The Surprising God

This post exegetes part of Mark chapter 9 and all of chapter 10, providing context for the RCL Gospel readings on 9/22 through 10/27 (Pentecost 18 through 23). This exegesis draws on commentary from Alan Cole ("The New Bible Commentary"), John Grassmick ("The Bible Knowledge Commentary", and N.T. Wright ("Mark for Everyone").   "Follow Me" by Liz Lemon Swindle (used with artist's permission) Introduction We now continue in the second main section of the Gospel of Mark, the cost of the Kingdom of God. Peter and the other disciples are seeing that Jesus is the Messiah. However, their sight is only partial—they do not yet understand that Jesus is the Messiah who will suffer in order to serve and save. As we learn earlier in this section, there is a very high cost of the Kingdom of God paid by Jesus. Now Jesus teaches them that, as his followers, they too will pay a high cost. Paying that cost is not about earning entrance into the Kingdom, but

This post exegetes parts of Mark chapters 8 and 9, providing context for the RCL Gospel reading on 9/15/24 (Pentecost 17). This exegesis draws on commentary from Alan Cole ("The New Bible Commentary") and John Grassmick ("The Bible Knowledge Commentary").   "Who do you say I am?" (artist unkown) Introduction Beginning at Mark 8:27, we come to the central turning-point in Mark’s Gospel, which is Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah). This confession begins Mark’s second main section, the cost of the Kingdom of God , which spans 8:27-10:52. As we enter this section, we learn that Peter’s eyes have been opened to “see” that Jesus truly is the promised Messiah. However, he remains partially blind (like the blind man healed by Jesus in stages). Though Peter now sees that Jesus is the Messiah, he does not yet see that Jesus is the Messiah who will suffer to save his people. That is why this turning point begins Mark’s section about the cost of th

This post exegetes Mark chapter 7 (plus part of chapter 8), providing context for the RCL Gospel readings on 9/1 & 9/8/24 (Pentecost 15 & 16). This exegesis draws on commentary from Alan Cole ("The New Bible Commentary"), John Grassmick ("The Bible Knowledge Commentary") and N.T. Wright ("Mark for Everyone").   Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman  Etching by P. del Po after Annibale Carracci (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction In the seventh chapter of Mark's Gospel we come to the last segment in Mark’s powers of the Kingdom of God subsection (4:35 to 8:26) which is part of Mark’s lengthy Kingdom preaching section (1:1 to 8:26) presenting miracles demonstrating Jesus’ possession of the Kingdom’s powers. Doing so is paving the way for the climactic scene in Mark 8:29 where Peter confesses that Jesus truly is the Christ (the Messiah). 1. Jesus’ power over sin  Mark 7:1-23 Jesus is taking a negative perspective to convey a positive a