Mark 4:21-25
Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine. For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”

Paparazzi Welcomed!
I have a love/hate relationship with the paparazzi. On the one hand I cannot help but be intrigued by the latest story or photo about my favorite celebrities. On the other hand I am glad I do not live with people hiding my bushes to take pictures of me walking past my window in my pajamas.

Jesus does not seem to mind the constant scrutiny. He in fact welcomes it. Does anyone light a lamp to hide it under a bowl? No a lamp is lit to be displayed, to be seen by everyone and to shed light on others. Being a follower of Christ is to be lit up by Jesus from the inside out. The light of the world shines through me.

Sometimes this means the light shines through the parts of my life I want to stay hidden. I don’t like everyone to see my weaknesses, my sin, my vulnerabilities. I don’t want the paparazzi to uncover my secrets.

The secret things are meant to be revealed and what is hidden is meant to be pushed into the spotlight. Listen closely, dig deep, pay attention to the details in the shadows. This is where the truth of personal identity is found. Understanding is not gained from a cursory glance. Stand and stare, dig through the garbage of my life. Discover what is inside me, what motivates me, what lights up my world. This is the life God called Jesus to and that he calls me to. Paparazzi welcomed!

God of light, shine your light through me so the world might see how much you have transformed me to make me what I am today. Help me to live with the shades open and your light on in every area of my life. – Dan Jones

Do You Have Ears?
Mom repeated her instructions, but her teen son still did it wrong. Frustrated, she boxed his ears, “Aren’t these your ears?” “Nope,” He replied, “I stick those on every morning to hold my diamond studs.” Too much Bill Engvall!

Jesus said some funny stuff – like today. “I want all of you with ears to listen up.” I wonder if Thomas guffawed, “Ah shucks, that leaves me out!”

Comedian Engvall’s “Here’s your sign” jokes are funny because we all say silly stuff. Jesus says his silly for the same reason the mother did, to address a serious issue. Though God has given us amazing hearing devices, we get lazy about putting in the work to use them. That’s why Jesus starts out this chapter explaining his reason for using parables (stories with spiritual meaning). It’s not that he doesn’t want people to understand. He wants them to think!

Listen and think about what you just heard. Mull it over. That’s paying close attention during and after the message.

Like then, we often want to understand God’s profound truth without investing the required work. Listening carefully to a Sunday message, a youth group lesson, or Jesus himself, isn’t something many want to do. Just make truth easy! Spoon feed me. Just don’t make me think too hard.

But God’s truth seeks to rearrange the entire web of our assumptions, perceptions, world views – everything. The Good News demands deeper thinking than the 3 easy steps to some behavior modification that pop religion often feds us.

Eternal Mind, you invited me to reason together with you in the Old Testament and commanded me to be transformed by renewing my mind in the New Testament. Help me develop critical thinking ability as I read your Word and consider your ways. –Mike Leamon

MARK 4:1-20
Once again Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore. A very large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat in the boat while all the people remained on the shore. He taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:

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“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

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Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant.

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He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

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‘When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.’”

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Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables? The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Outdated Farming
Silly farmers. Wasteful strategy. But that’s the way farmers had planted grain for time immemorial. Tossing seeds to and fro – bad soil or good soil, trampled pathways or rocks and briars – not only wasted seed but minimized the harvest.

Today’s farmers are much smarter. They not only keep the seed to the good soil, they plop those babies into the ground in careful rows at a scientific distance from each other. We moderns have pulled from the earth a phenomenally greater harvest than those ancients could dream of!

Yesterday’s wasteful farming methods, however, are a better metaphor for how Jesus spreads the Good News. And how we should, too.

Don’t worry about whether or not someone is ready to respond to Good News about Jesus; if the opportunity arises, share it. Plant a seed. Don’t worry about whether a positive response will be lasting or not, keep planting seeds. Toss those babies into any ‘ol crack in the asphalt or rocky crevice. Don’t worry if most of the people you share the Good News with don’t embrace it, or half embrace it, or spit it back as a sarcastic joke – share on.

Jesus isn’t calling us to rudeness. If people aren’t ready for the offer of Good News, wait until an appropriate time, then offer it without concern about their response.

The Good News about Jesus may be nested in a simple comment, an answer to a question, casual conversation, a comforting or encouraging word, and a thousand other ordinary moments of interpersonal relationships.

Efficiency be damned. I need to incorporate God’s words of faith, hope, and love into more of my ordinary living and let them fall all over.

Heavenly Farmer, help me to farm like you do. Send your Spirit again today and enable me to develop open eyes and ears to new opportunities to share words of Good News wherever I go.

MARK 3:31-35
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”

Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”


Best Marriage & Family Counsel Ever!
Ouch! Mark just revealed that when Jesus’ family was worried for his sanity, he ignored them. Now he insults them!

“Your mom’s here. You know, the one who endured the neighbor’s scorn when she insisted she immaculately conceived you; the one who fled to Egypt to save your skin; the one you worried silly when you were twelve and heady with profound dialog in the Temple; that’s the one who’s here.”

I would have been insulted by his response. But I’m glad he answered that way. It’ll take a lifetime to live up to the implications. But in the process my family and marriage relationships will be better than they would have been.

Seems to me that Jesus rather painfully teaches that spiritual relationships always trump blood relationships. This redefines common assumptions a couple of ways.

First, the priority of and enduring nature of family relationship always goes to fellow followers of Jesus. A “blood” sibling who rejects Jesus, is not as much family to me as an “unrelated” member of my church who accepts Jesus. For Christians, the “blood” of Jesus that runs between the children of God is thicker than the “blood” shared because of physical birth. This can be tough to accept, but sets us up for what follows.

Because the spiritual relationship is more defining than the physical relationship, my believing sibling is first my brother or sister in Christ, only then my physical sibling. My believing spouse is first my brother or sister in Christ, only then my spouse. My unbelieving family members, are first my potential spiritual family, before they are my present physical family. The implications are wonderful.

The New Testament is full of counsel about relationships in God’s family. I especially appreciate the “one another” commands. For example (add “one another” to each word), honor, love, forgive, encourage, admonish, serve, pray for, submit to, etc.

The first place to look for good marriage and family counsel is not those biblical passages that talk about marriage and family or the many books at the bookstore. Relating to my wife and family as brothers and sisters in Christ is my top priority. By then, all the marriage and family advice has pretty much fallen into place, and without being twisted into harmful practices by bad interpretation.

Creator of new days, make today a fresh beginning in my relationship to my family. Forgive me when I relate to them first as parents and siblings and wife and kids. Take me another step in reorienting my perspective of them so that I will see them as spiritual family first. Then birth in me new depths of love you have in store for your family.

MARK 3:20-30
One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”

Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.

“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”

The Core of My Heart
“He’s out of his mind!” “He’s possessed by Satan!” What was Jesus doing that earned him these similar verdicts from family and religious leaders?

It’s a mob scene. People from all over fill the village, all pressing toward the same house desperate for Jesus to deliver their demon possessed family member. One by one, those just healed emerged from the house full of noisy jubilance. The crowd roars. Mothers exchange stories. Men puzzle over the how and who of this Jesus. Babies cry. Children dodge in and out of robed grown up legs. Those still possessed foam at the mouth or flail about spouting whatever noises tumble from their mouths.

It’s a pretty wild scene that only grows more intense with glorious notes of deliverance mingled with worried, even angry voices of more and more people pressing into town with their desperate loved one. The sun pays no head to the desperation in these voices as it resolutely marches across the Galilean sky. The day will soon be gone and with it the presence of this Jesus, their one hope for normalcy and health in their home.

To family, Jesus’ compassion had gotten the best of him. He’d allowed the crowd to morph into an out-of-control mob. If they wouldn’t let up their demands enough for him to eat, what would they do at day’s end when so many remained, still desperate for deliverance? He’s not rowing with both oars in the water.

The religiously more astute knew better as they watched the crazed village blaze with Jesus worship. This is demonic, pure and simple. Sure, some may be delivered, but God would never operate this way. This is satanic trickery to undermine the central importance of obedience to God’s Law.

Jesus didn’t take time to eat, so great was the need that day. But he did take time to confront the dull hardness of the religious leaders. Must have been important. It slowed the deliverance process down so that probably one or more people did not get delivered that day! And so it was.

Meeting human need sometimes gets messy. It sometimes invades good daily rituals that provide important things like nourishment. People being helped do get out of control. They do come with mixed, even wrong motives. They do not always go away with a deeper commitment to God.

But meeting human need is so central to God’s nature that if those witnessing God’s gracious work, and who, themselves, purport to represent God, attribute compassionate ministry to Satan, then God’s own Spirit is so offended that he’ll not forgive the blasphemer.

Compassionate God, grant that hurting and wounded people will have the same place in my heart as it does in yours. In fact, may human need become so central that the people I grow angry with are only those who hinder compassion. Give me the wisdom to know when my own compassion for others outweighs my own needs.

MARK 3:13-19

Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons. These are the twelve he chose:
Simon (whom he named Peter)
James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”)
Andrew
Philip

Bartholomew
Matthew
Thomas
James (son of Alphaeus)
Thaddaeus
Simon (the zealot)
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)

Flawed Spiritual Leaders

Jesus never intended to accomplish his mission by himself. So he shared his authority to preach and cast out demons with these twelve. And an interesting group they were.

They were among a larger number of other disciples who also followed Jesus, but who were not apostles. The twelve likely included some cousins of Jesus. All, except possibly one, were from Galilee, so Jesus may well have known them for some time. The group spanned the spectrums of personality, politics, and religious sects within Judaism. To the man, each expected the Messiah to set up an earthly and political kingdom their lifetime. They knew the prophecy well, “And the government shall be on his shoulders.”

The character of this group is what captures my attention today. They do not quite fit the mold we have crafted for spiritual leaders. The Gospels reveal a group with a tendency toward in-fighting. They tended toward the spiritually dull side. Peter spoke before he engaged his brain while James and John would weigh into any subject with thunderous verbosity! And these were Jesus’ three key disciples!

I wonder if anyone ever watched the group and chuckled at Jesus’ inability to choose people with any hope of leading a great spiritual movement. Read the story of Christianity, and one must wonder about his selection of leaders over the span of 2000 years! Sure there are amazing exceptions. But for the most part, leaders of the church have possessed an extra dose of fallen humanity.

One could become cynical, except that, if we look at the whole picture of Christianity’s positive influence in the world, we cannot help but stand back in awe.

Some of us doubt whether or not God could use us, we are so keenly aware of our fallenness. Some of us grow frustrated with those in leadership who just don’t seem to measure up to what spiritual leaders are supposed to be. Their fallenness gnaws at us. Today is a good time to remember that, from the beginning, Jesus chose those we wouldn’t place on a spiritual pedestal to lead his movement.

Sovereign Lord, I like to play armchair coach and tell you what kind of people you should choose to be on your leadership team. Forgive me. Instead of blathering on in my armchair, I’m getting up and offering myself to you. Use me as you see fit. I know how human I am, and I see how human other Christians are, but I’ll join with them and do whatever you have for us to do. Warts and all, like the inner circle of three, the circle of 12 apostles, and the larger unnamed group, I am available to you.

MARK 3:7-12
Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.

Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.

A Passion for Healing

I’ll admit it. I’m no less desperate than those who streamed, from all points on the compass, to Jesus for healing. If I knew of a person who would instantly deliver me from one particular malady, I’d make my way to him today. Who wouldn’t?

So people pushed forward all day, backing him closer and closer to that point where the sand gave way to lapping water. There would be no teaching about the Kingdom of God today; no confrontation with those who heap unimportant religious minutia onto spiritually weary people’s shoulders; no Sermon on the Mount, or beach. Just lots, and lots, and lots of hurting, hoping people focused on immediate physical needs.

Even the spiritual issue of demon possession presented itself as physical malady.

Jesus could have been frustrated. “Don’t they see the deeper, eternal issues!? They only want me for what they can get out of me. When I start talking about taking up a cross, then they won’t be so eager to crowd around me!” But Peter, talking to young Mark about the events of this day, doesn’t recall any frustration in Jesus’ voice or temperament – only compassion. So, inspired by the Spirit, that’s all Mark records.

I am so glad God cares about every aspect of my person; spirit, soul, and body! Acid reflux? He cares (body!). Depression? He cares (“soul” in Greek, “psuche,” is the origin of the English, psychology!). Relationship with God? He cares (spirit).

So he gifts the planet with healing wonders. He gifts humanity with his likeness; the ability to discover, learn, and create ways to apply those healing wonders to a wide array of body and soul maladies. No wonder God leads Christians into the fields of medicine, psychology, and pastoring. And no wonder he calls every Christian to practice the healing arts of caring, loving, and spiritual friendship.

As important, this day in Jesus’ life, and others like it, explains why so many Christians cannot escape the sense, that following Jesus means commitment to get top quality health care to every person in the world. We are healers, after all.

Divine Healer, forgive me when my own passion for advancing spiritual health eclipses compassion for physical and psychological health. Show me how to be faithful to your demonstrated commitment to the health of the whole person, and of every person in the whole world. Help me know how this faithfulness should show up in my values, morals, and daily choices. Oh, and thanks for caring about all of me!

MARK 3:1-6

Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him.

He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.

Suffocating Propriety
Jesus is a breath of fresh air. I wish we could find a way for his attitude to blow though organized Christianity!

Raised in and a leader of the “organized” church for all my life, I’ve realized how stuffy with propriety we are. The bottom line for us isn’t “saving life” but being proper. Sermons have to be proper. Dress must be proper. Vocabulary must be proper. Decisions must go through proper channels so no one will feel left out of the decision-making loop. And in all this propriety that question “Is this helping bring life to people?” either never gets asked or gets drowned out in the debates about propriety! Jesus would suffocate in most of our churches. Either that, or he’d blow all of our propriety out our stained glass windows.

This morning’s newspaper offered an article and two columns related to abortion. One column reported how protesters not only physically blocked women from entering the women’s clinic in Allentown, PA but protested at the home of its director. And leafleted her neighbors! If I know anything about abortion protestors, most, if not all of these are deeply religious people, and likely faithful to their local churches.

Jesus would make a lousy pastor.

There was enough sin and evil in Jerusalem when Jesus preached there to fill pages. But Jesus never once preached against those evils happening in this sacred city! Instead, he chose to harangue the most conservative religious people in that town – the Pharisees. He went out of his way, too. Today’s text is an example.

Sabbath extended from Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Jesus could easily have waited several more hours to heal this fellow. But he didn’t.

Any denominational official worth his or her salt would counsel a pastor not to goad conservative church leaders who are heavily involved in the church and who tithe faithfully. If they won’t come on board with the vision, work around them. Don’t pick unnecessary fights. One of the fights in many of our churches is what is proper for Sunday. This is really important to many members since they understand Sunday as the Christian Sabbath.

If Jesus first century actions are any indication, he’d stand in the pulpit Sunday after Sunday, and confront sin without sparing any intensity. But he’d largely ignore national and community issues like abortion and gambling. He’d spend his time hammering conservative religious men and women for their fixation with propriety – the thousand and one ways we make doing good and saving lives a complex and dizzying maze.

God of Life, forgive me when I add layers of propriety minutia to the community of faith. Forgive me when my ego, traditions, and assumptions about spiritual propriety masks and saps authentic love with distracting and unimportant issues. Forgive me when I cannot figure out how to balance both the anger I feel at this dark side of the church and my pastoral instincts to care for the very people who add layer upon layer of propriety to so many decisions about meeting human needs. Please breathe your fresh air into my soul.

MARK 2:23-28
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”

Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

A Risk Worth Taking
Here we go with this authority thing again. But, I’m glad. I’ll give authority to Jesus any day, every day. Just deliver me from the hairsplitting, or is that grain splitting (?), of deeply pious religious people like, - well, like myself!

The human propensity toward institutionalizing, codifying, and then adjudicating etches itself on every human society whether ancient Babylon, with Hammurabi’s Code in the 18th Century BC, or the volumes of case law filling American lawyer’s shelves today; and every society in between. So also religious groups of virtually every size. We see the early Church begin to institutionalize within weeks of its Pentecostal beginning when the Apostles organized Deacons and gave them a job description. No human social group would long survive without these three elements.

But, alas, our race is fallen from a state of pure goodness to a mixed state of good and evil. Everything good we do, or organize, comes with an evil back side. It’s as if sin moons us (and more) every time we do something good!

The Sabbath was and is good. It’s the best labor law in history! Employers, you have to give your people a rest, at least one day in seven! Before the dancing ends, however, a whiff of those adjudicating rotten eggs fills the air.

Someone is bound to ask, “Well, now, exactly what is work?” “What can I and can’t I require of my workers on the seventh day?” Someone has to rule (adjudicate) on the question. We accuse the Pharisees of all these bad-boy, man-made rules, but what were they to do when people started asking questions!? And the good becomes bad as the law books proliferate to answer the questions, “But, can I do this and what about that?”

I love Jesus! He’s risky. He delivers us from the lawyers’ musty library. “Just ask,” he insists, “is my action helping the person it immediately affects?” The boys and I were hungry, so we picked some grain. Might this start a ripple effect that one day leads to all out harvesting in the Sabbath? Yes, some people will always misuse the need-meeting freedom Jesus gives them. But that’s the risk Jesus took, so central was human need to his thinking.

Deeply pious types, like myself, and not a few church members, must repeat this day in Jesus’ life over and over again, as if it were the movie “Ground Hog Day,” until we get it right. Protecting people from abusing God’s Law by adding more, even “helpful” rules isn’t worth the risk such rigidity poses to human needs.

Father, help me take religious risks! Help me break free of the fear that others will see in my actions an excuse to misuse your truth. Deliver me from the penchant to make more rules in order to protect those I care about from abusing your Law. Keep in front of me one question, “Am I helping people meet the needs of those around them?” I will trust your Son to give me, and others, wisdom to meet those needs the way you would have us. I give you complete authority.

MARK 2:18-22
Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?”

Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

“Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Freeze Spirituality
How long do you think the two actors in the above picture can hold their pose? Freeze Statues originated in European street theatre. This art form first captured my fascination at Epcot in Florida’s Walt Disney World. These actors look so statuesque that when they finally change position the onlooker get’s caught completely by surprise. I was.

How can they hold their poses for so long without giving in to muscles gone crazy!?

Religious people of Jesus’ day, and any day, understand spirituality like these Freeze Statues. Spirituality looks one way, and the pious must find that perfect spiritual form, and freeze. To change form equals becoming less spiritual.

Jesus didn’t conform to the form of fasting every spiritual person in 1st Century Judaism knew to be spiritual. The “Why” question wasn’t really a question at all, but an accusation. “You’re not spiritual!”

Jesus wouldn’t accept it. Spiritual doesn’t mean rigid, unchanging forms. Not only did he and his disciples not have to fast for the time the groom was on earth (Jesus) and still be authentically spiritual, but when they did fast again, it didn’t have to be the same way everyone thought it should be! To lock oneself, and others, into one particular form of spiritual practice equals tattered old clothes and rigid used up wineskins.

It is very difficult not to identify true Christian spirituality with one, unchanging form. For example. Truly reverent worshipers in corporate worship will dress a certain way. Valuing time with God means waking early, reading the Bible, and praying. Experiencing God’s family means going to a church building every weekend. Authentic care for the poor will express itself by never buying a new car and giving the difference to charity.

We all have our rigid wineskins. This is why we struggle to experience an authentic relationship with God – and an authentic spiritual relationship with one another. Our fallen nature predisposes us to look at our conformity to spiritual forms, rather than our hearts, to give evidence of an authentic spiritual relationship.

Father, reveal the forms I rigidly impose on myself and others, in order to judge whether or not I am, or they are, truly spiritual. Forgive me for this kind of “formalism”. Change my perspective. Grant that I learn to value the condition of the heart as the real indicator of spiritual vitality.

MARK 2:13 - 17
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.

Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”



Getting Cozy With Riffraff
The guests Levi (we know him best as Matthew) invited to dinner weren’t disreputable to him. They were his kind. Fellow tax collectors. Drinking buddies. Levi didn’t disapprove of them, the deeply religious folks did. The ones who carefully obeyed God, regularly went to Temple, sought a revival in the land; it was to these Pharisees that Levi’s guests were scum. (Do a study of all the religious movements in the 1st Century and you’ll discover these men comprised the religious conservatives of the day who wanted to return their nation to its godly heritage!)

I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases their disparaging question to Jesus in The Message, “What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?" And cozy they were. Some, perhaps many, of this “kind” followed Jesus. And we can be sure they did not conform to the pious strictures of the Pharisees. In fact, they probably barely understood what Jesus was all about, let alone reflected his holiness.

If impressionable people saw Jesus hanging with this riffraff, if youth observed this questionable behavior, if the spiritually weak witnessed it – why, could anyone doubt that they would misunderstand Jesus’ cozy relationship with them as approval!? Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus just wasn’t a very good role model. He flirted with boundaries no truly spiritual person would flirt with.

If Jesus truly wanted to influence these kind of people, don’t go to their parties. Don’t hang with them. Get them to the Temple. Preach to them. Get them on their knees, repenting. Present some sin offering. This is the way spiritual people deal with sinner scum.

Cozy with the riffraff. What kind of people do today’s religiously pious-theological conservatives-who want to return their nation to godliness consider riffraff; sinner scum? The ACLU? Abortion providers? Homosexual rights activists? Liberal Democrats? Agnostics? People who post naked pictures of themselves on the internet?

I wonder what would happen if a Wesleyan pastor started regularly socializing with riffraff like these? What if they started attending his church? What if some of them came to faith in Christ, but didn’t embrace the identical piety of established members, yet wanted to begin getting in involved in the church family?

One of the aspects I’ve always appreciated about my church is its mission to make disciples of Jesus Chist by worshiping God, proclaiming the Bible, and welcoming all who come.

Today’s text forces me to step back from that last phrase and wonder if we really mean it the way Jesus lived it.

Father, forgive me for never really figuring out how to keep many of the deeply pious, and usually core members of the church, happy while, at the same time, faithfully forging relationships with those whom deeply committed church folk often consider repulsive riffraff. Grant that I, and my deeply committed brothers and sisters in the faith, would find new ways to reflect your passion for sinners, especially those kind that our kind often see as enemies of godliness.

MARK 1:40-45

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.

Razzle-Dazzle Me Jesus

Show time. Jesus knew that’s what it would turn into. Who doesn’t love to be entertained. Wowed. Amazed. I do.

I think Jesus knew his ministry would turn into something of a traveling circus the more people spread the word that they experienced an amazing miracle. So, don’t tell anyone, became a command repeated often enough that Mark chooses to include it in his Gospel. All Jesus wanted this guy to do was fulfill the requirements of the Law. That will be public testimony enough.

The healed guy disobeyed his healer. Perhaps the overflowing joy or sudden burst of renewed hope simply took control and there was just no shutting him up. Who could fault him? And who could fault Jesus for being full of compassion but also full of weariness at the consequence of his compassion. John observes that Jesus understand the fickle nature of people.

So the masses gather. Music brings the arena to full arousal. The faith healer preaches to a crescendo. People come forward to be healed, report healing, and find themselves slain in the spirit. Even supposing this is all authentic, real worship, real compassion, real godliness, and real healing; such an events repeated around the globe today reflects what I think Jesus wearied of along our human sinfulness.

We - I, would rather a religion that makes me feel good rather than a “take up your cross and follow me” relationship with Jesus himself. Spiritual arousal is more satisfying than working to crucify my prejudices, my unforgiveness, my unrighteous attitudes, my lack of action on behalf of the poor, my unfaithfulness to my neighbors, and on and one…

Give me a good church service, an exhilarating healing, an emotional touch of the Master’s hand any Sunday morning, just don’t ask me to go pick up trash at a city park, lead a kid’s club in the Projects, or volunteer on a hospice floor full of AIDS patients.

Self serving rather than Jesus serving. As long as he made people feel good, the crowds gathered. Not too much unlike today. But start making demands, begin down the road leading to Golgotha, insist that we follow in the face of setting aside our expectations, wants, and agendas, well… Mark will report what happened later.

But that is really what Jesus was all about. “Repent and believe the Good News” – the Good News that Jesus brought not my watered down version.

Father, search me, at the deepest levels. Am I following you only, or even mostly, for your entertainment value? Do I expect to find fullness, joy, even happiness when you razzle-dazzle me? Convict me where I do. Help me to appreciate the miracles you perform while faithfully taking up my own cross for the joy set before me.

MARK 1:35-39
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.

Unpleasant Boundaries and the Open Door

Saying no to people isn’t easy. Often it gets us in trouble, especially in controlling and high expectation relationships.

I wonder how the people Jesus walked away from responded. It must have been some time after sunrise when the disciples finally found Jesus. By now, people were waiting in town. They had sick. They had questions. They had needs! But no Messiah.

Jesus said no twice that morning. First, he said, “No, I’m not spending time with you, I’m spending time with my Father.” Then he said to their expectations for attention and help, “No, I’m done investing in you, now I’m going to invest in others.”

Yikes! I can stomach the first. I know my place compared to God. But weighed against folks in the next town, come on! Your work with me and my neighbors isn’t finished yet, Jesus. Why, it might take a few months, years even, to take care of me and mine. Then, perhaps, you can move on.

One of the unfortunate realities of living in a time bound existence, every “Yes” said to one person is a “no” to another, and visa versa. To spend time with my wife, children – anyone, I have no choice but to say “no” to the demands and expectations of others.
“No” is a boundary that opens doors of important opportunity.

If I am to pursue the kind of relationship with God that I need, I will need the resolve to say “no” enough times that time is set aside for fostering this relationship. As important, if I am to make sure to nurture the most important human relationships and help those to whom God has called me, I will also say “no” countless times. And with every no comes the risk of offense, confusion, anger, and misunderstanding.

The only alternative is to be controlled by the loudest voices and strongest or most controlling personalities. I am glad Jesus wasn’t.

Father, grant me the strength to say “no” whenever and to whomever I need, in order to fulfill the priorities and purposes to which you call me.

MARK 1:29-34
After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them.

That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.

All About Ego

Authority. Most of us have a problem with it. My ego shifts into high gear when I am placed in a position of submitting to someone’s authority. So does yours. That’s what egos do! None of us like to submit, though some hide the struggle better than others. Perhaps this is why Mark leaps into the subject of Jesus’ authority before the end of chapter one!

The authority Jesus holds over the Law and the Prophets gets exhibited in the way he teaches, “with authority.” He exercises spiritual authority by casting out demons. Later, just past Sabbath (sundown), Jesus demonstrates his authority over bodies and those diseases that attack them.

The issue I think Mark wants his readers to confront at the beginning of his Gospel, is not Jesus the healer, but Jesus the person with authority.

Authority over what happens inside my body means he also has authority over what I do with my body. So Mark reports not just the mother-in-law healing, but what she did with her renewed health. Healed, this woman immediately fulfilled her responsibility.

Sometimes I lament that I would do a better job of serving God, if only he would grant me better health. In reality, this is only a cop out. God insists that I serve him using whatever physical health he has chosen to give me. If God hasn’t given me some aspect of physical health, then it is my responsibility to fully serve him within the boundaries my body presents. The same goes when he adds to my health. In either case, he’s in command.

The question I must resolve is an ego one, not physical. Will I accept and submit to his authority? Does he have final authority to define truth (teaching with authority)? Does he have final authority in the way I experience spiritual freedom? Does he have final authority with my body and how I use it to fulfill my responsibilities?

Father, forgive me when I think about your relationship with my body primarily in terms of what health you give me. With your guidance, I will reshape the way I think. I will submit my body to serve you in any way you determine. And in whatever circumstance you providentially place me, I will fulfill my responsibilities.

MARK 1:21-28
Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One sent from God!”

Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.

Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.

Clouds of Cynicism Floating Across the Sky of Hope

I confess. After 26 years of pastoring there are more clouds of cynicism floating across my sky. Jesus clearly had authority over “even evil spirits” when he walked our planet. But does he have that same authority 2000 years later? Sure I believe he returned bodily from the dead and sits at the Father’s right hand; a place of ongoing authority.

But evil continues to ravage humanity, including Christians of the “Bible-believing” kind.

The bloody US Civil War found serious Christians from North and South pounding the life out of each other. Serious Christians have murdered Indians, owned African slaves, and perpetrated a system of racism into the 1960s. In my own life, Holy Spirit filled Christians, have fought and condemned each other, split churches, and drove their own children away from Christianity over issues like women in slacks and television watching.

Then I look in the mirror and see the ongoing influence of evil in my own cynicism and criticism!

Perhaps Christ morns at the Father’s right hand for all of us.

When he returned to heaven within fifty days after the resurrection, he sent his Spirit to fill 120 disciples. And the Spirit continues to indwell and fill his disciples, making us the body of Christ. Ah, what a risk, making Christians his physical presence in the world and giving us the same authority he modeled during three years so long ago.

Yes, Christ has the same authority today, except that we are his mouth and hands.

Is it possible so much evil persists in us and around us because we have not followed Jesus’ way of using this authority? Notice, Jesus cast out the evil spirit of this man. How has the body of Christ typically used this authority? Rather than delivering people from spiritual bondage, we try to force people to stop doing evil.

We try to stop all kinds of bad behaviors; some identified clearly in scripture, others that we have invented. We try to stop Christians and non-Christians alike from behaving badly. Perhaps if the Body of Christ turned its authority toward helping ourselves and others experience deepening and broadening spiritual freedom every day, and leave the behaviors up to the Spirit to shape, there would be less evil today!

Can I, as a member of Christ’s body, and can the majority of the members of his body focus our spiritual authority on delivering people from spiritual bondage? Is it possible for me and the church I am part of to let go of using authority to prescribe behaviors and use it instead to assist spiritual life and vibrancy within?

Or are the clouds of cynicism natural to those who live among Christians?

Father, may whatever authority you have given me as a member of Christ’s body be used to set people free from spiritual bondage. Grant that my church and the people we encounter experience deeper and broader spiritual freedom.

MARK 1:16-20
One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him.

A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.

Straightforward Priorities

I’m not a black and white guy. Sure there are absolutes; but far fewer than I once believed. In fact, there is only one absolute and Jesus himself, is that one shimmering black onyx leaping out of a sea of soft white pearls.

Every moral or spiritual code must be measured against this one absolute standard of Truth. Simon, Andrew, James, and John don’t understand this yet. But they take the leap and attach themselves to Jesus. They place him above their careers and their family. There are a lot groups that demand our loyalties, but few more powerfully than family and career.

These are at the heart of my life.

But Jesus comes along and calls out, “Follow me,” make me leader, shaper, and highest priority in your life! Give me your absolute loyalty. In Mark’s blunt, straightforward way, he shows us people who immediately walk away from career and family! There is nothing more important than Jesus and the Kingdom he brings.

I see the stark clarity of Jesus’ call. And I have given my life to it. But I’m still learning what it looks like to submit my career and family to him.

Father, I confess that at times my eyes glaze over and the onyx and pearls blur into grey. I struggle to flesh out this straightforward priority of absolute loyalty to you. Assist me today to live my career and family life through the mind of your Son, Jesus.

MARK 1:9-15

One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him.

Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

A Settled Heart In An In-Between Life

I don’t like in-between times. In fact, I hate them for their profoundly unsettling nature. Knowing I have a disease and waiting for the test results to tell me what it is – my mind wanders to all the worst case scenarios. Realizing one stage of my pastoral career is over but only sensing hazy indicators what the next stage should be – I feel insecure and pressured.

I wonder what human emotions Jesus wrestled with between his Temple experience at 12 years and his baptism by John now at about 30 years? Were their anxious days when he wanted to push ahead with his mission? Did he experience any uncertainty about what his ministry would look like and feel that unsettled queasiness in his stomach?

And now another 40 days. Wilderness days. Weren’t 30 years in a Nazareth carpenter’s shop test and preparation enough?

Even when Jesus finally inaugurates his three year ministry that would form the warp and woof of the Good News, even then, he only offers, “The Kingdom of God is near!” Not here. Not ready to roll. Just near!

The Christian life is ever an in-between life. So I suppose I should make my peace with it. I think my inward quality of life needs the experience of completion. Jesus doesn’t. He’s ruler, so I’ll trust him to be my peace in this fundamentally in-between life of mine.

Father, grant that I would anchor my heart in the settledness of who you are and the perfection of your love for me. Help me to fix my attention on you daily as the alpha and omega, the finished center of my in-between existence.

MARK 1
This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”

This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

Clear The Road!

I cannot imagine how many people it would take to prepare my town, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a visit from the United State’s President. I would not be surprised to discover that several hundred well dressed professionals are involved in a single visit.

Important people probably always have advance people making sure every detail is ready for their safe and effective stay.

I don’t think any of them would choose a guy like John. He doesn’t look or act much the part of an effective advance man. He’s weird. People skills are noticeably absent. And he ignores vital details – like security!

John does pay attention to one detail. Traffic. He doesn’t worry about the roads leading into important cities. Instead, he aims to clear the roadway in and out of our hearts. This is, perhaps, one of the busiest roads in human experience; full of passions, competing priorities, cultural pressures, self preservation issues.

John declares that when Jesus arrives, he will want to send God’s Spirit to dwell and rule in the city of our hearts, with all of its thoroughfares, back alleys, and side streets. But if we are wrapped up in managing our own inner cities, making sure everything we need arrives on our schedule and according to our demands we are sure to miss Jesus’ gift.

Not only that, the whole business of ruling our little city-kingdom on our own, is sin. Jesus is coming to help us return the rule of our hearts to God, where it has always belonged.

With the men and women of ancient Palestine, to get ready for the transition of power from self to Jesus, I must turn my back on the whole idea of self rule, along with the accompanying highway management. Jesus and his rule must become my consuming focus.

Father, forgive me when I become consumed with my own heart’s needs and how to supply them. This new year, with your Spirit’s help, I will daily turn away from ruling, and turn toward you with trust and anticipation of your continuing fellowship.