For those of you speculating... yes, when I decided to give this read-a-book-of-the-Bible-in-a-week thing a try, I figured that starting with the shortest gospel was the best way to ensure early success.
Three things I noticed while reading straight through Mark:
- In the first three chapters, it seems chock full of Jesus doing stuff on the Sabbath: teaching, healing, casting out demons, eating grain in the fields, etc. It made me reconsider my own (sort of) strict ideas about Sabbath rest for myself that I've been trying to implement these past 6 months. I'm not saying it's not important to rest, but I am taking seriously that Jesus' ministry is emphatically inserted into that day as Mark relates the good news. It reminded me of a quote from a sermon (sorry! don't know whose...): "Setting people free is precisely what the Sabbath is about."
-Then, it seems the focus shifts to EATING-- food is everywhere! Sounds like Christmas to me... But seriously, again Mark writes of an involved and tangible Jesus who deals in tangibles, platters and place-settings.
-The healing of the deaf and mute man in chapter 7 stood out to me (v. 31-35). I wondered why there was particular attention paid to the effort, physicality, and emotion that Jesus put into this healing. The crowd just asked Jesus to "place his hand on the man." Yet, Jesus takes the man aside by himself and he does the bizarre healing action of sticking his fingers into the man's ears, spitting, and touching the man's tongue. Jesus sighs deeply, it says. All of this immediately after the troublesome account of Jesus' brusque treatment of the Syrophoenician woman with a demon-possessed daughter.
So Jesus, help us to know you as a REAL person. A person who sets free and eats well, who argues and sighs, who rests and prays and walks many roads. Help us encounter you as the promised one this Advent. Help our faith to overcome fear. Help our unbelief.
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