Mark. My first "favorite" gospel. Oldest of the 4, used as a source by later writers. He's gets down to business. No genealogy. "God is here, and God is on our side." God is passionate to save us.
John's baptism of life change that leads to forgiveness of sins. Baptized in water, into a changed life. The big show comes next. My baptism is about changing old life for new. Big show will change you from the inside out. "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."
My beloved child. We are also baptized, and when we are, we give witness that the God who called Jesus his beloved child calls you and me to be beloved children, too. Baptism tells us who we are. Remember your baptism, and be thankful.
Immediate temptation in the wilderness. So why would we think life would become easy when we make a decision to follow Jesus/God? Tested by Satan. No details. Angels cared for him. Are we strong enough to endure the testing that will come?
EP: "God was making salvation--where every person was a creature loved by God and chose by God for the grandest purposes. Making salvation. Made by God.
John's arrest much earlier in the story than in Matthew's gospel. Jesus took over--change your life and believe the message/good news.
Calls first disciples. Did these guys come so quickly as being asked to follow a rabbi was a way out of their laboring fisherman life, and a sign of some prestige that had so far alluded them? The four left immediately.
Confident teaching. Demon possessed man recognizes the greatness of Jesus. You've come to destroy us. Who is us? Those who are possessed by what makes us less than good? Less than able to fully come before God? Those who know they are separated societally and otherwise?
"What's going on here? A new teaching that does what it says?"
He healed Simon's mother in law, and she got up immediately and made dinner. Healed for a purpose? Healed to serve.
We preach the good news of the kingdom of God by our words and actions--do we tell that the invisible God is working out God's purposes in our lives? Are we deliberate about living out this conviction so that our words and actions give evidence to its reality?
Secluded spot to pray. Found him. Let's go.
Healing the leper-life as one who is ostracized. "If you want to, you can cleanse me." Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." If Jesus were a strict Jew, he'd have avoided the leper, certainly not touched him. Jesus broke the law.
Friends lower the paraplegic to Jesus on a mat through the now torn off roof of a house. Crippled man would have been perceived to be a result of sin, his own or his parents. His friends risked their own standing and reputation to get him to Jesus, expecting that Jesus would heal him and declare him clean, whole, free. Jesus declared his sins forgiven, ticking off the religious folks (who thought his sins were why he was paralyzed). What's easier to offer: sins forgiven, or physical body healed? I can do either, or both. Let's do this.
"The injection of forgiveness into this story shows us something about the rule of God in Christ: namely, that it's an aggressive, penetrating rule. It isn't content to let sleeping dogs lie, or sleeping sins, for that matter. It isn't satisfied with simply an external manifestation of authority. It isn't willing to rule on the surface. It penetrates, goes deep into the character of its subjects. And when it gets there, it heals, restores and redeems. Christ is concerned with our whole lives--spiritual and physical paralysis, to the depths of our lives. Mark shows us that God's reign is present right now, penetrating deeply into us without passing over anything peripheral." EP
Calls Levi. Dinner with disreputable folks. Acting cozy with the riffraff. "Who needs a doctor? The healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually fit."
"The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren't made to serve the Sabbath The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath. He's in charge!"
Romans 13-15
"Insofar as there is peace and order, it's God's order." So a government without peace and order is not under God? But if it is of peace and order (OK-whose definition? Culture? News? Word of God? Who?) Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you're trying to get by with something. Well..."decent citizens should have nothing to fear."
Must live responsibly. Taxes should support "orderly way of life maintenance." Pay your taxes. Pay your bills. Respect your leaders. Even when I don't agree with them? Does this ask blind obedience?
Only debt: huge debt of love you own one another. Complete what the law has been. Love other people as well as you do yourself. Sum total of the law code is love. Love--the relationship with other people. I'm concerned with others and do what needs to be done to make their lives complete. Agape-life-giving love. Love shapes ethical decisions in this way. "How can I act so that this person becomes the person God wants him/her to be?"
"How can I act so that this person becomes the person God wants him/her to be?"
Pay attention to what God is doing.
"Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with--even when it seems they are strong on opinion but weak in the faith department. Remember. They have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently."
"Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help." Oh, how I want to live this well every day! "Each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience."
"Keep a holy day for God's sake. Do it to the glory of God--restrictions, freedoms, life. We are answerable to God, not each other...You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. Forget about deciding what's right for each other. Don't get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. Everything is already holy. Don't contaminate it. Continue to be a companion in love."
Single-mindedly serve Christ. Use our energy in getting along with each other. Don't interfere with the free exchange of love. Cultivate your own relationship with God; don't impose it on others. Live consistent with the way you believe."
So why doesn't Romans 14 get lifted out of Paul's writings the way other divisive, judgmental passages do? Anyone else think this is hard?
Strength is for service, not for status. Scripture written for us. Do you believe scripture was written for you? Does it make as much difference in your life as it meant for people back then? Does it bring the spiritual-personal strength to you that it brought in the narratives we read? Do you come to Scripture with a sense of hopeful anticipation?
"Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!" "People of all nations, celebrate God! All colors and races, give hearty praise!" "Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!"
"I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me: serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so that they can be presented as holy and acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God's Holy Spirit."
"Those who were never told of him--they'll see him! Those who've never heard of him--they'll get the message."
Pray for me.
Why doesn't the end of Romans get lifted up as Paul and his writings are spoken of? Why does what defines his theology, and much of our theology, come from his more restrictive, site-specific writings?
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