This weeks reading is Mark 1.
Our goal is to read through the gospels of Mark and Luke this year.
You can find the weekly schedule here.
Join us at Crossroads this Sunday as we get to know Jesus better together.
Share your thoughts about Jesus below…

1. My goal for this week is to read this passage everyday. I am not looking for doctrine or theology. I am hoping to know and appreciate Jesus more. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like is he came on the scene today. What would he be saying, what would he be doing? And how would I feel about him? Excited? Indifferent? Confused? Hopeful? My initial reaction as I read this today is INTRIGUED.
2. The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1) The good news is ABOUT Jesus. The good news is not ABOUT my forgiveness, my salvation, my hope for heaven after I die. Jesus IS the good news. More specifically, that He IS the Messiah, the Son of God.
3. That Jesus is THE Son of God. This is not a claim to divinity, but a claim to be the true Adam, the true image and likeness of God the Father. It is a claim that He is humanity as it ought to be. We were made to be sons and daughters of God, the living in-the-flesh representation of His Being (Genesis 1:26-28). Ever since Genesis 3, humans have ceased to be sons and daughters of God, but instead of the Deceiver (John 8:41-44). But in Genesis 3:15 God promised Eve that one of her offspring would crush the head of the Deceiver, and reverse the curse. Luke makes it clear that Jesus is the Son of God in the line of Adam, “the son of God” (Luke 3:38). I am NOT denying the divine origins of Jesus, but I do not see the ‘Son of God’ phrase as referring to this.
4. That Jesus is THE Messiah. The promised rescuer. The one anointed (Hebrew ‘mashiach’, Greek ‘christos’) by God to crush the serpent, reverse the curse and set things straight. There are many prophecies that predict his coming. Here is one important one: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) This is where the phrase “Son of Man” comes, the name Jesus mostly used for Himself.
5. The good news is that Jesus is the perfect God-like human deliverer, the One that can and will rescue us from the mess and misery of this sin-cursed world. Yes, that includes my forgiveness. Yes, that includes my hope beyond death (thought not just ‘heaven’). But it is so much more. It includes hope for this life for ALL people, including the most desperate and broken and lost and helpless.
6. This hope does more than comfort me for me, it inspires me for everyone and motivates me (or ought to) to become a servant and seeker (or fisher, Mark 1:17) of all people. If God and Jesus are the front lines bringing good news where it is needed most, what am I doing sitting comfortably in my pew, or at my bible study, or in my choir practice, or at my church business meeting… so busy talking about good news but rarely sharing it?