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My Name is Legion, Pt. 2
Mark 5:1-20 is the story of Jesus delivering the demoniac. The first challenge out of this story I posted here. The second challenge I have is the response of the people. 14 Those who tended the pigs ran away and told the story in the city and in the countryside. People came to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and…
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How to Be Labeled Insane
We carry labels in our lives. We like to slap labels on others. Jesus had some labels of his own. They weren’t ones he necessarily put on voluntarily. “Insane” was one of those labels. 20 Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. 21 When his…
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The Freedom of Form
27Then he said, “The Sabbath was created for humans; humans weren’t created for the Sabbath. 28 This is why the Human One[b] is Lord even over the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28, CEB) As western Christians who happen to be evangelical… Pentecostal… Charismatic… cutting edge… emergent… umm… I know I’m forgetting some label… (We struggle with forms. It’s interesting that we struggle…
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Disciples vs. Followers
13 Jesus went out beside the lake again. The whole crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he continued along, he saw Levi, Alphaeus’ son, sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him. (Mark 2:13-14, CEB) My wife takes Tai Chi classes. For the past two years we have…
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The Spirit, Forms, Ritual, and New Things
I was in Mark 2 for my preaching text this past Sunday. The subject was new wine and new wineskins. When the Kingdom of God is bursting on the scene, we need to be able to move with what the Kingdom is doing. I was able to walk through vv. 1-17, but didn’t get to 2:18-3:6. Often when I hear…
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Where Healing Dwells
Mark Chapter 2 has a series of stories that I think are summed up in Jesus’ little story of wineskins and new cloths: 21 “No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes; otherwise, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and makes a worse tear. 22 No one pours new wine into…
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God is Messed Up
We don’t like to say it in so many words. After all, he might actually exist and if that were true… he wouldn’t like it if we told him his ways were messed up. So, we go with, “The Church is messed up. Christians are messed up. Religion is messed up.” Ezekiel 18 pulls no punches. It’s not God. It’s…
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Give Up Reputation for Lent
1 After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. 3 Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. 4 They couldn’t…
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Farm Faithfulness
Trust the LORD and do good; live in the land, and farm faithfulness. (Psalm 37:3, CEB) Is your faith “farm fresh”? Our faith needs to be cultivated. It needs to be attended to. Lent is a season of reflection because we need to have times to see what God is doing. Pause. Look around. Take inventory. Our life in God…
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I Gave Up My Voice for Lent
It seems I have lost my voice. My students will rejoice if I don’t get it back soon. Even in the loss of my voice it helps me to see I don’t lose my “voice” for calling out to God. In the deepest recesses of my spirit deep still calls to deep. The Psalm yesterday was Psalm 51. The Common…
Category: Lent
