Following

Sunday Reflection – September 22, 2024

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

First and last

Mark 9 30 Jesus left with his disciples and started through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know about it, 31 because 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. 32 The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant, and they were afraid to ask.

33 Jesus 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?” 34 They 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!”

36 Then 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)

/ 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.

Sunday Reflection – September 15, 2024

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Who do you say Jesus is?

Mark 8 27 Jesus and his disciples went to the villages near the town of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “What do people say about me?”

28  The disciples answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah.Others say you are one of the prophets.”

29  Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say I am?”

“You are the Messiah!” Peter replied.

30 Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone about him.

31 Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “The nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of Man suffer terribly. He will be rejected and killed, but three days later he will rise to life.” 32 Then Jesus explained clearly what he meant.

Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. 33 But when Jesus turned and saw the disciples, he corrected Peter. He said to him, “Satan, get away from me! You are thinking like everyone else and not like God.”

34  Jesus then told the crowd and the disciples to come closer, and he said: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. 35  If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me and for the good news, you will save it. 36 What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? 37 What could you give to get back your soul?

38 Don’t be ashamed of me and my message among these unfaithful and sinful people! If you are, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.


Kids Korner: Following Jesus (September 15th)

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Read Mark 8:27-38 with your family.

Jesus had very good friends, but those friends did not always understand what Jesus was doing or why he had to challenge the religious authorities in the Temple in Jerusalem. They wanted Jesus to stay with them so they could continue enjoying his company as they travelled around meeting, teaching, and healing people.

However, Jesus had a job to do. A hard job. And Jesus wanted us to share a part of that hard job.

His disciples didn’t understand. Peter tried to tell him not to risk his life, but Jesus got upset and told Peter to get behind him and don’t be a temptation to an easier way of life (this was not about the character of Satan that we have in today’s movies and scary shows, all ‘satan’ meant was temptation to follow a different path than the one God wanted us to follow).

Then Jesus said “take up your cross”, but that didn’t mean real cross like the one on which Jesus would die, instead it meant take up your responsibility to make the world a better place, even when people get angry at you and say or do mean things.

Following Jesus is not easy, but if we do behave as Jesus asked us to behave, and treat everyone with love and kindness, we get to help change the world into what it was supposed to be. That’s what Jesus meant by asking us to make some harder choices. We might not get what we want right away, but we can experience the beauty of God’s world if we all work together to make things better.

Sunday Reflection – June 26, 2022

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

 

Old Rejections And New Followers

Luke 9 51 Not long before it was time for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind to go to Jerusalem. 52 He sent some messengers on ahead to a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. 53 But he was on his way to Jerusalem, so the people there refused to welcome him. 54  When the disciples James and John saw what was happening, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy these people?”

55 But Jesus turned and corrected them for what they had said. 56 Then they all went on to another village.

57 Along the way someone said to Jesus, “I’ll follow you anywhere!”

58 Jesus said, “Foxes have dens, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn’t have a place to call his own.”

59 Jesus told someone else to come with him. But the man said, “Lord, let me wait until I bury my father.”

60 Jesus answered, “Let the dead take care of the dead, while you go and tell about God’s kingdom.”

61  Then someone said to Jesus, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and take care of things at home.”

62 Jesus answered, “Anyone who starts plowing and keeps looking back isn’t worth a thing to God’s kingdom!”

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Following Jesus can mean hard choices (June 26th)

/ thebarefootevangelist / Leave a comment

Read Luke 9:51-62 with your family.

Adults like to show children that Jesus was always loving and kind. But Jesus was also annoyed with his followers and tired of excuses. In today’s reading Jesus tells two of his closest friends, John and James, that they could not be mean just because they didn’t like how the Samaritans treated them. Then he told others who were new to following Jesus that if they wanted to follow Jesus, he was leaving now. Jesus was not waiting around until it was more convenient to them.

If we think following Jesus is always easy, we are wrong. Sometimes we have to make choices that take us away from everything we have ever known. People who decide they want to move to a new country to help other in a Christian organization make this choice a lot. People who decide they are going to work with poor and hurting people instead of a job that would pay them a comfortable wage, also make the same decisions.

Following Jesus means making choices and living with the consequences. Following Jesus is a lot more than showing up at church and thinking that’s all we have to do all week long. Following Jesus can be hard, but it’s a hard that leads to the best experiences of loving other, just as Jesus loved us.