When Jesus was on Earth, He chose to speak in parables.  This was in keeping with the LORD telling Isaiah how he would speak to his fellow Israelites (Isaiah 6:9-10): 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of […]

Throughout the gospels we’re told of how large crowds would follow Jesus.  The word crowd appears in 14 of Mark’s 16 chapters.  In the short passage we’re looking at this week (Mark 3:7-35) we are told of two different times where Jesus encountered crowds.  On one occasion there were so many people crowding around Jesus and his […]

‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild’, so goes the opening lines of the hymn authored by Charles Wesley but is he? On any impartial reading of the gospels, the answer is ‘yes and no’. Last week, we saw vividly Jesus’ gentleness and compassion for the leper and his suffering. Who could forget his tender response to […]

In Mark 1:40-41, we read, “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. ‘If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,’ he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be healed!’ (emphasis mine). Mark tells us Jesus wasn’t just […]

Right at the start of his gospel, Mark unequivocally makes the claim that Jesus is not only the “Christ”, or the “Messiah” but even more provocatively, He is the “Son of God”. The Messiah was understood by most Jews to be a powerful political leader who would deliver Israel from its oppressors but he would […]