Monthly Archives: January 2015

Fully Satisfied

27 Tuesday Jan 2015

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I invite you on a journey through Mark’s Good News about Jesus Christ. We are thinking about what he wants to tell us through bread. If you missed the intro to this series, click here. We begin our journey in Mark 6:30-44.

Please read the passage because I have some questions for you:
Who said the people had to be fed?
How many loaves of bread did they have?
How was the crowd arranged when they sat down?
What did Jesus do with the bread?
How many baskets of bread did they gather?
Did anybody go hungry?

Usually, we simply focus on the miracle of Jesus feeding thousands of people. However, this passage is telling us we are in Jewish territory and this is a special moment for the Jews.

The disciples tell Jesus that these people – their people – are hungry and need to be fed. Jesus takes the bread, blesses the bread, breaks the bread and then gives the bread.

Five loaves of bread = five books of Moses.
They sit down in groups of 50 and 100 = Moses groupings.
Twelve baskets = twelve tribes of Israel.
Even the baskets are the kind that Jews used for bread, they are called kophinos.
Was anybody left hungry? No – everyone was satisfied.

Try to put yourself in their shoes – they are seeing, hearing and tasting things that are shouting to them: Celebrate! God has come! We are his people and he is feeding us and we are satisfied! There is bread in Israel and the true shepherd is feeding us!

Then Jesus does something unsettling: he tells his disciples that they are going to the other side…

Enough for Everyone

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Over the next few weeks, I want to share something that I got turned on to late last year. It has caused me to re-evaluate my thinking and perhaps it will challenge and inspire you, too. I am thankful to my friends Elizabeth T. and Warren K. who helped me see more clearly.

Have you ever noticed that when we read the Bible we often compartmentalize the stories? When we do that, we miss important connections; connections that can inspire us, challenge us, and call us to be closer than ever before to God and others. I hope to share one of those connections with you.

In Mark’s Good News of Jesus Christ there is a symbol that Mark returns to over and over again. It’s a symbol that would have spoke to everyone in Mark’s time.

That symbol is bread.

Mark mentions bread 22 times and 19 of those times are in Mark 6, 7 and 8. I want to take you on a journey through these chapters and I hope we are able to see the breakthrough Jesus was trying to teach his friends because it’s a breakthrough we still need today.

Want to try some bread?

Disarmed

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

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A good friend has encouraged me to read Derek Flood’s book, “Disarming Scripture.”* I haven’t even started it yet but it has already wrinkled my brain with this one paragraph my friend sent me. May it also wrinkle your brain.

“Jesus, while embracing the prophets’ priority of compassion over ritual, rejects their common tactic of blaming the victim, and instead acts to heal those who are sick, effectively undoing God’s supposed “judgment” on them. Jesus, in fact, does not associate sickness with God’s judgment at all, but with the kingdom of Satan, and thus acts to liberate people from its bondage, rather than upholding it as right and calling for repentance as the prophets do. Jesus therefore rejects the prophets’ claim that such judgment (sickness, suffering, etc.) is God’s work, and instead frames his healing ministry in terms of the kingdom of God advancing against Satan’s kingdom (cf. Luke 11:17–20).” ~Derek Flood, Disarming Scripture.

*This isn’t a wholesale endorsement of this book, rather it’s just a note about why I would bother to check it out.

Our Heart Song – Belonging

06 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Psalm 23 is a personal Heart Song to the One who has loved us from the very beginning. Are you able to sing it?

As we continue our series about our Heart Song, consider the last two verses: You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

As you listen to the Good Shepherd’s voice, you will begin to trust him more and more, and you will discover to him and him alone – you are enough; only with him can you sing:  “I have all that I need.” When we go through the valley of dark shadows our fear makes us focus on the danger, the problems, the threats. The Good Shepherd tells us to focus on him – remember that he is with us, remember who he is, remember his care and protection. The more we trust him and follow him, we too will be able to say: “I will not be afraid.”

As the song concludes, the metaphor shifts from Yahweh is my shepherd and I am his sheep to Yahweh is my host and I am his guest. Although it seems like a completely different song, it is emphasizing the two key points from before – with Yahweh I lack nothing and with Yahweh I don’t need to be afraid.

The song ends by proclaiming, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” Think about that for a moment – God will pursue you with his love until your very last breath.

Consider about all the times you tried to hide from God. Something you said or did left you so ashamed that you were sure you had ruined your divine relationship; it had disqualified you from heaven. Maybe it’s happening right now and you keeping up appearances, your smile is forced, inside you’re broken; feeling forsaken. Listen to Our Heart Song. God has not forsaken you; he has not called off his pursuit; he’s seeking for you even right now and he will not stop until your very last breath.

Kind of overwhelming, isn’t it? Let me add one more part.

There is some Hebrew word play going on in the last part of the verse with the word “live.” It also means “return.”  What the song is saying is, if you go away; if you are away right now and feeling like you have lost your way, his abundant hospitality will be the same when you come back.

In this world, we are often on the outside. It might be your gender, your age, the colour of your skin, your language, your social status, your education or abilities… Many things make us feel like we are outside; abandoned, rejected.

The Good Shepherd’s abundant hospitality, care and protection, and pursuit of our hearts tells us that even when this world leaves us outside, in Him we find belonging.