Sermons on The Life of Christ
In our fallen nature, we want the crucified saviour without the cruciform life. But in our union with Christ, God has ordained that our path will be the path of his beloved son. If we are his and he is ours, our lives will pattern his life: and that pattern is suffering and then glory, the cross before the crown.
What is this leaven of the Pharisees? Christ leads his disciples through a catechism of questions to bring them to the understanding. Like the man partially healed, Peter confesses Christ, but it’s clear he only had a partial perception.
Mark is impressing upon us in this passage, that the crowd is made up of two different groups of people. Those of Israel, and those who are far-away ones. In this sermon, Pastor Tony unpacks Christ’s costly compassion on the 4,000. Christ has this mixed crowd–Jew and Gentile–recline at a wilderness table together, and satisfies…
In this section of the Gospel of Mark, Christ walks on water and charges his disciples to be fearless in the face of danger. How can this lesson be applied to us in the church-age?
Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 in Mark can be seen as an allegory of the love and compassion God has for all his sheep.
Jesus as the servant of God is described in Isaiah 42 as being upheld, and loved by the Father, and as having the Spirit poured out upon him to empower him for his work. Jesus was the better ensurer of victory than Moses, a more acceptable sacrifice than the types and shadows of the law, and equipped with the Spirit to proclaim God’s will. Thus equipped, the servant does actually accomplish all the Father gives him to do in patience and with gentleness.