trying to find His way
By Rev’d Jon Swales I don’t want to be a Christianwho forgets how to feel—who hides behind answers,quotes verses like shields,and silences sorrowwith a song. I don’t want a faithof romanticised abstraction,where resurrection is polishedand the cross is theory.Give me something real—flesh and blood,grief and grace. I want to weepwith eyes wide open. Tears that…
“She came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.” (Mark 5:27)As Jesus followers, we have been cleansed, made clean, pure.Yesterday we saw unorthodox, desperate faith in action.Now we see the same, but even worse – disgusting faith.This woman was impure, like a leper, untouchable (Leviticus 15:19-30).She was sick, disgusting, someone to be avoided.She was…
“Jairus pleaded earnestly with him… So Jesus went with him.” (Mark 5:23-24)As a Jesus follower, I can relate to times of desperation.Jairus was not looking for a religious experience.He was not expressing religious faith in Jesus as God’s Messiah.He was a synagogue leader, his faith was formed by the traditions of the Elders.Yet when his daughter…
“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.” (Mark 5:19)As a Jesus follower, I would prefer to be closer to Jesus.Not that I want to die and leave my family.But to experience more of those moments when Jesus feels near.There are specific times and settings when I…
“Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.” (Mark 4:17)As a Jesus follower, I have experienced the Satan’s ‘scare tactics’.This story about demons and pigs seems really odd.But when I see how the people respond, it makes more sense.These negative spirits delight in promoting crisis and fear.That is what they are doing…
“A man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.” (Mark 5:1)As a Jesus follower, I have encountered ‘impure spirits’ before.This man had become deranged and violent, out of and beyond control.I have been with people experiencing different, yet similar, ‘spirits’.People screaming, writhing, foaming, harming themselves, violent and uncontrollable. People then did not…
“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)As a Jesus follower, I can imagine Jesus asking me this.I can relate to the disciples: they are drawn to Jesus!And yet they are still afraid, still without faith.If I was in that storm, I would be like the disciples.I am still afraid in…
“When he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” (Mark 4:34)As a Jesus follower, I need to spend time alone with Jesus.Not as a duty, but because I want to, to help me learn and grow.Despite my years with Jesus, I still not not comprehend His teaching.Thankfully Jesus is committed to helping me, by…
The smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants.” (Mark 4:31-32)As a Jesus follower, I am committed to ‘the little way’.Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) was a nun known as ‘la petite Thérèse’.She modelled simplicity and practicality in her spiritual life.Holiness involved small acts of love and service rather than grand gestures.She…
“The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” (Mark 4:27)As a Jesus follower, God works in me in ways I do not understand.Someone may ask me how reading the Jesus stories can help me?Or how the message of Jesus can transform me more like Jesus?I will say, as Jesus says in this parable,…