Mark 15:40-16:8 Climate change, conflict, political upheaval, terrorism…Why would you want to bring a child into such a world? Growing numbers don’t. But the events of the first Easter weekend change everything. This is where true hope is to be found – for ourselves and for our world.
Mark 15:15-39 Many are worried about the rising cost of living. Few are worried about the cost of sinning. But we should be. In the sufferings of Jesus we see the true cost of sinning, and it is horrifically high. And it leaves us with a simple choice.
Mark 14:53-15:15 There have been some famous trials in history – Socrates, Galileo, OJ Simpson – but none as important as that of Jesus. The fate of the world depended on the outcome. And how we respond to it will determine the outcome at our own trial, when we appear in the dock at the final judgement.
Mark 14:26-52 ‘We are the heroes of our time’ proclaimed the winning song at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. We like to think of ourselves as the hero of our own story, but the Bible assures that we’re not. Jesus is the hero we need.
Mark 14:1-25 When things are broken – your TV, your car, your heart – it is not good. But sometimes broken is beautiful. In this passage we find a broken body and a broken flask. They speak of Jesus’ devotion to us, and the devotion he calls us to in response.
Mark 13:1-37 Imagine if, as with Covid and terrorism, we also had five spiritual threat levels for Christians in the UK. Where would you put the current threat level? How big a spiritual threat is there to believers? What action should we be taking? Jesus tells us in this final block of teaching before his death.
Mark 12:18-44 Business guru, Jim Collins, said that ‘good is the enemy of the great’. That is true not just in business but in spirituality. True Christianity is not just about living a good life and seeing Jesus as a good teacher. It’s much more than, as this passage reveals.
Mark 11:27-12:17 Today in the West, the individual is king. And in particular, ‘the inner psychological life of the individual is sovereign’, as one writer has put it. How I feel is king. But such a view puts us on a collision course with reality – and with Jesus. There are givens to which we must conform, and Jesus is one of them. He has God’s authority.
Mark 11:1-25 Sweet and sour is a popular dish on the Chinese takeaway menu, and it’s one that we find on God’s menu too. God is a God of salvation, but also of judgement. Jesus is a gentle donkey-riding King who has come to save, but also an angry fig-tree cursing, table-turning King who has come to judge.
Mark 10:32-52 Is light a particle or a wave? Answer: both. It’s both-and, not either-or. Is Jesus’ sacrifice a unique ransom for us, or is it an example for us to follow? It’s both-and. True Christianity holds tightly to both, and this passage will help us do just that.
