Mark 8:1-13 I can’t get no… In today’s reading, we see the feeding of the four thousand. Similar to the previous miracle of this sort, Jesus is reluctant to send people away, and this time he gives us a more explicit reason. The people (4000+) are fed and satisfied as a result of Jesus’ miracle.…
2019 Lent Day 20: Mark 7:24-37
Mark 7:24-37 The Secret Spreads The passage today opens with yet another reference to the “secret” of God’s Kingdom as the Gospel of Mark tells it. Yet this time, the secret is spreading to the foreigner. And we have a somewhat troubling passage in the Gospel. The question here is, what is going on with…
2019 Lent Day 19: Mark 7:1-23
Mark 7:1-23 Authentic Living Again Jesus is asked a question about the behavior of him and his disciples, and Jesus cannot contain himself. It’s as though Jesus responds with: -Are you serious? This is what you’re going to after? I’m trying to build a new kingdom. I’m confronting the ills that you have helped bring…
2019 Lent Day 18: Mark 6:45-56
Mark 6:45-56 Take Courage Imagine being a disciple on that boat. In the midst of the storm, unable to make any progress. And here comes Jesus. Just strolling along. It. was. terrifying. The part that was terrifying though, wasn’t the storm. It was Jesus coming in the midst of the storm. Like the Demoniac who…
2019 Lent Day 17: Mark 6:30-44
Mark 6:30-44 Give them something to Eat Again there is a reference to this sort of “Markan Secret,” which we’ve discussed before. It’s a bit indirect, but the idea is that Jesus and the disciples, having come back together following the death of John the Baptist after they had been sent out, attempt to go…
2019 Lent Day 16: Mark 6:14-29
Mark 6:14-29 Who said it was easy? If anyone in the gospels, other than Jesus, can be said to have been a model of obedience and Kingdom Building, it is John the Baptist. There may be others (Mary comes to mind), but definitely John the Baptist is in that group. Yet what is his fate?…
2019 Lent Day 15: Mark 6:1-13
Mark 6:1-13 Familiarity breeds contempt Jesus had been healing people, helping people, and doing all sorts of miraculous things. Yet, when he returns home, no one can accept any of it. It’s like he’s a little boy all over again, unremarkable in many ways. Even when they hear him speak and see what miracles he…
2019 Lent Day 14: Mark 5:35-43
Mark 5:35-43 This is not the end Yesterday, we began reading the narrative of Jesus going to see Jairus’s sick daughter and being stopped along the way. Today, we see Jesus continue this journey. Yet, it seems, the journey will end in tragedy. Don’t worry, says Jesus, she’s only asleep. This is temporary. And Jesus…
2019 Lent Day 13: Mark 5:21-34
Mark 5:21-34 Incidental Healing On the way to heal a little girl, Jesus is interrupted by a different healing. A woman, desperate for healing and having tried so many things she has no doubt lost hope for whatever this “blood” ailment is decides to make one last desperate attempt to be healed. She reaches out,…
Lent Day 12: Mark 5:1-20
Mark 5:1-20 The Demonic and today Earlier in the Gospel of Mark, and throughout many places in the Gospels, there is mention of those who are demon possessed. Today we are tempted not to think much of it. Perhaps, we may reason, this was just an ancient attempt at understanding mental as well as physical…
