Fri 3rd July - 76. Wow!
How many times have you said the word wow? Maybe you said wow when you were surprised by some news. Maybe you said wow when you looked at a view. Maybe you said wow when you read the heading of this devotion?
In this morning’s reading there is a wow moment.
Mark 9:14-29
14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.*
‘What are you arguing with them about?’ He asked.
17 A man in the crowd answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’
19 ‘You unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.’
20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’
‘From childhood,’ he answered. 22 ‘It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’
23 ‘“If you can”?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’*
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’*
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, He rebuked the impure spirit. ‘You deaf and mute spirit,’ he said, ‘I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’*
26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, ‘He’s dead.’ 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.*
28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’*
29 He replied, ‘This kind can come out only by prayer.’*
When I write these devotions I pray, read the passage, have a few thoughts, dip into the odd commentary but this morning I read this story and I put my self in the shoes of the father. It must have been so heartbreaking for him (and his wife) to see their son trapped by this spirit that had possessed him and robbed him of a normal life. We are told that this spirit robbed the son of speech, threw him to the ground, made him convulse, foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth and made him rigid. The spirit also took the boy to fire or water to try and kill him!
When we read the story and think of the poor boy and the parents, it is heartbreaking.
The wow moment of course is when Jesus says these words - ‘I command you (the evil spirit), come out of him and never enter him again.’ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, ‘He’s dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
Wow - this is the same Jesus that we pray to today.
He does many wow things - just look at you! Look who he has made (in his image), he has called you from darkness to light and you are now a child of the King.
If that doesn’t wow you, I don’t know what will!
Have a good weekend - wowed by Jesus and all He has done for you.
Much love
Tim
Wed 1st July - #74. Ain’t no mountain high enough?
Tom Wright (former Bishop of Durham) writes this -
“Science teachers never tire, so I’m told, of the moment when a child first looks into a microscope. What up until then had seemed a boring little speck of dirt can suddenly become full of pattern, colour and interest. The child will never look at things the same way again; everything now has the potential to be more than it seems.
The same thing happens elsewhere. Telescopes transform the night sky into a world of awe and power. A good actor can turn an apparently insignificant line into a profound and moving statement of beauty and truth.
Take those quite common experiences and move them up a few notches on the scale of fact and experience. The story of Jesus’ ‘transformation’ or ‘transfiguration’ describes what seems to have been an actual event, but an event in which the deepest significance of everyday reality suddenly and overwhelmingly confronted Peter, James and John”.
Lets read the next instalment in Mark’s gospel -
Mark 9
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There He was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters— one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!’
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what ‘rising from the dead’ meant.
11 And they asked him, ‘Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’
12 Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.’
This morning consider these questions -
How has this scripture this morning confirmed Jesus’ authority when He says that:
* he must die?
* we must take up our cross if we are truly to follow Him?
* what will this look like for you today?
Much love
Tim