Over the last few weeks on Sunday mornings we have been looking at Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, and how he continually claimed to be the unique, only begotten Son of God. As such, he claimed to share the power, glory, and authority of God the Father. In fact, God the Father even verbally validates the authority of Jesus in Mark 9:7. But Jesus didn't just claim to be the uniquely authoritative Son of God, he demonstrated it. As we have seen in the last 4 weeks, he doesn't just say he possesses the power of God, but shows it by taking definitive authority over sickness (2:1-12), evil spirits (5:1-20), commanding a storm to end and it obeyed (6:45-52), and religious thinking and traditions (7:1-22). All of this led to the religious leaders of the time, who were quickly seeing their own "authority" being overwhelmed by the true authority of Jesus, taking matters into their own hands; if they couldn't stop him (which they couldn't, because every time they challenged Jesus' authority they always came away the ones challenged!), then they were going to have to kill him. When they finally got Jesus in front of a trial in Mark 14:61, the high priest directly asks Jesus, once and for all, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus' reply? "I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power." A couple of verses later, he was brutally murdered and nailed to a cross.
For some, this makes Jesus a failure in their eyes. "He claims to 'save' others, but he cannot save himself!" they mock. But thanks be to God, the story doesn't end with Jesus' death. The greatest display of Jesus power, his most definitive statement of authority, his triumph over sin and Satan, darkness and despair and death, was about to be revealed. For Jesus did not stay dead. He rose again, declaring and demonstrating that even death and darkness could not defeat him, he has authority over even those things!
There is much more that I could say about what happened during Jesus' death and resurrection, and if you can make it on Sunday morning we will talk about some of those things then. But like Jesus himself, we don't just want to tell you about Jesus' power and what he can do for you (even though we love to talk about it to anyone who wants to hear!); we want to show you what Jesus can do in a person's life. This week at Crossroads we are blessed to have visiting a man who will come and share his life story about how the power of Jesus, as demonstrated in his death and resurrection, has saved and restored him from the darkness and destruction of addiction and crime. So please feel free to join us this Sunday from 11 AM, to hear this man's amazing testimony of the power of Jesus in his life and to hear how the death and resurrection of Jesus can change and restore your life too.
Meeting People at the Crossroads of Life
