Thursday 17 October 2013

A Theology of Mark - Some quotes


Despite their religious upbringing, the disciples persist in self-dependence, for both their day-to-day lives as well as their understanding of God and his will. The disciples come to Jesus with fixed religious ideas, which are a selective sample from the Old Testament as taught by Pharisaic synagogue teachers during the disciples’ early adolescence. Jesus does not only teach a defined “curriculum,” but intends to reshape their thinking and heart-attitude towards themselves and God, thus affecting every aspect of their lives. Jesus pursues nothing less than the complete reshaping of the disciples in mind and heart.
— A Theology of Mark by Hans F. Bayer, p. 62

Rather than understanding the call to discipleship primarily as a call to exercises and performance, we should see it, at the very heart, as surrender to the love of God. It is surrender to the liberation of truth, to the “exodus” from our own autonomy by embracing the substitutionary atonement of Christ. It is the liberation of the soul through the power of Jesus. Without that liberation, there will not be liberty and strength to live godly lives. It is the love and the kindness of God that frees us to surrender. We are not forced into being disciples of Jesus. We surrender to the One who pursues us in sacrificial love, kindness, and deep knowledge of our inner selves.
— A Theology of Mark by Hans F. Bayer, p. 72

We can rest assured that we will not surprise our Master with anything he will discover in our souls. So why keep it hidden? Why live with it anymore? Why continue a divided life between the outside (pretence) and inside (reality)? Why continue that hopeless battle when, in fact, the One who calls us has the power to overturn our self-centeredness?
— A Theology of Mark by Hans F. Bayer, pp. 71-72

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