mark 2:23-mark3:6

we continue…Jesus confronts legalism, silly rules about the sabbath, the religious authorities of the day…sparks fly and the plot to kill Jesus begins to unfold (yes, already, this early on).

questions: why are the Pharisees watching Jesus walk through a grainfield?  what is the big deal with the sabbath?

who are the herodians?

why does Jesus ask such an obvious/black-and-white question: is it better to do good or evil on the sabbath?

what has Jesus done so far that is so offensive that people already want to kill him?  (also, how will he manage to stay alive for 10-11 more chapters).

and the million dollar question: why is legalism so appealing?  why do humans fall in to it so easily?  how have Christians, who are supposed to be following Jesus’ teachings, been so susceptible to legalism?

we end with this…Jesus hated legalism because it depersonalized people.  legalism is anti-relationship and the kingdom of God is a kingdom of right relationships.

read.retreat.serve.

some pics from our read.retreat.serve. event this weekend.  took place at st. mary’s who we are partnering with to start this SAT tutoring program in the fall.

mark 2:12-22

this week Jesus hangs out with some notorious sinners and then tells his first parable (wine skins) of the book of mark.  here’s the text.

questions: what exactly makes one a notorious sinner? (while we are at it is there a connection between healthy and sick and new and old?)

what’s up with the bridegroom metaphor? why is fasting such a big deal?

how would the pharisees and teachers of the law been taking this?  why does Jesus seem to be so hard on them? don’t they need Jesus too?

two conclusions: first, Jesus is here, now (no need for the pharisees to fast to hear from God, they just need to listen to Jesus). which means, this is a party! and everyone, yes everyone, is invited. two, Jesus is doing something completely new.  the old way is turned upside down and rendered (ripped?) useless by this new way of living.

mark 2:1-12

in the movie version of mark we’ve had the dramatic-pre-credits opening scene (the baptism), followed by the opening-credits-music-montage (last week) of a variety of scenes of Jesus doing crazy things like healing people and casting out demons.  now all the intro stuff is done and we finally hone in on a longer, more developed scene:

the questions: why is this the first detailed scene?

what is up with Jesus’ question to the teachers of the law (who are those guys anyway)?  why do the teachers of the law care so much?

why does Jesus tell the guys his sins are forgiven?  could Jesus read minds?  why is forgiveness the first move?

why is Jesus so hard on the teachers of the law (is it ok to be a critical thinker)?

what does “Son of Man” mean…why call himself that?

we ended with this: authority still seems to be a major issue…Jesus is continuing to establish his authority…not just as a good person/teacher but as something else all together.

meanwhile, we like to think of faith as an individual pursuit…this is between me and Jesus.  yet, after these guys rip the roof off so their friend can meet Jesus, it says that Jesus was moved by their faith.  hmmm…so it seems that faith isn’t just about me and Jesus after all.  In fact, it is clear that something redemptive and beautiful happens when we work to help each other get closer to Jesus.

links of the week…

two links to check out this week:

1) article on the jeremiah burke and why it will be good for us to help this tutoring program (aimed primarily at these students).

2) post from donald miller on men and women…interesting

mark 1:16-45

continuing from last week…

the text

the questions:

why keep everything quiet? why does Jesus go to lonely places/seek time by himself?  what does it say about him that he prioritized this?

what is demon possession?  does it still happen today?  is it different from mental illness?  what is the significance of so much emphasis put on casting out demons?

why did the fisherman follow Jesus?  why did Jesus pick them in particular?

what gave Jesus his authority?  how was he different from the teachers of law and who are those guys anyway?

we ended with this: this passage seems to be all about authority…did Jesus have authority over demons, over sickness, over the teachers of law…does it matter if he does or not?  it appears that Jesus spent his early time establishing his authority…to do good things and to teach good things.  but he does so in a respectful way…in a humanizing way…not for the show or the spectacle.

which leads to this: do we trust Jesus’ authority in our own lives?

from dm…

interesting reading from donald miller:

the problem with black and white thinking

mark 1

here are some thoughts from our weekly community group session.  we’ve begun reading the gospel of mark together.  tonight we read the text of 1:1-15.  then 5 questions in 5 minutes.  here’s what we came up with:

– what’s up with baptism for the forgiveness of sins?

– who is john the baptist?  what’s his deal?  are his clothes and diet significant?

– where does the holy spirit come from? did Jesus need to get baptized?  did he get his “superpowers” from his baptism?  did other people see his vision of the heavens opening?  why was he tempted?

– what is the kingdom of God…what does it look like? (simple yet vague)

we ended with this…this passage seems to be all about preparation…it builds and builds until finally, “the time has come.”  preparation and expectation.  people were expectant and prepared for a messiah…a king…a political liberator.  then Jesus.  would he meet their expectations or not?

and for us…what are we expecting?  out of life…out of Jesus?  based on where we are right now, what would we expect “good news” to look like for us?

welcome to the blog

welcome to the official blog of Sojourn Collegiate Ministry at UMASS-Boston.  here you will find updates on our community, and, more importantly, content that will help drive our conversation forward.

in the meantime you can connect with us in person on campus on fridays at noon in the campus center cafeteria.  or join us for our off campus community group, wednesday night at 7:00 pm.

you can also connect virtually on twitter…our webpage…or facebook.