Jesus always responds to those who call to him in faith. He never elevates his mission above the people who cry to him, because his mission is the people who cry to him. He's just told the disciples that he came to "to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" — and here is one of them, this blind beggar who has the audacity and faith to believe that Jesus might have time for him, might have mercy for him, might be willing to help him in his need.

The young man says: "what do I have to I do to get life that actually feels alive?” He already has wealth and power—and he's a little bit desperate because he knows that it's not enough. At the very least, he knows that he will eventually die and then all that he has now will be lost to him. And Jesus, in love, invites him to enter life.

Jesus understands how hard marriage can be. In fact, Jesus, of all people, understands what it means to bind oneself in covenant to a broken person—to someone who has hurt you and will hurt you again. Jesus knows what it is to suffer in love for one who sometimes relates to you without appropriate regard or kindness. So it's not without regard that he calls us to goodness…

Jesus is the "stumbling stone and rock of offense." He's the boundary that defines in the kingdom, and out of the Kingdom, because his presence and life and way are the kingdom. Where he goes and what he does and how he lives — that's the only measure that matters. Jesus is the one who defines our belonging.

This father lays his broken heart down at the feet of Jesus and proclaims: here I am, in all my hurt and twisted despair. Here I am, with all my disappointments and doubts and questions. Here I am. Help me. Help me even though I don't have within me the strength to even fully believe that you can.

What Mark shows Jesus doing is a fulfillment of God's promise to overthrow the powers that stand against his people. We're told what will happen: The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the mute sing for joy. Waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. So what Jesus does for this man is both a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy and also a picture for us of what salvation looks like. Desolation—desolation and judgment—turned to celebration and joy.

According to Jesus, our holiness problem is deep inside ourselves, not something that's primarily external. And our wisdom is not sufficient to devise a way of escape for ourselves. And, ultimately, our washings only go skin deep. The purifications we invent for ourselves do nothing to cleanse the impurity of our hearts. We need Jesus to wash us.

If Jesus is the true bread from heaven—if he’s actually the source of divine life and truth—then the only thing to do is to fall at his feet in worship. The only correct response is to surrender everything to him, to gather up every crumb of wisdom he offers, and to devote ourselves fully to consuming him and being consumed by him.

The heart of God is to rescue and to restore what we have broken. It is the will of the Father that none of those given would be lost, that people would look on the Son and believe, and that Jesus will raise his own up on the last day.

We trust that our Father, who calls us into the secure hands of the Son, fills us with the power of His Spirit. We delight in his power, rest content in our weakness, and trust ourselves to him.

Jesus instructs the crowds to aim their hearts, and their desires, higher. Higher than comfort, higher than ease, higher than the satisfactions we can expect from a life of “good days” instead of bad ones. We are meant to hunger for “food that endures to eternal life”, food which Jesus claims he can give to us.

What Jesus does by walking on the water is a thing that only God could do — only the one who formed the world from its formless beginning, only the one with power to order the chaotic waters. And Jesus shows us that this majestic power and awesome might is held by one with compassion, who makes himself known, who responds when we call to him.

Mark has given us a picture here of two kings. One hears the truth, and locks it up; he feeds himself, but does not care for his people. The other pours himself out for those under his care, feeding the hungry around him while he suffers lack. And this is how the God of creation reveals himself to us — through Jesus, we see the care, love, and kindness of God for us lost sheep.

When Jesus calls us to go, it is never to a place he has not already gone. When he calls us to deny our desires and submit to God, it is never in a way that he himself did not obey. When he calls us to take up our crosses and follow him, we have the comfort and assurance that he knows exactly what he’s asking and that we can trust him.

Jesus wants to be known for who he is. And since who he is is the infinite God, we can never stop listening—to believe in him is not to accept some fixed set of propositions that you (or anyone else) has carefully tidied and sorted out. To believe in the Jesus who lives is to sit at his feet every day and truly seek to hear, learn, and find anew this loving, generous, majestic King who offers himself to us.

Part of the work of worship is to offer up sacrifices of thanksgiving, both in our weekly service with the liturgy, and throughout our daily life. In our times of trouble, God may seem to be quiet, but he is there asking us to reflect on our fears - are allowing our fears to toss us in the waves, or are we in fear and awe of God in his greatness and his promise of deliverance?

All God’s people are a royal priesthood, therefore we are all called to lift up sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, together, as we serve God and care for one another.

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches. The seed is the Word of God, and in the parable of the Sower and here, we see this recurring theme — miraculous increase, that a seed, buried in the ground, should bring forth harvest — a plant that bears hundreds of seeds. This is a miracle.

Jesus told his disciples to cast out demons. Unclean spirits are real and desire to undo and thwart the healing work of God in our lives. As a priesthood of believers, we all can stand against the influence of demons, but, like all spiritual gifts, God has blessed some of his people with more gifting and discernment than others in this regard. As a community, we must spend time learning with Jesus and learning the work and character of the Holy Spirit, so we may more sharply recognize and renounce the work of oppressive, devouring demons.

Jesus upends the Pharisees accusations on the Sabbath: man was not made in order to satisfy God's expectations, God's expectations, commands, and laws were made to bless and ennoble us. There is no performative goodness that can increase our standing before God — we weren’t in fact made because he needed servants — and there is no goodness we can obtain for ourselves that is better than what he graciously offers. Jesus himself, the true King, the Son of God, came not to be served, but to serve, and to give himself as a ransom.