“Remember the time when he… when she…” Last evening I was whiling away time by watching videos Diane has put up on YouTube, most of the videos were the grandsons. “Here’s Drew running in the fountain.” “Here’s Christian’s birthday party.”
Early this morning I was going over my memory work. Six professors and pastors have memorized the entire Gospel of Mark and in coming weeks we’ll be delivering the gospel from memory in St. Louis, Chicago and Valparaiso. Something struck me this morning as I was reviewing my 127 verses. The evangelist Mark talks about Jesus the way we talk about the people whom we love, who captivate our fascination. “Remember the time when…”
“One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields….” (Mark 2:23) Now Jesus lived lots of Sabbaths in his 30-something years, most of them probably uneventful, but this particular Sabbath “got into a video.” Mark wasn’t there but Peter “recorded” the incident and told Mark about it. Told about it after Jesus had died, been raised and ascended into heaven. Tells about it in a way that shows that his love and fascination with Jesus can’t be exhausted, the same way our love for grandkids and your love for dear ones can’t be exhausted.
I wonder if we in our time think about Jesus that same way, idling away time with pleasant fascination about things Jesus did and still does, playing the videos over and over again in our times away from the busy-ness of life. “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” (Psalm 139:17) Perhaps one measure of our discipleship is not simply going to church but the “videos” of Jesus we play in our minds through the week.
OK, now Diane and I are intentionally taking some time off from the Minute. Be back next week. Have a safe holiday!