After performing a variety of miracles, Jesus has a meal with a Pharisee. He is not treated with traditional hospitality and is joined by a woman who anoints his feet with perfume and washes his feet with her hair and tears. Jesus responds to the Pharisee with condemnation and the woman with love and forgiveness.
Mark 10:32-52 // The Son of Man Came to Serve
As Jesus foretells his coming death, two disciples make a request to sit at his side in the coming kingdom. Their request is for prominence with Jesus. The response of Christ in this passage shows us that true prominence for disciples of Christ is found in Christlike humility. The son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Parable of The Soils (Mark 4:1-20)
In The Parable of the Soils Jesus shows us that there are many ways to hear God’s word. We can hear with hard, shallow, distracted hearts. Or we can hear with receptive hearts that receive the word in a transformative way. Jesus’ words here are both challenging and encouraging. We’re challenged to evaluate our own hearts as we hear God’s word and encouraged to prayerfully trust God as we sow the seeds of the gospel around us.