Gospels-Acts
Mark 1:16-34
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Jesus’ Chooses his First Team Members audio (4MB)
Jesus begins his ministry with this clear announcement: “The time is fulfilled.” That is, it’s complete. Time’s up. We’re at the end of the line. Notice that John, the one who’s like Elijah, has finished his ministry. Mark wants to make it clear that the time of the Old Testament prophet is over. Now a new era, a new message has arrived.
I wonder, if you were here last week, did you notice that it was after John was arrested that Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. Was that bit of information put in just so we’d understand when this happened or is there more to it than that? One of the things you discover reading Mark is that he’s very good at giving us pointers to things in Jesus’ life that are significant, We saw that two weeks ago with the word associations that Heather pointed out at the start of Ch1. And I think the same applies here.
You see, John is the last of the Old Testament style prophets. He represents the old covenant that’s now passing away - being replaced by a new covenant. Jesus represents a new order in God’s Kingdom. When he says “the time is fulfilled” the word he uses has the idea of completed, come to it’s conclusion.
So he comes proclaiming the good news of God, the news that announces a new deal for God’s people. We’re not told the contents of the good news yet, but that’ll become clear as we read through the gospel.
And it’s as though Mark’s saying that even as Jesus begins his ministry the work’s already as good as finished. Jesus, the Messiah has come and God’s plan hurries to its intended conclusion. It’s as though Jesus’ coming is part of a single event: his incarnation, his death and his resurrection all flow together into the one moment in history when everything comes together.
But if that’s the case then Jesus’ coming means that this moment, right now, is the appointed time, the time of decision. And so Jesus begins preaching to the crowds just as John had, “repent, and believe in the good news”.
Mark 1:32-45
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Why Jesus Came audio (3MB)
It’s easy to get carried away when things are going well in our ministry isn’t it? We can get caught up in the excitement of ministry and think this is what it’s all about! And if we have enough success we might even be tempted to so focus on that particular area of ministry that we forget the essentials of what it is we’re actually here for. [Matt Redman example] Sometimes we need to stop and remind ourselves exactly what it is we’re aiming for in whatever ministry we’re involved in. We need to stop and check in with God to get our bearings again. That’s what we discover Jesus doing in this passage today.
But first let’s think about the context of the passage. Mark begins his gospel with a series of encounters where Jesus’ power and authority is made very evident. People looking on are amazed at what he says and what he can do and evil spirits have to be told not to say who he is. Yet at the same time there’s the puzzle, as we’ll see in a moment, of the disciples’ inability to understand who it is they’re dealing with.
The passage begins and ends with scenes of Jesus healing people.
Mark 1:40-2:12
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- Written by: AdamCetrangolo
Jesus Heals and Forgives audio (4MB)
Mark 2:1-12
What sort of things can you now claim on your health insurance that you couldn’t 20 years ago? This is not a rhetorical question! Pilates classes, yoga, naturopathy. You can even buy a new pair of running shoes because you might just run around the park once or twice! Aren’t these things a sign that are our society has been changing its mind about what it means to be healthy and what healing involves? Over the last 20 years or so we have seen the development of the “holistic health” movement. That is to say many medical practitioners now believe that all aspects of people's needs, psychological, physical and social need to be part of their medical care. But the idea of holistic health is not just restricted to medicine is it? Many alternative forms of non-Christian religion and spirituality are now part of many people's health care—the Mind Body Spirit movement. I would like us to do two things together today. The first is to look at Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man in Mark chapter 2. The second is to ask these questions: What does it mean to be a “healthy” person? What does it mean to be healed? How does Jesus healing of the paralyzed man influence our Christian understanding of healing? Then I want to tell you about something Gus said. If you don’t know Gus I will tell who he is and what he said at the end of the sermon.
Mark 10:13-31
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Key to Gaining the Kingdom audio (3MB)
I was at a local clergy gathering last week and the subject of children's ministry came up. One of the other ministers there commented that they'd had people complain that the children made too much noise. I'm afraid I had to admit that I too had heard the same complaint at St Theo's a number of years ago.
Of course it's true, isn't it? Children these days are much too noisy! And undisciplined! And disrespectful of their elders! It wasn't like that in my day! When I was a child we were perfectly behaved, as you can imagine!
I mean, everyone knows that children should be seen and not heard? Don't they?
Well, as George pointed out earlier, Jesus has something to say about that in today's reading. The disciples clearly thought that children should be ignored. They were a bit like Lucy in this Peanuts cartoon strip.
Mark 10:32-52
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Jerusalem Looms Ahead audio (5MB)
I got a new pair of glasses this week. Not my everyday glasses. These are ones that are made so I can see what's on my computer screen without ending up with a cricked neck. They're fantastic. They make the characters on the screen look perfectly in focus. They just have one drawback. If I forget to change them over when I leave the office I can't see anything clearly unless it's right in front of me. It's not that I'm totally blind. It's just that I can't see clearly.
Of course being unable to see things clearly doesn't just apply to physical sight, does it? There's an even worse affliction of sight that some people suffer from. That's the sort of blurred vision that comes from prejudice or from unthinking acceptance of a particular set of presuppositions or perhaps from listening to too much talk back radio. For example it's the sort of blindness that might prevent us from understanding the various issues in the debate over asylum seekers. It's the sort of blindness that leads some people to suggest that the Churches have no right to speak out about social issues.
