God does not stop saving His people!
On the Great Vigil of Easter, we hear the stories of God's mighty acts of salvation, all leading to His greatest salvation: the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the defeat of sin, and the overcoming of death itself.
All of scripture is intended to teach us about God's character, and his character is one of rescue and salvation.
What story are you telling? The crowds on Palm Sunday knew what Jesus was doing, and so they knew what He was supposed to do when he arrived. But, He didn't fulfill their expectations. He was telling a different story.
Uncomfortable Decisions
In John 12, some Greeks wanted to see Jesus. For Philip, this was uncomfortable. For Jesus, this was a signal that the time had come for the completion of his mission. Moving on to suffer and die was not comfortable, but it was also not a hard choice. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.
As He accomplished His mission of salvation, He made it possible for us to also make uncomfortable decisions.
The feeding of the 5000 may be the most well-known of Jesus' miracles. In John 6, Jesus takes his following from a mega-church to a home church with one hard teaching, and we can see four different types of followers, who were seeking different things from Jesus. The invitation for all of us is to acknowledge our current place, and seek deeper things.
In John 2, Jesus cleanses the Temple. The center of Jewish life, faith, history, and hope was intended to be a place of worship and prayer. When Jesus arrived for the passover, it was a busy market.
As Jesus clears the moneychangers and salespeople out of the Temple, he shows us about real faith and the real temple.
Muck.
We want to avoid it. Peter wanted to avoid it. Just when the disciples realized exactly who Jesus was, he started to talk to them about the road of pain, suffering, rejection, and death. They were about to head to Jersusalem, where Jesus would accomplish salvation for God's people. But the road was not an easy one.
Transformation. That's what it's all about for us - being changed into the likeness of Jesus.
Today, we celebrate a baptism and testimonies of growth, and watch the transformation of God in our lives. We also looked at the Transfiguration of Jesus, at the pivot of his life from teaching into suffering. This event accomplished many things, but one of them was the transformation of Peter, James, and John.
When Jesus leaves the synagogue in Capernaum, word is spreading. He begins healing people, and crowds gather. The whole village, it seems, wants to see him, to be healed, to have unclean spirits cast out.
So why does He leave?
Mark 1:29-39
Life with Christ - Authority
Odd things can happen in public worship. At one of Jesus' early synagogue teachings, a demon possessed man stood up and began making a disruption! Yet, the focus of the text is not on the exorcism, but on the authority of Jesus. Jesus has authority over the mind and the body.
Mark 1:21-28
Information, Implication, Application.
This three step process is how we understand and live with new information. Jesus arrives on the scene in Mark 1:14-20 making some big claims. "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom is at hand." This statement, if true, requires all people to repent, and for us each to consider what that looks like in our lives.