Week 17—Friday Mark 1:21-27
Mark 1:21-27
THE THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED
In Luke 1:1 the writer says; “Many writers have undertaken to draw up an account of the events that have happened among us” (NEB), or “have been accomplished among us” (RSV). The latter is perhaps more accurate—these events hadn’t just “happened,” they were “accomplished”—Jesus accomplished them—his impact upon people and upon surroundings “accomplished” these “events.”
So the Christian faith is not primarily a set of rules and regulations, a set of principles and practices; it is not a code of morals to be adopted, nor a teaching to be believed. It is primarily something “accomplished”—something accomplished from the side of God—God’s redemptive invasion of us. The New Testament is not the revelation of God, for that would be the Word become word, but it is the inspired record of the Revelation—the Revelation was seen in the face of Jesus Christ—the Word become flesh.
The word “accomplish” is used in the Transfiguration scene: “And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30-31). Note the word “accomplish.” Most deaths are an acquiescence. His was an accomplishment. He invaded death and took it captive. Death is no longer a bugaboo but a blessing; no longer an end but a beginning—it is a gateway into eternal life. It is no longer a sunset, but sunrise—it is an accomplishment. And the whole purpose of his life is fulfilled in his last words: “It is finished,” not “I am finished and done for”—but “it”—the thing which he came to do, namely the redemption of a race—“It is finished,” an “accomplished” fact.
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, you are the Great Accomplisher. You are the Creator and the Re-creator. We rest in your finished work and find a great new beginning. The rest becomes a restlessness to awake in your likeness. For having seen you, we want to see ourselves like you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Life shall be not an acquiescence but an accomplishment; and death shall not be an acquiescence but an accomplishment.