Daily Read

Mark 4:10-20 (NIV)

Today we continue on into part two of Jesus’ parable of the Sower. Remember that a large crowd has gathered around him, drawn together by rumors that he’s Messiah, some folks are hardened towards Jesus, some are skeptical, some are just there for the healing and a show, and some are  there to follow Messiah no matter where it leads them.

As we’ve been listening to Mark, we’ve been inviting you to imagine yourself there in the scene. Parables are especially helpful in doing this. They allow us to directly respond to Jesus’ words as if we were standing there listening. We just have to understand where the folks around Jesus might have been coming from. This crowd had varying ideas about who the Messiah would be when he came, and Jesus is challenging just about everyone’s assumptions about him.

Listen today as if you were there and consider what kind of soil you are. Bring to mind the big issues of our day, and consider your willingness to follow the way of Jesus, do you have ears to hear?

----------REFLECT----------

1. Which soil best describes the state of your openness to Jesus and his way today?

2. If you were sitting there listening to Jesus, is there a question that you’d like to ask him?

3. Depending on the soil that best describes you, ask Jesus to break up the hard places, deepen the soil, remove the thorns, or multiply what his word would produce in you.

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Mark 4:1-9 (NIV)

The next story in Mark’s gospel might be familiar to you. It’s often referred to as the Parable of the Sower. It’s a story with a deeper meaning under the surface, and we’re going to take it in two parts. Today we’ll look at the parable itself, and tomorrow we’ll read Jesus’ explanation of the story to his disciples.

So far in the story most people have been really anxious to see Jesus. There are various motivations but people are clamoring to interact with him. Today’s passage begins to confront that. We learn that there is a difference between being interested in Jesus and wanting to follow him for real. You can be in the crowd, but are you really listening, do you really see him for who he is?

As you listen to Jesus’ words today, imagine yourself in the crowd. You’ve grown up in the Jewish story and you’ve heard of crowd after crowd coming to Jesus. Your expectation of the Messianic kingdom involves an overthrow of the tyrannical oppressive state, restoration of the land, and a renewal of the covenant between God and Israel. As you hear Jesus’ words, imagine what the original hearers might have understood. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you insight into what Jesus was saying to them, and reflect on what that might mean for us today.

----------REFLECT----------

1. As you listened, which soil caught  your attention?

2. The crowd hearing this was probably pretty diverse — there were religious leaders who were curious or skeptical about Jesus; maybe there were some who had received healing or seen Jesus restore their friends; folks who had simply heard about Jesus and wanted to see him for themselves. Consider the various ways these groups might have received this parable.

3. As you think about the different types of people in the crowd, where do you see yourself? Are you curious about Jesus and want to see for yourself? Open to having your assumptions challenged? Are you in a place of devotion, having experienced healing or restoration in some way? Or are you skeptical of Jesus in this season? Bring that to Jesus and set it down before him.

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Mark 3:20-35 (NIV)

If we’ve learned anything so far about Jesus, we’ve learned that he’s not bound by the structures, rules, or social boundaries… he directly challenges the assumptions of who people expect him to be. Today’s passage continues to expose how the upside-down, inside-out nature of Jesus’ words and actions defy the expectations of even his closest family.

In our culture too, we carry assumptions about Jesus that lead us to believe that there are ways to be a Christian that are more “acceptable,” that don’t “cause a fuss” or upset the status quo. But following Jesus means telling the truth even when it hurts. It means engaging in the work of physical, mental and spiritual healing and restoration, even among people who might be considered outcasts in society. In other words, following Jesus usually ruffles some feathers, and if we’re not ruffling even a few feathers, we might want to take a fresh look at where our devotion lies.

As you listen to today’s passage, again try to picture yourself in the scene. What part of the crowd would you be standing with? What thoughts would come to mind as you listened to the drama unfold?

----------REFLECT----------

1. What moment in the story stood out to you?

2. As you imagined yourself in the scene, was there anything that made you uncomfortable? Why do you think that is?

3. Loyalty to family was an essential part of the Jewish culture, and it flowed from loyalty to the covenant family of Israel. What societal group do you most closely identify with? Maybe it’s your family. Maybe it’s your ethnic group, or your political party or social community. How do those loyalties fit with Jesus’ new definition of kinship in this story?

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Mark 3:7-19 (NIV)

The world we live in clearly has an unhealthy relationship with power and authority. Sometimes we watch as leaders around the world and throughout our communities consolidate power and authority for themselves. They will do just about anything, or call others to do just about anything to maintain or secure, or advance that power. And we watch either thinking that we should have that power, or thinking that someone else should have that power. Other times, because of the chaos that this can create we begin to view power itself as bad, and fantasize about a world without power, a world where no one submits to any power outside themselves because there is no way that it can be good.

But neither of these extremes follow the way of Jesus. If there was anyone who could have withheld authority, who did not have to share power with others, and have it be a good thing, it was Jesus. Yet… the one who Mark clearly says has authority, the one who can heal and cast out demons…. He gives authority away. He shares power… because, against all that we might be prone to think, more power is better… more authority is better…. As long as it’s submitted to Jesus… the king.

As you listen today, image yourself in the midst of this crowd. Consider what it would have been like to be moved along as people pressed towards Jesus, and to see the reactions when he names the 12 disciples.

----------REFLECT----------

1.  How would you have felt if you were caught up in this scene. Would you have been nervous, a little claustrophobic, energized?

2. What would have been your reaction if you were a disciple, and you heard Jesus giving you authority to cast out demons? How would you respond?

3. How does Jesus' relationship to power and authority correct your relationship to it? Do you need to share authority and power, or do you need to assume more authority and power?

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Mark 2:23-3:6 (NIV)

So far in Mark’s Gospel we’ve been introduced to a number of characters and groups of folks that are becoming main actors in the drama that’s unfolding. One key tension throughout the narrative is between Jesus and the Pharisees who are following him around. They aren’t following him to become like him, or to learn from him, rather they follow him to pick and to critique and to try to dismantle the things Jesus is doing. These are self-appointed moral guardians of Israel who believed that in order for the Messiah to come, Israel needed to observe the Law with precision. The tragedy is that they made the Messiah himself the object of their critique.

We see this on full display in today’s passage. The Sabbath was a key practice that set the Jewish people apart from the surrounding nations. It was a day where every Jewish person was to stop, cease their work, and to enter the Lord’s rest for a day. Over time there were all sorts of rules imposed onto the practice of Sabbath, and ironically they made keeping Sabbath a whole lot of work.

Listen today and imagine yourself in the scene. What characters are you drawn to? What do you hear, taste, smell?

----------REFLECT----------

1. Which situation captured your imagination the most—eating on the Sabbath, healing on the Sabbath, or both?

2. What if we imagined the antithesis of this scene. How would you react if Jesus forced his disciples to go hungry? Or what if he turned the man with the shriveled hand away? What conflict would that cause in you?

3. Sometimes we can be so focused on unneeded rules that we fail to support the restoration and healing that God wants to do around us. In what ways are you guilty of that? In what ways is your community guilty of that?

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Mark 2:13-22 (NIV)

Previously on Daily Read, we listened as Mark described moments when the authority and power of God for forgiveness and healing burst out of the temple and into a common house in Capernaum through Jesus, as he healed a paralyzed man and forgave his sins. In today’s passage, Mark continues to illustrate how Jesus busted the boundaries of who people think should follow him, who he should eat with, and whether or not they should be fasting.

But one key to understanding today’s passage is to consider the absolute ire and disdain that nearly all Jewish people had for tax collectors like Levi. This guy would have been seen as a sellout, a traitor—a Jewish man who is collecting taxes on behalf of the oppressive Roman empire. There were coins in that region that had imprinted on them images of Roman soldiers with a foot on the neck of a Jewish man. And Levi was likely one of the people profiting off of that reality. But Jesus tears through all the boundaries as he calls this man to divest from the empire, to walk away from his post, and follow him.

As you listen today, allow the Spirit to bring such a person to your mind. What kind of person is your Levi? Be honest. Who would it bother you to see Jesus invite to follow him, to dine with him, to call his guests at the wedding feast?

----------REFLECT----------

1. What part of this passage stood out to you? Was there a word, a phrase, or an image?

2. When Levi got up and walked away from that booth, he walked away from Herod as King, and towards Jesus as King. How would you have felt if you were a disciple, maybe someone who’d been taxed heavily by Rome, sitting and eating with sinners and tax collectors like Levi? Would you feel comfortable, or uneasy? Why do you think that is?

3. Who is your Levi? What would it mean for you to pray for them to turn away from Herod and towards Jesus? Or are you Levi? What would it mean for you to turn from Herod towards Jesus?

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As far as I know, there is one place where everyone has to go in order to be cleared to legally drive in this country. It’s a beacon of hope for 16 year olds… and it’s the bain of anyone else who has to go more than once. The Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV. Mine was in an old pet hospital… In our society, we know that in order to drive you must go to that dreaded place and get a license. There is no getting around it… and we also know how suspect it would be if someone walked up to you away from the DMV, say, at a gas station or a Taco Bell, and offered you a driver’s license. It’s obviously fraudulent.

Something like this happens in today’s passage… In 1st century Judea, where the Gospels take place, the religious life of the Jewish people revolved around the Jerusalem temple primarily, and then the synagogue secondarily. They could go to the synagogues to learn Torah, and to pray, and to consult the law, but the big stuff… like atonement and important sacrifices… that stuff could only happen in the temple. And just like someone trying to offer driver’s licenses apart from the DMV… someone like Jesus showing up in Capernaum saying that people’s sins are forgiven is more than suspect…. It’s blasphemous. That can only happen in the temple… because that’s where God lives… and only God can forgive sins…. So to say that you can forgive sins is to claim to be…. Now you get it. Mark is trying to tell us something. Will the people in the scene see it? Can you see it?

----------REFLECT----------

1.  What moment in this passage was most shocking to you?

2. What characters do you find most relatable. The disciples and people pressed in trying to listen to Jesus, the friends carrying the paralyzed man, the teachers of the law who are questioning Jesus, or man on the mat?

3. As you imagine yourself there in that house, what are your feelings towards Jesus after this miracle happens? Fear, awe, reverence, skepticism, excitement, or something else?

4. How might you need Jesus to work this kind of holistic restoration in your life or the life of someone you love?

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Mark 1:40-45 (NIV)

Today’s passage has always been one of my favorite passages. Jesus touching a leper, the giver of life touching death and bringing it back to life! But after this year, the whole situation of 2020 brings new meaning for me in this passage. Prior to 2020 it was hard to relate to a social environment where there would be things like quarantine and social isolation, the awkwardness of knowing what to do in unfamiliar social settings, the ambiguity of who’s really healthy and who’s not.

If there is ever a time when we need a story to remind us that Jesus’ desire is to reach into the situation and turn death into life, it is now. As you listen to today’s passage, allow some of the social angst and awkwardness that you’ve experienced in the last 11 months to inform your hearing of this passage? What would it have been like to see Jesus approaching this man? What would it have been like to have seen him reach out and touch him? How would you have felt being around him afterwards?

----------REFLECT----------

1. As you listened to the passage, what moment did you find to have the most tension? Where did things get awkward?

2. If you were this man, what would it have been like to experience Jesus reaching out his hand to touch you?

3. As a witness to this event, how does this moment shape the way you see Jesus?

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Mark 1:29-39 (NIV)

On Saturday morning my wife made pancakes. The instructions say to take two bowls—the first for the dry ingredients and the second for the wet. You make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in, mixing slowly until it’s all one thing. Strangely, it reminded me of where we’re at in Mark’s gospel. As Jesus arrives on the scene and begins to speak truth to the religious folks and cast out demons, heaven is kind of being poured and mixed into earth. The kingdom of God is working its way into the world, usurping and displacing the kingdoms of darkness. But for a few minutes, let’s try to take off our Western Enlightenment lenses.

Jesus miraculous signs aren’t supernatural strictly speaking, their indeed more natural than the world we know. The point is that it’s actually quite unnatural for heaven and earth to be separate planes, Jesus is setting things right.

As you listen to the passage today (and throughout this series), look for that overlap. Use your imagination to put your feet on the ground, so to speak. What do you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Feel? How is the reign of a different kingdom working its way into those places?

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Mark 1:4-28 (NIV)

In our time and place, especially in the context of Western Christianity, we usually understand the call to repent as a call to give up our sinful ways and turn to God for salvation. While this isn’t inaccurate, it also isn’t what the Jews of Jesus’ day understood when they heard the call to repent and believe in him. Instead they heard something more communal, more collective, even more… political.

Today’s passage takes us back into the scene. Like a herald trumpeting the arrival of a king, John the Baptist has announced the coming Messiah and called the people to ready themselves. In the midst of yet another era of oppression, the Jews are tired of waiting. They are longing for freedom, and whispers of revolt are in the air. Then as the story turns, John the Baptist is suddenly imprisoned. The spotlight falls on Jesus, the one he had been talking about—the Messiah come at last. And the message Jesus has is this, “Repent. Believe in me.” In other words, “Lay down your weapons of rebellion and your other allegiances. Turn around and follow me instead. There’s a new Kingdom at hand, and you’re invited to be a citizen.”

As you listen to today’s passage, again put yourself in the shoes of those who are watching, listening, experiencing Jesus for the first time.

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