Weekly Readings for 2/1 - 2/7
Daily Reading for Monday (2/1)
Click the [M] link to read The Message or [NRS] for New Revised Standard
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Mark 5:1-20 [M] [NRS]
“Tell them how much the Lord has done for you”
Daily Reading for Tuesday (2/2)
Luke 2:22-40 [M] [NRS]
“The favor of God was upon him”
Daily Reading for Wednesday (2/3)
Mark 6:1-6 [M] [NRS]
They took offense at Jesus and he marveled because of their unbelief
Daily Reading for Thursday (2/4)
Mark 6:7-13 [M] [NRS]
“They anointed with oil man that were sick and healed them”
Daily Reading for Friday (2/5)
Mark 6:14-29 [M] [NRS]
“Some said, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead’ ”
Daily Reading for Saturday (2/6)
Mark 6:30-34 [M] [NRS]
“Jesus had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd”
Daily Reading for Sunday (2/7)
Luke 5:1-11 [M] [NRS]
“Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men”
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I love the reading for Thursday. He sends the them out in pairs and they go and teach and heal and if they are not welcome they are to just move on. I know that I am discouraged if I am not successful. It can even make me reconsider my point of view. So much better to just move on to the next thing and not dwell on the failure. I have to trust that the Holy Spirit will do what it is that needs to be done. That is not my part.
I know that just dropping our nets to follow Jesus seems awfully hard. We have families, jobs, responsibilities. But our fear of the all-or-nothing may be unfounded. In fact, it may be a mechanism to reduce our own responsibility…”I can’t do it all, so why do anything.”
I note two things about Jesus’ approach to Peter and company. First, their calling here is evolutionary, not revolutionary. They are to use their aptitude and experience fishing to “catch” people. And while they “drop their nets” their needs are met and they are not too far from family — at one point in their travels Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, so they are nearby or their families travel with them.
Second, they are not called to give up but to expand their lives into something much bigger. Yes, Peter stops “fishing,” but he is called into a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a witness to history, and given the gift of seeing what God is up to first-hand. The Peter who sat in the boat couldn’t have imagined public speaking; and by Acts he’s preaching to and converting thousands.
This, I think, is what Jesus offers us: He wants to use our talents and gifts (God-given as they are) for a bigger purpose, and he wants to release the potential in us. That is scary because we are accustomed to the safety of the ways we have already defined to use our gifts and potential. But we can trust that God can accomplish more in us, if we stop holding on to what is safe and known and just follow.