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In the Family Circus comic strip, every now and then an invisible character makes his appearance. “Not me” is his name and when mom and dad come upon a broken lamp or some other little incident, the little gremlin “Not me” can be seen fleeing the scene, on to more mischief as the children proclaim their innocence one by one. Read more »
In my October 28th, 2009 post “When All Else Fails, Read the Instructions“, Jesus gave some mysterious instructions to His disciples. Their complete obedience resulted in the fulfillment of a prophesy over 500 years old, proclaimed by Zechariah (Zech. 9:9). Read more »
Last week we discussed the “beautiful thing” a woman did by anointing Jesus with perfume worth a year’s wages. The Gospel of John reveals that it was Judas Iscariot who voiced objection to her act of love (John 12:4). In fact, the beautiful thing this woman did - and Jesus’ defense (Mark 14:6) - was likely the catalyst that drove Judas to the Chief Priests to betray Jesus (Mark 14:10). Read more »
“Leave her alone”, was Jesus’ strong response (Mark 14:6) to critics who rebuked a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. A brief lesson in God’s economics: doing “a beautiful thing” (Mark 14:6), and “doing what you can” (Mark 14:8) to honor Jesus is more important than any amount of money. All through history, this woman’s beautiful act has been remembered, and will continue to be told (Mark 14:9). Read more »
The Chief Priests and teachers of the law of Jesus’ day thought they had a pretty good thing going: they represented their people, the Jews, before their Roman rulers, which brought with it many privileges and status. They also were the religious authorities over the Synagogue, having authority to carry out punishments - though not capital punishment - upon their people for violating any of several hundred religious traditions which they had established over the centuries. Read more »
Jesus gives us one final example as He concludes His response to the question the disciples asked Him in Mark 13:4. We’ve taken six weeks now to study His response and apply it to our lives. Read more »
Over the past several weeks now, we’ve read Jesus’ response (Mark 13:5-27) to the disciple’s question in Mark 13:3-4. It has been both frightening and yet encouraging, because in the end Jesus returns and His angels will gather us together to be with Him (Mark 13:27). Read more »
“At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” (Mark 13:26)
After a frightening and terror-filled description of the signs that the disciples were to watch for, Jesus gives us hope.
“And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” (Mark 13:27) Read more »
The news just seems to get worse. Two weeks ago we began describing the great deception and chaos as signaling the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophesies. Last week Jesus continued, this time promising His Holy Spirit and salvation for those who endure. Today, Jesus speaks of the appearance of the “abomination that causes desolation” (Mark 13:14; see also Dan. 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11). Read more »
Last week Jesus began His response to the disciples’ sincere questions, “When will these things happen?” and “What will be the sign that they are about to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4).
If it wasn’t bad enough that there would be great deception and chaos, Jesus continued with more frightening revelations. But this time, they come with promises. Read more »
