I know, I know....I skipped yesterday's post. Shame on me.
The past few days I've been reading in Mark. Still no TV since Sunday, but I'm finding that I'd rather open the Word of God than push that remote button anyway!
I continue to be struck by the fact that each gospel is so very different from the others. While reading the first eight chapters of Mark, I've noticed that he chooses not to dwell on the Pharisees so much. He often just says things like "a large crowd" instead of directly speaking about the Jewish leaders. But it makes perfect sense! The book of Mark was not written specifically to the Jews. The book of Matthew was.
Matthew was a Jew writing to the Jews about the promised Messiah. So he used lots of illustrations to show that Jesus was indeed who He said He was. He gave more than an ample argument that the Pharisees were wrong in what they believed and He showed the Jews exactly why.
Mark, on the other hand, wrote to all people (Jews and Gentiles alike) and his focus was on Christ's life as a servant to others. He chooses to leave out all the "nitty gritties" and get straight to the point. Jesus came to serve and we are to follow in his footsteps.
What an amazing love letter our God has left for us!
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