Our Priorities
A reading for Tuesday, March 11, 2014: Mark 1:14-28.
Sometimes an experience of loneliness and isolation can focus our priorities. Jesus returns from the desert and his temptation to some bad news. John, his cousin and baptizer, has been arrested by Herod. The powers and principalities of the kingdom in which Jesus lives continue to reign in his absence.
So Jesus returns and begins his public ministry. Right away it's clear to us what that ministry will be about. Jesus will preach, teach and heal... and the Kingdom of God will draw near.
He will preach. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
He will teach. The first disciples will be his students. They will hear new teaching, as one who has authority and not just one who relates the authority of another. Jesus will teach them about the Kingdom of God.
He will heal. A man with a demon is there in the synagogue. Perhaps it's the preaching. Maybe it's the teaching. Immediately, the demon knows who Jesus is. He is the Holy One of God. Jesus delivers the man and casts away the demon, restoring him to health. The Kingdom of God is more powerful than anything that would bind and destroy.
Jesus came out of isolation and temptation with a clear mission for public ministry. Through preaching, teaching and healing the powers and principalities of the world would be defeated, and the Kingdom of God would draw near.
As his disciples, those that follow Jesus even now, our priorities for mission are the very same. Preach, teach, and heal so that the all the world might know the good news, the Kingdom of God has drawn near!
Sometimes an experience of loneliness and isolation can focus our priorities. Jesus returns from the desert and his temptation to some bad news. John, his cousin and baptizer, has been arrested by Herod. The powers and principalities of the kingdom in which Jesus lives continue to reign in his absence.
So Jesus returns and begins his public ministry. Right away it's clear to us what that ministry will be about. Jesus will preach, teach and heal... and the Kingdom of God will draw near.
He will preach. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
He will teach. The first disciples will be his students. They will hear new teaching, as one who has authority and not just one who relates the authority of another. Jesus will teach them about the Kingdom of God.
He will heal. A man with a demon is there in the synagogue. Perhaps it's the preaching. Maybe it's the teaching. Immediately, the demon knows who Jesus is. He is the Holy One of God. Jesus delivers the man and casts away the demon, restoring him to health. The Kingdom of God is more powerful than anything that would bind and destroy.
Jesus came out of isolation and temptation with a clear mission for public ministry. Through preaching, teaching and healing the powers and principalities of the world would be defeated, and the Kingdom of God would draw near.
As his disciples, those that follow Jesus even now, our priorities for mission are the very same. Preach, teach, and heal so that the all the world might know the good news, the Kingdom of God has drawn near!
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