I have fininshed my read through Matthew so have moved on to Mark. Have done the same through Proverbs and am going back to the Psalms. I found Proverbs difficult to read – it is so line by line full of wisdom but a bit repetative and it doesn’t flow.
Can’t say the Psalms don’t flow. I love their poetry and the earthy violence that was David that comes through. And can anyone beat the Psalms for pure worship of God? The Psalms speak to my emotions, lifting me up when I need it and drawing me back to God always.
I am also working my way through the Old Testament again still in Genesis. There is a lot of history and a lot of watching God work in his people in the Old Testament books that I want to revisit. I may end up jumping around since Leviticus is a bit much! Or just taking a long time to get through it since I am reading several books at once.
Anyway, back to Mark. Mark 1: 29 to 45.
Jesus hardly had any time for himself. He gets up early to have time to go off by himself and pray. Then his followers come and interrupt him as if they are agents for their star performer. The crowds are waiting and they need him to go and speak to them.
He just needed some time with his Father to be renewed. After all, he was human too and he had just spent a day healing “a huge crowd”. And he has other towns he knows he has to visit where the same kinds of crowds would come – diseased, hurting people needing him.
Jesus’ compassion for hurting people brings crowds. No one before or since has loved us like he has and still does. No one else can heal us physically, mentally and spiritually. Was it any wonder the man healed of leprosy could not keep the news to himself?
This passage reminds me of the human-ness of Jesus. He knows what it is like to have too many demands placed on his time. He knows what it is like not to have personal free time or even enough time for prayer because of other demands. So he understands me!
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