I'm Desperate For You

May 3, 2019

I'm Desperate For You

All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John.

Mark 1:5a

I suspect Mark’s words here are a bit of Biblical hyperbole. All of the people of Judea and all of the people of Jerusalem didn’t go out to see and hear John. Certainly the King and the Chief Priest didn’t go. Why do I think that? Because John was preaching and baptizing people by the Jordan River, which is approximately fifteen miles from Jerusalem with an elevation drop of approximately 3,400 feet. I never thought too much about Mark’s statement until our visit to Israel, which included a bus ride from Jerusalem to Jericho. If you walked the road today, it would take close to eight hours down to Jericho and many multiples of that time for the return trip.

No, not ALL of the people of Judea and Jerusalem went out to see and hear John. But many, many of them did, and that’s Mark’s point. I wonder if I would have gone. What do you think was the attraction? Mark says when they heard John preach, they confessed their sins and were baptized. One of the earliest marks of the Methodist movement was accountability groups where the people would confess their sins. We don’t do that much anymore.

My Takeaway: A few weeks ago it was Palm Sunday, and there was rain in the forecast. There were plenty of open spaces in the church parking lot. Attendance was noticeably down. As I ponder Mark’s account of people desperate to see and hear John, I recall a song that has long captivated my soul.

Breathe

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me

And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm lost without you

©1995 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing

Words and Music by Marie Barnett

Sē’lah

Alex

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.