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Sisällön tarjoaa Trinity Vineyard Church. Trinity Vineyard Church tai sen podcast-alustan kumppani lataa ja toimittaa kaiken podcast-sisällön, mukaan lukien jaksot, grafiikat ja podcast-kuvaukset. Jos uskot jonkun käyttävän tekijänoikeudella suojattua teostasi ilman lupaasi, voit seurata tässä https://fi.player.fm/legal kuvattua prosessia.
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Trinity Vineyard Sunday Morning
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Manage series 3443752
Sisällön tarjoaa Trinity Vineyard Church. Trinity Vineyard Church tai sen podcast-alustan kumppani lataa ja toimittaa kaiken podcast-sisällön, mukaan lukien jaksot, grafiikat ja podcast-kuvaukset. Jos uskot jonkun käyttävän tekijänoikeudella suojattua teostasi ilman lupaasi, voit seurata tässä https://fi.player.fm/legal kuvattua prosessia.
We're a church in South East London learning how to love God and love our neighbours. Here you can listen in to what we're talking about.
…
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74 jaksoa
Merkitse kaikki (ei-)toistetut ...
Manage series 3443752
Sisällön tarjoaa Trinity Vineyard Church. Trinity Vineyard Church tai sen podcast-alustan kumppani lataa ja toimittaa kaiken podcast-sisällön, mukaan lukien jaksot, grafiikat ja podcast-kuvaukset. Jos uskot jonkun käyttävän tekijänoikeudella suojattua teostasi ilman lupaasi, voit seurata tässä https://fi.player.fm/legal kuvattua prosessia.
We're a church in South East London learning how to love God and love our neighbours. Here you can listen in to what we're talking about.
…
continue reading
74 jaksoa
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×Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” - Luke 2:25-32 Simeon, a devout and faithful man, had been waiting for the Messiah. The Holy Spirit led him to recognize Jesus as the Saviour. Simeon’s prophecy described Jesus as a light for the world, someone who would lift some people up and bring others down, revealing the true thoughts of their hearts. He also warned Mary about the deep sorrow she would face. We’re encouraged to think about Simeon’s faith and how he actively waited for God’s promise to come true. God’s plans often don’t match what we expect. like sending a helpless baby instead of a mighty warrior as the Messiah. It’s a reminder that God works through the unexpected, using the humble and the weak to carry out His plans. As we go through Advent, we’re reminded it’s a time of waiting. It’s a chance for us to stay open to how God might surprise us, instead of boxing Him into what we think He should do. Like Simeon, we’re invited to listen for the Holy Spirit’s nudges and to follow them, trusting that God knows what He’s doing. We wait with hope, not based on what’s happening around us but on God’s love and faithfulness. We let go of our expectations, open our hearts, and let God work however He chooses. As we wait for Christmas and beyond, we’re reminded that Jesus came to bring light and hope to the whole world. Let’s keep our hearts and minds ready for whatever He has planned.…
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” Luke 1:46-55…
When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. - Luke 1:57-64 Christmas songs are essential to creating that perfect festive vibe. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... deck the halls... All I want for Christmas... A whole genre which sets the seasonal mood. This Advent, we’re leaning in with our own playlist—three Christmas songs from the Gospel of Luke: Zechariah’s song, Mary’s song, and Simeon’s song. Let’s start with Zechariah. He’s a priest in the temple of Jerusalem, performing his sacred duties by offering incense on the altar. The rising smoke symbolizes the prayers of the people ascending to heaven. An angel appears, announcing that his prayers have been answered. What prayers? We aren’t told. Perhaps Zechariah had been praying for a child for himself and his wife Elizabeth, despite their old age. Or maybe his prayers were for the nation, for Israel’s healing and salvation. The angel’s message reveals that God’s plan for salvation is unfolding through Zechariah’s family. His future son, John, will play a pivotal role in this divine story. Zechariah’s personal hopes have intersected with God’s grand narrative of redemption. Overwhelmed, he struggles to believe and asks for a sign. The angel responds by sealing Zechariah’s voice—and possibly his hearing—until the promise is fulfilled. Why this response? Isn’t it natural for Zechariah to doubt that a couple beyond childbearing age could conceive? The angel’s action seems less like punishment and more like a sign of mystery. It strikes me that the promises given the Zechariah are sealed up in him in the same way that the prophetic promises of Israel are sealed up for hundreds of years. As the baby forms in Elizabeth's womb, so the promises of God come together in Zechariah's mind, and form his song of hope. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," the proverb says. This is wrong. Waiting can form us. Through it, we learn to wait for God and his marvellous designs, rather than the mere fulfilment of our often misguided desires. This doesn't always feel great at the time. As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans: "Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."…
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. - Mark 11:16-17 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus did more than just flip a few tables over, he turned the temple inside out. He saw the injustice, the financial corruption and the racism and acted so that excluded are the included and the valueless are the invaluable. Here what Jesus is showing us is that prayer apart from justice is incomplete and that his justice was fuelled by a compassion that was forged in prayer. To follow Jesus. To embody our prayers. To work for justice, is to walk that knife edge between the world and religion. How do we do that? It is the default setting of humans to be drawn to sameness. But if not held in check this default drives tribalism and polarisation and even tells us that difference is a threat, something to be afraid of. We can get comfortable in church. How do we go into the world and to a people who think “how things are” is life without God and present a better vision of meaning and purpose? How do we persuade them to put their lot in with the most beautiful man in history? This is what I am grappling with for my community and my friends as I embody my grief, hold on to my prayers and then step into fun and hosting, inviting them around my table. In our communities and friendships and workplaces there are going to be areas of hurt, brokenness, suffering, maybe even death. These are places where, as followers of Jesus, we might find ourselves being called to go and suffer alongside the grieving rather than remaining comfortable rather than staying only where the fun is at. These are places where we might be called to go and pray. And then look at how we can embody our prayers and partner with Jesus to bring healing and bring justice.…
Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.' - Mark 10:42-45 If you're really lucky you'll be blessed at some point in your life with the kind of friend its just great to be around. Someone who doesn't demand much from you. Someone who 'gets' you. You have similar values and approaches to life. This person will really bring joy to your life and probably you'll bring great joy to theirs. But sometimes, they'll be people in your life who you love dearly and loving them will mean sacrifice. Anyone who's cared for a young child, or an elderly friend or relative - even a pet! - will know this. You have to give up your comfort so they can be comfortable. You have to go without so that they can have. You have to give up your favourite pass-times so that they can have your time. They'll be holidays you won't get to go on, restaurants you won't get in to, treats you'll have to forgo. Though caring for them is a great burden your love will lead you to sacrifice these things, almost without thinking about it. This is one way to think of God's love for us. But our need is so much greater. Jesus uses the picture of a ransom - the price needed to buy back a slave. Our life is not our own, and a life has to be given so it can be redeemed. And not just any life - the life of the Son of God, so valuable that it can be a ransom not just for one but for many. His love leads him to do it gladly. James and John wanted positions of importance as if to prove their value. It caused such a fuss - and all for no need. Who needs to prove their value, when they've been bought at such an extraordinary price?…
To the Pharisees it was a question of divorce, to Jesus it was a far deeper issue of covenant loyalty. 6 ‘But at the beginning of creation God “made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ - Mark 10:5-9 This is a framework for a society to flourish. Divorce is not the centre but loyalty to our relationships is. Loyalty in relationships is learned behaviour. We are made male and female for the purpose of learning covenantal loyalty. God’s covenantal loyalty to his people and our response of loyalty back is a deep wisdom we can only learn through modelling and practice. It is not an idea in our head but a lived practice. As we learn of God’s covenantal commitment to his people unto death our ability to commit to our relationships will grow. This flows out for the blessing of the whole of society and all of us learn more of God. Through faithful marriages in society we see a glimpse of God's covenantal faithfulness to his people. Respecting how we are made as male and female and respecting the ideal of covenant loyalty is a way of making healthy communities. We need our church community to help us. This should make us aware of the importance of the church community and our individual responsibility to work to create a healthy church. What are we doing to make TVC a healthy church? A place that is empowering people to build a better society? A place where we can become apprenticed to loyal relationships with each other and with God? A place of relationship where we can find healing? A place that is committed to bringing each other to God in prayer?…
They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” - Mark 9:30-37 What is the Kingdom like? Who gets in? Who gets a blessing? Well the kingdom belongs to those who can pass through a small door. Greatness in the Kingdom requires a reversal of values—being “last” rather than seeking personal fulfilment. The smallest children - those without value and prestige - represent the great, even God himself. It also belongs to those who can get over a low bar. When the disciple John reports stopping someone casting out demons in Jesus' name, Jesus rebukes him. Those acting in Jesus name, for the sake of the little ones of Jesus, are on the Kingdom's side. The requirement for belonging is simple: not exclusivity or high qualifications, but solidarity with Jesus and his followers. Finally, it belongs to those with deep wounds. Jesus advises the disciples that they must not cause themselves to stumble. It is better to take radical action against those parts of us that lead away from the Kingdom. If we don't cut them off they will lead to spiritual ruin. For these disciples, who argued about who is the greatest and had got into a habit of ordering people to turn away from Kingdom mission, there was work to do.…
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” - Mark 9:21-25 In this story there's a happy ending. The boy is set free by Jesus. Praise God. But, hypothetically, what if he wasn't? What if this man's story ended like Jesus' story? In his crisis Jesus prayed: Father, if it is at all possible... Possible , the same exact word as Jesus used her in Mark 9 to encourage the father’s faith. Father, if it is at all possible, take this cup from me. And heaven was quiet. And a few hours later, on the cross: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the sky was dark. You see, at the end of the faith of desperation. At the end of the cry of HELP ME comes the faith of surrender. I think some of you will know the pain my family and I are going through right now. You may know that the plans I had made for the future, the prayers I had faithfully prayed for my friends and my community are in tatters, and a savage scar left behind in their place. It has been a reminder that I am not ultimately in control, how fragile and precious life is, and how wrong death is. It was never a part of God’s plan. A small action, over so quickly, and yet the consequences have and will affect so many. Who can I go to at this moment, in the full desperation of my realised fears? Who can I go to but to the one willing to pray: "not my will be done but yours". Who have I in heaven and earth but you oh God? The one who was willing to go to the cross for me. For my friends. For my community. The one willing to absorb the sting of death in his body and destroy its power. I know I am not going to get the answers I crave. But I know the one whom I can bring all my questions to. The one who I can trust without reservation. I know that I can surrender my grief and my pain and my questions, my shattered plans and unmet expectations, all to him. Even when the religious transaction seems to have failed, when it seems God isn’t holding up his side of the deal, I can ask him for more faith. I can let the man's prayer become my own: Lord, I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.…
Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” - Mark 9:2-7 Once or twice in life we might have a profound, powerful, even unsettling, experience of God. Peter, James and John went up an unidentified mountain with Jesus. The mountain - called the 'holy mountain' by Peter in one of his letters - turns out to be a Sinai-like mountain, and the meeting a Sinai-like meeting. Jesus, who Peter has acknowledged as Messiah in the previous chapter, is revealed as the Son of God. Why? I think this is a moment for discouraged disciples. For every mountain top experience, there is time in the valley of the shadow. As Moses sat with God on the mountain, they people of Israel were going off the rails. Elijah defeated the Baal prophets, but then has to flee to the wilderness in fear for his life. And so on... Meanwhile, Peter, James and John have been asked to 'take up their cross' and follow Jesus into conflict with evil. And on the way down the mountain they have an encouraging(?) discussion about John the Baptist's execution. What kind of movement are they part of? The kind where, because of Jesus, they get a place in presence of God, and a glimpse into the very core of reality.…
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will loose it, but whoever looses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his fathers glory with the Holy angels” - Mark 8:34-37 There are no half measures. It’s not a nice hobby. Following Jesus is all or nothing. Jesus says that if we want to follow him then we need to disown our values, cultural norms, expectations of our self, even some of our ideas about God. We are asked to lay down our ideas of how things should go. It is a call to self sacrifice and absolute surrender. On the cross are our own plans and desires. C.S.Lewis summarises this so well in his book Mere Christianity. He says: “The more we get what we now call ourselves our of the way and let him take us over the more truly ourselves we become. Our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. The more I resist and try and love on my own the more I become dominated by my own hereditary and upbringing and surroundings and drives, without Him, what I proudly call myself becomes merely the meeting place for chains of event which I never started and cannot stop. Most of what I call me can be very easily be explained by my physical drives or what others have said and done to me. It is only when I turn to Christ when I give myself up to his personalty that I finally begin to have a real personality all of my own. Never the less you should never go to christ for the sake of a new self. As long as it is your own self you are concentrating on you haven’t really begun to go to him.” Self denial and cross baring do not eradicate or repress the self, rather the Holy Spirit works through them, restoring the image of God in us as we grow in christlikeness and become more fully who we were created to be. Our real new self will not come when we are looking for it, only when we are looking for Him.…
Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” - Mark 8:17-23 Everywhere Jesus went in the gospels, there was abundance. There was leftover food, there was healing. There was deliverance, provision, feasting. There’s so much feasting that the Pharisees even get miffed that Jesus and his disciples aren’t fasting. You just don't see lack around Jesus. And everywhere Jesus went the Pharisees also went. They were deeply faithful, religious people. People who knew their scriptures backwards. People who were trying as hard as they could to follow the instructions God had given the Israelites that set out a way to live the good life. People who were waiting for the Messiah, Israel’s king, to arrive as he had promised. And because they were so faithful and patient and religious, they thought they would be first in line to be part of the Kingdom of God. Except they looked at Jesus, looked at how he lived out from that place of trust in God, looked at his mindset of abundance, and still they couldn't see. Jesus lived from a place of “there is enough” even when there objectively was literally not enough. They cannot break out of a mindset of lack and scarcity. I mean, seven loaves is just not enough to feed 4000! But in the real scarcity and lack, Jesus trusted in God. Trusted in his abundance and then he actually lived out of that truth. The Pharisees who bought into the lie that we can be abundant without dependence on God. They lived out of a mindset where they tried, really tried to overcome human brokenness by their own effort. They accumulated rules and regulations and ways of right behaviour and religion. The tragedy of course is instead of making themselves like God it set them against God. It led to scarcity not abundance. So instead, spend some time with the God of abundance and ask, what next? What does it specifically look like in your life, while in the midst of scarcity, holding just seven loads with a hungry crowd of 4000 to feed…. What does it look like to step out trusting in the abundance of God? Holding on to the lesson that there was more than enough to feed 4000. That there was an abundance of leftovers besides. May we be good hear-ers and good see-ers. May we trust what Jesus said and do what Jesus did.…
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean). He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come - Mark 7:14-15 The Times once asked a selection of eminent writers and thinkers to reflect on the question, 'what is wrong with the world?' GK Chesterton wrote back: "Dear Sirs, I am". We have met the Pharisees a few times in Mark. They were deeply devout people and - in some ways - had good intentions. They were aware of the great gulf between sinful humanity and a holy God, and wanted to help people to cross it. To an extent, Jesus agreed. There was a gulf - a deep chasm between our broken fragmented lives and His pure goodness. But Jesus absolutely rejected their take on both the causes and the solutions. Incessant ritual washing, sprinkling food, pedantic observance of this and that tradition, while the thrust of the Law of Moses was ignored and evaded. The Pharisees would foist this 'outside-in' vision of holiness on anyone they could. Call it performative purity - a fake-it to make-it spirituality. But that would never work - and nor will any of our efforts to clean the outside of the cup while ignoring the dirt inside. What's the source of the strife, conflict, greed, and violence? Our hearts. What to do? Old religion points us to rigorous ritual observance. New-age philosophies point us to crystals, candles, and connecting with nature. None of these things go deep enough. And the truth is, nothing human is capable of dealing with the human heart. Our hope is in the mercy of Jesus. Hebrews 10:22 says that faith in Jesus will see our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed. But then that's the gospel itself - and 'inside-out' liberation that starts with our hearts and moves to every part of our lives: freedom from all our efforts to justify our existence, and a freedom then to serve, in love, God and our neighbour.…
Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. - Mark 6:47-52 What is 'hardness of heart'? The Bible speaks about it quite a lot, and it seems like a deliberate disbelief. In Mark 6 the disciples are afraid and amazed when Jesus walks on the water. They could work it out, not because their brains were slow but because their hearts were hard. I think it hardness of heart is the Bible's name for a combination of intellectual assumptions and ways of thinking, even habits, that tell us not just what we believe but what is believable . In other words, we have a framework about the world, our lives, and God. We draw a thick black line around what we *think* we know, a decide that it's a line that God just can't cross. The disciples didn't understand the walking on the water because their framework didn't couldn't yet contain a man - Jesus - would did God things, like feeding a wandering people in the wilderness. And they couldn't see that Jesus was doing a God-thing on the lake: "He alone treads the waves of the sea" (Job 9:8). A warning then, that even those who hang around with Jesus can make the mistake of thinking that he's going to stay within lines that we have drawn. May the Spirit soften our hearts.…
Jesus left there and went to his home town, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. - Mark 6:1-6 Jesus provoked extreme reactions. If you read the gospels: there are no people who are merely warm about Jesus, no ambivalent “he’s a good guy, I guess” responses. People either oppose him, or they fall down on their knees and give their lives to him. It wasn't always his healings, teachings, or pronouncements of forgiveness that offended people. In his hometown, it was his ordinariness that was the problem. The people of Nazareth liked the teachings and were open to healings, but not from him. He was too familiar. Isn't this the carpenter? He's just Mary's kid... We know the family! Are you turned of by the ordinariness of Jesus? Would you like the gospel to be more esoteric than the simple offer of mercy for sinners? Do you think your brothers and sisters ought to be more intellectually, physically, or morally impressive? Do you wish that the church was more 'successful'? Would you like our experience to be more spiritually exhilarating, something other than the daily choosing to put one foot in front of the other - the long obedience in the same direction . Really, there is nothing ordinary about Jesus. He is the extraordinary come to us in the ordinary. The theological word is incarnation - "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us". He is the meaning of everything, come to meet us. But day to day, it may be that our following of Jesus feels different, perhaps feels less, that the walk we expected. ... Life happens ... Then, like John the Baptist in prison, we send up the question, "are you really the one"? Is there someone or something more? Jesus had an answer to that. And he answers us, "blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me".…
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” -Mark 3: 31-35 In the context of a King speaking to an inner group the meaning of this paragraph is astounding, truly astonishing. In the context of reading something inviting us to become wise, helping us grow in wisdom, it is something that should shake our worlds. These are the words of the king, we are not being told about any old family here, we are getting to know about some dynamics of God's family. This is a member of the trinity saying this. Jesus was saying that allegiance to him, shown by making his priorities our priorities, leads to us being included as part of his crew. This inclusion is not slipping in at the bottom level but we are included as part of the royal family. Take v34&35 in as a description of your reality, a statement about your position in this creation. When you give your allegiance to King Jesus you become part of his royal family. We are being invited to meditate on this and become wise. Making wise decisions about your life will become easier if you think often about this truth. Let us remind ourselves that there's opposition out there but the victory Jesus won on the cross means that everything that needed to be done so that we can have victory over all that would oppress us has already been done.…
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