Mark

In trying to understand something new, we compare it to something we already know.  That is why Jesus used parables.  Telling a story which people easily identified, He linked it with new teaching which shared the same principles.  These verses follow a discussion about fasting which had become a religious obsession (Mark 2:18-20), sometimes up to two or three days a week (Luke 18:12), even though the Mosaic law only demanded fasting on one day a year (Leviticus 23:27).  

Have you ever felt you are being watched?  It is a simple fact that Jesus and His people are more noticed than you think.  If you are learning how to live the Jesus way - people will definitely be watching.  Following controversy about Jesus forgiving sins (Mark 2:1-12), eating with unholy people (Mark 2:13-17), failing to demand fasting of His disciples (Mark 2:18-22) – Jesus was under close scrutiny wherever He went.  He was a significant threat to the religious establishment, but the crowds loved Him because He healed the sick and exorcised the demonised.  So, wh

When you are challenged about what God thinks, says or does, the Bible is the only sensible reference point.  The best way to deal with opinions about God, is with God's Word.  That was what Jesus did when He was challenged by Satan's wrong opinions of Him and Father God (Matthew 4:4, 6, 7).  Jesus uses the same approach with the religious leaders and legal experts when they accused Him of not keeping religious rules.  He pointed them back to the Bible which they claimed to understand.

Normal people feel tired at the end of the day.  We are supposed to!  Even Jesus did in His human body (Mark 4:38).  Despite the corporate eagerness to outdo colleagues in how long they stay at work, we are not designed to be perpetual motion machines.  Only God can carry on for ever with the same energy and accuracy.  So, thinking that we can - amounts to idolatry.  Although Jesus was being criticised for breaking the petty, man-made religious rules which surrounded the Sabbath in Jesus' day (Mark 2:18-3:5), He spoke into the heart of God's intention when He s

Jesus was nobody's fool.

Like the law of gravity, all God's laws simply express how His creation (both physical and moral) is designed to operate.  They clearly define what will work and what will not.  But like multiple layers of paint that hide the original of an old masterpiece, petty rules (that 'gold plate' God's original instructions), lose sight of what God originally intended.  Jesus faced the criticism of religious leaders for even thinking about healing a disabled man on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-3).  Christ's action would restore the hand deformity, enabling the person to live and work ag

God does not watch benignly when people resist His truth.  He certainly loves them, but He is angry at their sin and distressed by their stubbornness.  The Bible says that such people are storing up God's wrath against themselves (Romans 2:5).  The background to today's verses is found in Mark 2:23-3:4.  The religious leaders wrongly believed that Jesus was not keeping the Sabbath in the way they liked; even though the Son of God had been the Chief Executive of creation (Colossians 1:15-17).  So, the next time He came into the synagogue they watched, wondering what

The gospel story is a moving one - literally!  Jesus moved to call disciples ... they moved from their jobs to follow Him ...

Jesus and His disciples had withdrawn from the crowd around the synagogue, to the lakeside near Capernaum; however, the people followed Him (Mark 3:7).  They knew that Jesus was a healer (Mark 2:1-12; 3:1-6).

Although priests and politicians could not work out who Jesus was - evil spirits had no such problem.  These fallen angels instantly recognised the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, the appointed King of God's Kingdom.  They knew that ultimate power was not in their hands or Satan's: the arrival of Jesus announced that their days of evil were numbered because He would finally destroy them (Mark 1:24).