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• THE JOURNEY IS OVER (JOURNAL 90)

  3 June, 2016

  If you were to read our journal entry for this day last year, you would read the following Today's instalment… [more]

• JOURNAL 89

  22 May, 2016

  Hi sweetheart, Sometimes I experience periods of “What if…?”. These are times when my mind seems… [more]

• JOURNAL 88

  17 May, 2016

  Hi Darling, Coming home from the hospital with a mechanical device fitted to my chest – a P.E.G. I think it… [more]

• JOURNAL 87

  13 May, 2016

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• JOURNAL 86

  10 May, 2016

  JOURNAL 86 MOTHER’S DAY Hello sweetheart, I haven’t spoken to our children as to… [more]

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3. Today's "Moment with Mark" (56) - the fulcrum verses

• Today's "Moment with Mark" (56) - the fulcrum verses

  16 January, 2013

  As they were walking along, he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"   "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets." Then Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?"  Peter replied, "You are the Messiah." (Mark 8:27-29  NL)

  
  This is the fulcrum of Mark's gospel. Everything hinges on this passage, this question and the answer. Depending on the answer the disciples give will determine what Jesus does from this point forward. The question He must answer is something like this: "Have I been able to demonstrate to, prove to and  convince  my disciples that I am who I claim to be? Are they now ready to receive the  truth that I am the Messiah?" "And, more to the point, are they ready to go with me to Jerusalem and all that awaits me there?"

  
  So Jesus asks a non-threatening question about how He is perceived by the population in general. That's easy. It's just a question that requires nothing more than a working knowledge of what others say about Him. But the same question, applied to us in person and requiring an honest answer and commitment , is suddenly a very threatening enquiry.
   

  But Peter (as usual?) is up to the challenge. "You are the Messiah!"
   

  Suddenly the ship changes course. Nothing will be the same from now on. Once we acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, we commit ourselves to be His followers. It was from this point on that Jesus began to teach them about His sacrificial death and resurrection.
   

  This passage, as brief at it is, has the feel that they have just passed the point of no return.