Mark 7:31-8:13
Healing and feeding Jesus has come from a big confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders to heal a Gentile woman’s daughter. He is such a radical, because He now goes further into Gentile territory to the region of Decapolis to heal a deaf and mute man and feed 4,000 people before yet another confrontation with […]
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Mark 7:1-30
Clean hands or clean heart One Sunday a man sat through a church service (clearly not one of ours!!!) and then on the way home he fussed about the sermon, he griped about the traffic, he complained about the cold and rain, and he made a big fuss about how late lunch was served. Then […]
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Mark 6:30-56
Show and tell Some people tackle novels by reading the last page first. It’s a plan of attack I wouldn’t normally subscribe to! However, I do feel compelled to start today’s reading by looking at the last verse first: “And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the market-places and […]
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Mark 6:6b-29
The state of your heart In 1650 a Christian businessman travelled from London to Scotland. When he got home his friends at church asked him what news he had brought them. “Good news,” he said, “for when I went to St Andrews I heard a sweet, majestic-looking man, and he showed me the majesty of […]
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Mark 5:21-6:6a
Faith – violent and powerful Today’s reading contains some very well known stories, and yet there are some important points here to learn. The central theme of the passage is about faith, about the violent and powerful force it can be, the lack that appears because of its absence, as well as the devastating effects […]
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Mark 4:30-5:20
Storms A couple of weeks ago, Ellie (my 5-year-old daughter) drew me this picture: Ellie tells me that the face just left of centre is mine. I’m in the middle of a storm, and I’m smiling. The face in the top right hand corner is God’s, who is also smiling. Of course, I’d love to […]
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Mark 3:31-4:29
Increase In today’s reading Jesus is teaching his disciples about the kingdom. There are really two things he teaches us. At the end of chapter 3 Jesus’ family comes to ‘see’ him, and at first it seems like Jesus’ reaction is unnecessarily rude. However if you put this in the context of verse 21 – […]
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Mark 2:18-3:30
Escalating conflict and the unforgivable sin Mark gets straight down to business. In 16 chapters, he doesn’t have a lot of column inches to build the tension! To the Pharisees and even John’s disciples, following Jesus looked like an easier deal. The Pharisees had added to the once a year prescribed fast during the day […]
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Mark 1:29-2:17
While it was still dark… This passage shows how popular and busy Jesus was becoming and how the crowds followed Him, but what struck me most was one particular verse, Mark 1:35 says: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary […]
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