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March 12 - Mark 2 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends, it's Sean here and it is Thursday.
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  It's the 12th of March. And you, you clever things you
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  have tapped on play and you have said, Sean, let's read a chapter
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  of the Bible. In fact, let's read another
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  chapter of the Gospel of Mark because this is like being
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  strapped into a roller coaster following Jesus around.
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  It is no boring ride. There must not have been a
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  single day that was dull being around Jesus as he moved through
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  the world. And you can just imagine, you
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  can hear from Mark's words, this incredible energy around him and
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  energy around all that's going on and the crowds just being
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  drawn to him. Wow, how wonderful to be able to
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  read these accounts. It isn't about you, but can you
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  feel it like building in your chest and your stomach?
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  The sense of emotion, this, this freneticism almost as we read
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  through it, How about we get ourselves right into the zone?
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  Our Holy Spirit take us back to that time to feel the excitement
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  in the crowd around us, the incredulity of the authorities,
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  the gratitude of the people being loved and cared for by
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  Jesus so that we can truly experience the message of this
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  gospel for ourselves Today. Our friends, I'm excited.
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  Let us read it together. Mark chapter 2.
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  When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news
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  spread quickly that he was back home.
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  Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with
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  visitors that there was no more room even outside the door.
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  While he was preaching God's word to them, four men arrived
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  carrying a paralysed man on a mat.
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  They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they
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  dug a hole through the roof above his head.
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  Then they lowered the man on his mat right down in front of
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  Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said
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  to the paralysed man, My child, your sins are forgiven.
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  But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting
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  there thought to themselves, What is he saying?
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  This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins.
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  Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking.
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  So we asked them, Why do you question this in your hearts?
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  Is it easier to say to the paralysed man your sins are
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  forgiven or stand up, pick up your mat and walk?
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  So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on
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  earth to forgive sins. Then Jesus turned to the
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  paralysed man and said, stand up, pick up your mat and go
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  home. And the man jumped up, grabbed
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  his mat and walked out through the stunned onlookers.
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  They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, We've never
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  seen anything like this before. Then Jesus went out to the
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  Lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him.
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  As he walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alpheus, sitting at his
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  tax collector's booth. Follow me and be my disciple,
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  Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.
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  Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as
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  dinner guests along with many tax collectors and other
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  disreputable sinners. There were many people of this
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  kind among Jesus followers. But when the teachers of
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  religious law, who were Pharisees saw him eating with
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  tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his
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  disciples Why does he eat with such scum?
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  When Jesus heard this, he told them healthy people don't need a
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  doctor, sick people do. I have come to call not those
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  who think they are righteous, but those who know they are
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  sinners. Once when John's disciples and
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  the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked,
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  Why don't your disciples fast like John's disciples and the
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  Pharisees do? Jesus replied, Do wedding guests
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  fast while celebrating with the groom?
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  Of course not. They can't fast while the groom
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  is with them. But someday the groom will be
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  taken away from them, and then they will fast.
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  Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth?
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  For the new patch would shrink and RIP away from the old cloth,
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  leaving an even bigger tear than before.
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  And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, for the wine
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  would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would
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  both be lost. New wine calls for new wine
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  skins. One Sabbath day, as Jesus was
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  walking through some grain fields, his disciples began
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  breaking off heads of grain to eat.
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  But the Pharisees said to Jesus, Look, why are they breaking the
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  law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?
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  Jesus said to them, Haven't you ever read in the scriptures what
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  David did when he and his companions were hungry?
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  He went into the House of God during the days when Abiatha was
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  high priest and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of
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  bread that only the priests are allowed to eat.
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  He also gave some to his companions.
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  Then Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made to meet the
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  needs of people and not people to meet the requirements of the
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  Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even
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  over the Sabbath. Oh Jesus, we can hear as you
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  moved around the old ways, just rattling and falling, as you
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  showed people a new way of being and a new way of seeing the
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  world and faith. Lord, you are new wine and the
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  old wineskin just cannot hold you.
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  You are new cloth and our old garments, our old ways of
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  understanding and doing things just won't work.
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  Lord, I pray that the old wineskins and the old clothes in
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  our lives, these things that we continue to hold onto even
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  though they don't make sense, in the light of all of the truth
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  and the the beauty of what you bring to us.
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  Lord, help us let those things go, whether their beliefs about
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  us not being good enough, whether their beliefs about
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  what's important and what we should be pursuing.
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  Whatever those old ways are, Lord, we just offer them up to
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  you. Pray that you, our new wine, our
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  new way of being, our Saviour who changes everything, that you
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  would be transformative and that our lives would be turned upside
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  down in the most beautiful way as we are embraced by you and we
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  embrace you and what changes you bring to our life.
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  You're a wonderful, loving God and we're so grateful for you.
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  And we pray all of this in your wonderful revolutionary name,
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  Amen.