May 21, 2022 -- Mark 6:30-34 -- Making Disciples Equipping Evangelists

People loved by the Father, in the power of the Spirit: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:30-34 ESV

In a few weeks I’ll have the opportunity to have a reading week. This sabbatical week has the focus of reading four books and doing some prayerful brain-storming on a theme, something like: making disciples and equipping evangelists. Since it is harder than ever to have access into the prisons—Covid regulations making it, (even now!) near impossible to enter—how can my fellow prison-visiting-pastors and I correspond with prisoners, or use the limited times we have to chat on the phone—so that we can make disciples who make disciples?

The passage today is powerful for me. Jesus had just learned His cousin John the Baptist had been beheaded by King Herod. He was given no time to grieve. Instead the seventy-two disciples He’d sent out to go to towns ahead of Him, preparing the way for His arrival had all returned, excited to tell Jesus what had happened. Jesus had grief, kept private. Jesus was pursued by the crowds, some of whom were earnest, some curious, some mocking and all of whom were pressing in on Him. He had compassion.

The compassion of Jesus truly is striking. He is The Disciple-Maker and Equipper of Evangelists. Those who followed Him were sent ahead of Him with the task of pointing others to Him. I conclude today with the words from a book that is part of my reading list:
     Every broken life has potential for mission.
     There’s a message in every mess. Can you grasp that?
     If so, it will change the way you see people. Everyone you
     meet, regardless of how wretched their life may seem,
     is a missionary in the making.
     Mark O. Wilson

Savior of the Word, by the presence of Your Spirit in my life, renew in me an ever-deepening understanding of Who You Are. Sent by the Father, the Gift to the world; very God and worthy of worship; the Second Person of the Godhead, the Great I AM. Father in heaven, help me to honour, bless and glorify Your Name as I tell others of Your great love, given flesh, Jesus, so that He would make open the way for true fellowship: God with us! Open my eyes and create in me a passionate understanding of the task You have given--to declare Jesus' great Name to all I meet. Father in heaven, throw open the prisons so that visits can be made again and Your great Name declared. Faithful Father, stir my heart and make my zeal for Your Great Name bold, so that Jesus Name will be on my lips and honoured in every part of my life. Amen.

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