Hey, let's get into Mark chapter 5 this week... if you have any closing thoughts on chapter 4 put them up on the Mark 4 post (b/c at the end of the book, i'll be printing all the posts and comments for everyone to have).
Peace! See you Sunday... or before.
-cory
I'm already starting to see in this chapter that everything that Jesus is doing is challenging the cultural norms of their society! Tombs, pigs, gentiles, unclean woman, dead body... those are all off limits! Jesus what are You trying to show us?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts were pretty similar Cory.
ReplyDeleteIt kept being re-iterated to me whilst reading this that Jesus really does meet us in our messiest places. I keep reading and keep finding Christ with his hands dirty because he might not have been all that "clean" and "proper" to begin with. I feel so disenchanted with sparkling pretty things right now. Especially in my spiritual life. Christ met the demoniac where he was and healed him when people ran, Christ healed the woman who bled profusely for years because of her faith and the death of a girl-all these things, death, bleeding, insanity and mental physical and spiritual illness are all confronted and given care. When I read that after the man was healed from the legion of demons within him he wanted to be with Christ-which is naturally how I'd feel-Christ asked him to stay. Stay and share what Mercy has been shown to him and tell others how his life has been effected. It almost hurt me. To be parted from the one who saved you and gave you a second chance. But he stayed in obedience and to share the hope and understanding of the Christ-the one who healed him. So the people (who wanted Christ to leave because they were afraid of him) would see and hope for something better-someone to help them even when life becomes inevitably hard and messy.