From Rules to Relationship
The gospel reading for this Sunday is Mark7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Here is the message I'll be sharing with the people of God at Bethel Lutheran Church,, Portville, NY where it is my privilege to serve as pastor. Jesus has been busy in Mark’s gospel. He has already fed the 5,000, walked on water, and healed the sick. Jesus was like a rock star. The people would not leave him alone. The verse preceding today’s reading says, “ And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak …” (Mark 6:56). Some of the scribes and Pharisees had come from Jerusalem to observe Jesus. He and his disciples were in Gennesaret, in the Galilee. That is over 97 miles away! It was no easy trip to get there in Jesus’ day. Why did the scribes and Pharisees go to Galilee? The crowds followed Jesus everywhere because of his healing of the sick and feeding the hungry. What