Tag: Jesus

Red Letter Year: 1/28

Mark 6:45-56

45 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. 46 After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

47 Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. 50 They were all terrified when they saw him.

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!” 51 Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, 52 for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.

53 After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat to shore 54 and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, 55 and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.

Comments

The story of the woman who fought through the crowd, touched the hem of Jesus’robe and was healed has gotten around fast. People on the other side of the lake have taken up this same successful strategy. The disciples, meanwhile, are still having a hard time understanding. They have already seen Jesus calm an angry storm, feed thousands with very little food, raise a girl from the dead, and heal many, many people. But they still react with great fear and amazement. But that doesn’t stop Jesus from coming to their aid, filling them with courage and peace, and fixing their predicament. That they were in the middle of a lake didn’t stop Jesus either.

In the same way, nothing will stand in the way of Jesus coming to your rescue. Paul said it like this in Romans 8:38-39: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Think of that statement and picture Jesus walking over whatever is troubling you, walking to get to you. Coming to your rescue. He does that. Because he loves you.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 1/25

Mark 6:30-44

30 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. 31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. 33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. 34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”

37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

38 “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”

They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!

Comments

I hope you caught the first thing Jesus says in today’s passage. That’s important for all of us. When you are working, serving, ministering it is important to find some time and space to go off by yourself, just you and Jesus, and get some rest. Remember earlier, Jesus said that Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around. Part of the point there is that rest is for our benefit, we should take it regularly.

The next story is prototypical of the life of a follower of Jesus. You see a real need, so you pray, telling Jesus about the need, maybe even making a suggestion about how to solve it. Sometimes (not all the time), Jesus responds, “You do it.” You hear that and quickly realize that you do not have the resources to do whatever it is. It’s not just that you don’t think you have enough, you literally don’t have enough. Not even close. What you have is laughably paltry compared to the need. Then you step out and begin to do it and you wind up having a lot more than you needed. An abundance. Enough to meet the need and then some. This same process gets played out over and over again. We still tend to freak out each time, but Jesus still comes through each time.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.