Oakhaven Church Podcast Larry Mudd

The book of Hebrews begins with an “ocular feast” depicting Jesus in all His glory. It ends with a call to remember that we are called to the throne of the living God. In between are messages of encouragement and perseverance in the face of persecution and struggle. Larry shares highlights from this past week’s Harbor conference at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures.
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In this week's sermon we look at Mark 2:23-3:6. We see a convergence of meaning in what seems to be a simple act on the part of Jesus’ disciples: grabbing a grainy snack from a nearby field. That this happens on a Sabbath puts the Pharisees on high alert, but the exceptional precedent Jesus names as an equivalent special circumstance points to David and the beginning of his journey to kingship. Jesus claims the mantle of kingship, invokes the Son of Man from Daniel 7, and makes clear that one of the signature hallmarks of Israel’s identity - the keeping of the Sabbath - is something He is Lord over. The healing of a man’s withered hand at church further enflames the leaders and starkly reminds us that PEOPLE are more important than protocol.
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In Mark 2:13-22, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day had trouble with His fraternizing with “tax collectors and sinners,” people far from the acceptable life of rigid obedience fostered by the scribes. Instead of judging these outcasts, Jesus welcomes them and joins them at the table. Food is the center of lots of religious law at the time, and Jesus' dining with the riff raff is a huge affront to the religious. When Jesus spreads the table, though, everyone is welcome. The sinners are known from then on as followers of Jesus, not the labels of their pasts.
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As we continue our journey into the Gospel of Mark, we come upon the memorable story of a lame man lowered through the ceiling in order to be healed by Jesus. The doorway was too crowded to get through, and the man’s friends had faith that Jesus would heal their friend; and so they did what had to be done in order to get Him to Jesus. This story functions on so many levels when applied to our lives. We too face barriers to Jesus, whether put there by circumstance or actively erected by the enemy. Like the paralyzed man, we often need the influence and effort of others (buddies), and in turn can be of assistance to others in their journeys. A strong theme in Mark’s gospel is the link between belief and healing, and Jesus announces that the man’s (and his friends’) faith have brought both healing and forgiveness. Having been healed and forgiven, Jesus sends the man home, and the man obeys. Once home we can be certain the man will be as chatty as the healed leper at the end of Mark 1, and there will not be a soul in his town that doesn’t know what Jesus has done for him. We are called to do the same on every level!
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In our survey of the Gospel of Mark, we are still in Chapter 1, but Jesus has already had several opportunities in which to be identified as God's Son, the Holy One who heals diseases, teaches with authority, casts out demons...  and spends time by Himself with the Father in order to refresh and reset His Spirit.  Duey Unbehaun shares a lesson based on Mark 1:29-39. 
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In his Gospel, Mark is careful to lead us to the deep meaning of Jesus’ first spoken words in Mark: "The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news." If all time has been working towards Jesus’ arrival, Jesus’ mortal life has been working towards the climax of His story and ours: the climax of His resurrection from the dead. We are in danger of treating as commonplace the most extraordinary truth of our existence, but instead Jesus calls us to revisit the empty tomb and then examine the tombs of our lives that we have not given over to His resurrection power. The enemy would have us all crawl back in the graves of anxiety and shame, and live defeated, silent lives. The Spirit that raises Jesus from the dead is poised to do the same with us and pull us up out of our graves day after day.
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