Fri 17th Apr: #22. 3 stripes and a long tongue
Mark 1
40 A man with leprosy came to Him [Jesus] and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to Him from everywhere.
No one wants to be different. From the time that we are born, we want to fit in, whether this be in the school playground or the staff common room at work. I remember wanting ‘Adidas Kick’ trainers as an eight year old because all my mates had them. They were super cool with the 3 white stripes, long tongue and super duper grips. One day my mother came home with new trainers, I couldn’t wait to wear them. Unfortunately, these trainers had 4 white stripes, a short tongue and most of all they were NOT Adidas Kick!
In today’s reading there was a man who didn’t fit in because it wasn’t his trainers (or sandals) that didn’t fit in but his whole body. He had leprosy that as we know was a skin disease that was highly contagious. He would have lived outside the town and no one would go near him.
However, one day was like no other for this man because he met Jesus. When he met Jesus, He dealt with his leprosy immediately.
When we read this section of Mark we can be shocked by Mark describing Jesus response to the man as he says ‘Jesus was indignant’. Many scholars here say that when Jesus says these words He is expressing His thoughts about what sin has done to this world and in this instance what sin has done in making this man be in the situation he is in with leprosy.
Jesus here is full of compassion, He feels the pain and isolation of this man, this is why He is described as ‘indignant’.
This is our Lord who we follow today, He is indignant or filled with compassion and He has done something about it as He takes the sin of the world on Himself on Calvary’s hillside.
Here’s a song that reminds us of this ultimate compassion-
Filled with compassion for all creation,
Jesus came into a world that was lost.
There was but one way that He could save us,
Only through suffering death on a cross.*
much love
Tim
Thurs 16th Apr: 21. everything is against me
Have you ever felt that everything is against you? Have you ever said this? I guess most of us have at some point. Even as believers in God!
Jacob, in the Old Testament, was a true believer in God. He did some bad things in his life and hurt other people, but God had mercy on him. And Jacob had amazing experiences of God. He once saw a stairway reaching from earth up to heaven with Angels of God ascending and descending on it. He described his experience as being at ‘the gate of heaven’ (Gen 28v17). And once he had a wrestling match with the Angel of the Lord and Jacob wouldn’t let him go until he was blessed by him. Jacob described this experience as seeing God ‘face to face’ (Gen 32v30). Such deep experiences of God made Jacob a godly man who could say towards the end of his life, ‘the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty' (Gen 47v9). And that’s how he saw his life... a pilgrimage to heaven: a pilgrim travelling home to God.
Now surely such a man of God would never say ‘everything is against me'? But he did! After experiencing severe trials regarding his children he exclaimed ‘everything is against me!’ (Gen 42v36). Yes indeed godly believers do at times say these things. And at certain times it is exactly how we feel...
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year...
But as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ we know this is not the whole truth. We may blurt out with godly Jacob ‘everything is against me', but on reflection we say with the Apostle Paul, ‘what, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’ (Romans 8v31,32)
And we need to learn to bring two things together: how we feel and what God says. The whole truth is not just how we feel. Yet it is a truth. But bring the truth of God’s promise into how you feel so that you get the whole truth.
Us: ‘Everything is against me!’
God: ‘if God is for us, who can be against us?’
And remember that Jesus is our Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us'. And therefore he continually sings to us ‘I'll be there for you...’
Love from Paul.
Wed 15th Apr: 20. I think we’re alone now
Mark 1:35-39 NIV
[35] Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. [36] Simon and his companions went to look for Him, [37] and when they found Him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” [38] Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else---to the nearby villages---so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” [39] So He travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons …
There’s a song that has reappeared on the radio 2 playlist after 33 years. The song is by a singer called Tiffany and the song is called ‘I think we’re alone now’.
It speaks into our times now because many people are alone. Did you know that as a disciple of Jesus you are never alone. Jesus is always with you (through His spirit) but we take this privilege for granted.
In our reading today Jesus chose to be alone but not really alone because He was with his Father. Jesus knew that being alone with His Father was an essential part of who He was. Whilst with His Father He spoke to Him - He prayed!
Jesus knew that in order to face the day He had to spend time with His Father (alone).
Jesus knew that the day ahead would be tiring (people are tiring), He would be preaching (this drains you) and He would be in battles with demons (I’m sure this was hard work). Jesus needed spiritual fuel and so the best place to go for spiritual fuel was the One who is the source of this fuel.
Like Jesus, go to the source today. He will fill you when you are dry and he will help you to face all the challenges of the day.
A closing thought -
All truth, no grace... we dry up
All grace, no truth... we blow up
Truth and grace... we grow up
Much love
Tim
Tues 14th Apr: 19. Manasseh and Ephraim
We all go through troubles. Some more than others. Some more intensely than others. Some more frequently than others. Some seem to have troubles repeatedly. Joseph, of technicoloroured dreamcoat fame, went through trouble after trouble as his brothers beat him up, sold him to slave traders, became a slave in Egypt, was falsely accused, imprisoned and forgotten. You would think his mind would be twisted with bitterness and his heart pumping with rage. Yet he called his firstborn son Manasseh and said ‘it is because God has made me forget all my trouble...’ (Genesis 41v51).
And you would think that those troubles would make him spend his days licking his wounds and feeling sorry for himself; that those troubles would ruin his life, making him withdraw from everyone and spending his days feeling useless, demotivated and purposeless. But he called his second child Ephraim and said ‘it is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’ (Genesis 41v52).
Whatever our troubles and suffering during these strange, frustrating, restrictive, frightening and dark days, may God bring you through it making you fruitful for him and forgetting the troubles you had.
1 Peter 1:3-7 — Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Love from Paul
Mon 13th Apr: 18. No joke for the mother-in-law
Recently, a well known comic died of Covid-19 (Eddie Large). Another well known comic from another decade was Les Dawson. He was a brilliant pianist and part of his act was to play the right notes at the wrong time in a piece of music, something I am told that is very hard to do. His act also included jokes and the main subject was his mother-in-law.
In today’s reading Jesus meets the mother-in-law of one of his disciples. The mother in law was suffering with a fever and it was no joke-
[29] As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. [30] Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. [31] So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. [32] That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. [33] The whole town gathered at the door, [34] and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. …
Mark 1:29-34 NIV
We all know how distressing it is when a loved one is sick. We are helpless and we long for the sickness to go away. When Simon told Jesus about his mother-in-law, I wonder what he thought Jesus would do?
When Jesus meets the lady he simply ‘took her hand and helped her up’. The sign that she had been made well was that ‘she began to wait on them’.
That same evening many of the sick and demon possessed went to Jesus to be healed.
Yet through this time it is only the demons who know who Jesus is.
In our passage today, Mark is showing us Jesus’ authority over sickness and the demonic. Jesus is in control of these things that make the men and women helpless but he is also in control of His name and actions being known by the masses. He doesn’t want to be known simply as a miracle worker who just deals with their physical needs. Jesus knows that the biggest need for someone is to be right with God. Something that will be seen as we continue in this gospel.
Our greatest need isn’t our sickness but being right with God. Get right with God today, it’s no joke if you don’t!
Tim