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Mark

Trinity 21 ’24

So we’ve been working our way through this section of Mark’s Gospel for a few weeks and perhaps you’re getting a sense of Déjà vu. A few weeks ago we heard the reading about the disciples arguing about who was the greatest. And since then all sorts of things have happened, and lots of what we’ve been looking at has in some way linked back to that theme of pride. But now here we are with James and John requesting to sit in the places of honour beside Jesus when he is King. It’s like we’re back to square one.

Trinity 20 ’24

This passage is a challenging one. It’s one of those ones where Jesus says something hard, something which we’d either like to ignore or explain away. And in it Jesus gives us two challenges, one for us as individuals, and one for us as a community about our attitude to our money, possessions and the things of this world.

Trinity 19 ’24

Our Gospel reading today is a famous one. Jesus welcoming the children has become the subject of plenty of artwork, stained glass windows, children’s Bible covers. As well as being the tagline for Diocesan and other church strategies down the years. And yes Jesus welcoming children is important, a surface level reading is no bad thing. We kid ourselves about our future if we aren’t willing to welcome children and their families to church. But there’s something much deeper going on in this passage, something which should challenge us all.
How do we receive the Kingdom of God like a child?

Trinity 17 ’24

There are two conversations happening as Jesus and the 12 are travelling. Jesus is explaining to the 12 about his coming betrayal, death and resurrection. He’s letting them know again what the endgame is here…The second conversation happening on the road is between the 12. They’re arguing about who is the greatest, who is the most important…The two conversations couldn’t be more different. Here’s Jesus saying ‘I’m going to be betrayed, die and rise again’ meanwhile they’re going ‘great Jesus, now which of us gets to be deputy, how should we organise ourselves into different rankings’.

Trinity 16 ’24

Up until now the Mark’s Gospel, his biography of Jesus, has been characterised by crowds pressing in to hear Jesus, by parables and miracles. We’re seeing the power of Jesus and the draw of Jesus. But now he’s reached as far north as he will go. Caesarea Phillippi is pretty much the furthest you can go without leaving the historic bounds of Israel. And so it is here that Jesus physically turns around. But this incident at Caesarea Philippi is a turning point in more than just the physical sense, it’s the turning point of the Gospel; narratively, in the lives of the disciples, and in our own lives.

Trinity 14 ’24

Who is truly good? And if we’re not, how do we sort ourselves out? Get our lives the way they need to be? More than that, how do we get right with God?
Imagine if you will the holiest person you know. I’m not going to define holiness for you, there is a definition of course but for now, in your eyes, imagine the person you know who you’d say is the holiest. Chances are you’re thinking about someone who you see to be good in some way.

Trinity 8 ’24

And what we find, and what Jesus has recognised in them, is that they’re hungry. Not for physical food (although that happens in the middle of these passages), but for spiritual food, spiritual sustenance. They’re not being cared for, not being fed. To the point that they will race a boat around a lake to ensure they get more, to keep hearing more of what Jesus has to say. And he is moved with compassion. Moved to do something about their state. And so he begins to feed them. Not with bread, but with his teaching. Here are a people who are spiritually starving, and so he feeds them. As Mark records; he begins to teach them many things.
Is that us?

Trinity 7 ’24

Rumours are growing about this Jesus, and all that he’s doing. And people are beginning to theorise about his importance, who he might be. But Herod, the pretender King who sits upon the throne, he recognises in Jesus something of what he has encountered before, he recognises in Jesus something of the forerunner, something of John the Baptist. And we see in this short narrative both the cost of discipleship, and the response we might find to the Gospel, to Jesus.

Trinity 6 ’24

Our Gospel reading today builds on a theme which we picked up a few weeks ago, the failure to recognise who Jesus is. Because a few chapters earlier Mark had already dropped the hint this would happen, when he describes alongside the opposition of the religious leaders that Jesus’ family also arrive, coming to take him away because they think he’s gone mad. And I said back on that week that is seems that ‘Neither proximity to Jesus, nor great religious learning are sure fire ways to faith’ and here we see the former demonstrated starkly.

Trinity 3 ’24

If you’ve worked on a farm or are a keen gardener the imagery Jesus uses in this parable will be familiar. Even if you’re not it might be. It seems at the moment that when I mow the lawn, get it all nice and neat, that in no time at all, seemingly if I just blink, it’s sprouted up and become a meadow again. Growth, particularly at this time of year, just happens. And Jesus uses this image of growth, how plants and crops, and even trees grow with little intervention from us, as an image of what the Kingdom is like.