Mark 7:31-37 offers a striking moment in which to grapple with some important values for every disciple of Jesus. To begin with, consider the story, as told from Mark’s perspective: Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they READ MORE
Love
“Out of the Heart”
Mark 7:1-23 serves as a powerful hinge between the captivating miracles embedded in Mark 6 and the outreach Jesus puts forward to the Gentiles in Mark 7:24 and following. With the miracles, one finds Jesus offering hope to people who are like sheep without shepherds. With the outreach, one finds Jesus embodying the missionary spirit READ MORE
An Others-Centered Life
Throughout the Bible we are charged with the mandate to serve those around us. Thus, the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:13, “through love, serve one another.” The Apostle Peter tells us that “each has received a gift” and that we must “use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” READ MORE
Select Thoughts on 9/11
Politics and patriotism aside, we cannot forget 9/11. Consider the following reasons why: First, 9/11 is a vivid reminder to us all that there really is, despite prevailing cultural notions to the contrary, evil. Evil is real, and is a reality with which we must reckon. No matter where one stands politically with regard to READ MORE
Reputation vs. Relationship
Right at that moment when we think Jesus may be watering down the essence of being rightly related to God, we realize that he is actually raising the bar quite a bit higher. The question about fasting, offered by the disciples of both John the Baptist and the Pharisees, as recorded in Mark 2:18 and READ MORE
The Entrance
Jesus’ movement from the synogogue to Peter’s home is far more significant than might seem on the surface. Consider the text, according to the English Standard Version, from Mark 1:29-34: And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a READ MORE