Mark 16
Denial
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Reading: Mark16:1-8
Thought
Many scholars think this is how we think the earliest version of Mark’s Gospel, ends! The very earliest manuscripts stop with the words ‘they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.’ That’s it, no resurrection appearances, nothing! It’s perhaps no surprise that later Christians thought that Mark’s Gospel needed a proper ending! And hence our bibles have Mark 16 v 9-20, normally with a footnote explaining what happened.
Some can’t accept this idea, maybe the original ending got lost or Mark didn’t finish his Gospel or maybe the first apostles told about the resurrection first-hand. It seems a very strange way to end this story.
But if we’re right, and this is Mark’s planned ending, what is he doing here?
Perhaps, as he’s come to the end of his Gospel, Mark is leaving us to come up with our answer to the Markan Mystery.
Reflection
Who do we think this Jesus is? A wise man, a prophet, a king, the Saviour, the Son of God?
What do we plan to do about it?
Are we going to take Jesus’ invitation and follow him?
Are we going to say nothing to others, or will we explain the mystery to others?
Music for reflection: waymaker
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 15
Separation
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’
Reading: Mark 15
Thought
To the disciples, at the time, this was the ultimate separation, as Jesus was crucified and buried. To them he was gone.
Yet unseen by them, the temple displayed – not what was happening on the surface, but the ultimate reality.
The temple curtain, separating the presence of God from the people was torn in two. The separation of sin, of man from God was ended as Jesus paid the price on the cross.
Far from Jesus being separate, he was now closer to them than ever.
Reflection
Music for reflection: Nothing but Grace
Do we feel separated from God? Do we ever feel like we are not Good enough?
Jesus has ended any need for separation. Jesus’s actions draw us close to him. Will we draw close to him?
Ask Jesus to help us to draw close to him.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 14
Denial and…..
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you mean.’ And he went out into the gateway and the cock crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, ‘This man is one of them.’ But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.’ But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know this man of whom you speak.’ And immediately the cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.
Reading: Mark 14
Thought
Jesus predicted his denial and Peter said ‘If I must die with you, I will not deny you.’
Yet Peter denied Jesus three times. We might argue that when he needed Peter most, Peter was not there for Jesus.
And we know where this story is going and what will happen next.
But it raises the question of what will Peter think when he heard that Jesus had returned?
Will he expect that Jesus will want to see him?
To answer this question, I’ll need to skip ahead a couple of chapters (sorry for the spoiler) to a detail that is so easily missed. The message that the women are given are to go back and tell the disciples and Peter .
Those two little words are so important. They tell Peter that he is forgiven.
Reflection
Music for reflection: Nothing but Grace
Do we feel that we can’t serve God, that we have let him down, failed?
Jesus wants to tell the church and you that he is alive and that he calls you to follow him.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 13
Expectations
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Reading: Mark 13
Thought
Old Testament prophecies looked forward to a Messiah who would come and set his people free, but also one who would come in power and bring an ultimate day of reckoning.
Thus, Jesus’ earthly ministry would not be what many were expecting as he came only to bring the freedom, accomplished on the cross, that Jesus now advances towards.
Here Jesus explains that one day, he will return in great power and glory and gather all his people together.
They will come from the ends of the earth and the heavens and will gather in the person of Jesus.
Reflection
Music for reflection: forever
Where do we have unmet expectations?
Where have we been confused about Jesus or his mission as we have seen it realised in our day?
Bring these thoughts and feeling to Jesus now, knowing that one day, all will be set right.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Mark 12
Giving all
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’
Reading: Mark 12
Thought
Amidst the splendidly dressed rich and wealthy, giving heavily (and ostentatiously), an almost unnoticed figure slips into a view. A poor widow who deposits, in contrast, two of the smallest coins in circulation.
But to Jesus, this contrast is opposite to what it appears, for she had given incredibly sacrificially to the temple. She gave all she had, whilst the wealthy gave out of their abundance, perhaps at no cost to themselves at all.
In this story, for Jesus, the value of the gift is not the amount that has been given, but the cost and the sacrifice to the giver. The widow gives her all, Jesus can ask for nothing more.
Reflection
Music for reflection: I will follow (acoustic)
If we give what we have in money, time, talent, resources, no gift is too small.
Ask Jesus to help us to give freely and generously.
Ask Jesus to help us to follow him and to give our all to him.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Mark 11
Jesus knows all
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.
Reading: Mark 11
Thought
If we wondered, even for a moment, whether Jesus might just be the unwilling victim of what is to follow (that is his arrest and death), mark wants to disabuse us of that idea right now. Mark wants to be clear, that it is not Herod or Pilate or anyone else who is control, but Jesus.
Jesus clearly knows what is to come , has planned the events that unfold and as we watch, and they happen as he wills. The Donkey is provided for him, and he rides in as Zechariah had prophesied, hundreds of years before.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech 9:9)
They Rejoice and shout as their king arrives, bringing salvation , as he plans, and as he wills.
Reflection
Music for reflection: I will follow (acoustic)
Do we seek Jesus’ wisdom and guidance for our lives, even for every part of our lives?
Do we follow him, as his disciples did in this passage.
Ask Jesus to show you, the way to go.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 10
Jesus came not to be served but to serve
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’
Reading: Mark 10
Thought
If we were unsure whether the disciples really did get the message of the kind of Messiah Jesus is and how he calls us to live, this passage makes it clear: they have not understood at all.
Their response even seems crass and insensitive from the readers perspective: Jesus is going to the cross for them, he is giving his life as a ransom for many, and they are fighting over who is the most important!
The seats either side of Jesus, are those closest to him and represent the most important of his disciples – the top two positions. And I don’t think the other disciples are indignant at the inappropriateness of this request, more that they didn’t jockey for position first! None of the twelve come out with shining colours here. None of them have grasped the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom (or as Richard Spencer put it, that our world is upside down).
Though, their master, Jesus paradoxically came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And his life is to be an example to them.
Reflection
Music for reflection: I will follow (acoustic)
Are we behaving like the disciples? (either pushing to the front or wishing we were)
How is Jesus’ life of service an example to us?
Ask Jesus to help us live according to the values of his kingdom and not the disciples’ or our society’s values. To serve and not to be served.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Final Blessing: Uk Blessing
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 9
Taking the divine perspective
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’
Reading: Mark 9
Thought
Yesterday, when Peter could not accept that Jesus had to die, Jesus told Peter that he was ‘not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’
Right throughout Mark’s gospel, it has been from the spiritual perspective that Jesus has been recognised as the son of God. Whether it is the Father at Jesus’ baptism or now at the transfiguration, or even the demons: they recognise him and his authority.
Meanwhile, even his disciples do not fully understand. They are getting there but yet they set their minds on the things of man and are unable to see from God’s perspective. They can see the empire they desire, but not the kingdom of God, they need to submit to.
And the voice of God here, does not just repeat the affirmation of Jesus identity, but gives a clear command: listen to him.
Reflection
Music for reflection: Build my Life
Where are we ‘not setting our minds on the things of God, but on the things of man’?
Where do we need a change of perspective?
What might it look like to increasingly, listen to Jesus in our lives?
Ask Jesus to help you to increasingly listen to him, to hear his voice.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, Watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 8
Who do people say that I am?
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they told him, ‘John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’ And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Christ.’
Reading: Mark 8
Thought
If it was anyone other than Jesus asking: ‘Who do people say that I am?’ it would sound like a rather odd question. But it is a question the disciples have been asking, at least since Jesus stilled the storms by his voice, and possibly earlier as Jesus taught with an authority they had never seen before and healed and forgave those he met. People are understandably asking, who is this?
And throughout Mark’s gospel, different opinions have been ventured about who Jesus is. Before Jesus confronts Peter (and the disciples) for their opinion, he asks them the somewhat easier question of what other people are saying.
Peter responds with some of the more affirmative answers (i.e. not what the scribes and pharisees would say): that Jesus is one of the prophets – Herod thought he was John the Baptist returned from the dead. And people looked forward to Elijah, not only a great prophet of old, but also the one who heralded the Christ: The Messiah – the saviour and king that everyone awaited and who would inaugurate a new age of God’s kingdom. Some people were wondering if Jesus was Elijah returned to ‘prepare the way’ for the Christ (although of course, to his readers, Mark makes clear in the opening of his gospel that John the Baptist is fulfilling this role).
But when Peter is asked, he says neither John, not Elijah, nor any of the other prophets, but that Jesus himself is the Christ. He is the long-awaited King.
But before we rejoice too loudly, Peter still doesn’t understand what kind of king Jesus is and how he will be victorious (remembering that a gospel is good news of victory). It looks like Peter is still expecting a local military victory over Rome, rather than Jesus’s death and resurrection as a global and once for all victory over death and sin.
Reflection
Music for reflection: Build my Life
Who do others around us say that Jesus is?
Who do we say that Jesus is? What are our expectations of him?
Ask Jesus to help you (and others) to truly see him.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 7
Is Jesus against handwashing?
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.
Reading: Mark 7
Thought
If parents wanted a bible passage to show their children about the importance of handwashing in our current situation, it wouldn’t be this one. Well, not a first glance at least, as Jesus doesn’t seem to care!
However, what this encounter is really about is the question of what guides our lives.
The scribes and pharisees, theoretically, applied the words of the bible to their lives. In reality, the principles that God tried to establish had been overridden by personal agendas, selfishness, greed and fear. When the way that God calls them to see the world: the metanoia (repentance) – the change of thinking that John the Baptist and Jesus both speak of, is too uncomfortable or costly, they just find a loophole.
We need to remember that essentially the 10 commandments are just a list of ten things that destroy our relationship with God and other people – that break community and relationships and love.
And Jesus’ summary of the law that we read in Matthew and will come to in Mark 12 is simply to love God with our hearts and souls and minds and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
If parents wanted a bible passage to show their children about the importance of handwashing in our current situation, it would be this one – “Love your neighbours as yourselves”.
Jesus calls us to show love to others, sometimes this might be inconvenient, sometimes it may be very costly.
In doing so, Jesus calls us to be holy, to be set apart, to live like him and be guided by him and his word.
Reflection
Music for reflection: Build my Life
What guides you in your life today? Has something taken the place of Jesus?
Ask Jesus to help you increasingly see the world through his perspective and be guided by him.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 6
What do you have?
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
“This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
Reading: Mark 6
Thought
I love the story of this parable, the feeding of the 5,000, being told in Ugandan Villages, that have been sustained by the generosity of the west. The way, they would have seen it, was that we have given them their loaves and fishes.
But their expectations were turned on their heads when they were asked “what are your loaves and fishes?” “What little thing do you have that God could multiply?”. When they walked in the door they thought they had nothing and could give nothing.
A group of school children who heard this story, took it to heart. They pooled their pocket money together until eventually they could buy a chicken. The chicken layed eggs, and they got more chickens and eventually they bought a cow.
Whilst this is starting to sound like Old Macdonald farm, that’s not the point. The point is, when one of them wanted to go to college, the children paid for it. When one of their parents needed chemotherapy, the children paid for it.
They pooled together what little that had, trusting that God would use it and lives were changed.
Reflection
God doesn’t think any of us are nothing or can give nothing
Music for reflection: break every chain
What are our Loaves and fishes? What do we have that God can multiply? Ask Jesus to show you and trust that God can use us.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 5
Freedom for Prisoners
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him (Jesus) that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marvelled.
Reading: Mark 5
Thought
All three stories in Chapter 5 are stories about people being set free, the possessed man being set free from evil, the woman from sickness & Jairus’s daughter from death. All three are also restored to family and friends and community. They move from enslavement to freedom, separation to community.
All these stories point to the picture at the end of the bible of an eternity with God and all his people, where there is no sickness, sadness, death or isolation and God’s kingdom has come in all its fullness.
Right now, it is abundantly clear that we are not living in God’s kingdom in all its fullness as we see not only sickness, but so many forms of captivity around us.
But in Jesus, God’s Kingdom breaks through into the lives of ordinary people, right there and then and they become part of his extraordinary story.
Reflection
Music for reflection: break every chain
What is holding us in captivity? What do we need to be set free from? What do we need to be restored to?
Ask Jesus to help you see these Chains. Ask him to break every chain that holds you in captivity.
Do we have something that we could tell others that Jesus has done for us?
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 4
The insiders are outsiders?
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God..
Reading: Mark 4
Thought
Our 21st century sensibilities might not like the idea that there are insiders and outsiders in this passage. Yet we can easily miss the 1st century reversal that is going on.
The great and good, who have been the ones deciding who is ‘in or out’, are (at least in general) not the ‘hearers’ and therefore outsiders by Jesus’s definition. In the last two chapters we have seen the opposition of the religious elite of Jesus’ day (the scribes and pharisees), who oppose his message and also the sort of people whom he has been associating with.
By Jesus’ definition the insiders are simply the people who hear. His disciples include fisherman, colluders with Rome and revolutionaries. In the eyes of his opponents: the simple, the traitors and the dangerous radicals – for them, a list of outsiders.
Class, birth, wealth and power may have got you a long way in the 1st century or the 21st century. But they are not entry criteria to the kingdom of God and pride, arrogance and self-sufficiency on the other hand are barriers. Jesus calls us to change the way we think and look at the world, to be dependent on God and others, to act in humility, to serve.
And what matters, these parables tell us, is to hear in faith. Jesus’s distinctions between inside and outside groups are therefore dynamic, not rigid like his opponents. And Jesus’s invitation is to all who respond – its without prejudice or distinction. The invitation is there to truly hear and to truly listen.
Reflection
Music for reflection: You restore my soul
Jesus calls us to change the way we think and look at the world, to be dependent on God and others, to act in humility, to serve. How is he calling us to hear today?
The Pharisees and scribes looked down on those they felt were outsiders. But the way of the kingdom is different, lift them up to Jesus in prayer, that they too may hear.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 3
Do we really need a day of rest?
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
Again, he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
Reading: Mark 3
Thought
Working from home, perhaps with no set hours is, under normal circumstances, a recipe for potential work-life disaster. The reality of the current situation is that it is far from normal. In fact, it is emotionally exhausting, as the world has shifted around us and cultural norms have changed and are continuing to do so – let alone dealing with loss of jobs, identities or loved ones. To get culture shock in your own culture doesn’t seem quite right, but neither does life quite feel right. It would seem, if we need rest at any time, it is now.
So, what’s with Jesus’s attitude – doesn’t he believe in a day off? This is the wrong question and the sort of wrong question his opponents are constantly throwing at him as they grapple with the finer points of the letter of the law and ignore the spirit of it.
Jesus is after all the one who disappeared when people were looking for him and went to a desolate place in chapter one; or headed off to a mountain later in this chapter. He knows that he needs to get away from it all, to find space and prayer and downtime. He knows that others need rest from work too – but there is always space for compassion or for the kingdom of God to break through into peoples lives.
Reflection
Are we chasing after the wrong things? Do we need to change our thinking? Jesus says ‘Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’
Music for reflection: You restore my soul
What should rest look like in our lives? Are we getting away from it all, like Jesus, when we need to? What patterns of rest do we need to build into our lives? Where do we need space and prayer and downtime?
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 2
Confronted by a Man who could not walk and whose need was obvious – Jesus first addresses his forgiveness!
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Reading: Mark 2
Thought
It would be an understatement to say that God doesn’t always do what we ask or expect and Jesus certainly doesn’t do so in this passage. We can sometimes think of prayer, as a bit like rubbing the Genie’s Lamp, but it really doesn’t work like that.
Reading this story, I’m reminded of times when I’ve prayed for someone and God had other plans. Like someone who was worried about a sprained ankle that was irritating them, but God was more interested in dealing with the broken relationship that was destroying their life.
And many times in the Gospels, we don’t know what was going on peoples hearts, but Jesus did. And here what I think the paralysed man actually needed most was forgiveness.
And he does, of course, walk away at the end of this story too, receiving what everyone was hoping for as well as what no one had expected.
Yet, it’s also worth remembering that he was brought there by faithful friends.
Reflection
Music for reflection ‘Who am I?’ by Casting Crowns
What do we need forgiveness for? Sometimes it can be hardest to forgive ourselves. Hand it over to Jesus and leave it with him. It might help to imagine placing your burden at the foot of the cross and just walking away.
What friends do we need to bring to Jesus? Bring their needs to him, aware that Jesus may respond in ways we might not expect.
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain,but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Mark 1
No donkey, no wise men, even no Mary and Joseph – what kind of introduction to the story of Jesus is this? The answer is simple: This is Peter’s Story.
Lord as we open your word, open our hearts to hear what you have to say to us and to respond in obedience, faith and trust. Amen
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’’
Reading : Mark 1
Thought
This is Peter’s Story. The story of Jesus, told by leader of the disciples.
Let me explain: Peter’s story of Jesus starts with John the Baptist. Peter’s brother Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist (see John 1), who had come to prepare the way, to get people ready for the one was one to come – to repent: To change the way they looked at the world.
And Jesus, when he came, did just that. He came proclaiming the Kingdom of God – God’s way of life and love had arrived in the person of Jesus, that he proclaimed and lived.
And John had made another astonishing claim about Jesus, that he would baptise, but not as John did. As people came to John, to turn away from the things that made a mess of their life and start this new life, he would baptise them in water – a sign of new birth. But Jesus would baptise them in the Holy Spirit – in other words as they started this new life, following Jesus, God’s presence would fill them and dwell with them. And some years later, on the day of Pentecost, about 50 days after the Crucifixion (and after the events in this story that Mark is retelling), this very Peter witnessed the birth of the church, as God’s Spirit came upon all who followed Jesus as they knew God’s presence with them.
So when Mark 1 has the invitation to come and follow Jesus, to journey with him, to know his Spirit, his peace and presence and power in our lives, for Peter this is not just an historical account but an invitation being offered to all who hear this gospel.
Reflection
Music for reflection ‘Who am I?’ by Casting Crowns
Take a moment to reread the passage again slowly, being attentive to the word or phrase or idea that grabs your attention.
What invitation do you hear in this passage for you? How do feel about this invitation? What does Jesus want to say to you about it?
Father, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me. Amen (Augustine 354-430)
Rev Peter Francis
Trailer
The big mystery in Mark’s Gospel is who exactly is this Jesus? But this isn’t a typical whodunnit like an Agatha Christie story, it’s a bit more like a Columbo mystery (a 1970s TV detective played by Peter Falk), where the audience knows who is responsible from the outset, but can’t work out why or how. And we join the detective, who doesn’t know the answer, as he seeks to unravel the mystery.
Mark gives an opening line telling us his perspective – this the good news of victory (by someone known to be dead!) and tells us who he thinks Jesus is.
How does he get there and what does it all mean? Mark leaves the rest of the story to the hands of his friend Peter, who gives his eyewitness account of what happens next.
Come and join us as we journey with Peter and explore the Markan mystery – starting on Monday 27th, with new ‘episodes’ here every day