reflections as time is fleeting at camp, but as least you’ll get the gist of it. Without further ado, here we go.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 6:17-20

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“For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been in a situation that blew up to such an extent that you figured God had completely forgotten about you, or perhaps was punishing you for something you didn’t even realize you had done? That can be a scary and disorienting place to be. You thought you were right on track with Him, but suddenly things go sideways, and it seems like the devil had won that particular battle. There was no way God could do something to redeem this. It was simply a lost cause. And then some well-meaning jerk came along to remind you of Romans 8:28 where Paul said that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes. And while perhaps he didn’t mean it this way, the implication is that either you didn’t love God enough, weren’t being called according to His purposes, or both. You didn’t punch him, but you did wonder a bit if maybe he wasn’t on to something. What are we supposed to do when our situations blow up and it feels like God is nowhere to be found?

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Morning Musing: Mark 16:8

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“They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Today this journey comes to an end. It has taken us two days shy of 13 months. I’m so glad to have had you with me on it. As I said yesterday, we’ll start a new journey together soon, and I am very much looking forward to that. I’ll have more news on what that will be in the next few weeks. In the meantime, don’t tune out! We’ll spend the next few weeks looking at some of the lies followers of Jesus believe and why the truth is so much better. And just in case you’ve forgotten, here’s a link back to where we started on September 1 of last year. Thanks for reading and sharing. Now, let’s get to the task at hand.

Have you ever seen someone react to something in the wrong way? Perhaps it was a surprise party, and instead of excitement, they were angry. Maybe it was a Christmas present that made them start crying. It could have been really sad news that made them laugh. There is an endless combination of possibilities here. Sometimes people simply don’t react to something the way most folks think they should act. What we see here at the end of Mark’s Gospel is a perfect example of this. Let’s dig in to see what the reaction was, what it should have been, and what it means for us.

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Morning Musing: Mark 16:5-7

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“When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he told them, ‘You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.”‘” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve talked before about my love of magic. I love seeing the fruit of many years’ worth of hard work and dedication that talented magicians have put in to honing their ability to completely wow me by making something appear where it has no business being or knowing something there’s no way they could have known. One of my favorite categories of magic acts is where the magician looks like he has lost control of the trick. He “messes something up” and it appears you have caught him in the act of deception, only to find out he was perfectly in control of the situation the entire time and you only saw what you were intended to see. The truth is things were always unfolding just exactly like he planned for them to go. On the morning of the resurrection, it looked at first like things were flying out of control. The truth, though, was they were unfolding just exactly like God had planned for them to go. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Mark 15:47; 16:2-4

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“Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid. . .Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise. They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?’ Looking up, they noticed that the stone – which was very large – had been rolled away.” (CSB – Read chapter 15 here, and 16 here)

Have you ever mourned a missed opportunity? You had the chance to do something, but didn’t take it. And then it was gone. There was nothing you could do about it. It was too late. You simply missed it. As Jesus’ body was laid in His tomb, His followers all thought that He had missed an opportunity and them with Him. He had missed an opportunity to do an even greater good with His life. But now He was dead, and the opportunity was gone. If only they knew…

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