Sunday Reflection – October 6, 2024

October 5, 2024October 5, 2024 / thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Divorce, and being like children

Mark 10 ²Some Pharisees wanted to test Jesus. So they came up to him and asked if it was right for a man to divorce his wife. ³Jesus asked them, “What does the Law of Moses say about this?”

⁴ They answered, “Moses allows a man to write out divorce papers and send his wife away.”

⁵Jesus replied, “Moses gave you this law because you are so heartless. ⁶ But in the beginning God made a man and a woman. ⁷ That’s why a man leaves his father and mother and gets married. ⁸He becomes like one person with his wife. Then they are no longer two people, but one. ⁹And no one should separate a couple that God has joined together.”

¹⁰When Jesus and his disciples were back in the house, they asked him about what he had said. ¹¹ He told them, “A man who divorces his wife and marries someone else is unfaithful to his wife. ¹²A woman who divorces her husband and marries again is also unfaithful.”

¹³Some people brought their children to Jesus so he could bless them by placing his hands on them. But his disciples told the people to stop bothering him.

¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he became angry and said, “Let the children come to me! Don’t try to stop them. People who are like these little children belong to the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ I promise you that you cannot get into God’s kingdom, unless you accept it the way a child does.” ¹⁶Then Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them by placing his hands on them.

³⁹Jesus said to his disciples:

Kids Korner: Being vulnerable (October 6th)

October 5, 2024October 5, 2024 / thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Read Mark 10:2-16 with your family.

There are two stories in the scripture today, one talking about divorce and one talking about children understanding God’s world.

The conversation on divorce is hard to understand when we are little because it is between two adults and the whole household changing. It can be sad, and that’s one of the things Jesus recognized. When two grownups wanted to be together and then don’t anymore, everyone around them has to change how they behave and how they treat each other. God wanted harmony for everyone, but God also knows sometimes people have to separate and divorce. Being sad doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing.

The conversation on children is easier to understand. Children have to depend on the adults in their world for everything from food to housing to love and care. Jesus said in order to understand God’s world, God’s kingdom, we have to rely on each other in the same way. We have to be vulnerable and not think we can do it all ourselves.

Sunday Reflection – September 22, 2024

September 21, 2024September 21, 2024 / thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

First and last

Mark 9 ³⁰Jesus left with his disciples and started through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know about it, ³¹because he was teaching the disciples that the Son of Man would be handed over to people who would kill him. But three days later he would rise to life. ³²The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant, and they were afraid to ask.

³³Jesus and his disciples went to his home in Capernaum. After they were inside the house, Jesus asked them, “What were you arguing about along the way?” ³⁴They had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest, and so they did not answer.

³⁵ After Jesus sat down and told the twelve disciples to gather around him, he said, “If you want the place of honor, you must become a slave and serve others!”

³⁶Then Jesus asked a child to stand near him. He put his arm around the child and said, ³⁷ “When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me.”

Kids Korner: Accepting children (September 22nd)

September 21, 2024September 17, 2024 / thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Read Mark 9:30-37 with your family.

Adults don’t always understand children, but Jesus did. Jesus showed children being an important part of his community.

Children in Jesus’ day were almost always at home being taught how to read and write and do math by their mothers and the other people in the household. They were taught about God by people who loved them. And they were taught how to ask questions about God and other spiritual things.

Jesus wanted all of his followers, not just parents and grandparents, to see how special it was to see God through the eyes of a child. They understood far better than the adults often did, and Jesus told the adults that accepting a child and listening to a child was like accepting God into their lives.

Lenten Study 2024 – Week 5

March 20, 2024 / thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

There are many children in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, but they are often overlooked or by-passed by Sunday lectionaries and Bible studies. Even Sunday School curriculums rarely take time just to focus on the children, or the childhood of significant people in Scripture.

Through this Lenten series we will be looking at some of the children found in Scripture, why their stories are significant, how they are related, and their influence on the growth of our spiritual tradition.

Week 5

Children in the Christian Scriptures

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