+
nline with
Jesus -
A Bible
(In case you missed them, the
last two readings follow this one )
Prayer;
+ In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Lord, open my eyes that I may
see wonderful things out of your word. Amen.
Today's Reading:
Jesus answers those who
think Him mad or possessed .
Mark 3; 20-30
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a
crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they
went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
22 And the teachers of the law who came
down from
23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them
in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a
house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is
divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no-one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his
possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and
blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be
forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." 30 He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil
spirit."
Meditation for the Day
Jesus is causing such a
stir, that His family now come and try and restrain Him ,
treating Him as a madman. Worse still, teachers of the law are arriving from
the headquarters of Jewish religious power in
However, Jesus makes it
clear that true deliverance cannot come from Satan, and that it is God who is
'tying up the strong man' and setting people free from their bondages. Jesus
gives a solemn warning about calling the work of the Holy Spirit ungodly, which
is also a warning to us to be slow to call any expression of God's heart,
however unusual, a work of the enemy, a trait which, unfortunately, has dogged
the
Prayer;
Lord Jesus Christ, all
power is given to you in heaven and earth to destroy the works of the devil.
Please keep me from calling anything evil which is bringing glory to Your Name
through the power of the Holy Spirit . Amen.
If you have any questions about today's reading, please send me them on colin@cce.uk.net
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Yesterday's reading
Jesus enlarges His
outreach through His mission team.
Mark 3; 7-19
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the
lake, and a large crowd from
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and
called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve -- designating them
apostles -- that they might be with him and that he might send them out to
preach 15 and to have authority to drive out
demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon
(to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the
name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus,
Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Meditation for the Day
Jesus' mission was
attracting people from all over the Palestinian territory; it must have been so
tiring, to cope with the constant press of men and women's need. He even uses a
boat to prevent Him from being overwhelmed by the crowds. Here we see Jesus
severely limited by His physical capacity, even though demons are still being
expelled and people healed.
Jesus now retreats to a
mountainside, where He appoints His team who will expand the ministry, and give
Him some much-needed help. These He designates 'apostles', from the Greek word,
apostello, to send out. They are not 'supersaints' or 'big-name Church officers'. Put simply, the
Greek term 'apostle' finds a correspondence with the Latin-rooted word
'missionary', which sounds less potent, but is what they were, sent-out ones.
And they were a mixed
bunch; fishermen, political activists, former traitors, and one who would prove
treacherous at the end. He chose them, first, 'to be with Him' - then to go
out. We can really only go when we know how to be with Him. Then we know in
whose authority we go to heal the sick and dismiss evil in His name.
Prayer;
Lord Jesus Christ, You
have chosen to work through me, a fallible person .
May I have times to be with You, so that I can always
go for You in the power and authority of Your Word. In Your
name. Amen.
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Reading from Two Days Ago;
Religious intolerance
rebuffed by Jesus.
Mark 3; 1-6
1 Another time he went into the synagogue,
and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason
to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the
Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, "Stand up in
front of everyone."
4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is
lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to
save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
5 He looked round at them in anger and,
deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out
your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to
plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Meditation for the Day
Jesus' run-in with the
bigoted, religious thought-police brings him face to face with their
intolerance and hypocrisy. Will He allow the dogmas of men to hinder His
bringing in of the
It's important to see
here, though, Jesus' attitude to his opponents. First, He was angry; anger is a
natural human emotion, given to us to give us power to step in and right
perceived wrongs. It gave Jesus the impetus to heal the man despite his
critics. However, Jesus is also 'deeply distressed' (Greek has, 'grieved with
them') because of their hard hearts - He feels for them as well, not rejecting them
as people.
The outcome is an unholy
alliance to get rid of Jesus , between the ultra-orthodox Pharisees and the
politically liberal Herodians, who were only
interested in keeping the peace so that the puppet government of Herod in
Galilee was not taken over by the Roman governor, something which had already
happened in the southern province of Judea.
Prayer;
Lord Jesus Christ, You
felt what we feel. You know I get angry about some things in my life; teach me
to work with anger in a positive way, as you did, and keep me from hitting out
at people whom you love . In Your name. Amen.
f you
have any questions about any of the readings, please send me them on colin@cce.uk.net
Bible passages © New
International Version ; Prayers and Meditations © Colin Symes 2007
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