The hymn asks the right question: What do you want us to see there that your close companions saw? Through the eye-witness accounts of Peter, James, and John, we get to take in this heavenly vision before the deepest darkness of Jesus’ passion, his suffering, and his death. But what are we to see there? What are we to take away? When Jesus was baptized, God spoke there, but that time he spoke for the sake of Jesus. He told him, “You are my Son…” (Mk 1:11). Here, Jesus is glorified, and the Father speaks once again, but, this time, for the sake of the disciples. He speaks to them (and through them to us): “This is my Son…Listen to him.” Today, once again, we become witnesses of his glory. Mark 9:2-9
Disciple #2 - Four Friends
We often read this story and consider Jesus’ interaction with the leper. But if we read this story from another perspective: the friends’ perspective. Why did they tear that roof apart? What kept them from sparing no effort or embarrassment just to let their friend down in front of Jesus? What did they hope he would do? Whatever it was, Jesus did more! What will you do for your friends to lower them down in front of Jesus? A sermon on Mark 2:1-12
Disciple #1 - The Leper and Prayer
If you were a leper, it didn’t just mean you were sick and had an incurable disease. It meant you were separated from God, ostracized from society, and an outcast, both physically and spiritually unclean. So, this request of this man is astounding. He dares to approach Jesus in his need and in his uncleanness. As he did so, he lived in the “perhaps” – he wasn’t sure what Jesus would do for him, but he held to the promise of cleansing from sin, and he waited to see what he would do about this disease. To what promises of God do you hold that make you bold and unashamed before your holy and mighty Savior? Mark 1:40-45
NEW SERIES - Disciple: Hope in the Gospel of Mark
Disciple: Hope in the Book of Mark
We regularly find ourselves at the end of our ropes, despairing, helpless, and at the end of ourselves. What we find, however, is that when we are at the end of ourselves, God is at his beginning. In the Gospel of Mark, we meet many individuals who had nearly lost all hope – all hope except what they had in Jesus. In this three-week series, we’ll meet three of those who found in Jesus what they needed when they were at their end. Jesus was just getting started with them!