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Salvation is the call of God into his holy presence which is made possible because Jesus endured the cross for you and for me, for all those who trust in him.
On Sunday, what will be doing? Will we remember how Christ is the only atoning sacrifice for sin, will we recommit our lives to him as we take the bread and the wine, will we earnestly examine our motives, what we really believe as we are challenged by his life, death and resurrection.
The good news of Mark’s gospel story is that because Jesus bore those accusations, we don’t have to. The good news of Mark’s gospel story is that we can be forgiven, more than that; our sins atoned for, paid for, our debt cleared and so there is no longer an accusation to be levelled against us.
Have we denied Jesus, have we been working against him in some way (often a daft way), and we know the result is that we are broken people? Jesus has been struck for us, he has gone ahead of us and if we would simply meet him, allow him to ask us if we love him, the healing, release, and potential that wells up within us will be incredible, because of what he has done for us.
If Jesus is not our passion, then there will come a time when the thing or person we are passionate about will claim our complete devotion, because we cannot be devoted to two things, two people.
Is the future something we simply worry about? Wars and rumours of wars, or is it something we have prepared for by trusting in Christ alone, because we have believed…