"Listen, now, all of you-take this to heart.It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit-that's the real pollution." Jesus.
"We don't get it." Disciples.
"It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness-all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution." Jesus.
Syro-Phoenician woman. Jesus: "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there's any left over, the dogs get it." Woman: "But don't the dogs under the table get the scraps dropped by the children?" Jesus: "You're right! On your way! Your daughter is healed."
Hearing to the deaf and speech to the speechless.
Mark's gospel is action-packed, filled with deeds more than words. Many miracles, and mostly healing miracles-13, 12 performed on Jews and 1 on a Gentile. The stories give us history and a peek at God's redemptive rule, windows into the way things are done in God's kingdom, where everything is done well. What we call a miracle is a glimpse into the perfect rule of God.
Feeding 1000.
Contaminating yeast. "Be very careful. Keep a sharp eye out for the contaminating yeast of Pharisees and the followers of Herod."
Disciples still pointing fingers over who forgot to bring the bread...so Jesus "had" to do a miracle again.
Healing of blind man, using spit. 2 stage healing--do you see? blurry. repeat.
"What are you saying about me, Peter?" "You are the Christ, the Messiah."
Is this the core of your life? This question comes in Mark's gospel in the center of the story, the center of the gospel. Isn't it the question at the center of our lives? God puts this question to each of us and waits for our answer. Will you worship the God who made you? Will you believe in the God who loves you? Will you accept the God who saves you? Will you?
Jesus tells them he's going to suffer, be tried, and found guilty, be killed, and rise up alive. Even in his first telling, he leaves them with hope of the resurrection. Peter protests. Jesus' response: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?" Do I make God famous by my words, actions, and deeds?
1 Corinthians 3 & 4
"But for right now, friends, I'm completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God..." First paragraph is tough. Immaturity. Taking sides with one another instead of being on God's side. Allowing human divisions, distractions and thoughts to divide the body of Christ. God makes us all grow, not human leaders. God is at the center; God is the one we're serving.
You are God's house...with the same, one foundation: Jesus Christ. "You won't be torn out; you'll survive--but just barely." What does that last statement say to thoughts of eternal damnation?
We're workers with God, and we're worked upon by God. We're the carpenters and the building. Constantly in a state of being and a state of becoming.
EP: "This is the wonderful and hopeful thing about being involved in building the church of Christ: We can pour our lives into the work and know that in doing so, we become the actual materials of the church that God is building. So instead of the building being limited by our individual shortcomings, we become transformed under the direction of the Master Builder. An insignificant and even a rather ugly brick becomes a significant part of a beautiful structure, build to the glory of God."
Do you feel like a temple of God? That God is present within you? That you are sacred?
Be God's fool-that's the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart God calls stupid. Where have you seen and experienced the upside down-ness of what God calls for and what culture calls for?
"Don't brag about yourself or anyone else. Everything is yours as a gift--all of it. You are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God."
First paragraph of chapter 4 is a challenge for me.
Don't get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, inner motives, purposes and prayers will be known.
Don't rush into judgments without knowing all the facts. Look at things from God's point of view. "I would rather not see you inflating or deflating reputations based on mere hearsay."
"You already have all you need. You already have more access to God thank you can handle." More than you can handle.
"We're the Messiah's misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well thought of by others, but we're mostly kicked around." Wow. Resonate with that....whole chapter is stirring. Must read it again, a couple times, in another translation, too.
"God's Way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life."
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