Mark 2:1-12 - Forgiving sin and proving it!

Have you ever had to forgive someone who did something wrong to you?  I know I have.  It's inevitable isn't it (unless we want to hold grudges against everyone we know)?  It can be hard to forgive someone that's wronged us but it is possible.  To say 'I forgive you' is hard but Jesus does something even more amazing than this in today's passage...

Mark 2:1-12

When Jesus says, 'Your sins are forgiven', he's not just saying 'Your sins against me are forgiven' - he's saying 'ALL of your sins against ANYONE EVER are forgiven' or in other words, 'ALL your sins against GOD are forgiven' or to put it still another way, 'I (God) forgive you!'

When Jesus heard their thoughts, he knew they were right - it IS only God that can forgive a person's sin.  The only one who can make a person right with God is God himself and Jesus is claiming to be able to do it and so he's basically claiming to be God.

Jesus knew the crowd would need more convincing about this (!) and so that's why he then heals the man physically (he'd already healed him spiritually but that's invisible).  When the paralysed man gets up and walks for the first time in his life, the crowd realise several things beyond the shadow of a doubt (although I expect some were still managing to explain it away and complain about it as there always are)...

• A man's sin had been forgiven and he had been made right with God!
• A man who couldn't walk had been healed right in front of them!
• A man who they thought was just a man was saying and demonstrating that he was God himself!

 A couple of things to dwell on...

1. What's your reaction to Jesus' claim here to be God and to forgive sin and why?
2. If you believe Jesus is God and can make people right with God, how much effort do you go to in bringing people to him?  This paralysed man was lucky enough to have some gutsy friends who were willing to go to ridiculous lengths to present him to Jesus and this came before their concerns for themselves, for property and for social politeness!  How gutsy are you in sharing your faith and why? 

Mark blog

Mark 1:21-45 - The mission kicks off!

I'm an activist.  Lots of people are.  But it's so common for people to get so busy that they eventually burn out.  Doing lots of good is no good if it doesn't last.  In the rest of chapter 1 of Mark we see something like the first 24 hours of Jesus' ministry.  He's incredibly busy doing incredible things but with incredible strength.  You'll see what I mean...

Mark 1:21-45

Verses 21-28...  So right after calling a few followers they head off to Capernaum and then the sabbath comes and ironically that's when Jesus starts to get really busy!  He starts teaching people and what he says has a ring of authority about it (it would do I suppose!) and the people notice there's something different about this teacher.  And when they see him order a demon out of a man and it leaves him, they know this authority is real (as did the demon).  The news of Jesus' teaching and authority start spreading fast and it's still day 1! 

Verses 29-34... Straight after synagogue it's back to Simon and Andrew's house and Jesus heals their mother-in-law of a fever and spends the rest of the day healing the sick and driving out demons.  News had spread so fast since that afternoon at the synagogue that there was a stream of people arriving to ask for help already!  This is an incredible first day.

Verses 35-39... Here we see the source of Jesus strength.  You would think he'd want a lie-in after the night before but he's up while it's dark and gets some uninterrupted time alone with God to pray.  Jesus needed to draw strength from his Father and depended on him for guidance and power for everything he was doing (see John 5:19).  When his followers find him, they set off for another full day of teaching, healing and driving out demons from people (and Jesus is ready for it).

Verses 40-45... And then we see one example of someone Jesus healed that day - a leper.  The word 'indignant' (v41) is that strange Greek word 'splagchnizomai' which means the strongest kind of emotion like a gut-wrenching compassion or righteous anger.  This is Jesus' reaction to seeing this leper and hearing what he says: 'If you are willing...' (v40).  Of course Jesus is willing(!) and this is why he came - to heal broken people and rescue them from the mess that sin has made in this world.  His heart is breaking about it and it drives everything he's doing.

So it's a crazy first 24 hours or so and Jesus is mostly teaching, healing and driving out demons.  Word is spreading about him like wildfire around the region.  Jesus is relying heavily upon his Father and his heart is breaking for all the people he's with.

The first point for us is to notice is that these are the actions of someone unique that we should pay close attention to.  That's why we're reading Mark's gospel I hope.  What strikes you about Jesus so far?  Imagine you were there when this stuff was happening.  What would you be thinking?  Who would you be telling about it?  Don't just read through this quickly - stop and think about it for a few minutes!

The second point is for those of us today who are following Jesus.  What are our busy days like?  Are we drawing our strength from time alone with God?  Are we busy doing the important things his heart breaks over?  Do our hearts break too?  Is the news of Jesus spreading like wildfire because of our daily actions?  If the Spirit of Jesus is in us, maybe our Mondays should be like this one!

Mark blog

Mark 1:9-20 - Drop what you're doing!

Dropping what you're doing to do something else can be an easy thing to do.  For instance, right now I've dropped redecorating the bathroom to write my blog (well actually I haven't even started the bathroom yet but I will later on, I promise!).  Other times, it's hard to get me to drop something, like when there's music on and Chrissi's trying to say something to me!

The people in this next bit of Mark drop everything to follow Jesus and it's quite ridiculous, weird and brilliant...

Mark 1:9-20

Mark skips right through a few things that the other gospel writers (writing later) spend more time on.  He mentions the baptism of Jesus where the trinity shows up (voice of the Father, the Son in the water and the Spirit on his shoulder) and the big public confirmation of Jesus' identity is there for all to see.  Jesus then heads straight off 'at once' (one of Mark's favourite phrases for moving things on swiftly in his gospel) and is tempted by Satan (again the other gospels mention more on this).  Mark spends little time on the launch of Jesus' ministry and gets quickly to the action he's excited about...

It starts with a message.  Jesus is telling everyone about the good news of God's kingdom and that this kingdom (and God himself) has drawn near to them.  It's a special time and they shouldn't miss it!  He tells people to ask God for forgiveness, turn from their selfish ways and follow him.  This is not the message of someone who's trying to just be nice, kind and a decent teacher of life lessons.  Nor is it an optional take-it-or-leave-it adventure for those who've got nothing else better to do.  This is an urgent rescue mission to a world drowning in sin and Jesus is shouting to everyone to grab the only rope they're being thrown.  Jesus is all about himself and inviting people to follow him.  He's absolutely self-centered, which can only be a good thing if he is who he says he is.

And then we get to Simon, Andrew and then James and John.  They're busy at work (fishing was their living) and Jesus (who they've probably never met) tells them to follow him... and they do!  We need to stop and realise what a weird moment this was.  They're basically leaving their work and family behind at the drop of a hat because of a stranger who tells them to!  It doesn't make much sense at all unless God was involved and he was convincing them of the urgent need to follow this 'Jesus'.  I think that's what must have been happening.

The situation isn't much different today.  There's still a world full of people who desperately need God's forgiveness and it's still a matter of life and death.  There's still the message of good news about Jesus and an invitation to be part of God's kingdom.  And every day there are still people who have a 'God moment' where they drop what they're doing, realise the good news is true and start following Jesus!

What have you done with this invitation from Jesus to follow him?

If you feel you need to know more before you decide then keep reading Mark's gospel, see what happens next and ask me anything you like along the way.

If you've said yes to this already, are you still putting him first in everything you put your hands to or are you wasting your time 'trying to catch fish'?

Mark blog

Whale Boy Whale!

My good chum Nathan Lechler is also blogging his way through a Bible book... Jonah!

Check out 'Whale Boy Whale!'

Mark 1:1-8 - Big plans, big news

Have you ever had big plans and not been able to carry them out?  This morning I had tons of stuff on my 'to do' list and I've blasted through a lot of them but not managed one of the biggest tasks of all because I kept putting it off.  Often we're too ambitious for our own good and we bite off more than we can chew.  Thankfully when it comes to God, this is never the case...

Mark 1:1-8

There's expectation in this passage.  God has a plan to rescue his people from sin and for hundreds of years the Jews had been awaiting a 'Messiah' or chosen one who would be sent by God to save them.  Isaiah had prophesied about this moment and now it was actually happening!  God had not forgotten his people or his promises to them.

God's plan is too big for our brains.  It's a massive operation spanning thousands of years (or even millions depending on your creation theology).  God loves the people he made and wants to put things right between us and him and Mark starts his gospel with the moment this Messiah was announced.

The thing is, the one who's doing the announcing isn't what you might expect.  He's scruffy, wild-looking and eats bugs for breakfast.  Not exactly the kind of MC you'd choose to announce God's arrival, even 2000 years ago.  But God knows exactly what he's doing and it seems he doesn't mind who he uses as part of his plan (just as well for me).  Anyone can be part of his big story.

John's message was about repentance - making a decision to turn away from sin.  People clearly believed that John was from God and believed his message and wanted to respond by changing their lives and getting dunked in water in public as a sign to everyone watching.

John had the people's attention but he didn't want to keep it for long.  He was setting the scene and pointing to the one who would come after him - the Messiah.  His life and message was to prepare people's hearts and attitudes for the coming of Jesus.  He knows that Jesus is greater than he is and that when he comes, he will immerse his followers in something better than water... in God himself!

Consider: What's your plan for your life and how much does it have to do with God's big plan?

Maybe your life is about your own story and you make it up as you go along.  The problem is, if we're honest, we know we're all a long way from perfect and we let ourselves and others down regularly.  We have this instinctive desire for a world better than it is now and for ourselves to be better too.  Let's prepare our hearts and minds to meet Jesus in Mark's gospel by repenting as John suggested.  Say sorry to God and decide to live a life that's part of his big story, rather than our own tiny monologue.

Mark blog

Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith (1 Corinthians 15:14).

So what about the resurrection of Jesus?  It’s kind of important to the Christian faith (!!!) but did it really happen?  Dead people normally stay dead.  What evidence is there to support this crazy story?  

In order to answer these questions, it’s worth remembering how reliable the gospels are as historical documents (see the article on ‘Evidence for the Reliability of the Gospels’).  The best way to explore the evidence is probably to look at the three main theories put forward by sceptics to try and explain it all away...

1. Stolen Body Theory
One thing the gospels talk about is the empty tomb.  This theory says that after Jesus was killed on the cross and then buried in the tomb, his disciples later came and stole the dead body and claimed that he had risen from the dead.  There are several problems with this theory...

• Firstly, the Roman authorities saw this idea coming a mile off.  They knew this Jesus had developed a dangerously large number of followers and that there could be an uprising amongst the people.  They also knew Jesus’ followers hoped he might be raised from the dead and they wanted to make sure no-one could claim that he actually did!  This is why a guard was posted on the tomb (Mt 27:62-66).  This guard would have guarded the tomb with the knowledge that he would be killed if he failed in his duty as a Roman soldier. 
• Secondly, even if the disciples did manage to steal the dead body of Jesus, the Romans would have been hunting for it everywhere to expose the dangerous new movement as a sham but they couldn’t find any dead Jesus!  No dead body of Jesus was ever found. 
• Thirdly, hundreds of Jesus’ followers faced torture and execution for being part of the new movement based on his death and resurrection.  They had to be convinced they were telling the truth.  Not many people would be willing to die for something they knew to be a hoax.  Surely someone would have let the cat out of the bag at some point.  But it didn’t happen.  Probably because the people who were martyred were genuinely convinced that Jesus was alive. 

2. Seeing Things Theory
Another thing the gospels tell us is that people saw Jesus alive after he died (Jn 20:27, 21:12-13, Lk 24:13-35, 36-39, Mk 16:9-14 and others too).  In fact, Paul (one of the earliest church leaders in the New Testament) says that a crowd of over 500 people saw Jesus alive after he died (1 Cor 15:3-7). Others even ate meals with Jesus and were convinced he couldn’t be a ghost (Lk 24:37-43).  The ‘seeing things’ theory says that because of the disciples’ extreme grief and despair, their minds were playing tricks on them and they thought they saw Jesus but in reality it was just psychological.  It often happens to people following a particularly painful bereavement.  Again, there are several problems with this theory...

•  Firstly, although it’s true that one person might imagine they see their dead loved one after they recently died, it’s just ridiculous to claim that a crowd of over 500 people were suffering from the same delusion at the same time.  This kind of mass scale hallucination just doesn’t happen. 
• Secondly, remember the Romans were keen to make sure no-one thought Jesus had actually risen from the dead because of the potential uprising amongst the people.  If people were just seeing things and Jesus was really still dead in the tomb, it would have been easy for the Romans to prove by producing the dead body of Jesus.  But they couldn’t do this, because no body could ever be found.
  

3. Swoon Theory
This theory says that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross.  It says he just fainted and then later on in the tomb, he revived and escaped.  This is probably the most ridiculous theory of all...

• Firstly, the Romans were expert killers and crucifixion was one of the most torturous ways to die.  They knew exactly what they were doing.  Jesus had already been flogged and made to carry the cross.  He didn’t even make it all the way because he was so exhausted from the beatings.  And when they put him on the cross, he was nailed through his wrists and feet to hold him up.  Most victims of crucifixion died from suffocation because breathing involved the massive effort of heaving their body weight up on the nails in order to catch breath.  There was only so long a person could go on before they gave up and died.  We also have the account of Roman soldiers piercing Jesus’ side and a mixture of blood and water flowing out (Jn 19:31-37), which is clinical proof of death.  They did this to make sure people were dead before taking them down from the cross.  There’s no way Jesus would have survived it. 
• Secondly, even if Jesus somehow managed to make it to the tomb alive, the stone that blocked the entrance would have taken at least 2-3 people to move it.  There’s no way a half dead Jesus could have managed it and then taken on the Roman guard as well!  Not possible and no evidence for it either. 
• Thirdly, if Jesus did manage to escape all this, he would have died again at some point and the Romans would have been able to produce his body and stop the underground movement of Christians in its tracks.  But... no body could be found.
  

Conclusion
So, we’ve got reliable accounts of Jesus expertly tortured and killed by Romans, an empty tomb and no dead body ever found, plus hundreds of eye witnesses claiming to have seen Jesus alive after he died and plenty more willing to die for their conviction about the events that all happened within their lifetime.  The evidence really does stack up in favour of the resurrection of Jesus and that must cause us to take seriously the things he claimed about himself – that he really was and is the Son of God (Mt 16:13-20) who came into our world to save us (1 Tim 1:15) and forgive us (Mt 26:28) so we could have a fresh start with God (Col 1:21-23), life to the full (Jn 10:10) and life forever (Jn 3:16).

Did the resurrection really happen in history? - More from a qualified expert

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