The transfiguration is one of those events during Christ’s time on earth that registered as barely more than a curiosity for me for several years. Recently, I have developed a great appreciation...
Many of us tend to forget that Jesus spent a great deal of time in a carpenter shop.
Have you ever read something Jesus taught and thought to yourself, “I don’t get it”?
We all have to answer crucial questions in life.
Time and again throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus healed people with a simple word or touch. These healings were instantaneous, sure evidence of the power of God working through Jesus. But in...
As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” Mark 8:15 In Mark 8:11, the Pharisees began arguing with Jesus. “Testing...
Mark 7:32-35 is a short healing story in which Jesus healed a man who was deaf and who also had a speech impediment (which often happens with people who lose their hearing at...
In the first century A.D., the Pharisees were among the most zealous of Jews when it came to keeping the Law of God. Yet they found it easy to focus on externals and...
After the crowd received nourishment from Jesus, both literal bread and the truth of the kingdom of God, they finally departed. Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples had taken a boat and were trying to...
After the disciples of Jesus returned from their mission trip, in which they proclaimed and demonstrated the kingdom of God, Jesus perceived...
Earlier in Mark 6, Jesus had sent his disciples out two-by-two, having given them authority to engage in the ministry of the kingdom of God (6:7).
The story of Herod and John the Baptist is a curious one with a sad ending. Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee during...
As Jesus moved about in Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and demonstrating the presence of the kingdom through works of power, he sent out his disciples to share...
For a considerable time, Jesus had been proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God in the eastern parts of Galilee. Finally, he returned to his hometown of Nazareth and began teaching in the...
How I wish I could have witnessed this event in Mark’s Gospel!
In the previous section of Mark, where Jesus encountered the Gerasene demoniac, Jesus acted in ways that were puzzling, even distressing to those who witnessed them. The puzzlement continues in the...
The story of Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac is full of riddles.
When I was a young man, this story from the Gospel of Mark disturbed me. I was happy enough that Jesus delivered a man from demonic bondage, but I just couldn’t understand why...
We don’t know exactly what the disciples of Jesus thought about him in the early stages of his ministry.
In one of the parables of the kingdom of God in Mark 4, Jesus compares the kingdom to a mustard seed.
