I was tempted to title this sermon “Ugly Miracles” due to the graphic picture being posed. Let’s be honest, if we would have witnessed this firsthand, it may have hit us differently than just reading the story.
Time to Build an Ark!
Malachi= “My Messenger”
Charles Wesley wrote “Hark, the Herald Angel Sing!” inspired by this text.
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
More than one story of Resurrection found in Mark: The resurrection of Jesus AND the resurrection of Peter’s faith!
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
While the disciples were spending time arguing on a High and Sacred Holiday, this woman, with a heart to understand not only who Jesus is, but also understood that He soon would be dead, performs something that is both deemed High and Sacred. Her anointing Jesus commends and tells the men to tell everybody about what she did.
Last week, Jesus foretold the fall of the biggest idol standing in Jerusalem, the Temple. He spoke of it being torn down, not one stone would remain on top of each other. And today the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall, still stands; this was a support wall for the Temple Mount. Indeed, every stone the constructed the Temple was torn down above.
Note from Pastor Chad- It may help you to know that the Gospel of Mark was written in the year 70 AD. While we record the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the same year, that destruction actually began in the year 63 AD with the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem. In 66 AD, a group of Zealots attempted a coup d’état and the Caesar Nero sent Vespasian and he pushed the Jewish army into Jerusalem and Vespasian was then proclaimed emperor in 69 AD. In April of 70 AD, Roman general Titus besieged Jerusalem during Passover. What Titus did was allow pilgrims in to celebrate Passover but didn’t let them leave, depleting the food and water that the Jewish army of Zealots needed and basically starved them out.