Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?

Mark 4: 35-41

With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

Food for thought!

Jesus teaches us in many ways. Sometimes he teaches us by words, other times by works. In today's gospel, Jesus teaches us by both; he speaks and he acts. Hill Cherie wrote a book on today's gospel reading, in which she says, "We may not be able to grasp even the slightest understanding of “why” we’re going through what we’re going through, but we can trust God anyway." God says, “My thoughts are completely different form yours. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth , so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55: 8-9).

She continues to write: "Our memory fails us: God did not promise us a perfect life. In fact, He promised just the opposite. "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (John 16: 33).

Did you notice that it was Jesus that deliberately drove his disciples into the storm? He said to them: "Let us cross over to the other side." And after getting into the boat he slept! What Jesus teaches us here is that it is him who leads us into storms or problems of our life; that those our problems are not only known by the Lord, they are also permited by him.

The storm on the Sea of Galilee was a test. Jesus knew there would be a storm. He knows about every storm in your life, too. As you know, God doesn't tempt us but he tests us, in order to grow us. You see, sometimes we bring storms on ourselves through sin, poor judgment, or just a lack of experience; some storms may come by the wrongdoing of other people. No matter how the storm is brought about, God will use it for good. Remember Romans 8:28, "God uses everything for good for those who love him!"

It is in and through our storms that He desires to do something awesome in and through us. He uses the storms to get our attention, like He did with the disciples. At the end of today's gospel reading the disciples were thoughtful of Jesus: "They were filled with awe and said to one another, 'Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.'" Yes, In every storm and problem of our life there is something good that we get. So, don't focus on the harm and hurt; focus on the desguised blessing, on the good that hides behind the bad. God can and does use anything to teach us. For that reason, let us praise the Lord in everything and for everything in our life.

Both helpless & hopeful!

Mark 4:26-34

“Here is another story illustrating what the Kingdom of God is like: “A farmer sowed his field and went away, and as the days went by, the seeds grew and grew without his help. For the soil made the seeds grow. First a leaf blade pushed through, and later the heads of wheat formed, and finally the grain ripened, and then the farmer came at once with his sickle and harvested it.” Jesus asked, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story shall I use to illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed! Though this is one of the smallest of seeds, yet it grows to become one of the largest of plants, with long branches where birds can build their nests and be sheltered.” He used many such illustrations to teach the people as much as they were ready to understand. In fact, he taught only by illustrations in his public teaching, but afterwards, when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain his meaning to them.

Food for thought!

Wow! Are we that helpless? Jesus today is both revealing our helplessness and our hopefulness. We are helpless in that there are things we don't know and we can't know; there are things we have no idea how they happen. Look at the farmer in the gospel reading: de does not make the seed grow, he does not even understand how it grows. This knowledge is hidden from the farmer. It is the secret of life. Nobody has ever possessed the secret of life; no one has ever created anything in the full sense of the term. We can discover things; we can rearrange them; we can develop them; but creating them we cannot. This is how helpless we are.

I want you to look at the Book of Revelation, chapter 5 to see our helplessness. «I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One Seated on the Throne. It was written on both sides, fastened with seven seals. I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, «Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who can break its seals?» There was no one—no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from the underworld—able to break open the scroll and read it. I wept and wept and wept that no one was found able to open the scroll, able to read it. One of the Elders said, «Do not cry! The Lion of the tribe of Judah has won the battle. He is the Root of David. He is able to break the seven seals and open the scroll.»

This is why today's gospel reading says that Jesus «taught only by illustrations in his public teaching, but afterwards, when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain his meaning to them.» It means that each one of us is a story, he is a parable, a difficult parable, that only Jesus can explain to us. We are a sealed book that no one can unseal, not even ourselves; only Jesus. All your ups and downs, all your victories, all your failures, all your sins, all that happens in YOUR life, is a parable that the Lord is telling you. A parable that you can't understand on your own. This is the bad news. The good news, is that Jesus can explain everything to you, in private. Yes, it is in private that he will tell you. Imagine if the Lord told in public what each of us is and has ever done in our life! Thank God that he only tells us in private, so that no one know. Why? Because much of it is shame and shameful.

The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given!

Mark 4:21-35

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Would you bring in a lamp to put it under a tub or under the bed? Surely you will put it on the lamp-stand? For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’ He also said to them, ‘Take notice of what you are hearing. The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given – and more besides; for the man who has will be given more; from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’

Food for thought!

“The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.” These words of Jesus are very provocative. Jesus is saying that it all depends on us; it means that all is in you, all is in me: the way, the solution, the life, the heaven and the hell; the success and the failure. It means that the amount of effort you apply in anything, good or bad, is the amount you will get back. If you apply yourself to goodness, you will get goodness; if you apply yourself to evil, evil you will get. What you get depends on what you give. What you give you will get back, only more so.
In life there is always a balance. A man's getting will be determined by his giving. It means that you are getting back what you are giving away. This is true of study. It is specially so in regard to the study of the Bible. We may sometimes feel that there are certain parts of the Bible which are difficult. May be. But the truth is that if we study these parts they will often turn out to be the most interesting parts of the Bible. A superficial study of a subject will often leave us quite uninterested whereas a really intensive study will leave us thrilled and fascinated.

It is true of personal relationships. One of the great facts of life is that we see our reflection in other people. If we are cross and irritable and bad-tempered, we will probably find other people equally unpleasant. If we are critical and fault-finding, the chances are that life will us the same people. If we are suspicious and distrustful, the likelihood is that others will be so to us. If we wish others to love us, we must first love them; if you want to be forgiven, forgive; if you want to be given, give. The person who would have friends must show himself or herself friendly. It was because Jesus believed in men that men believed in him.

Do you not understand this parable?

Mark 4:1-20

Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them, ‘Listen!, Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.’
He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

Food for thought!

In today’s gospel reading we see Jesus making a new departure. He is no longer teaching in the synagogue; he is now teaching by the lakeside. He had made the orthodox approach to the people; now he has to take unusual methods. Jesus was innovative; he knew to adopt his methods of teaching to the circumstances.

We do well to note that Jesus was prepared to use new methods. He was willing to take religious preaching and teaching out of its conventional setting in the synagogue into the open air and among the crowds of ordinary men and women. There must have been many amongst the orthodox Jews who criticized this departure; but Jesus was wise enough to know when new methods were necessary and adventurous enough to use them. It would be well if his church was equally wise and equally adventurous to try new methods and ways of reaching out to the people, especially reaching out to the non-church goers.

Look at what Jesus did. The scene is the lakeside; Jesus is sitting in the boat just off the shore. The shore shelves gently down to the water's edge, and makes a natural amphitheatre for the crowd. This new setting needed a new method; and the new method Jesus chose was to speak to the people in parables. A parable is literally a comparison. It is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Something on earth is compared with something in heaven, that the heavenly truth may be better grasped in light of the earthly illustration. Jesus started from the here and now to get to the there and then. He started from a thing that was happening at that moment on earth in order to lead men's thoughts to heaven; he started from something which all men could see to get to the things that are invisible; he started from something which all men knew to get to something which they had never as yet realized.

By so doing Jesus showed that there is a close relationship between earth and heaven. What Jesus is teaching them and us is to see the hand of God in the regular and the normal; in the rising of the sun and the falling of the rain and the growth of the plant. Long ago Paul had the same idea when he said that the visible world is designed to make known the invisible things of God (Rom.1:20). For Jesus, this world’s events and happenings are not meaningless; they are all very meaningful. The things that happen in your personal life, your family, your place of work, your church, are all parables calling for your understanding.

He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable?

Who is really your true friend?

Mark 3:31-35

Now his mother and brothers arrived at the crowded house where he was teaching, and they sent word for him to come out and talk with them. “Your mother and brothers are outside and want to see you,” he was told. He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Looking at those around him he said, “These are my mother and brothers! Anyone who does God’s will is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.”

Food for thought!

I want you to get this scene in your head. Jesus is teaching in some house. He is surrounded by a vast multitude of people. As he teaches his family shows up. Their arrival creates a moment of tension for everyone there. Jesus is teaching and His family is on the outside of the crowd. They can’t get to Him because of the multitude, so they send word through the crowd to tell Jesus to come to where they are. His family wants Him to stop His teaching, leave the multitude, and go to meet his family. They want Jesus to stop what he is doing and attend to them. And will not be the last time. You remember this other incident in Mark 3:20-21, which we had just last week?

When he returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn’t even find time to eat. When his friends heard what was happening, they came to try to take him home with them. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

The lessons. Sometimes it is our dear ones like mother, father, husband, wife and friends that stand in between us and God, that stand in between us and our God given opportunities. Jesus is teaching us the lesson that OBEDIENCE TO GOD, DOING GOD'S WILL, FOLLOWING GOD IS ABOVE EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY.
Yes, many times, our greatest distraction in doing God's will, and in embracing new opportunities are our relations, our friends. The tendency not to offset our dearest people or our dear past experiences many times make us forsake God-sent opportunities. This is why the burden of what we know already limits us in embracing new opportunities. The old is the enemy of the new. THE TIES THAT BIND US ARE THE TIES THAT BLIND US. (Andrew Hargadon).

Another lesson. There is in this passage a great and practical truth. It is very common not to have among your closest people any of your blood relatives. The deepest relationship of life is not always the blood relationship; it is the relationship of mind to mind and heart to heart. It is when people have common aims, common principles, common interests, a common goal that they become really and truly friends.

Misrepresented; slandered; calumniated!

Mark 3:22-30

The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘Beelzebul is in him’ and, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts devils out.’ So he called them to him and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last. And if a household is divided against itself, that household can never stand. Now if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he cannot stand either - it is the end of him. But no one can make his way into a strong man’s house and burgle his property unless he has tied up the strong man first. Only then can he burgle his house. ‘I tell you solemnly, all men’s sins will be forgiven, and all their blasphemies; but let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness: he is guilty of an eternal sin.’ This was because they were saying, ‘An unclean spirit is in him.’

Food for thought!

In the Gospel reading, Jesus is doing something WE don’t do. When his enemies criticized him, to the point of calling him an agent of Satan, Jesus “called them to him and spoke to them.” This is very important because his enemies were speaking, not to him but against him. Just as we so often do, when we speak, not to but against those we dislike and disapprove. As a principle: if you can’t say it in one’s face, don’t say it at all; what you can’t tell directly to someone, don’t tell it to others.

We offend God when we stubbornly refuse to see and acknowledge the good in others. This is what the Pharisees and scribes did with Jesus. They called him agent of Satan. Have you ever noticed that if we like someone, we tend to like
everything they do? And if we dislike someone, we will dislike everything they do? The people we dislike we label them as evil, even when they do good, we see their good as evil. This leads to the sin against the Holy Spirit. And as Jesus said, it is unforgivable.

The unforgivable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Both Matthew and Mark record that Jesus spoke about this sin immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his cures to the prince of devils instead of to God (Matt.12:31-32; Mk.3:28-29). These men could look at the very grace and power of God and call it the work of the devil. So, the sin against the Holy Spirit is about calling good as evil, treating good as if it was evil. Why is this so?

Why is that the unforgivable sin? Because it is the Holy Spirit that makes us do good; whoever does good is under the influence of the Holy Spirit; whoever. So, when you don’t acknowledge the good being done by others, you are in effect not acknowledging the Holy Spirit in them; you sin against the Holy Spirit. Good is good, thanks to the Holy Spirit, not Beelzebul.

After John had been arrested, Jesus went!

Mark 1:14-20 

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’ As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

Food for thought!

Bad things do happen to good people! Before very long disaster came to John. He was arrested, imprisoned and killed by Herod the king. His crime was that he had publicly denounced Herod for seducing his brother's wife, and making her his own wife, after he had put away the wife he had. John's courage brought him first imprisonment and then death.

Bad as this might be, John's arrest marked Jesus' beginning. The gospel says that “After John had been arrested, Jesus went ...” When John stoppend, Jesus started; when John went into prison, Jesus went forth to his task. John was cousin of Jesus. And when John died, Jesus did not nurse the wounds for ever; he immediately moved on. Some of us, whenever we get wounded or disappointed in our expectations with someone, or when we lose one of our dear ones, or our business endeavour fails, we fail to go beyond the hurt or disappointment; we nurse our wounds for too long, too much. This is not
what Jesus did.

When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. Even with the bad news of his cousin's imprisonment still fresh, Jesus had some Good News to proclaim. This is a great lesson for you and me: even when we fall and fail, we still have good news to proclaim. Don't take temporary defeat for permanent failure.

Just keep this fact in mind, and remember when your plans fail, that temporary defeat is not permanent failure. It may only mean that your plans have not been sound. Build other plans. Start all over again. Thomas A. Edison “failed” ten thousand times before he perfected the incandescent electric light bulb. That is— he met with temporary defeat ten thousand times, before his efforts were crowned with success. Temporary defeat should mean only one thing, the certain knowledge that there is something wrong with your plan.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. If you give up before your goal has been reached, you are a “quitter.” A quitter never wins— and— a winner never quits.

Misunderstood & Misrepresented!

Mark 3:20-21

When Jesus returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon it was so full of visitors that he couldn’t even find time to eat. When his friends heard what was happening, they came to try to take him home with them. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

Food for thought!

This Reading is very disturbing. Jesus is misunderstood and misrepresented! In his life Jesus was misunderstood almost on a daily basis. Right from the beginning Jesus was misunderstood. Although he made the world, the world did not recognize him when he came. Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. (John 1:10-12). Jesus was the most misunderstood man that ever lived. Many things he said were misunderstood; also many of his deeds, the miracles, were also misunderstood.

Jesus was misunderstood by his inner family; by his disciples; by his wider family; by the Romans; and by the world. Today's gospel reading is about one of those moments when Jesus was misunderstood. He was taken to be mad, to be out of himself,
that is, to be crazy and deranged! The matter becomes even worse, when we notice that it is not strangers considering Jesus to be crazy; it is his own people, his friends. As we know, everything in the life of Jesus happened for a
purpose: our edification.

So, what is the lesson behind this incident? Well, often it is our dear ones like mother, father, husband, wife, brother, sister and friends, or even those people we know and who know us, that misunderstand us. It is not uncommon for people to misunderstand us and even to label us as they wish. They labeled Jesus as being out of himself. If they called this to Jesus,
why will they not call you and me? So, next time people call you names for doing what you believe to be the work and will of the Father, remember Jesus. Don’t get angry because the people have misunderstood or misrepresented you.

The reason they called Jesus looks to be his busyness; Jesus was just too busy with the Father’s work that he had no time for his family. Jesus is teaching us that our duty, our obedience is first and foremost to the Father in heaven. The rest is rest. 

His regular companions!

Mark 3:13-19

Afterwards Jesus went up into the hills and summoned certain ones he chose, inviting them to come and join him there; and they did. Then he selected twelve of them to be his regular companions and to go out to preach and to cast out demons. These are the names of the twelve he chose: Simon (he renamed him “Peter”), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of a political party advocating violent overthrow of the Roman government), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

Food for thought!

Jesus has come to a very important moment in his life and work. He has made a very considerable impact on the public mind. But also his critics are growing in their opposition. Indeed, they have already decided to destroy him. If he dies, as he will, what will happen to his message? He had to find some way for his message not to die when he dies. As a solution to this practical problem, Jesus has to choose certain people on whose hearts and lives he will write his message and who will continue the message. The messengers die, the message does not die; messengers come and go; the message is forever, is eternal.
Jesus chose a very mixed group of his messengers. In it the two extremes met. Matthew was a tax-collector and, therefore, an outcast; he was a renegade and a traitor to his fellow countrymen. Simon the Cananaean was Zealot; and the Zealots were a band of fiery, violent nationalists who were pledged even to murder and assassinate to clear their country of the foreign rulers; today we call such as these terrorists. Between Matthew and Simon there were all kinds of backgrounds and opinions; there are the rest of us. Jesus continues to mix us.
Judging them by worldly standards the men Jesus chose had no special qualifications at all. They were not wealthy; they had no special social position; they had no special education, they were not trained theologians; they were not high-ranking churchmen and ecclesiastics; they were twelve ordinary men. But they had two special qualifications. First, they were loyal to Jesus. And second, they had the courage to show that they were loyal to Jesus.
Yes, to be with Jesus did require courage. We can all be loyal to celebrities, but not to someone labelled a sinner and a heretic; someone accused of violating all religious rules and regulations; someone heading for an inevitable death. These twelve men had all kinds of faults, but whatever else could be said about them, they loved Jesus and they were not afraid to show it. Do you have in your life loyal people like these disciples of Jesus, who can stand by you, come what may?

Jesus called the disciples to him for two purposes. First, he called them to be with him. He called them to be his steady and consistent companions. Others might come and go; the crowd might be there one day and away the next; others might be fluctuating and spasmodic in their attachment to him, but these twelve were to live with him all the time, day after day; they never go away, never come, because there're always there. They're Jesus' companions. Happy the man or woman with a companion like these.

Second, he called them to send them out. He wanted them to be his representatives. He wanted them to tell others about him. They themselves had been won in order to win others.

For their task Jesus equipped them with a message. Jesus does not call the equipped; he equips the called people, with the Gospel message, the good news. This is our weapon, it is our stronghold, it is our strength and power.

It is good to be and do good!

Mark 3:7-12

Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the beach, followed by a huge crowd from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from beyond the Jordan River, and even from as far away as Tyre and Sidon. For the news about his miracles had spread far and wide and vast numbers came to see him for themselves. He instructed his disciples to bring around a boat and to have it standing ready to rescue him in case he was crowded off the beach. For there had been many healings that day and as a result great numbers of sick people were crowding around him, trying to touch him. And whenever those possessed by demons caught sight of him they would fall down before him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” But he strictly warned them not to make him known.

Food for thought!

Yesterday, we ended the Gospel with these words: “At once the Pharisees went away and met with the Herodians to discuss plans for killing Jesus.” Today’s Gospel is a follow up. Unless Jesus wished to be involved in a head-on collision with those religious authorities wanting to ruin him, he had to leave their synagogues.


Now, for the first time, Jesus is preaching not from inside a synagogue but from outside, from the open, in a boat. Jesus has left the synagogues and has gone out to the lakeside and the open sky; He who once preached on a pulpit is now preaching from a boat! And he who was preaching to a few hundreds of people in the synagogue, is now preaching to thousands. Irony of things.


A lesson for us. When you hate someone, you turn that person into a hero. This is what has happened with Jesus; the more the religious authorities hate and hunt Jesus to kill him, the more Jesus is turning a hero, a superstar, a celebrity. The gospel says that people came from all over the neighbouring districts to touch him and listen to him.


The Pharisees can take synagogues away from Jesus, but they cannot take goodness away from him; Jesus goes with his goodness and his people skills wherever he goes. As a result people are seeking him from all over. So large were the crowds that it became dangerous and a boat had to be kept ready, just off the shore, in case he might be overwhelmed with the crushing of the mob. His cures brought him into even greater danger; for the sick people did not even wait for him to touch them; they rushed to touch him.


Another lesson. Good is always good; and doing good is always good. Jesus did good in the synagogue (healed a man with a crippled hand), he did good all the time, even on a Sabbath, on a beach, at the wedding, on the sea, on the cross. As a dedicated follower of Jesus, seek to do good to all people, all day and all days and all the time, and in all places where you happen to be. This is what Jesus expects from you and me. Be good and do good.


Act 10:38


Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country doing good, helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.

Another day, another scandal!

Mark 3:1-6

While in Capernaum Jesus went over to the synagogue again, and noticed a man there with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man’s hand? If he did, they planned to arrest him! Jesus asked the man to come and stand in front of the congregation. Then turning to his enemies he asked, “Is it all right to do kind deeds on Sabbath days? Or is this a day for doing harm? Is it a day to save lives or to destroy them?” But they wouldn’t answer him. Looking around at them angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need, he said to the man,“Reach out your hand.” He did, and instantly his hand was healed! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the Herodians to discuss plans for killing Jesus.

Food for thought!

We're back in the synagogue, with another scandal by Jesus. The setting is like this: there's Jesus, there's his critics the Pharisees, there's a man in need, and there's a Sabbath. What would you do if you were in that synagogue that Saturday? With whom do you identify yourself, with Jesus being watched, with the Pharisees on the watch, with the sick man in need of help, or with the Sabbath to keep?


Jesus knows what is going on. He knows that he's being watched. He knows that this whole thing is designed as a trap to ensnare Him. But, Jesus also knows that this man needs healing, which only him can give, and Jesus is determined to do the right thing, come what may. You see, it is always risky doing the right thing; many people are only interested in doing not the right thing but doing things right. Doing things right means following the rules and laws and people's expectations. Doing the right thing means doing what is good and right even when it goes against the law or against people’s expectations.


Jesus told the man to come and stand in front of the congregation. What Jesus is about to do will not be done in a corner. And then Jesus confronted the obvious hypocrisy of the Pharisees by asking them simple, straightforward questions: “Is it all right to do kind deeds on Sabbath days? Or is this a day for doing harm? Is it a day to save lives or to destroy them?” By calling the man to the front of the crowd and asking these questions was all an effort to awaken sympathy in the hearts of the Pharisees. Jesus was using this moment to try and touch their hearts. His efforts failed! They had hard hearts. No one said a word.


The Pharisees suffered from “hardness of heart”. These men had been confronted with truth many times and they continually rejected that truth. As a result, their hearts became hard. They were outraged when Jesus healed the man on a Sabbath; they were only concerned in doing things right and not in doing the right thing; they were interested in keeping the rules and not saving life. Are we any different?


The Pharisees and the Herodians were bitter enemies. They were on the opposite sides of every issue. But, they found common ground in their common hatred of the Lord Jesus. So, they formed a plot to find a way to “kill” Him. They wanted Jesus dead and they set out to accomplish that end.


There is a bit of irony in this story, as well as a lot of hypocrisy. These men are upset because Jesus gave life back to the man on the Sabbath, but they have no problem plotting to take life from Jesus on a Sabbath day. Many times we do those very things we condemn in other people.

Jesus' religious scandals!

Mark 2:23-28

Another time, on a Sabbath day as Jesus and his disciples were walking through the fields, the disciples were breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain. Some of the Jewish religious leaders said to Jesus, “They shouldn’t be doing that! It’s against our laws to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” But Jesus replied, “Didn’t you ever hear about the time King David and his companions were hungry, and he went into the house of God—Abiathar was high priest then—and they ate the special bread only priests were allowed to eat? That was against the law too. But the Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath. And I, the Messiah, have authority even to decide what men can do on Sabbath days!”


Food for thought!


Have you ever counted Jesus' "religious scandals"? Jesus is in the business of stirring up trouble! From the time He appeared and began His earthly ministry, to the moment He ascended back into Heaven, Jesus was busy upsetting tradition and tipping sacred cows. Where the Jews were concerned, Jesus was involved in one religious scandal after another.


Jesus' first scandal was when He publically forgave a man’s sins, in Mark 2:5. The second scandal was when He attended a feast with sinners at Matthew’s house, in Mark 2:16. The third scandal was when Jesus and his disciples refused to fast as everybody did, in Mark 2: 18. The fourth scandal is of course today's gospel reading.

The verses we have read today open up another scandal between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. This time it involves their traditions. Jesus dared to ignore their rituals and they are offended once again. However, this is no ordinary scandal. For this scandal would create such anger and hatred toward Jesus that the Jews would actually seek to kill the Lord because of it, Mark 3:6.
There are people whose primary job is to criticize others; people whose primary goal in life is to set themselves up as judge and jury on the lives of others; people who are critical of every body except of themselves; people who claim to know all the rules but no knowledge of Jesus. These are the Pharisees.


These people are upset by everything and by nothing! They cannot believe what they see the disciples of Jesus doing. Many people are critical of you, of me, of everyone that's different. Consider what Jesus did to his critics; this is what we should do when people want to argue religion with us, or when they criticize you. He pointed them to the Word of God. He pointed them to the truth. Jesus did not argue with these men; He merely pointed them back to the Word of God. He says, “Have you not read…?”


Many times our problem is the same problem the Pharisees had, we haven’t taken the time to read and understand the Bible, and we criticize others based on nothing. The bread mentioned in the text was not to be eaten by non-priests, according to the Law, but because they were hungry, it was given to David and His men to eat.


The clear teaching here is that human needs are more important than a legalistic keeping of the Law; that persons are far more important than rituals; that the best way to worship God is to help man; that the best way to use sacred things is to use them to help men. That, in fact, is the only way to give them to God; the sacred things are only truly sacred when they are used for man. The showbread was never so sacred as when it was used to feed a starving man. The Sabbath was never so sacred as when it was used to help those who needed help. The final arbiter in the use of all things is man and not law.

Change or perish!

Mark 2:18-22

John’s disciples and the Jewish leaders sometimes fasted, that is, went without food as part of their religion. One day some people came to Jesus and asked why his disciples didn’t do this too. Jesus replied, “Do friends of the bridegroom refuse to eat at the wedding feast? Should they be sad while he is with them? But some day he will be taken away from them, and then they will mourn. Besides, going without food is part of the old way of doing things. It is like patching an old garment with unshrunk cloth! What happens? The patch pulls away and leaves the hole worse than before. You know better than to put new wine into old wineskins. They would burst. The wine would be spilled out and the wineskins ruined. New wine needs fresh wineskins.”

Food for thought!

The man who walks with Christ walks in radiance of joy. This is what Jesus is trying to teach us on innumerable occasions. This time round, he compares this joy to a wedding joy. At the wedding the bride enjoys the company of the bridegroom, and the bridegroom enjoys the company of the bride. All this means that it is good for our souls to be with Jesus, and that Jesus too enjoys our company. Think about it, Jesus enjoys to be with you. Do you enjoy Jesus moment? Do you have in your day any JESUS MOMENT?


It also tells us that no human joy lasts for ever. John's disciples were at this time sad because John was already in prison. For Jesus' disciples that time of sorrow would come when Jesus is imprisoned. It is one of the great inevitabilities of life that the dearest joy must come to an end. All humans and their joys pass away. Jesus alone is the same yesterday, today and for ever; God alone abides amidst all the chances and the changes of life. The dearest human relationships must some day come to an end; it is only the joy of heaven which lasts for ever, and if we have it in our hearts, nothing can take it away.


This also means that days will come, days of challenges, of hardships, of suffering. It means that life was not meant to be easy. Life is a challenge. Even for Jesus there was a moment of agony; he could not and did not escape it. Jesus was never under any illusions; clearly at the end of the road he saw the Cross awaiting him. He knew that for him the way of life was the way of the Cross, and yet he did not swerve one step aside from it. Here is the courage of the man who knows what God's way costs, and who yet goes on.


So, seize the moment, seize the present joy, seize the week and all its opportunities. Don't shut your mind for new ideas. We should never be afraid of adventurous thought. If there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into new truths, new things. Just look at the many inventions in technology, in computers, in cell phones, in medicine, etc. How would medicine fare if doctors were restricted to drugs and methods and techniques of three hundred years old?
Many people are afraid of new methods, new innovations, new ideas. That a thing has always been done in certain way may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it. That a thing has never been done may very well be the best reason for trying it. No business could exist on outworn methods; a business allergic to innovations is doomed to die. The same with many of us; either we change or we perish.


Jesus' plea to us is to be open minded! At least this week.

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother!

John 1:35-42

The following day as John was standing with two of his disciples, Jesus walked by. John looked at him intently and then declared, “See! There is the Lamb of God!” Then John’s two disciples turned and followed Jesus. Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. “Sir,” they replied, “where do you live?” “Come and see,” he said. So they went with him to the place where he was staying and were with him from about four o’clock that afternoon until the evening. (One of these men was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.) Andrew then went to find his brother Peter and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” And he brought Peter to meet Jesus. Jesus looked intently at Peter for a moment and then said, “You are Simon, John’s son—but you shall be called Peter, the rock!”

Food for thought!

We do not possess a great deal of information about Andrew, but even the little that we know perfectly paints his character. He is one of the most special people in the Bible. He has two outstanding characteristics. First, Andrew was characteristically the man who was prepared to take the second place. Again and again he is identified as Simon Peter's brother. In fact, every time the gospels mention Andrew they mention him as Simon Peter's brother. It is clear that Andrew lived under the shadow of Peter.

People might not know who Andrew was, but everyone knew Peter; and when men spoke of Andrew they described him as Peter's brother. Andrew was not one of the inner circle of the disciples. When Jesus healed Jairus' daughter, when he went up to the Mount of Transfiguration, when he underwent his temptation in Gethsemane, it was Peter, James and John whom Andrew took with him.

It would have been so easy for Andrew to resent this. Was he not one of the first two disciples who ever followed Jesus? Did Peter not owe his meeting with Jesus to Andrew? Might he not reasonably have expected a foremost place in the apostolic band? But all that never even occurred to Andrew. He was quite content to stand back and let his brother have the limelight; he was quite content to play a humble part in the company of the Twelve.

To Andrew matters of precedence and place and honour mattered nothing at all. All that mattered was to be with Jesus and to serve him as well as he could. Andrew is the patron saint of all who humbly and loyally and ungrudgingly take the second place. Don't be afraid to take the second place; don't be afraid to be known only in relation to someone, or to live under the shaddow of someone (are you known as husband of... or wife of... or secretary of?). Indeed, all of us, must be known in relation to Jesus; he takes the first place. As John said the other day, he must increase, we must decrease.

Second, Andrew is characteristically the man who was always introducing others to Jesus. There are only three times in the gospel story when Andrew is brought into the centre of the stage. There is this incident here, in which he brings Peter to Jesus. There is the incident in John 6:8-9 when he brings to Jesus the boy with the five loaves and two small fishes. And there is the incident in John 12:22 when he brings the enquiring Greeks into the presence of Jesus. It was Andrew's great joy to bring others to Jesus. He stands out as the man whose one desire was to share the glory. Having himself found the friendship of Jesus, he spent all his life in introducing others to that friendship. Andrew is our great example in that he could not keep Jesus to himself.

For there were many of them among his followers!

Mark 2:13-17

Then Jesus went out to the seashore again and preached to the crowds that gathered around him. As he was walking up the beach he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at his tax collection booth. “Come with me,” Jesus told him.“Come be my disciple.” And Levi jumped to his feet and went along. That night Levi invited his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners to be his dinner guests so that they could meet Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them among his followers. But when some of the Jewish religious leaders saw him eating with these men of ill repute, they said to his disciples, “How can he stand it, to eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard what they were saying, he told them, “Sick people need the doctor, not healthy ones! I haven’t come to tell good people to repent, but the bad ones.”

Food for thought!

Let's begin with this one: “As he was walking up the beach he saw ...!” It was as Jesus walked along the lakeside that he saw and called Levi (Matthew)? Even as he was walking along, Jesus was looking for opportunities and partners. Jesus was never off duty; he was always on the look out, always looking for opportunities, because opportunities are everywhere and in everybody. Train yourself to be on constant look out for opportunities. Walk like Jesus, looking out for opportunities.


Of all the people Jesus called to follow him Matthew gave up the most. He literally left all to follow Jesus. Peter and Andrew, James and John could go back to the boats, for they were fishermen. There were always fish to catch and always the old trade to which to return; but Matthew burned his bridges completely. With one action, in one moment of time, by one swift decision he had put himself out of his job forever, for having left his tax-collector's job, he would never get it back. For many people, his decision was the most reckless thing anybody could do. But it was not.


Have you ever read this story?

A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield . He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice— we win, or we perish! They won. Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.

Matthew was the man who staked everything on Christ's word, "Follow me"; and he was not wrong. When and if Jesus says to you "come", leave whatever you're doing and go to where he tells you. He knows best. Yes, he lost a sure and secure job but he got a far bigger one.


Matthew's "reckless" decision brought him the one thing he had been looking for: be of use not just to a few but to as many people as the whole world. Today, all who own a Bible own the gospel written by Matthew. Like Matthew, sometimes the Lord challenges us to leave our comfort zone, our old jobs, our old mentality, our old beliefs, our old friends to move on to territories known only to him. We do well to remember Mary's advice to the servants, (Jn 2:5) "Whatever He says to you, do it."

Life only brings us what we desire!

Mark 2:1-12

Several days later he returned to Capernaum, and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the city. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn’t room for a single person more, not even outside the door. And he preached the Word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They couldn’t get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head and lowered the sick man on his stretcher, right down in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw how strongly they believed that he would help, Jesus said to the sick man, “Son, your sins are forgiven!” But some of the Jewish religious leaders said to themselves as they sat there, “What? This is blasphemy! Does he think he is God? For only God can forgive sins.” Jesus could read their minds and said to them at once, “Why does this bother you? I, the Messiah, have the authority on earth to forgive sins. But talk is cheap—anybody could say that. So I’ll prove it to you by healing this man.” Then, turning to the paralyzed man, he commanded, “Pick up your stretcher and go on home, for you are healed!” The man jumped up, took the stretcher, and pushed his way through the stunned onlookers! Then how they praised God. “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” they all exclaimed.

Food for thought!

Four men wanted to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus, but couldn’t get him there because of the crowds that blocked the door into the house where Jesus was teaching. You already see how egoistic sometimes we get! Imagine: here's is a sick man on a stretcher wanting to get to the divine healer and be healed, and no one lets him do it. It is like the people are saying, we don't mind about you and your sickness as long as we are OK and listening to what Jesus is saying; don't disturb us with your problems. I am imagining the sick man pleading with the people to have mercy on his situation ...!

The sick man was lucky, he had friends (a friend in need is a friend indeed). His friends having gotten fed up with the people's attitude, must have said to their friend, "don't mind them, these people are also sick, may be sicker than you; they may be physically ok, spiritually they are not; they too need Jesus." So the four men took their friend where there were nobody, onto the roof of the house, broke up the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus through the hole in the roof.

These four men who brought their friend to Jesus were willing to do whatever it took to get their friend to the Lord. They dared to do what was difficult. Whenever you are faced with a choice between doing two things, always choose the most difficult and the most unlikely thing. That's where the blessing is lying disguised. It was not easy to carry that grown up man up on the roof. It was a difficult task. And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him.

The people dared to do the unusual. They were willing to think outside the box! They were innovative! For them, it was not business as usual, it took ingenuity to think of breaking up the rules. Yes, sometimes we must do the extraordinary in order to get the ordinary; we must break the rules and go against everyone's expectations. In the eyes of the people, the four men were breaking the rules and going against the normal thing, against the "good" thing. For Jesus, however, these four men were something else, they were heroes. What Jesus saw in these men was not folly but faith; he saw how strongly they believed that he would help.

It means that Jesus saw their ernest desire. Their desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen, pulsating desire, which transcended everything else. The four men succeeded because they chose a definite goal, placed all their energy, all their will power, all their effort, everything back of that goal. You too can achieve what you desire because desire is the starting point of all achievement! Life only brings us what we desire, good or bad.

Keep secrets secret!

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. 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be healed!" 42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. 43 Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: 44 "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." 45 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.

Food for thought!

Something unique happens in this gospel reading: Jesus exchanged himself with the leper. In order to appreciate this exchange, let us remember that leprosy rendered the sufferer unclean. He was banished from the fellowship of men; he must dwell alone outside the village; he must go with rent clothes, bared head, a covering upon his upper lip, and as he went he must give warning of his polluted presence with the cry, "Unclean, unclean!" The leper was a man who was already dead, though still alive. He had to wear a black garment that all might recognize him and avoid him from afar.

If at all a leper was cured, he had to undergo a complicated ceremony of restoration which is described in Leviticus 14. He was examined by the priest, before he could rejoin normal life. This is why Jesus sent this man to the priest: "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."

In order to heal the man, Jesus touched the man. By this touch, the exchange took place. The man was restored to normality, able to lead normal life, and Jesus' life was made difficult. The gospel says, "he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places." Jesus is now the leper, the leper is now the Jesus; the man can go anywhere he wants, Jesus can't publicly enter a town anywhere, but has to stay out in secluded places, where the man used to stay.

Whenever we don't keep secrets and secrecy we are like this man: we make others' life more difficult. Jesus had told this man "Don't tell anyone about this." Instead, the man went all over the place telling everybody about the secret. Secrets are meant to be kept, not broken. Keep secrets secret!

This incident shows us as well what Jesus came to do and be: "But the fact is, it was our pains he carried--our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him--our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him." (Isa. 53:4-6).

To him be honour and praise and power forevermore. Amen

Why he came!

Mark 1:29-39

29 Directly on leaving the meeting place, they came to Simon and Andrew's house, accompanied by James and John. 30 Simon's mother- in- law was sick in bed, burning up with fever. They told Jesus. 31 He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them. 32 That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil- afflicted people to him, 33 the whole city lined up at his door! 34 He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew his true identity, he didn't let them say a word. 35 While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. 36 Simon and those with him went looking for him. 37 They found him and said, "Everybody's looking for you." 38 Jesus said, "Let's go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I've come." 39 He went to their meeting places all through Galilee, preaching and throwing out the demons.

Food for thought!
Our meditation will focus on what Jesus said, "Let's go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I've come." THIS IS WHY I CAME INTO THIS WORLD. Jesus knows why he came into this world; he knows why he was born; he knows the purpose of his life; Jesus is not just drifting along; he knows why he lives and what he lives for. Everything Jesus does, every place he goes to, he is obeying the ultimate purpose of his life.

For all of us, there is something, or better, there should be something for which we live. The problems for many people is that they have what to live on but they do not have what to live for; they have the means of living but not the purpose of living; they don't know WHY they live. In other words, WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE OF LIVING? Why were you born? Why are you here in this world? God made you to make what in this world? God made us to make some particular contribution in this world. That's why he equipped you the way He did; that's why you are a man or woman; that's why you have the gifts you have, that's why you are where you are right right now, that's is why you were born where you were born, in that family, that country, that date, that time. Each one of us has some work to do.

Remember that God made you to make something good in this world. He made you to make a contribution. He made you to make a difference in this life. I pray that before you pass away, you'll have found your particular mission; you'll have done your contribution. Do this by doing what Jesus did: doing good to all people. Do and be your best in the remaining part of your life. God created you to give nothing but your best. He knows that you're good and can give goodness to others. Like Jesus give your goodness to all who come to you, as Simon's mother-in-law did: "No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them." As soon as she got healed, she was up healing others' hunger; as soon as she was helped, she was up helping others; as soon as she received health from Jesus she was up giving to others; she had learnt it from Jesus. She knew, as you do now, that we get in order to give; that we were created for a purpose. And that purpose is giving our goodness to others.

Does Jesus bothers you too?

Mark 1:21-28

Does Jesus bother you?

Jesus and his companions now arrived at the town of Capernaum and on Saturday morning went into the Jewish place of worship—the synagogue—where he preached. The congregation was surprised at his sermon because he spoke as an authority and didn’t try to prove his points by quoting others—quite unlike what they were used to hearing! 

A man possessed by a demon was present and began shouting, “Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth—have you come to destroy us demons? I know who you are—the holy Son of God!” Jesus curtly commanded the demon to say no more and to come out of the man. At that the evil spirit screamed and convulsed the man violently and left him. Amazement gripped the audience and they began discussing what had happened. “What sort of new religion is this?” they asked excitedly. “Why, even evil spirits obey his orders!” The news of what he had done spread quickly through that entire area of Galilee.

Food for thought!

Everybody's words are powerful. But Jesus' words are not just powerful; they are power. When Jesus spoke in the synagogue, the gospel says, “The congregation was surprised at his sermon because he spoke as an authority and didn’t try to prove his points by quoting others."


Jesus taught like nobody else. He was unique. No one to compare with. He was himself the authority. He was not quoting anybody else because he was God speaking. Whenever Jesus taught everybody, including the devil, was touched. The gospel says that as Jesus was talking suddenly a man, touched by his preaching,  shouted “Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth—have you come to destroy us demons? I know who you are—the holy Son of God!” This man was indeed bothered by Jesus' teaching.

But then we ask, what was a devil doing in a holy place like a synagogue, and among worshippers? Why would a devil be there? Why were the worshippers ok with a devil among them? What does this teach us? That sometimes we go to church full of hidden problems; in our churches we sit besides people with serious problems of every kind, financial, social, professional, family, spiritual. Yes, many times we have problems unknown to others, just as this man was among those worshippers! Quite but suffering alone. That is the bad news.

The good news is that where Jesus shows up, everybody shows up in their true colours; we cannot hide before Jesus. The gospel says that as Jesus was teaching, the devilish man denounced himself: "Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth!" Until Jesus comes into our lives, our homes, our offices, our churches, our families, we can never say we are ok. The Bible says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable." (Heb 4:13).

This fact is not meant to frighten us. Because the text following this one says very encouraging words: "So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

Follow me and I will make you into...!

Mark 1:14-20

Follow me and I will make you into...!

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’ As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

Food for thought!

Jesus has started to go around telling the people that the TIME HAS COME. He then calls some people to follow him, and they do. What time is it that has come? The time has come for what? The answer is simple. Jesus wants us to follow him, that is, he wants us to know the truth that with him and through him we can and make a difference; we can change from fishers of fish to fishers of men. Jesus wants us to leave home, to leave what we are used to be and do, and start off again with him. This means that home is home but only until Jesus shows up; family is family but only until Jesus shows up; our place of work is our place of work but only until Jesus shows up; our profession is our profession but only before Jesus shows up.


Those first disciples of Jesus had been all their life fishermen; all they knew was fishing, fish and sea. This was their profession and their place of work. Their loyalty was tied to their father Zebedee. When Jesus showed up, all of this changed. Their profession changed, their workplace changed and the person of their loyalty also changed. Jesus sometimes asks us to change our profession, our loyalty, our place of work, and start all over again.


It means that the time has come to you and me to take Jesus serious, like those fishermen of Galiliee, who “at once left nets and followed him.” And because they took Jesus serious, those men were never the same again. They changed completely into fishers of men; and from fishers of men to heroes of our faith.


Yes, Jesus can make us into that man or woman we dream of. Let us take him serious as they did; the fishermen followed him yesterday and today they are saints. Someone might have criticized them for leaving a sure and secure job, or even for leaving their father alone. Had they listened to their critics they would not have turned into fishers of men; they would have stayed fishers of fish.


Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men!

From delight to plight!

Mark 1:7-11 

7 Here is a sample of his preaching: “Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am, so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. 8 I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with God’s Holy Spirit!” 9 Then one day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John there in the Jordan River. 10 The moment Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending on him, 11 and a voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; you are my Delight.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

A voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; you are my Delight.” When Jesus was being baptized, a voice from heaven spoke about him and to him these words. Jesus was declared publicly as God's Delight! However, what came and always comes immediately after moments of delight is not always delightful. The verse immediately following these words to Jesus says: “Immediately the Holy Spirit urged Jesus into the desert. There, for forty days, alone except for desert animals, he was subjected to Satan’s temptations to sin.” 

Yes, Jesus may be God's delight but still he is not spared suffering; he has to go into the desert, where he is all alone, except wild beasts and Satan. In a matter of moments, Jesus moved from delight to plight, from listening to the voice from heaven to listening the voice from Satan. 

Do you remember the same thing happening to Moses in the Old Testament? He spent 40 days on the mountain with God. When he came down the mountain with the commandments of God written on two tablets, he was greeted by Satanic voices. Here is the story: 

Then Moses went down the mountain, holding in his hands the Ten Commandments written on both sides of two stone tablets. (God himself had written the commandments on the tablets.) When Joshua heard the noise below them, of all the people shouting, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds as if they are preparing for war!” But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a cry of victory or defeat, but singing.” When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and in terrible anger he threw the tablets to the ground, and they lay broken at the foot of the mountain. (Exodus 32:15-19)

Satan seeks out those who are delightful to God and he is more than ready to unleash the most merciless of trials. The godliest of people endure deep valleys of strife. These people are the greatest threats to the enemy; Jesus was a prime target for the enemy and so are you and me if and when we declare our faith in God.

It has been said, “You should never forget in the darkness what has been revealed to you in the light.” It is easy to have faith when God has taken you to the mountaintop, but what about when God has allowed you to wander into the valley? Will your faith be steadfast? Will you look to God when your life has been thrown into the fire? You can only come “out from the ashes,” when you trust in the One who created you from dust and ashes.

Made for a mission!

John 3:22-30

Afterwards Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and stayed for a while in Judea and baptized there. At this time John the Baptist was not yet in prison. He was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. One day someone began an argument with John’s disciples, telling them that Jesus’ baptism was best. So they came to John and said, “Master, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River—the one you said was the Messiah—he is baptizing too, and everybody is going over there instead of coming here to us.” John replied, “God in heaven appoints each man’s work. My work is to prepare the way for that man so that everyone will go to him. You yourselves know how plainly I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him—that is all. The crowds will naturally go to the main attraction — the bride will always go where the bridegroom is! A bridegroom’s friends rejoice with him. I am the Bridegroom’s friend, and I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Food for thought!

John replied, “God in heaven appoints each man’s work. My work is to prepare the way for that man so that everyone will go to him. I am here to prepare the way for him—that is all.

Like John, each one of us was made for a mission. Indeed, our mission is a continuation of John’s mission: to take Jesus to the people, and to take the people to Jesus. John told his disciples that his was not the leading place, but that he was merely sent as the herald, the forerunner and the preparer for the greater one to come.

It would ease life a great deal if more people were prepared to play the subordinate role. So many people look for great things to do. John was not like that. He knew well that God had given him a subordinate task. It would save us a lot of resentment and heartbreak if we realized that there are certain things which are not for us, and if we accepted with all our hearts and did with all our might the work that God has given us to do.

These words of John are a great reminder. They tell us that God appoints each man's work; that no one is doing everybody's work. One thing is certain — this passage shows us the loveliness of the humility of John the Baptist. It was clear that men were leaving John for Jesus. John's disciples were worried. They did not like to see their master take second place. They did not like to see him abandoned while the crowds flocked out to hear and see Jesus.

John's task had been to bring the people and Jesus together; to arrange the marriage between the two. When that task was completed he was happy to fade into obscurity for his work was done. It was not with envy that he said that Jesus must increase and he must decrease; it was with joy. It may be that sometimes we would do well to remember that it is not to ourselves we must try to attach people; it is to Jesus Christ. It is not for ourselves we seek the loyalty of men; it is for Jesus. And as John put it, He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Off to a lonely place for prayer!

Luke 5:12-16

Jesus was in one of the towns when a man appeared, covered with leprosy. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once. He ordered him to tell no one, ‘But go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your healing as Moses prescribed it, as evidence for them.’ His reputation continued to grow, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness cured, but he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.

Food for thought!

He would always go off to some lonely place where he could be alone and pray!


Today’s meditation will be about this fact in the life of Jesus. As you know, everything Jesus did was to teach us. Yes, that is why he is called «Teacher» or «Master», and we «Disciples» or «Learners».


Besides your home, do you have some lonely place you go to in order to be alone and to pray? In other words, do you ever pray, alone? Do you ever stay alone? Where and when? How often? If you don’t have this lonely place and moment, have it. You can’t live on high all day and all days; you cannot live as if in down town. You need to go or be by yourself, to examine YOUR life, and this can hardly be done in the market place.


The gospel says that Jesus “would always go off to some lonely place where he could be alone and pray.” This is what Jesus ALWAYS did; this is what Jesus’ followers do. Why is this good? Well, it is good because Jesus used to do it. What Jesus did is ok, is good, is a must do. Whatever Jesus did was for our edification; was to demonstrate what humans ought to be and do.


Robert Green once said, "If you are always advancing, always attacking, always responding to people emotionally, you have no time to gain perspective. Your strategies will be weak and mechanical, based on things that happened in the past or to someone else. Like a monkey, you will imitate instead of create. Retreating is something you must do every now and then, to find yourself and detach yourself from infecting influences. And the best time to do this is in moments of difficulty and danger."


Jesus would always go off to some lonely place where he could be alone and pray! What about you?

Made to serve others!

Luke 4:14-22

Then Jesus returned to Galilee, full of the Holy Spirit’s power. Soon he became well known throughout all that region for his sermons in the synagogues; everyone praised him. When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the Scriptures. The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.” He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today!” All who were there spoke well of him and were amazed by the beautiful words that fell from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Food for thought!

In this gospel reading something (un)usual happens. Jesus opened the Bible and the Bible opened Jesus; he read the Bible and the Bible read him; he read about himself in the Bible. The Bible told Jesus who Jesus is. It told him a number of things that Jesus was meant to be and do in this world: to bring Good News to the poor; to proclaim that captives will be released; that the blind will see; that the oppressed will be set free; and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.

God gave us the Bible for a purpose; He gave it for Revelation; not just a revelation to Jesus, but a revelation to every man and woman, to you and me. Reading the Bible as Jesus read it we find our life described in it because it is the Bible's purpose to settle the issue of meaning and purpose in life. 

The Bible is consistent when it declares that “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose.” (Jeremiah 1:5); I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 4:11); your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16); Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name (Isaiah 49:1); But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace (Galatians 1:15) 

Did you notice that Jesus’s purpose has to do with making difference in others’ life? (to bring Good News to the poor; to proclaim that captives will be released; that the blind will see; that the oppressed will be set free; and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come). It means that if God has called you to a great destiny, He will often times place you in a position to first serve someone else’s destiny. This is far from punishment; it is God’s way of testing your ability to steward and celebrate someone else’s dream. Only until you are able to serve someone else’s dream can God trust you with your own. For instance, Moses spent 40 years in Midian tending his father-in-law's sheep; Jesus served his own people in the village for 30 years before God called him for serving the whole world.

Living between verses 47 and 48!

45 Immediately after this Jesus instructed his disciples to get back into the boat and strike out across the lake to Bethsaida, where he would join them later. He himself would stay and tell the crowds good-bye and get them started home. 46 Afterwards he went up into the hills to pray. 47 During the night, as the disciples in their boat were out in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land, 48 he saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning he walked out to them on the water. He started past them, 49 but when they saw something walking along beside them, they screamed in terror, thinking it was a ghost, 50 for they all saw him. But he spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” he said. “It is I! Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat and the wind stopped! They just sat there, unable to take it in! 52 For they still didn’t realize who he was, even after the miracle the evening before! For they didn’t want to believe! 

Food for thought!

This is a revealing gospel. Jesus made his disciples get into the boat that was bound for a storm! Think about it: it was Jesus that sent them into it. Why would he do this to his beloved disciples? Why does Jesus send us into storms and problems and difficulties? Well, I think the answer is at the end of the same gospel: “The disciples just sat there, unable to take it in! **For they still didn’t realize who he was, even after the miracle the evening before! For they didn’t want to believe!**”

Note that Jesus sent the disciples out into the storm alone. Even as he was ascending the mountainside to pray, he could feel and hear the gale’s force. Jesus was not ignorant of the storm. He was aware that a torrent was coming. But he didn’t turn around. The disciples were left to face the storm . . . alone. The greatest storm that night was not in the sky; it was in the disciples’ hearts. The greatest fear was not from seeing the storm-driven waves; it came from seeing the back of their leader as he left them for prayer.

Surely Jesus will help us, they might have thought. Surely he will come down the mountain. But he didn’t. Their arms began to ache from rowing. Still no sign of Jesus. Three hours. Four hours. The winds raged. The boat bounced. Still no Jesus. Midnight comes. Their eyes searched for God— in vain. And the Master is nowhere to be found. “Where is he?” cried one. “Has he forgotten us?” yelled another. “He feeds thousands of strangers and yet leaves us to die?” muttered a third. Does all of this sound similar? Do you sometimes feel like the disciples?

Jesus came. He finally came; he always comes. But between verse 47 — being buffeted by waves — and verse 48 — when Jesus appeared— a thousand questions are asked. Questions you have probably asked too. Perhaps you know the feeling of being suspended between verses 47 and 48. Maybe you’re right now between verses 47 and 48, struggling with a crisis, a problem, a difficulty. You know that Jesus knows what you are going through. You know that he’s aware of your storm. But as hard as you look to find him, you can’t see him. Maybe your heart, like the disciples’ hearts, has been hardened by unmet expectations. They just sat there, unable to take it in! For they still didn’t realize who he was, even after the miracle the evening before! For they didn’t want to believe!