Mark 2 - The Daily Gospel of Jesus

[Read Mark 2 here]

Jesus preached the word; (v.2) he used the Hebrew Scripture to tell people who God is.

Jesus forgave sins (v.5) and healed (v.12) to show people who God is.

Jesus taught them (v.13) and called them to follow his example (v.14) to challenge sinful people with the holiness and love of God. (v.17)

Jesus prophesied (v.20) to explain how God was doing a new thing.

Jesus clarified (v.25) the errors of tradition to display God's purpose in creation. (v.25)

All these things were the Gospel as Jesus lived it. His life was the Gospel: God with us. How then can we say we are sharing the Gospel if we offer less than the Master, less than our very lives? Jesus did not lay his life down only at Calvary, but each step of his journey on the way to that hill. How then can we be satisfied with some future martyrdom [if we even aspire to that and not simply our own comfort] which may or may not ever happen? Is God satisfied with theoretical sacrifice? Or, does he call (invite) us to follow Jesus, take up our cross daily, and be the Gospel?

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