Today’s Walk in the Word

Come down from the cross and save yourself!       —Mark 15:30 “Those who passed by hurled insults at him . . . ‘save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’” (Mt 27:39, 40). “In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the […]

Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you.         —1 Peter 1:13 Bible scholars are nearly unanimous in the belief that Mark’s gospel is a record of Peter’s preaching. If so, the source of the gospel account of Peter’s denial of Jesus was Peter himself. We are more inclined […]

He began to be deeply distressed and troubled.        —Mark 14:33 Three times in Gethsemane Jesus prayed for deliverance. Mark inked powerful verbs to describe his angst: distressed . . . troubled . . . overwhelmed. But after submitting to his Father’s will, he awakened his sleeping disciples and serenely said: “The hour […]

Not what I will, but what you will.                   —Mark 14:36 Is your will ever at odds with the will of your Father? If so, Jesus understands, for he faced that disparity of wills: in Gethsemane his will and the Father’s were not in sync. He prayed […]

(He) made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.                             —Philippians 2:7 Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard spun a tale entitled The King and the Maiden that went something like this . . . […]

Of all the commandments, which is the most important?         —Mark 12:28 Jewish Teachers of the law concocted 613 commandments out of the original ten: 248 Dos and 365 Don’ts. A lawyer asked Jesus to comb through them and single out the most important one. The most important one, answered Jesus, is […]

She did what she could.        —Mark 14:8 When Mary anointed Jesus, “the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (Jn 12:3). Not just that house—the whole wide world has sniffed that scent, for Jesus said, “Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be […]

What she has done will also be told, in memory of her.         —Mark 14:9 Today we play a part in fulfilling a promise of Jesus—the promise that a certain dear lady would never be forgotten. Her name was Mary. She did a lovely thing when she anointed the body of Jesus […]

The heart is deceitful above all things.                      —Jeremiah 17:9 “All of you will desert me,” Jesus told his disciples. Not me, protested Peter: “Not even if I have to die with you! . . . And all the others vowed the same” (Mk 14:31 NLT). […]

[I]t is not for man to direct his steps. —Jeremiah 10:23 Your toddler thought you were messing up, mismanaging her world; when she was a teenager she was sure of it. You’re God’s kid, viewing the world from a child’s perspective. When you fuss and fume, grumble and gripe, you are implying that God is […]