To follow Jesus is to surrender one’s entire life to him, and to walk wherever he leads with no questions asked – Mark 10:17-31.
One day, a young rich man approached Jesus to ask what he should do to inherit everlasting life. Here, the reader is confronted with the cost of discipleship. In the version in Matthew, the man is labeled “young.” In Luke, he is a “ruler,” presumably, of the local synagogue. And his haste to ask this question points to his sincerity.
Continue readingOpponents questioned Jesus about divorce to trap him, but he used the issue to teach the higher ways of the Kingdom – Mark 10:1-16.
In Mark and Matthew, Jesus was confronted by religious opponents about the issue of divorce, but this was done to trap him with his own words. They did not intend to solicit an all-encompassing ruling on divorce from him. In Mark, the incident is another in a series of confrontations between Jesus and the religious establishment associated with the Temple.
Continue readingTo be his disciple means to pursue self-sacrificial service for others, and especially so to the weak and insignificant.
On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus explained to the disciples what it meant to be the Messiah, and not for the first time, for in the city of David, he would face his final confrontation with the Temple authorities and death at the hands of the Romans. Was not that city the appointed place where the prophets were killed, and the Messiah himself must suffer rejection and death?
Continue readingTo be a disciple means taking up the cross daily and following in Christ’s footsteps, even if doing so means death – Mark 6:7-30.
Jesus commissioned the twelve disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God throughout the region. And in Mark, their commissioning is followed by the execution of John the Baptist to prepare the reader for the rejection that will result from following Jesus. To walk in his footsteps, one must first count the cost to have any hope of seeing that journey through to the end.
Continue readingForgiveness links the call of the tax collector to the preceding story, the authority of Jesus to discharge sins – Mark 2:13-17.
When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins “discharged,” he offended the religious sensibilities of the scribes and Pharisees. In this next story, he alienated the men from Jerusalem further by associating his ministry with “sinners,” men who were considered especially ritually unclean by many of the more religious leaders of the Jewish nation.
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