Who’s In Charge of Change? Mark 2:18-3:6
Bible Class begins at 1:04:42
If we cannot handle life in a changing world, we’re not going to be very happy here. Change seems to take place at a faster and faster pace all the time, and I don’t see evidence of that changing anytime soon. Many changes are good, some are bad, and the vast majority are ethically neutral. If we all agreed on those definitions and on the ways to respond to changes in our culture and in God’s church, that would be great. But we don’t. Neither did people in Jesus’ day.
While Mark gives us a treasure trove of information about Jesus in his gospel account, you may have noticed that not everybody who was there watching and listening to Jesus walked away happy. That’s sort of surprising. You might think that Jesus’ healings and teachings and demonstrations of power would win over everybody who witnessed them, but they didn’t. Why not? In part, Jesus’ entry into public ministry created confrontations with those who already held public and religious power, and people don’t usually like to give up power in any arena. If you control the remote control in your house, do you like to give it up? I didn’t think so.
Jesus, however, claims to have authority even over the things of God (Mark 2:28). And as one with authority, he told people and showed people how they had misunderstood or misused God’s word in the past in ways that contradicted God’s good intentions. Again, you might think that spreading good news and multiplying blessings in the lives of ordinary people would be welcomed by all, but that began to change when Jesus’ actions bumped up against the traditions and the traditional repositories of authority in his culture. The same dynamic still exists today in our communities and in God’s church. If we’re going to navigate those issues well, we need to start by listening to he who is Lord.
Sermon, Who’s In Charge of Change? Mark 2:18-3:6, preached on January 23, 2022 at the Manchester Church of Christ.
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