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

We’ve been looking at Mark’s account of Jesus’ life. In chapter 3, people are trying to guess who Jesus is and where he gets his power. 

It started when he healed a shriveled hand on the Sabbath. The Bible scholars and religious leaders were offended. “You’re working on the Sabbath? You should be resting!” Jesus got angry with them. “Is all you see in scripture an obsession with rules? Don’t you see God’s heart for healing?” (Mar 3:1-5). 

But there was no way to heal Jesus’ rift with those religious leaders. They began plotting to kill him (Mar 3:6). 

Meanwhile, large crowds followed Jesus, asking for healings and exorcisms. The demons that possessed people were afraid of Jesus. “You are the Son of God,” they said. But Jesus told them to quit talking (Mar 3:7-12). 

Bible scholars all the way from Jerusalem trekked north to Galilee to assess this new teacher. Their conclusion? “This Jesus person is possessed by the chief devil, Beelzebub! That’s where he gets his power over demons” (Mar 3:20-22). 

Jesus’ family investigated. This radical Jesus wasn’t the carpenter they knew! Their conclusion? He’s insane! Let’s plan an intervention to save him from himself (Mar 3:31). 

What was Jesus’ problem? Insane? Possessed? Or was he the Son of God like the demons said? 

Jesus responded to the Bible scholars. “I’m not in league with the prince of demons. I’m busy driving out his servants and taking over his territory. If you think my power is demonic, you don’t understand anything at all about God! If you can’t tell the difference between what God does and what Satan does, that’s an unforgivable sin” (Mar 3:23-27). 

Jesus declined the family-organized insanity intervention and said to those he was teaching, “My mother and brothers are those who do God’s will” (Mar 3:31-35).  

So who is this man Jesus, and where is his story going, and is he really sane? 

Stay tuned. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we so easily forget that Jesus was a human among humans. He was the biggest influencer on Galilee’s social network. His family thought he was insane and the religious leaders couldn’t figure him out. 

We are amazed at what he did–healing shriveled hands, paralytic bodies, deaf ears, and blind eyes. We are amazed at his disdain for religious leaders. Couldn’t he have reasoned with them? Or were they beyond reason? 

O father, look on us in our modern world. Send Jesus to sweep away our religious traditions, to overturn our narrow views, to do his work in our sick civilization, to bring your kingdom in our time. 

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 account of Jesus’ life.  

Chapter 2 says that one Sabbath, Jesus’ disciples were snacking on ears of corn in a field. Bible scholars complained to Jesus that harvesting grain broke God’s law against working on the Sabbath. 

Jesus asked the scholars, “Haven’t you read that when David was running from King Saul, he ate consecrated bread from the tabernacle, which the law says only priests can eat?” (Mark 2:25-26)

It’s not clear exactly what point Jesus was making. Perhaps he approved of David breaking a ceremonial law when he needed food. Or perhaps he was saying to the Pharisees, “If David whom you honor ate forbidden bread, it’s hypocritical to rag on the disciples for eating a bit of corn.” 

God loved David, even when he disobeyed the laws of adultery and murder. Perhaps the lesson from David’s life is that the Bible scholars,  and we, can be patient with small sins and large. 

Next Jesus makes a very pointed comment, saying, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God isn’t a policeman issuing tickets for every minor violation. No! He’s a father, caring for his family. It’s good for God’s family to have a Sabbath, a weekly day of rest. But don’t make picky rules about it. Let the disciples pick a few ears of corn.

Here, Jesus interprets God’s law not as a system of arbitrary restrictions on human behavior, but as God’s invitation to a wholesome and balanced life. You work for a living? Don’t make work your life. Give it a rest. Take a Sabbath. Walk through the grainfields, eat some corn, enjoy the world God made and the life he has given you. 

Jesus made another point. “The Son of Man,” he said, “is Lord of the Sabbath.” The Son of Man doesn’t just tell the scholars they are wrong about God’s law. As Lord of the Sabbath, he stands above the law. The Sabbath is his creation and property, and laws about the Sabbath are his to make or break. 

Lord of the Sabbath? This is the first time Jesus calls himself “Lord” of anything. But isn’t God the Lord of the Sabbath and the Lord of the law? Who is this son of man, who argues with the scholars, who claims to forgive sin, who announces himself as Lord of the Sabbath? Isn’t he trespassing on territory that belongs to God? Is this man guilty of overreach? 

Stay tuned. 

Let’s pray. 

Oh Jesus, son of man, you said that healing the paralytic proved you had power to forgive sins. Now you call yourself Lord of the Sabbath, and criticize the scholars’ understanding of God and his law. 

O Jesus, help us to see God through your eyes. A God who didn’t criticize David for eating priestly bread. A God who doesn’t nitpick with the disciples for picking corn on the Sabbath. A God who gives us the world and the grainfields and a day of rest to enjoy. A God who gets frustrated with the quibbling of scholars.

O Jesus, forgive us where we have chafed under God’s authority and resented his laws. Forgive us where we have tried to please God by offering detailed obedience, instead of enjoying him as our father. 

O Christ, give us your vision of God, a generous and flexible father. And your vision of his laws, as guidelines and warnings that lead us to freedom and peace. 

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, 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