The Greatest Commandment
Read: Mark 12:28-34 Which commandment is the most important of all? (v. 28) Have you ever walked up to a group of people in the middle of a conversation? It can take a while to catch up. You hear them talking about someone or some event, but because they’re already in the conversation, they know just […]
Cleansing the Temple
Read: Mark 11:15-19 He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold. (v. 15) The temple was designed to be a space for people to meet with God. However, when Jesus entered the temple, what did he find? It was already full. Jesus entered the space created especially for his presence and found […]
Triumphal Entry
Read: Matthew 21:1-11 Hosanna to the Son of David! (v. 9) As people lined the streets, throwing their cloaks on the ground before Jesus, they cried out, “Hosanna!” which means, “Lord, save us!” As much as it was praise, it was also a deep cry from the gut. A cry for everything wrong to finally be […]
Prepared for Burial
Read: Mark 14:1-11 She has done a beautiful thing to me. (v. 6) Sometime during the meal, a woman came in. She brought a bottle of perfume, likely the most valuable item she owned, worth up to a year’s wages. She took it, broke the jar, and poured it on Jesus’s head (v. 3). Those gathered with […]
Take Up Your Cross
Read: Matthew 16:21-26 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (v. 24 NIV) What does it look like to follow Jesus? Peter was confident he knew how to follow Jesus. Chosen and called to follow Jesus (Matt. 4:19), Peter had spent every waking moment with him. […]
Running Where Jesus Ran
Read: Hebrews 12:1-3 Looking to Jesus . . . (v. 2) Where do you look when you’re running? You could look behind you, where you’ve already run, but if you do, you might trip. You could look to the side at the sights around you, or even down at your feet, but you might bump into someone or […]
Nothing Will Separate Us
Read: Romans 8:31-39 [Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (v. 39) The first thing humankind did after disobeying God in the Garden of Eden was to hide. Initially Adam and Eve hid from one another, “They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Gen. […]
God Is for Us
Read: Romans 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (v. 31) The Bible uses several different prepositions to qualify God’s relationship with his people. The angel said Jesus should be called “Immanuel, (which means, God with us)” (Matt. 1:23). John describes God’s incarnation in […]
Saved in Hope
Read: Romans 8:18-25 For in this hope we were saved. (v. 24) Hope is one of the great words of the Christian faith, but it tends to be overused and misused and so has lost some of its force. We tend to use the word “hope” as if it meant wishful thinking. “I hope my team […]