"The madman. No one was strong enough to tame him." He was beyond unclean, completely ostracized by character, behavior, everything. Yet, "When he saw Jesus a long way off, he ran and bowed in worship before him--then bellowed to protest, 'What business to you have, Jesus, Son of the High God, messing with me? I swear to God, don't give me a hard time!'"
Well...complete outsider, yet able to recognize who Jesus is, able to recognize the power and possibility, and even wise enough to be concerned with, even afraid of what Jesus might do if he got too close to the madman. As Paul wrote as he gave his own testimony in Romans, and as we learned in Acts, the Gospel goes out to those who will receive it, even if they are unclean, of questionable or detestable heritage, and especially with those who had first been "chosen" for it reject it, reject Jesus, refuse to allow It to change their lives.
Jesus had commanded the tormenting spirit to get out, but it hadn't yet. So he begins to build a relationship. "Tell me your name." The rioting mob is banished from the man, sent into a flock of pigs who stampede off the cliff into the sea and drown. I imagine the pig owners weren't happy about the loss of asset. And the man formerly mad is completely changed. Reaction: First awe, then anger that the source of commerce is lost. Profits before people.
Jesus leaves the man there so that he can share his testimony, to draw from Woody's message of Sunday.
Jairus' daughter, a man with great power and authority, who also knew the limits of his own power, asked for Jesus' power to heal his daughter.
On the way, the woman with blood, who has such courageous faith in Jesus, exercised in the midst of a culture hostile to her (she was unclean and socially ostracized, sanctioned by the law) dares to touch Jesus' robe. Have you ever thought about the idea that Jesus "could feel energy discharging from him?" I expect some of us have experience miraculous healing/freeing, whether physical, spiritual, emotional, or social. I am thinking of Mary, who was recently healed...Did Jesus really have to ask, "Who touched me?" or did he know? Could he have pinpointed the woman in the crowd? Did he want to demonstrate to the crowd that he could "fix" all whom they had called unclean? She stepped up in fear and trembling, no doubt expecting the sort of reaction she'd been accustomed to receiving from others...when she shared her testimony, Jesus commended her risk of faith and blessed her into the future.
Your daughter is dead-it's hopeless. Jesus: "Don't listen to them; just trust me." Peter, James and John got to see him raise the daughter. No wonder Jesus gets exasperated with these three down the line. They've seen his miracles of miracles, and yet disbelieve. "Why all this busybody grief and gossip?" Why, indeed.
Just a carpenter. Can't those who know us best keep us most imprisoned by who we have been, or who they have perceived us to be? "They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any farther." Great line. They constrained Jesus' power in his "neighborhood" by what they thought they knew about him.
12 sent out in pairs. You are the equipment. Simple. Modest. Content. "Preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different. Sent demons packing, brought wellness to the sick, anointed bodies, healed spirits."
I had forgotten that the story of John the Baptist's death originated in Mark. King Herod hadn't really planned to execute John, but had to in order to save face. Sounds a bit like what happens to Pilate at Jesus' death. The dangers of power and authority...
"You do it...you fix them supper." "They looked like a patchwork quilt of wildflowers spread out on the green grass." Diversity much? All fed by Jesus. None denied and an abundance left over.
Walking on water. Got into the boat. "They didn't understand what he had done at the supper. None of this had yet penetrated their hearts."
"Whoever touched him became well."
I Corinthians 1-2
From the introduction: "When people become Christians, they don't at the same moment become nice." Well...Corinthians were unruly, hard-drinking, sexually promiscuous. They brought their reputations with them into the church. Paul was there, but then left, and things began to falter. Old patterns returned, and even worsened. "Factions had developed, morals were in disrepair, worship had degenerated into a selfish grabbing for the supernatural."
Called and sent by Jesus according to God's plan. Believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart of a God-filled life. God will never give up on you. Never forget that.
"I thank God for your free and open access to God, given by Jesus." I'm interested in the grace of God that was given to you in Jesus. That's what I want to discover, to bring to light, to explore, to nurture, to develop, to mature.
"You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common."
"God in all his wisdom too delight in using what the world considered dumb--preaching of all things--to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation...we go right on proclaiming Christ...Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness"...Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that no one can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything we have--right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start--comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
"Jesus crucified. Affects us every day. God's way of being among us is to get down on our level, to enter the humiliation and the death, to share the persecution and the pain, to get into our skin and go through these things with us. It's impossible to take the truth of the gospel and divorce it from the way of the gospel...Jesus is the way and the truth. And the way is crucifixion. Suffering is a part of that reality. And death is a part of that reality." EP
Not popular wisdom. Mysterious. Goes deep inot the interior of God's purposes. Not lying around on the surface. You've seen it and heard it...you know..."The Spirit dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God had planned for you all along."
"Spirit can only be known by spirit--God's Spirit and our spirit in open communion."
Feeding of 5000. "From the surrounding towns people went out on foot, running, and got there ahead of them (Jesus and the disciples)." Running. Wow. Jesus' heart broke when he saw the size of the crowd and he went straight to work, teaching them. (Not healing and tending to their immediate needs-interesting...). Hmmm...
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