1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,[a] the Son of God,[b] 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”[c]—
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[d]
who will prepare your way”[c]—
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[d]
I draw strength for the fact that God has a plan and He show us through out scripture that His plan has and will continue to come to completion. There is nothing I can do to stop it. I can make mistakes, I often do, but my actions can not stop the will of God. I want to be careful here to not communicate that we can do whatever we want and get away with it because Paul talks about that in Romans and all I mean to say is God is sovereign.
In verses 4-7, Mark talks about John the Baptist and his preaching a "baptism of repentance" John talks about he one who comes after him and I think it is neat that he and Jesus are related. I wonder how crowds today act differently from crowds back them. If someone talks of repentance now-a-days, I wonder how it would be received?
Mark gets to the point and Jesus is being baptised in verse 9 and we see God claim Jesus as well as send the holy spirit like a dove. I wonder what it was like for Jesus with out the communion that her had pre-birth and I am assuming did not have on the same level that he does now that he has been baptised. Was he missing part of himself?
In verse 12, The spirit "at once" directed Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days and nights to be tempted by satan. The key that I walk away from this verse is that Jesus did not fight/confront satan until he had the holy spirit and that should be the same for us. Spiritual Warfare is real and dangerous. All those that think otherwise have already been fooled and have lost the battle.
In versus 14-20, John is put in prison and Jesus is gathering his disciples. In verse 21 he proceeds to enter a synagogue and teach and I wonder if this is natural or if God gave him favor to be able to interrupt and teach. He teaches with authority it is written and then he is challenged by a demon who is cast out. Jesus shows his authority in a couple of ways and does so with out even seeming to try to, it just is who he is. Later he heals Simon's mother-in-law and then in verse 32, Mark says that "after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed." In my mind a see a long long and I wonder if they waited for night to have some privacy or if it was customary. Anyway, Mark makes a clarification between the demon possessed and the sick and I think they are all sick, but I wonder what the numbers were like back them. I know we have demon possessed in today's time, but do we just medicate them or do they blend in and hide better than two thousand years ago. This goes back to spiritual warfare, how can you believe in angels but not demons? I hear that a lot and I do not understand the logic.
I verse 35 we see Jesus sneaking away to have some time with his Father. How much do I pray and do I pray with my soul longing to see God move or is it just habit. I am afraid it is the later and I need to pray about my praying :) Got to find humor in life and God is big enough to help me with my hurdles and I think we can all use more faith in our lives.
In verse 40 after Jesus heals the man with leprosy, he tells him to not say anything but to go to the priests and be checked out and make an offering. He did not and the final verse of chapter 1 is verse 45 "Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere." the word lonely is used and I am shocked because I would not have thought of Jesus being lonely, but I guess whenever you have a plan and vision and that even though you have people around you, it does not mean they all understand where you are or what you are doing. I do not think we have life missions like what Christ had to endure, but I think there is a lesson there...
Where is the power? What was it that Jesus and even John the Baptist had or said that made people Repent. Why is our way of loving and having compassion and wanting to help our friends so different? We so rarely tell people what to do, or how to live, or if something is right or wrong. I swear, we rarely even tell ourselves anymore. We rarely straight up repent and call our behavior sin. Do we?
ReplyDeleteEven Jesus, who Was and Is God, woke up early and went off alone to pray. This is a MUST. I act a fool when I neglect my time with you.
He couldn't even go into the cities he was so sought after. People came to him from everywhere. In a way this reminds me of my multitudes of friends, often ones in need of healing and compassion. How do I treat them? How do I help them? Am I anything like Jesus in that way? Where is His Power to bring truth, repentance, healing and hope in My Life? I feel like the people that come to me just find a kindred spirit instead of a light and that is terrifying. But should it be so shocking? Is it so bad that I too am broken? Heal me, Jesus, so that my love will be more of you pouring out of me into the lives of my friends, and less of my neediness drawing them in and trapping them.
The scripture about the dove coming down and God saying "This is My Son in whom I'm well pleased." is in this section. I thought it was The Verse for this year. I'm still curious how that might be the case? What are you up to God?
I was thinking about the bird in my prayer time this morning actually before I even read the verses. I was thinking of all the ways that God describes us metaphorically. Yesterday the kids and I read in Psalm that we are like a tree planted by a stream (could there be any image more different from a bird? AND it is EXACTLY what is already tattooed on my back even to the stream which is in the poem), and in Mark, that we are like lights, there are many others, those are just the ones I read yesterday. But I'm not sure that I can think of anywhere we are described as birds (which I keep using as a metaphor for myself in poems and even in the new tattoo I want). My first thought of where birds are used in the bible for metaphor was of this verse, the Holy Spirit. May I ride on His wings, rather than take flight to my own fancies. I am also now reminded of the verses in Psalm where Father God is a nurturing bird. I suppose there is the verse that says we will fly on eagles' wings, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint, but still those wings aren't necessarily our own. I am praying that I will understand my place in God's world and I will see myself clearly, not too highly or too lowly. Maybe I am not a bird with the freedom to fly wherever I want, or a monster with the power and will to destroy. I am a child, sometimes surly, doubting and complaining (like Chase has been lately), but sometimes confident and safe in a way that we lose as adults, able to do amazing things because no one ever told me I couldn't and because the whole time God's got my back, cheering me on as I do things that make him smile with pride.