Bible Passage

[Please do read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]

After that exhilarating experience of being anointed by the Holy Spirit, and his Identity and Purpose being validated by the very voice of God, Jesus is “sent” by this same Spirit…

If I had to play the game, “Now Complete the Story”, I would have said, “To do something big and fantastic for God.” Instead the Spirit “at once” sent Jesus out into the wilderness! There are no people in the wilderness to do things “fantastic for God.” And in the 40 long and lonely days there was only Satan doing what only he does best – tempt. There were wild animals, of course, and Matthew tells us (4:11) that the angels attended to him only in the end. Jesus shows us through his own life that God desires humility, surrender and obedience more than anything else. That’s true devotion, not running around “doing things for God.” That comes later, much later. And even then it really is “God doing things through us.” And in that obedience even Jesus learned that the only way to overcome temptation is – true devotion to God!

Prayer: Gracious God, forgive me for believing that all you want of me is to be your servant, doing things for you. You really want me to give more and more of myself to you, until there is nothing left in me but You. I try and battle temptation, but it is so often on my own – and I lose. Remind me, dear Lord, that emptying myself to you doesn’t make me weaker, but actually stronger. It is because only then You fill me up. Fill me up, Lord Jesus, I give myself to you. Amen.

Song

Bible Passage

[Please read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]

Mark introduces Jesus quite suddenly simply as “from Nazarene.” We know from other sources that he was about 30, having lived an “ordinary” life as a carpenter (or mason, some feel). But now here he is, at Jordan waiting for his relative John the Baptist to baptize him. Baptism was a symbol, a mark, of one’s turning away from an old, anti-God way of life to identify as one of God’s redeemed* family. But Jesus didn’t need that; he hadn’t lived an antigod life. But yet he wanted to be identified with a creation that God was redeeming – ultimately being the price of redemption* himself. It is only then that the Father confirms Jesus’ own identity and purpose, through the giving of His Holy Spirit, and words of encouragement. Even Jesus needed the Spirit, and to hear how much he was valued!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I know where you came from, and who you are – the Son of God. Yet I often forget that when you walked this earth, you were like any one of us – fully human. You too needed to be obedient, needed to want what your Father wanted, needed the Holy Spirit, needed to know how much you are loved, that the Father had a purpose for you. O God, may your living Word reassure all of that to me as well – how much you love me, that you have a unique purpose for me. Because I really want what you want, Father; I need your Presence in my life even as I follow you…Amen.

* “redeem” (redemption, etc.) is when a relative buys you out of debt/slavery, when you yourself can do nothing about that debt/slavery. And God sees Himself as that relative!

Song

Bible Passage

(Please read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.)

At least 500 years after it was prophesied (in Isaiah 40:3) John the Baptist burst on the Judean landscape wearing clothes marked by their extreme simplicity (and even discomfort), eating a diet which was so strange and meager, even survival training offered more! But the point was that he came – as was prophesied – literally as a “sign-post.” He lived his life according to the purpose God had for him (500+ years in the making), with a message that was simple: “Who I am, what I do, what I say all point away from me to Someone else. I am no comparison to Him, and nothing I do even comes close to what He does/will do.” I wonder, in this self-promoting culture, do our lifestyles, our deeds, our words, point to Jesus?

MARK DEVOTIONS

by Rev. Sunil Balasundaram

These are devotionals that I have written based on the shortest Gospel – Mark – in order to understand/discover/be reminded (whatever fits you), who Jesus is, what God is doing in the world, and my (and hopefully your) response in the form of a conversation prayer. I hope you will enjoy this devotional journey that we have together, wherever you are in cyberspace. Remember, this is not a study – it is a devotion. I’ve also chosen a song for you to listen at the end of each devotion. Be blessed!

WEEK ONE

Day 1, Monday

Mark 1:1 [NIV]

“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

I’m sure you would have noticed that this reminds you of another “beginning” – that of the creation of the world in Genesis 1:1. John, who would later write his Gospel, would also begin with a “beginning” – though would refer to Jesus Himself, as the Word who was in the “beginning”. But it seems as if Mark wanted to get straight to the point. He didn’t write of Jesus’ birth – not that it was not important – but for Mark (or Peter, who was probably relating all of this to Mark), the most important thing was the Gospel – Good News. The good news was a person ­– Jesus (=Savior) Christ (=Messiah, God’s anointed One). But that’s not all, this person really was the Son of God, God the Creator coming as… a creature! Mark’s “good news” is that God is not a “far away, powerful, inaccessible One” – but that for some wonderful reason God coming in Jesus is good news – for now, for always, for me, for the world. Mark wanted to share it (hence the Gospel’s writing), what about me and you?

Prayer: Maybe I’ve heard the word too often, Lord, but the word “gospel” no longer excites me. Has it stopped being “good news” for me, for the world? Is the bad news of the world (and often in my own life) so overwhelming that you, Jesus, are no longer “good news”? Forgive me for my “staleness”; but thank you for never stopping to be my “good news” even if I don’t always recognize it. Remind me, Lord, that when I keep focusing on you (as THE good news), your face becomes gradually clearer, and so does your love and plan, for me, and for my world. Amen.

Click Here for Song