Bible Readings

The Beginning The End...

Week 1: READ: Mark 3:7-35   Show Time   The lights flicker indicating that intermission is ending and it is time to return to our seats.  The smokers outside the theater take their last drag on their cigarettes. The crowd around the concession stand throw back the last few swallows of their wine.  People begin the rush back...

Week 6: READ: Mark 2:1-12 Show Time The story of the healing of a man who was paralyzed in the village of Capernaum marks the first of five stories that involve controversy in this collection of conflict stories in Mark: 2:1-12, 15-17, 18-22, 23-28 and 3:1-6.  While much of Mark lacks attention to detail and structure,...

READ: Mark 1:40-45 Show Time The curtain rises.  There is a scene change.  There is no background noted.  The simple scene is an exchange between Jesus and another man who is kneeling before him by the side of the road.  This is a healing story of a man with leprosy. We do not hear much about leprosy...

Week 4: Mark 1:29-39 Show Time The agent of time has often been used to tie stories together.  Three stories are knit together by time (as soon as they left the synagogue, v. 29; that evening, v. 32; and, in the morning v. 35). Mark uses this tool of writing to unite these oral stories of Jesus and...

Mark 1:21-28 Show Time Jesus and his new-found followers come ashore from the Sea to city of Capernaum.  The way the call of the first four disciples is arranged just prior to this narrative, it may suggest that the boat that Zebedee and his hired hands were anchored in was located on the edge of Capernaum.  With...

Week 2: READ: Mark 1:14-20 Show Time Mark foreshadows the purpose of Jesus’ ministry even before it begins: Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news, (14b-15).  The main message of Jesus in Mark, Matthew...

Week Eleven  November 20, 2016 READ: Isaiah 49:7-16a   Why Pursue Justice and Peace?                                                       Jesus challenged the powerful and lifted up the lowly.  He did not come to establish a new system of power and control.  In a time when women were clearly under the rule of men, Jesus shook the system by standing up for justice for...

READ: Isaiah 49:1-6   Why Be Baptized and Commune?                                        Baptism is the activity of God to receive a person into God’s family, the church, by the washing of new birth as commanded by Scripture (Titus 3:5).  This regenerative work is tied to the action of Jesus through his death and resurrection.  While the amount of water used...