Monday, September 28 – Sunday, October 4
This week’s reading is Mark 2. As we read through the gospels of Mark and Luke together, our goal is to get to know Jesus better, and experience the blessing of knowing Him. You can find the weekly schedule here. This coming Sunday the’ message at Crossroads Church will be based of the reflections of this week. Your comments are welcome and helpful!

1. What strikes me in this chapter is how Jesus changes everything. Prior to Jesus arrival, people lived under the condemnation of sin, under the burden of the Law. Prior to Jesus, this world is a dominion of darkness. There are hints and moments of light, but the dominant reality is sin, guilt, suffering, hardship. The Law of Moses did not give new life, it did not help sinners to change, it only pointed to the reality of sin and the need for Divine help. Then Jesus comes, and everything changes!
2. Forgiveness is declared over sinners, they are called by Jesus to experience the Father’s loving welcome. The curse of suffering, sickness and death is reversed by Jesus, and God’s healing is announced and demonstrated.  The rituals of fasting and the Laws (like Sabbath observance) take second place, Jesus becomes the focus of our hope. Because of Jesus, the promised Adam/Son of Man who would reverse the curse and crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15), everything changed. We are now transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). In Jesus, I am forgiven. In Jesus, I am set free. In Jesus, I am healed. In Jesus, I am restored.
3. But wait a minute, how come there is still darkness, sin, sickness and suffering? Why does Satan continue to plague and pester God’s restored children, and hold many in the bondage of the curse. The reason, as I see it, is that the kingdom which is accomplished before God, i.e. in eternity, is being worked out in time, through history. There is a NOT YET aspect to the NOW kingdom of God. It is accomplished, but it is not yet fully worked out. Jesus is Lord, but not every is accepting it, or living according to it. And Satan uses fear and deception to keep us from living in it. The Deceiver is still a deceiver, and as he did with Adam, and as he tried with Jesus, he still comes at us with lies trying to trick us into doubting that Jesus is Lord, or that we are forgiven, free and healed.
4. We need to live today – NOW – by faith in the victory and blessing of Jesus, whether we see it worked out in history or not. We hang on to the eternal when the temporal does not make sense to us. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
5. Even though because of Jesus we are forgiven, set free and healed, in our day to day lives we experience temporary struggles. We still need to confess, we still need to fast, we still need to seek healing. But we do this with hope, because we believe that in Christ they are ours by right, and in time we will receive their fullness. I take medication for sickness now, not because I doubt my healing in Christ but precisely because I believe it. I confess my sins now, not because I doubt my forgiveness in Christ, but precisely because I believe it. I fight the enemy now, not because I doubt my freedom in Christ, but precisely because I believe it!
6. Jesus changes how I view life. Jesus changes how I experience struggle. Jesus changes how I face death. Jesus Himself is the new wine, and I am the new wineskin. Jesus does not see me as a sinner, but as a much-loved child of God. He calls me not because I am good, but because He is good. He walks into a circle of sinners and smiles and says ‘You are forgiven, you are free, you are healed, you are restored! Join Me in this new way of living!’
7. Jesus changes how we see. Whereas we tend to see sin, and sinners, Jesus sees God’s restored children. Whereas we tend to focus on the darkness in our lives or in the world, He focuses on – and as a result, reflects – the light. We see sickness, He sees healing. We see the curse, He sees the blessing. We see suffering, He sees the glory. He is not just pretending, neither is He denying reality. Sin is still sin, Satan is still evil, sickness is still painful, but with eyes of faith, we see through them to the victory and glory of God through Jesus. For us the cross becomes a symbol of hope, not despair. For us Friday becomes Good Friday, not Gloomy Friday. We see through them to the glory day, the Resurrection Sunday beyond them. We see sinners through the eyes of grace, we see sickness through the lens of healing, we see death through the window of eternal life. Jesus changes how we see.
8. Another theme that ties these four stories together is God’s peace. Jesus speaks of the gift of “sabbath” (rest, peace) that religion had turned into a burden. The same way that religion turns fasting into a duty. The same way that religion excludes ‘sinners’. The same way that religion makes forgiveness unreachable, and life hard for those who struggle. In this passage, Jesus brings peace and rest through forgiveness, healing, acceptance, release from religious duty and legalism. He makes knowing God a gift, not an impossible dream. Religion separates God from the people; Jesus reconciles God to the people, and the result is rest and peace.
9. I want to experience God’s peace through Jesus. I want to be able to say with Paul, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13) I can trust that through Jesus there is forgiveness, healing, acceptance, joy, rest. I choose to trust this, to rest in this.