Wow, Mark is in a hurry. He begins this book with a loaded sentence and never pauses to unpack it or explain. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark 1:1 NRSV
We have just finished celebrating the birth of Christ with all of the church services and familiar songs. In our church, Advent season is a time when we slowly approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and ponder the second coming of Jesus. Mark doesn’t take any time with shepherds or Bethlehem or angel proclamations. He hurries right into John the Baptist and disciples and preaching tours in Galilee. Unclean spirits are exercised and lepers are cleansed before we get out of chapter one. Mark is in a hurry, and it occurs to me this morning that his gospel approach more closely mirrors my crazy life.
As I turn the calendar into 2008 I would like to make a resolution to hurry less, to take time to ponder and listen more. I would like to promise to myself and to anyone that reads these words that I will take better care of myself and my closest relationships, that I will major in the major things and not the minor ones. I would like to make these promises, and on some level I will, but I know me. I am a lot like Mark. I am in a hurry and I tend to fill my days and weeks until there is little margin for error or even pleasure.
Do you see what Jesus does in the midst of Mark’s hurried presentation? In vs. 35 we find this; “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35 NRSV. OK, this is where I will meditate today. How will I make time to take time to get away and pray, to refocus and commune with God. Where will you make time friend?
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
3 comments:
Good morning, Pastor :)
I have two questions on our reading.
1. In Mark 1:12 (NKJV), It states that the Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness. I am curious why the word drove is used here. We normally associate that word with driving out demons, or Jesus driving out those who bought and sold in the temple...We know the Spirit leads, directs, tugs, pulls, instills, convicts, etc.
In this verse the Spirit "drove" Jesus...is this significant in this tense?
2. In Mark 1:13 (NKJV), The Angels are "ministering" to Jesus during His 40 days in the wilderness.
How would they minister? In what fashion? We know He fasted, so what needs did the Angels provide?
Thank you for this site, your time, and your love - I look forward to the growth your assignments will provide.
mw
I like Mark's gospel the best, I think, because he's so to the point. To me, that means every sentence he writes is something he considers really important and essential for us to know. His baptism account, his temptation account - we just need to know these things happened, but the details here are less important to Mark.
Also, it cracks me up that people are shocked by anyone who teaches with authority. It doesn't speak very highly of what they were used to, does it?
As a teacher I'm impressed with the fact that the same basic story is approached in so many ways. Each version hits another learning style. This one is definitely for those who are goal oriented. It hits the high points hard and fast
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