January 12th, 2020
Devotional
“Jesus Teaches and Heals” -
Mark 2: 1-22
Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com
Monday: “Authority” - Mark 2: 1-12
I do not find it surprising that in the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark, the most controversial thing about Jesus isn’t his teaching (people are crowding into the house for that) or his healing (that has happened in several places to the point where his fame is growing), but offering forgiveness.
Not just any forgiveness, but the forgiveness of sins.
When Jesus utters those words the Pharisees who were amongst those listening to him started to question him in their hearts, asking who was this person that he could forgive sins.
Of course he was Jesus, the one and only one who truly has the power and authority to forgive sins.
Sometimes this story confuses people because Jesus offered both spiritual healing from sin and physical healing from paralysis. They think that because of this linking together in one story that the man must have been sick because he had sinned. But when I think about people I know who are sick, often it is not their sin that has made them ill at all. Rather, because of the brokenness of this world, illness exists. But this story reminds us that Jesus has come to heal us and bring us to wholeness, both of body and spirit.
What is one area where you need forgiveness today?
Prayer: God, we thank you that you have came to save us as whole people, to bring freedom to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set us free from sin. Heal us we pray. Illuminate any places within us where we stand in need of forgiveness and allow us to bring those things before your throne of grace. Forgive us, we pray. Amen.
Tuesday: “Follow Me” - Mark 2: 13-14
There is just something about Jesus that when he calls, we follow. I think often it is that Jesus meets us where we are at and knows that our spirits are already seeking. Seeking for a Savior. Seeking for the One who can fill the emptiness and void in our lives.
Levi, this one who no one would have expected to follow Jesus, he heard Jesus say “Follow me” and he went. He got right up out of his tax booth and went.
I hope and pray that we have the same desire and yearning to follow Jesus today. That when he calls us to follow him and give our lives to him as his disciples that we are willing to do so. To leave it all behind to go where our Savior leads.
What holds you back at times from following Jesus?
Prayer: Lord, we confess that we say that we want to hear your voice, we say we want to feel the stirring of your Spirit, yet sometimes when we hear you calling, we do not always go willingly. Forgive us, Lord. Keep calling us until we respond like Levi and leave it all behind to follow you. Amen.
Wednesday: “In Need” - Mark 2: 15-17
What I find striking about Levi is that he invited Jesus to come to his house and eat, knowing that the people who would be there were not desirable company for many. In fact, Mark describes them as “sinners and tax collectors.”
The Pharisees got so confused about why in the world Jesus would be amongst these people. But that is exactly who Jesus came for - those who needed him most.
The Pharisees were so busy judging others and wondering why in the world Jesus would break bread with these folks that they missed that they were in need of healing as well. They wanted to control the table - who was welcome. They wanted to control who God was for.
If we are honest, sometimes we do this as well. We try to control who is welcome or under what terms. We try to control God’s grace. But grace is an uncontainable thing. And while it is our gift to receive, freely given by God, it is not ours to control. It is God’s gift alone.
How do we try to control God’s grace?
Prayer: God, we confess that we try to say who is included and excluded from your table of grace. We want people to come to us. Or to meet certain requirements before they are welcome. But that is not why you came. So free us, O Lord, as well. Free us from our control and our judgments. Free us to realize that we, too, are in need of a Savior. Amen.
Thursday: “Fasting” -Mark 2: 18-20
All of a sudden a conversation emerges about different types of disciples. Followers of Jesus versus followers of John versus followers of the pharisees. The last two groups were observing the practice of fasting - abstaining from something, usually eating.
Usually fasting was related with confession of sins. The book of Leviticus calls it “denying one’s self” and links it to high holy days, like the day of atonement (Lev 23: 26-32).
But for Jesus, it wasn’t just about fasting as an act, it was about examining the heart. This is the day to be with him, to learn from him, to spend time in his presence, because the day will come when the disciples will not have that.
The Pharisees, and probably even the disciples, did not understand what Jesus was saying to them. But he was inviting them to get back to the heart of relationship with God through him.
What does practicing fasting mean to you?
Prayer: Lord, we confess that we like the disciples long ago, don’t always understand. And we confess that even now, centuries later, we can still fight as your people about things like fasting. Invite us anew to get back to the heart of the matter, O Lord. Renew us, we pray. Amen.
Friday: “New” - Mark 2: 21-22
I’m not sure we always like Jesus’s teaching about old wine in new wine skins - it can be scary to think about doing something new, especially when we are so used to doing it the way that we are familiar with.
But with newness comes something that is all throughout Mark 2: 1-22, hope.
Hope is what helped the friends bring the man to Jesus, no matter what.
Hope is what helped Levi claim his new identity.
Hope is what Jesus offered around Levi’s dining room table.
Hope is what folks had forgotten and needed to reclaim about fasting.
With hope, Jesus is calling his disciples, and us, to something both ancient and new. Something that is deeper. Something that is life changing.
And that is what we are tasked with carrying forth to the world.
What hope does Jesus offer you? How can you share this hope with the world?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for being the bearer of hope to the broken hearted. Thank you for doing something new in us. Thank you, O Lord, for calling us to be bearers of that newness and hope to the world. Amen.
Saturday: Preparing for the Word
You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Parables in Mark” - Mark 4: 1-34
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