Year 2 Day 361

Year 2 Day 361


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 8:22-26


Message - Alan Burke 


Repetition, repetition, repetition! For many of us when we were children that is how were were taught, rote learning. Things are different today but repetition still has its place. Today once more we look at this passage of the healing of the blind man but let’s have a look as we do that to Mark 1:32, where we are told “That evening at sundown they brought to him (Jesus) all who were sick or oppressed by demons.”, then Mark 2:3 "And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men”, then Mark 7:32 “And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.” And finally here in this passage Mark 8:22 “And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.”


There is something all these passages have in common, do you see it? The repeated idea of others bringing people to Jesus! You could also say that Jairus was ‘bringing’ his daughter to Jesus (Mk 5:2143), that Syro-Phoenician woman ‘brought’ her daughter to Jesus even though she didn’t physically bring her (Mk 7:24-30). Now I know it’s not the thrust of these passages but there is an application here for us and it’s important, in each one of these cases their lives were transformed because they were brought to Jesus by those who cared enough to do something, to bring them and their needs to Jesus. In the case of the Deaf and Mute Man in ch7 and this Blind man in ch8 those who brought them to Jesus ‘begged’ Him to touch then because He was their only hope. 


Each and everyone of these people brought someone to Jesus because they were desperate for Him to work, all of these people were healed but one day they all, each on of them died. But Mark wants us to know that Jesus’ coming was to bring salvation, not from temporal worries or ailments but from sin and death. Jesus is the Christ the Son of God (Mk 1:1), it is through him alone that we may have life (Jn 10:10), for whoever knows Jesus has life (1 Jn 5:12). It is in Christ alone that we receive the benefits sonship, not through what we pay, nor through what we do, for none of us can atone for our sin, none of us can break its power, we can never come to God and say, surely what I have done is enough to compensate for my sins, instead God sent his own Son, who stood in for place, who lived a perfect life, and since He had no sin of His own to atone for He was uniquely qualified to atone for our sins. 


Here’s the thing, do we care enough to bring others to Jesus? To beg the Lord to work? I’m not talking about shooting a wee prayer up but in desperation doing all that we can to bring them to the Saviour, to hear His life giving word, sincerely pleading Jesus to work? And are we bringing them to the word, for faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17)? Some weeks ago I was talking with a minister who is seen as the one who has to knock on the doors, to plan the events, to work wonders and to draw people back after covid, he’s the one who has to grow the church, fix all the problems and evangelise the town, but that’s nonsense. He is there to Preach Christ Crucified and as a people we need each one of us to stop abdicate our responsibility in this! You have a role if you’re stuck in the house, when you’re out at the shops, when you’re on your knees in prayer, when your talking to the grandwains, caring enough to bring people to Jesus or bringing them to the word preached!


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q5 Are there more Gods than one?
There is but One only, the living and true God. (Deut. 6:4, Jer. 10:10)
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