Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
“You have heard it said…but I say to you…” — Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32 There were 613 religious laws in Jesus’ day. The legal experts (“lawyers”), rabbis, priests, and groups like the Pharisees and Sadduccees really enjoyed debating them. What constituted work on the sabbath? What made you clean or unclean? Along with such debating …
Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”-– Mark 2:12 When Jesus healed a paralyzed man, whose friends had lowered through a roof to him, the crowd’s reaction wasn’t just …
Early in Mark’s Gospel (3:1-6, CEB), Jesus loses his temper. Since Mark writes in a compact and impatient manner, it’s easy to overlook this story. When you linger a bit with it, though, you discover it’s a watershed point in Jesus’ ministry. It changes his trajectory. It may for us as well. The Incident The …