Most of us have two types of friends- the close ones and those who are more like acquaintances. The close friends we trust and can share even our secrets, where we share less with those we don't know as well. Chapter 3 closed by showing that the scribes and even Jesus' own family could be… Continue reading Walking through Mark: Mark 4:1-20
As the list of disciples closes in the previous passage with a traitor's name, here we see a different type of betrayal of Jesus from an unlikely source, His own family. In this passage Mark uses a literary device where he sandwiches one story in the middle of two other related stories to make a… Continue reading Walking through Mark: Mark 3:20-35
As Jesus continues His ministry, there is increasing conflict with the religious leaders. Chapter 2 ends with a discussion about the Sabbath and chapter 3 begins with the same issue. Jesus continues to do good on the Sabbath, but the religious leaders begin their plot to destroy Him, presumably also on the Sabbath. The echo… Continue reading Walking through Mark: Mark 3:1-19
Jesus continues to show His authority as He conflicts increasingly with Jewish religious leaders. It is interesting to note that the previous verses talk about a feast with "sinners and tax collectors" and this text opens with a discussion of fasting (From France's Mark Commentary of the Greek Text.) Every facet of Jewish life is… Continue reading Walking through Mark: Mark 2:18-28
As Jesus continues to heal, He gains status and popularity in the region. Crowds are flocking to Him to see what's happening and to have their problems solved. These crowds aren't always a good thing and here at the beginning of the chapter, they actually block access to Jesus so that a group of men… Continue reading Walking through Mark 2:1-17
In the first few chapters of Mark, we see a series of questions and answers concerning Jesus' identity. Interestingly, it is men asking the questions and, at least in part, the demons who answer. (From the Pillar New Testament Commentary by James R Edwards) We see this in the previous story in verse 27 when… Continue reading Walking through Mark 1:29-45
After calling Simon (also known as Peter), Andrew, James and John to follow Him, Jesus travels to a nearby town and immediately begins doing ministry. His ministry in this one day is so startling that His fame quickly spread through the whole area. Imagine the shock of His new followers with how quickly things were… Continue reading Walking through Mark 1:21-28
Mark begins with John the Baptist and his ministry, which seems a peculiar way to open a book about Jesus. Then, instead of doing a birth narrative, Jesus simply comes from Nazareth as an adult to be baptized by John the Baptist. Mark is setting the tone for his book as a fast paced narrative,… Continue reading Walking through Mark: Mark 1:12-20
Let's try a new type of blog post. In this series, I plan to walk through a portion of the book of Mark in a devotional way. These are meant to be written as a supplement to your quiet time as you read through Mark. You can anticipate that each post will have questions to… Continue reading Walking through Mark: Mark 1:1-11
a blog on practical Godliness 