And s we witness the death of Jesus… which has a profound effect on the world around Him… not only on the Roman centurion who was stationed nearby… but even on the physical aspects of the temple as the curtain is ripped from top to bottom.
Join me as i look at Mark 15 from verse 33 to 47 and share some thoughts on these things:
[For links to the whole series on the book of Mark so far, click here.]
Today’s Mark passage is a little bit different to what we are used to and i would encourage you to wait until you have decent reflection time before watching it – don’t rush through this one – rather make a time to simply reflect and listen and feel and respond.
Join me as i look at Mark 15 from verse 16 to 32:
[For the next passage and a look at how Jesus’ death impacted the world around Him, click here]
Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate and doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in defending his case [we could learn a LOT there, right?] and perhaps gives us a glimpse of the idea that following Him may often entail swimming against the current we find ourselves in.
Join me as I continue on with Mark 15 from verse 1 to 15:
[For the next passage in Mark and a reflection on Jesus’ death on the cross, click here]
Wow. Boom. Things just got real people.
Having just witnessed Simon Peter’s ‘Life or Death’ declaration of absolute faithfulness to Jesus at the Last Supper, we now have this follow up story where Peter is denying Jesus left, right and centre… until suddenly, the piercing sound of a rooster is heard…
Join me as i work through Mark 14.66-72:
[For the next passage which sees Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate, click here]
Continuing our journey with Mark as we head towards the end of Jesus’ life as He heads for the garden where He will be arrested and then later tried.
i take some time to look at what He does or maybe more importantly what He doesn’t do – what He says and what He doesn’t say, to see where we can learn how we can and should respond in similiar flavoured circumstances:.
Join me as we take a look at Mark 14 from 43 to 65:
[For the next passage in Mark looking at Peter denying Jesus, click here]
As we continue on with Mark, we have this very interesting passage that might leave us wondering why Jesus kept the disciples around.
But then if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably be super glad that He did. [and does!]
Join me as we look at Mark 14. 27-42 and maybe take a moment to thank God that He uses the foolish of the world to confound the wise…
[For the next part of the story where Jesus heads to the garden and is arrested, click here]
This is such a short baby of a psalm that it is worth publishing the whole thing here:
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
This Psalm is a great reminder of what the kingdom of God is all about and what – in too many respects – christianity has become for so many.
We LOVE verse one. Verse one is our theology: May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us
But we certainly like to end it there – it’s all about meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Jesus, and all this is for meeeeeeeeee, for my glory and my fame….
However, this psalm DOES have a verse 2: so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
There doesn’t seem to be a cheese-free way of saying this [and for that i humbly apologise], but the reason it is suitably named ‘history’ is because it is in fact ‘His story’ – the story of life is one about God and yet how quickly we continue to bring it back to being all about us…
Verse 3 should be our prayer and our cry: May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
And the rest is just beautiful. This is a delightful, happy, inspiring little psalm.
When God is praised and when we realise and live out that the story is about Him, it does result in us being blessed and in nations being glad…
Irresistibly Fish 