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.
Mark 10:1-31 Perhaps we think of a disciple as a follower, but in the first place to be a disciple is to be a learner with Jesus as our Teacher. He is the Teacher sent from heaven. If Jesus is not my Teacher, then I am not his disciple.
Mark 9:30-50 What does true discipleship look like? What’s the difference between someone who just says they’re a Christian and a true disciple of Jesus? That is what Jesus starts to unpack in this section as he heads to Jerusalem.
Mark 9:1-29 ‘If you’re lucky, you’ll be shot. If you’re unlucky, you’ll be sent to a political prison camp’. To follow Christ in North Korea, you need to be convinced it’s worth it eternally. But even in our much easier context, there is a cost to true discipleship, and so we need to be convinced too. We need proof of future life. And that is what the Transfiguration is all about.
Mark 8:31-38 The cross is a symbol of barbaric oppression, torture, execution. Isn’t it time for the church to have a rebrand and to change its logo to something more…
Mark 8:10-30 Imagine a global pandemic not of a virus but of blindness – and everyone went blind. That, the Bible tells us, is the true state of humanity. We are spiritually blind; groping around in the dark. The good news is that Jesus can give us sight – but he’s the only one who can.
Mark 7:24-8:10 A sense of entitlement can easily creep into we relate to God. We easily start to feel not just that society owes but that God does too – but nothing could be further from the truth. The three true stories in this passage highlight how undeserving we really are, and how thankful we should be.
Mark 7:1-23 Hands, face, space. Such measures are effective in stopping the spread of a virus, but useless when in stopping the spread of sin. Much religion though operates on this basis. It assumes that the problem is out there in the world and we need to protect ourselves from infection and wash ourselves clean. But true worship recognizes the problem is not outside of us but in us. And a much deeper solution is needed.
