Act on This Glorious News!

 

Act on this glorious news! (Mark 1:14-20)

“God’s Kingdom is near! Turn from your sins and act on this glorious news!” (Mark 1:15)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am walking with Jesus in Galilee as he shares his Good News with everyone he meets. To every man, woman, and child, in town squares, at open-air markets, along the side of the road – to everyone everywhere – Jesus is an itinerant preacher with a message to proclaim: “God’s Kingdom is near! Turn from your sins and act on this glorious news!”

With the message, Jesus also offers an invitation. “Follow me,” he said to Peter, Andrew, James, and John. “Come with me.” And you know what? That’s exactly what they did! They dropped everything and went with Jesus. 

Early on in this walk with Jesus, I am learning that he demands a response from everyone who encounters him. Every encounter with Jesus is a moment of decision. How will people respond to Jesus when they meet him? How will they respond to him when they hear him?

How do I respond to Jesus when I hear him?

The Good News, I am learning as I walk with Jesus, is not simply meant for us to discuss as a matter of curiosity or a current event. The Good News demands a response from all who hear it. To be more precise, the One who conveys, announces, proclaims the Good News – indeed, the One who is the embodiment of the Good News – demands a response from us.

When I think about Jesus’ call to turn from our sins, his call to change the direction of our lives; and when I think about Jesus’ invitation to follow him, to walk with him, then I realize that what he is asking of us is for us to devote ourselves fully to him. I mean, look: those four fishermen just dropped everything and left it all behind – even their families.

Walking with Jesus means that no other loyalty can supersede loyalty to Jesus. It means saying “Yes” to him before we even know what is going to happen. It means committing ourselves to Jesus with the realization that he, and not us, is the one who will determine our future and how the rest of our lives will play out. We don’t know where the road we walk with Jesus will take us, but we do know that he will be with us every step of the way. And that, I think, should be enough. It is enough.

“Act on this glorious news,” Jesus says to you and to me. “Follow me. Come with me. Walk with me.”

I have decided to follow you, Jesus. I have decided to walk with you, Jesus. 

No turning back, no turning back.

Take a Walk with Me, Will You?

 
Take a Walk with Me, Will You?

Well, it’s that time of year again. You know, that time when I look at the forty days ahead of me and I say to myself, “I can write a devotion every day. No problem.” Then, about 20-25 days into it, I say to myself, “Yikes! What have I gotten myself into?” 

Yes, it’s the Christian season of Lent, forty days of reflection, prayer, meditation leading up to the observance of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter. Here is an invitation to observe Lent taken from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

Friends in Christ,

every year at the time of the Christian Passover

we celebrate our redemption

through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lent is a time to prepare for this celebration

and to renew our life in the paschal mystery.

We begin this holy season

by acknowledging our need for repentance,

and for the mercy and forgiveness

proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes.

This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life,

and marks the penitence of this community.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ,

to observe a holy Lent

by self-examination and penitence,

by prayer and fasting,

by works of love,

and by reading and meditating on the Word of God…

This year, like some years in the past, I plan to take extra time to meditate on Scripture and to write a reflection. Though the reflection really is something between God and me, I am happy to share it with you in this space.

A few weeks ago, I felt a tug simply to spend time with Jesus during Lent. And so I am going to spend the next forty days (not including Sundays) meditating on the life of Jesus as described for us in the Gospel According to Mark. I am going to imagine myself as a contemporary of the people of Jesus’ day. What must it have been like to see Jesus arrive on the scene, or to witness his miracles, or to see him confront people who distorted the ways of God, or to hear him teach? 

The basic theme of these reflections is, “Walking with Jesus,” because that is what I want to do – not only through the season of Lent, but through every day of every season of life: I want to walk with Jesus.

Consider this an invitation for you to take a walk with me through the pages of the Gospel According to Mark. I hope you will find this journey to be a fruitful one.

P.S. If you are receiving these daily reflections through email and you do not wish to continue receiving them, you may simply click on the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email.