Author: Norm

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 10:17-27 “Jesus looked at him and loved him… ‘Go, sell everything…’” (Mark 10:21) Jesus’s hard command needs to be understood in the context of His love. Jesus loved this man, and saw what was really going on in him. Jesus was not trying to drive this man away, but bring him to…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 10:13-16 “He took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:16) This picture of Jesus appeals to me, welcoming the children. Too often in my experience of church, children are meant to be seen, not heard. We force them to be quiet it church so…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 10:1-12 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law.” (Mark 10:5) According to Jesus, what Moses wrote was not God’s will in the beginning. Moses makes allowances for hard-hearted sinners by allowing divorce. This raises the question: how can God’s law not be God’s Law? This should…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Psalm 132 “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned.” (Psalm 132:14) For the Jews before Jesus, the temple was their symbol of hope. It reminded them of God’s commitment to them – He lived among them. It reminded them of their glorious past, and David their…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Proverbs 24 “I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw.” (Proverbs 24:32) As I read this verse, I knew the Lord wanted me to reflect on it. In the context it is about learning a lesson from a lazy person. But I sensed the Lord…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Proverbs 23 “Do not let your heart envy sinners…” Proverbs 23:17) What gets your heart going, what are you passionate about? This proverb warns about seeting your heart on what others have. Jealousy, greed, envy, covetousness… how would our economy work otherwise? This is a warning not to allow our hearts to be…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:42-50 “Where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:48) Jesus does not use the word ‘hell’ (a later English word), but the word ‘gehenna’. “Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, is an actual valley in the city of Jerusalem. In Israel’s past, it…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:38-41 “Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name will certainly not lose their reward.” (Mark 9:41) We love to divide people into group: those who are with us, those who are like us. The disciples wanted to protect their special place with Jesus. This ‘someone’ was not one…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:33-37 “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) Among chickens, there is a pecking order… among humans too. We want to establish ourselves in a good place, to rise up in the ranks. There is something normal and healthy in this… God…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:30-32 “They did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” (Mark 9:32) If Jesus was the clearest revelation of God (Hebrews 1:1-2), why couldn’t they understand? We’re so familiar with Jesus’s death and resurrection, we don’t wonder enough. We’ve come up with our theological answers and explain…