Good News - Week of 1/29/2018

PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Come, Holy Spirit, empower me again that I may serve faithfully as you call me to. Amen.

"They that wait upon the Lord..."

NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Isaiah 40:21-31: To whom can God be compared? God created the earth and human rulers are short lived. Why should God’s people complain that God has forgotten them? Those who wait on God will be renewed.

Psalm 147:1-11: An exhortation to praise God for the way God restores those who have been exiled and broken, for the way God provides for God’s people and for the creatures of earth, and for the way God treasures those who honor God.

1 Corinthians 9:16-23: In his preaching of the Gospel, Paul explains how he becomes all things to all people in order to win them for Christ.

Mark 1:29-39: Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law and then many sick and demonized people come to be healed. After that Jesus goes off alone to pray, but Simon and others track him down. Then Jesus leads them off to other towns to preach and heal.

​
REFLECTIONS:
This week the Lectionary offers us a message of great comfort and reassurance. All of the readings speak about God’s compassion and grace in healing, restoring and strengthening God’s people – those who wait on and honour God. In each reading there is a clear indication of the way God meets us at our point of need in order to transform and save us. In the famous song of Isaiah 40, God’s saving power is praised and the weary exiles are reminded that God will restore and strengthen them if they will just turn to God in hope. In the Psalm, God’s gracious restoration and provision for God’s people, and for all of creation, is praised. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he explains how he strives to meet every person where they are in order to bring them to Christ, becoming as they are so that he can share the Gospel with them. Finally, in one of those wonderful moments of particular care, Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law. But, then, immediately the Gospel moves to a wider focus, as Jesus heals and restores the many who come to him, and then, seeks to travel throughout Galilee to preach and heal. The amazing grace of the God who comes to us at our point of need and restores and calls us makes this week a truly celebratory one.