Today's Reading

Mark 3:22-35

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons." And he called them to him and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you." And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."

A Quick reflection

on today's reading....

On of my favorite verses in Scripture is Mark 3:21; And when His family heard it they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, "He is out of His mind!"

When we view Jesus, and some followers of Jesus, there can be a tendency to not understand. To think there its just not right - something just isn't clicking here. His own family saw Him, saw how he responded out of His compassion for others and thought - this just isn't natural. Because, in a society that looked down on those on the fringe (you know, like lepers, paralytics, whores and drug addicts, murderers, liars and thieves where only the proud survive) giving so completely of yourself that you even neglect your own self care ("they could not even eat," v.20) had to appear as lunacy.

Sometimes, when God brings someone into my path, you know - someone from the fringe of society, and asks me to give up my time, my comfort, my peace, - even my dinner - I can respond as if "He is out of His mind!" Even when I don't want to.

That's why this is my favorite verse! Its the reminder that when I think like the world - Jesus does not make sense. Following some dude who was executed for His crimes (or perceived crimes) who claimed He was/is God and his followers claim rose from the dead after being in a stinking grave for three days, does not make sense.

Yet, Romans 12:1-2; reminds us that every day we have the opportunity to think anew. That everyday, our minds can be changed, that our thinking does not have to be stale or stagnant, but that it and we can be transformed so that when we are presented with the opportunity to minister to those on the fringes, we are already there.

This will not happen unless we doggedly pursue Jesus, as His disciples and those who experienced healing did, and we become willing to give up anything asked of us in order to be with Him. Even our dinner!

Today's Reading and a question....

Does God seem to be emphasizing a particular theme to you in this season of your life?

Mark 3:1-21

A Man with a Withered Hand

1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.

2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here."

4 And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent.

5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea

8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him,

10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."

12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.

14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach

15 and have authority to cast out demons.

16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);

17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);

18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,

19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.

21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He is out of his mind."

Today's Reading and a question....

How full are your emotional, physical and spiritual fuel tanks? Are they near empty, quarter filled, half filled, three-quarters filled or full?

Mark 2

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.

3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

7 "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question these things in your hearts?

9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'?

10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--he said to the paralytic--

11 "I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home."

12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

Jesus Calls Levi

13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.

14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him.

15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

A Question About Fasting

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins--and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins."

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

25 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:

26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?"

27 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Today's Reading and a quick question....

What’s the freshest thing God is currently doing or has recently done in your life?

Mark 1:23-45

23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,

24 "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God."

25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"

26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.

27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."

28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many

29 And immediately heleft the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

30 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.

31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.

33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door.

34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him,

37 and they found him and said to him, "Everyone is looking for you."

38 And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out."

39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."

41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean."

42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once,

44 and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them."

45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Todays Reading

Mark 1:1-22

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,"Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,

3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

7 And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

The Temptation of Jesus

12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,

15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men."

18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.

20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.

22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

Today's Reading

Matthew 28

The Resurrection

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you."

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

The Report of the Guard

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.

12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers

13 and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.'

14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."

15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

The Great Commission

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."