Day 71 of 90 Devotion

Dearest e-votees-

Day seventy-one of our cover to cover voyage through the Bible. We have completed Matthew (40 down, 26 to go). If you want to see the readings for our trip through the Bible you can follow this link:

www.christthegoodshep.org/biblein90days.html

Peace,
Karl

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Day 71 Readings: Matthew 26:57-Mark 9:13

Mark is terse. Mark is to the point. Mark is thought to be the earliest of the 4 canonical gospels. Mark doesn't have all the frills (no birth narrative, for instance). Mark is the shortest of the gospels (16 chapters compared to 21, 24 and 28). Not much time is spent connecting the dots with the Old Testament (as compared to Matthew).

Mark offers a fairly down and dirty, action packed gospel. Healings, exorcisms, teachings and confrontations show what Jesus has come to do, can do and will do. People experience healing and tell others (often when explicitly told not to) which brings throngs. A whole town's worth of people show up outside Peter's door in Capernaum. Jesus needs to push out to sea to teach many wanting to crowd in. Jesus is touching lives and people respond by wanting to touch him.

Sometimes we in the church get so flowery in our theology and our presentation and our worship. We strive to make things just right and sometimes end up obscuring the good news in our artistry and our well-intentioned flair. Plain-spoken, deeply-abiding truth is what some need. May we allow God to stir us to give people what they need rather than what we want to give.


God, bring your plain-spoken, deeply-abiding, life-giving truth to bear in our lives. Give us what we need. Help us love you better in return. Amen.