Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene - Weekly Sermon Podcast

Text: Mark 12:35-44
Today’s passage from Mark contains the familiar story of a widow giving her last two coins to the Temple as an act of sacrificial giving. It comes after Jesus warns against those in power who cause injustice by taking advantage of others, including widows and their possessions. The story shows us that there will be times when we must remember to be faithful to the Lord in the ways we love our God and our neighbor, no matter what might be taken away.

Mark 12:28-34
To be close to the Kingdom of Heaven is to embrace the radical call of love that God has put on our life. This love is not only for the God who changes, redeems, restores, and liberates us from the power of sin, but it is also a love that forces us to not gloss over the people around us but instead to see them precisely how God has made them to be.

Text: Mark 12:1-27
In today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is recognized as one with integrity and a sense of imparitiality, yet the Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus with questions of loyality to Rome, the controlling power in the world. In the current day, we are in the midst of a political season where the powers of this world similarly try to pull us in with rhetoric that is designed to make us hate one side or the other. As Christians, we have to be people who remember that our identity as who we are is found in Christ, and not in an either/or party system.

Text: Mark 11:11-13
We continue our study of the Gospel of Mark after Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (which we typically read on Palm Sunday). In this passage, Jesus curses a fig tree that looks healthy but does not produce, despite being out of season. This fig tree represents the brokenness of what happens when who we are as the people of God is about power, wealth, and influence instead of being aligned to the mission that God has for us and serving as an example to the nations.

Text: Mark 10:46-52
Throughout our study of the book of Mark, Jesus often shows that the grace of God moves in powerful ways in and among the people who have been dealt a bad hand in life. In today’s passage, Jesus heals a blind beggar named Bartimaeus and is called the “Son of David” for the first time. Just like Jesus’ disciples, who left everything to follow Him, Bartimaeus leaves his cloak on the side of the road to follow Jesus. Can we also set aside what prevents us from following Jesus and letting him be the primary focus of our hearts?

Text: Mark 10:32-45
As Jesus foretells His death and resurrection while approaching Jerusalem, He also explains to His disciples that one must become a servant of all to become great. In learning what it is to be obedient and embrace holy living, we find that our lives are inextricably linked to the people we come into contact with whom God places before us. Part of God’s holy sanctifying work in our lives as believers is the realization that God loves each one of these individuals and lays a claim upon us to respond in openness, vulnerability, and love to them.

Text: Mark 10:17-31
How is it that we are saved? In today’s scripture reading, a rich man asks Jesus the way to have eternal life. Jesus responds by issuing a call to live with a sacrificial faith. We must also accept God’s grace, because the kingdom of God is not based on what we’ve accomplished or attained in life; the only way to enter the Kingdom of God is by our salvation through His grace.

Text: Mark 10:1-16
As we continue through the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is asked about divorce by the Pharisees. In the context of John the Baptist’s death which resulted from his disapproval of Herod’s divorce and remarriage, this question can be seen as an attempt to get Jesus in trouble as well. Marriage is one of God’s preferred analogies about His relationship with His people, appearing frequently throughout Scripture. In this passage, Jesus’s words can be seen as an illustration of God’s grace just like God’s references to marriage is about His love. When we look for ways in which we can put grace into practice that reflect the characteristics of God, we should start with the very commitments we’ve made to the ones around us.

Text: Mark 9:38‐50
Today’s passage from Mark begins with someone who is not a disciple of Jesus casting out demons in His name. This follows the story of the disciples not being able to perform a similar act, and later arguing who among them was the greatest. This story shows that the power of God at work in our world has nothing to do with our personal power or the exercising of power over others; it is all about God’s mercy reaching out and communicating His love through us to the world.

Text: Mark 9:14-37
In the story of Jesus healing a boy with convulsions, the boy’s father serves as a model of faith. He is someone with questions and concerns but despite this, Jesus accepts his faith with the words “I believe; help my unbelief.” We don’t have to have all of the answers before we come to God or be sanctified and freed from all of our sins before we ask for His saving grace. Jesus recognizes this position and we can begin a journey of seeing the amazing things God will do in our lives when we ask for help with our own questions and unbelief.