Feb 16 - Leviticus....Yuck!

OK, now I see why Stovall joked about preaching from Leviticus.
The Lord called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present an animal as an offering to the Lord, you may take it from your herd of cattle or your flock of sheep and goats." The Lord goes on to give Moses specifics for offerings. It's like a Friday The 13th scene. Now it's not just go in a hack it up God was very specific on how the offerings were to be done and where to smear the blood, what to do with the organs....etc. I hope the craftsman whipped up a few puke buckets when they built the rest of the Tabernacle.

In Mark today Jesus finishes preaching in the synagogue and goes to Simon and Andrew's home and heals Simon's mother in-law. He heals many demon -possessed and sick of various diseases. Before daybreak the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place to pray. Jesus meets up with Simon and the others and tells them "We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too." So they travel throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus returned to Capernaum and soon the house he was staying at was packed with visitors. Right in the middle of his preaching four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man and couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the large crowd so they dug a hole through the roof and lowered the man down right in front of Jesus. Sounds like a scene out of a Monty Python movie! I can see him preaching away then...squeeek, squeeeek, squeeek some guy gets lowered down right in front of him on some random pulley system.

Jesus tells the paralyzed man "My child, your sins are forgiven." So some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought "What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!" Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking so he told the paralyzed man "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!" And the man did! Everyone began to praise God.