Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

We’ve been looking at Mark’s gospel, his account of Jesus’ life.  

After Jesus forgave and healed a paralytic, we find him down by the seashore, where he met a tax collector named Levi. “Follow me,” Jesus said. Levi followed and launched his new job with a  party, inviting old friends and new (Mark 3:13-15). 

This gave the Bible scholars a new reason to complain. “Jesus claims to be a righteous follower of God,” they said, “but look who he’s eating with. People who aren’t even interested in God or living a righteousness.” 

Jesus replied, “A doctor is for the sick, not the healthy. I’m not calling righteous people, I’m calling sinners.” 

Sinners? Levi the tax collector? Yes, he qualified. But the Bible scholars didn’t think they qualified. They knew they were righteous, and they wanted to teach Jesus how to be righteous. Like them, I have spent a lifetime studying how to be righteous. I wonder if Jesus is impressed.  

Back in Mark’s story, we find someone asking Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples fast? Like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do.” 

Jesus replied with picture stories. 

First he said, when the bridegroom is with the wedding guests, it’s time for feasting, not fasting. But when the bridegroom is taken away, then my disciples will fast (Mark 3:20). 

An odd picture of Jesus’ ministry. He’s like a groom at a wedding and expects to be taken away, leaving his disciples on their own? 

Second, Jesus said, Don’t patch old clothes with new cloth, because it shrinks and destroys the garment. Don’t put new wine in old wineskins, because it ferments and bursts the skins (Mark 3:21-22). 

Two comments. 

1. Jesus was an entrepreneur, starting a new religion. The Bible scholars and Pharisees objected because they liked the old religion. But the tax collector was flexible. He was ready to party with the bridegroom, to drink the wine of a new teaching, to let Jesus patch his old garment.

2. There’s a puzzle in Jesus’ vision of newness. He predicted the party would end, the bridegroom would leave, and the disciples would resume fasting. Did Jesus have a clear plan for starting a new religion, or would it eventually look like the old religion, warmed over? 

Stay tuned. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, Jesus brought new wine. He rejected the wisdom of the Bible scholars and clergy. He welcomed tax collectors and commoners. But he predicted he’d go away, and his followers would resume the old spiritual disciplines. 

O father, we have listened to Jesus’ 2,000-year-old gospel, followed his 2,000-year-old religion, and affirmed the 2,000-year-old traditions his disciples practiced and recorded in scripture. But we need new wisdom for today, and new life, and patches on our old garments, and new wine in our wineskins. 

O Jesus, call us like you called the tax collector. Do your righteous work in our unrighteous lives. Free us from our petrified opinions. Free us from the mistakes of our tradition. Invite us to a new party, a new theology, a new way of life. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

We’ve been looking at Mark’s gospel and its stories about Jesus the Messiah (Mark 1:1). To date, Jesus has become Galilee’s most famous healer and exorcist. 

In Mark 2, the story gets weird. Goes like this. Jesus was preaching to a full house and four men show up with a paralyzed friend on a stretcher. Unable to get through the crowd, they hoist the stretcher to the roof, dig an opening, and lower the man to Jesus. 

Jesus saw the friends’ faith and said to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven.”  

Question. Who said anything about sin? Why would sin be on Jesus’ mind? 

The Bible scholars in the crowd also had a question. Only God can forgive sins, they said. Who does this poser think he is? 

Jesus, sensing their displeasure, asked, “What’s easier? To say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” 

Then Jesus said, “I am the Son of Man. I have authority to forgive sins. Watch me prove it.” He turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Get up and walk.” To the crowd’s amazement and the consternation of the scholars, that’s exactly what the man did.

Here are four comments on this story: 

1. Mark doesn’t say the paralyzed man had faith. He says Jesus saw the faith of the stretcher-bearing friends. I need friends like that if. If your faith is strong, maybe you can put in a good word for me. 

2. This is the first time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus talks about sin. John, who preceded Jesus, told people to confess their sins and be baptized. Jesus’ procedure? Different. He doesn’t ask the man to confess anything. He just forgives him.

Forgiveness created a problem for the scholars. God can forgive sins. But why does Jesus, who is obviously not God, offer forgiveness? The scholars don’t buy his line. To them, he’s overreaching. He’s a fraud. 

3. This is the first hint in Mark that Jesus’ popularity has limits. People who need healing love him. Bible scholars, not so much. 

4. This is the first of 13 times in Mark’s gospel where Jesus calls himself “the Son of Man”. In the Old Testament, God addressed the prophet Ezekiel 93 times as “son of man”. By borrowing Ezekiel’s name, Jesus positions himself as a prophet, someone who speaks God’s message to the local population. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, this passage introduces new words to us. The word faith, which we and our modern Bible scholars have complicated almost beyond belief. But in this story, faith is just four people who bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. 

And the passage introduces the term Son of Man, which recalls Ezekiel’s special relationship with you, God, and which Jesus associated with his ability to forgive sins. But Jesus didn’t explain his relationship with you. He just lived it out as he traveled and preached and healed. And forgave sins.

O human Jesus, Son of Man, bring to our lives and our churches your human presence. Bring good news and healing to our friends and forgiveness for our sins. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In the last few episodes, we’ve been looking at Mark’s gospel, a good news story about Jesus the Messiah (Mark 1:1). In the story, Jesus told four fishermen to follow him. Then he traveled around Galilee preaching, healing, and exorcizing demons.   

So far, only the demons recognized Jesus as the son of God. Jesus told them to keep quiet because he didn’t want publicity from them! (Mark 1:34). This leaves us wondering when someone else, perhaps the disciples, will figure out who Jesus is. 

Early one morning, Jesus went away to pray. When the disciples woke up, they found him and said, “Everyone is looking for you” (Mark 1:37). 

Jesus replied, “Let’s go to other villages. I need to preach to more people!” (Mark 1:39). 

Along the way, a leper knelt before Jesus and said, “If you are willing, you can heal me” (Mark 1:40). Jesus said, “I am willing.”

Then, weirdly, Jesus said, “Don’t talk about your getting cured to anyone. Just go to the priests. They will give you a cleansing-from-leprosy ritual.” But this guy, running on adrenaline, had no patience to go see the priests. He’s seen Jesus, and that’s all he needs. So he tells everyone who will listen the good news about his healing.

Mark says the consequence of this man’s enthusiastic storytelling is that Jesus couldn’t enter a town openly, so he stayed outside in lonely places, far from the maddening crowds. 

I present three comments on these stories. 

1. I like it that Jesus found a solitary place to pray. Maybe we should do that too. 

2. I like the leper’s request, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” If leprosy is a metaphor for sin, then I pray the leper’s prayer every day. But I’ve not received an immediate, radical healing like the leper. Perhaps Jesus wants me to live out a process of healing.   

3. Mark mentions Jesus’ growing fame numerous times. When he cast out a demon, the news spread rapidly. After he healed Simon’s mother-in-law, the whole town gathered at the door. After the disciples found him praying, they said, “Everyone is looking for you!” 

And the leper spread his good news so enthusiastically that Mark blames him for a surge in Jesus’ popularity. 

Mark’s last comment, which closes chapter 1, says that even though Jesus looked for solitude, people still came to him from everywhere (Mark 1:45). 

I wonder. Is this much popularity a good thing? Stay tuned. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, you brought unexpected good news to people in Galilee. You invaded the kingdom of darkness, subduing its demons, curing ills and fevers. Your presence and your words brought health and light.

O Jesus, invade our lives today. Drive out the demons that lurk in our minds. Subdue our endless temptations. Make our lives good news stories that share your endless goodness. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Last time, we looked at Mark’s gospel, where he wrote good news about Jesus the Messiah, son of God (Mark 1:1). 

After reporting Jesus’ baptism and temptation, Mark moves on to how Jesus launched his mission. Goes like this . . .

Walking by Lake Galilee, Jesus says to a couple of fishermen, “Dudes! Time for a job change. Follow me. I’ll teach you to fish for people” (Mark 1:16). Really? Do people need to be fished for? Mark offers no explanation. 

But Simon and Andrew, the fishermen, abandon their gear and start following. As do James and John, the next fishermen Jesus calls. 

Then Jesus teaches in a synagogue. Listeners say, “This is amazing. This man knows what he’s talking about.” But disappointingly, for me at least, Mark doesn’t explain what Jesus was teaching.   

Suddenly, Jesus’ lecture is interrupted by a man shouting, “I know who you are. You are God’s holy servant. You’ve come to destroy us” (Mark 1:24). 

Jesus on a mission of destruction? Who does he want to destroy? 

Not the man who’s shouting. Because Jesus blames the man’s outburst on an evil spirit who inhabits the man. Jesus tells the spirit to shut up and get lost. The spirit protests, throws the man into spasms, and leaves. The man is freed and the crowd is impressed. This man Jesus doesn’t just teach, he puts his teaching into action! 

Next, Jesus visits Simon’s home and heals his mother-in-law of fever. Good news about healing and exorcism travels fast, so that evening the whole town brings the sick and afflicted to Jesus.

What do we learn from Mark’s story? Here are three suggestions. 

1. So far in the story, the good news that Mark promised seems to be about making people whole, freeing them from disease and demons. 

2. So far in the story, only John who is now in prison, and demons that were cast out recognize Jesus as the son of God. The disciples and crowds are impressed with his teaching and healing, but they don’t yet make the connection with his divine identity.

3. So far in the story, Jesus’ actions seem random–healing here, calling fishermen there, a synagogue or two in between. Where is he going with all this? Does he have a clear mission? Stay tuned.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we want the good news that those in Mark’s story experienced. I don’t know demons to be exorcized, but I do know people who need to be healed from addictions or arthritis or failing vision or cancer or Alzheimer’s.

O Jesus of Mark’s story. Do you still do those things today? Or do you have a different mission now? 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Mark’s gospel begins, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus”. This is a different take on the beginning than Genesis which says “In the beginning, God created” and than John who says, “In the beginning was the word”. 

Mark the gospel writer is a storyteller. Starting at the beginning, he moves the plot along quickly, with a minimum of description, background, or character development. 

Here’s how. 

First he rolls the credits. Only the main actor is highlighted: Jesus the Messiah, son of God (Mar 1:1). Mark doesn’t explain what Messiah means, or how Jesus is the son of God. We‘ll have to figure that out from the story.  

After the credits, Mark introduces a character who introduces Jesus. That’s John the Baptist, the eccentric desert-dweller wearing a camel hair shirt, eating locusts, and baptizing people in the Jordan River. Mark tells us John’s story began in the Old Testament when the prophet Isaiah said, “Someone will come to announce the Messiah.”  

That someone, says Mark, is John.

As the introducer, John says, “Don’t look at me. Look for someone important.” But what does important look like? John says, “Important doesn’t baptize in a river like I do. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

Suddenly Jesus shows up at the Jordan River. But he doesn’t start baptizing people with the Holy Spirit. Instead, he steps into the water to be baptized by John. Just like everyone else. 

But when Jesus comes up soaking wet, surprise! A crack in opens in heaven above him. A dove floats down on Jesus. That, says Mark, is the Holy Spirit entering the story. Then a voice from heaven says, “You are my son. I love you. You’re doing a great job” (Mar 1:11).  

Clearly, heaven has a high opinion of Jesus. Clearly, he’s important. So what does heaven do? The Holy Spirit, the dove, sends Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for 40 days. A tough beginning for whatever Jesus plans.  

After the wilderness experience, Mark brings Jesus center-stage for some serious action. But first, he doesn’t want John (the introducer), competing for attention. So Mark reports John the Baptist is thrown into prison. 

With John in prison, Jesus starts preaching. His message? Good news. God’s kingdom has come. This kingdom sounds like good news for everyone but John, who’s stuck in Herod’s kingdom in prison. And we’re not sure what it will mean for Caesar’s kingdom.  

Let’s pray. 

O father, Mark introduces big themes in his quick-moving story. 

• The theme that his good news is the sequel to Old Testament history. 

• The theme that John’s water baptism anticipates a baptism in the Holy Spirit. 
  
• The theme that Jesus is special, because the dove and the voice from heaven approve him. 

• The theme that Jesus suffered temptation like us. Forty days in the wilderness. 

O father, give us ears to hear the story behind the story. The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, your son. The beginning of good news about who we are and who we can become. Give us grace in the wilderness of our lives, to walk with Jesus through his life. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube