Week: Mark's Gospel
Welcome to Lectio for Families. This week we’re returning to our series exploring the life of Jesus as told in Mark’s Gospel.
Each day we will simply pray (P.R.A.Y.) together.
P: PAUSING to be still.
R: REJOICING with a Memory Verse and REFLECTING on some verses from the Bible.
A: ASKING God to help us and others.
Y: saying YES to God’s ways.
We start by pausing and taking a deep breath:
In and out.
In and out.
We remember that God is here, and so together we prepare ourselves to be with God.
Pause
Jesus, we hear You inviting us, and so we choose to follow You, with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our souls and with all our strength.
We REJOICE and celebrate God’s goodness with this week’s memory verse:
Read by Vera Lynn
John 10:10
[Jesus said] I came to give life – life in all its fullness.
John 10:10b (NCV)
God, help us to remember Your Word.
Today we’re REFLECTING on Jesus’ encounter with a man known as ‘blind Bartimaeus’. Bartimaeus heard Jesus walking by one day, and he cried out, ‘Please help me!’
Read by Vera Lynn
Mark 10:49-52
Jesus stopped and said, Tell the man to come here.’ So they called the blind man, saying, ‘Cheer up! Get to your feet. Jesus is calling you.’ The blind man jumped up, left his coat there, and went to Jesus. Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man answered, ‘Teacher, I want to see.’ Jesus said, ‘Go, you are healed because you believed.’ At once the man could see, and he followed Jesus on the road.
Mark 10:49-52 (NCV)
Jesus’ question – ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ – seems a bit of an obvious one – after all Bartimaeus was blind and Jesus was known to heal people. So why did Jesus have this conversation with Bartimaeus?
By asking questions, and listening to Bartimaeus’s answers, Jesus demonstrated kindness that Bartimaeus probably hadn’t experienced from anyone else. Jesus knew that he was going to heal Bartimaeus’s eyesight, but He wanted to heal Bartimaeus’s heart too – Jesus wanted him to know that he was loved. As we read the stories of Jesus’ encounters with people, He seems to always do this. He makes people feel loved… He makes them feel valuable and important.
Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: If Jesus asked us, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’, what would we say?
Let’s close our eyes for a moment, and offer some of the things we’ve just talked about to Jesus in prayer. Maybe there are a few things that we really want Jesus to do for us, but we didn’t mention them just now. Let’s offer these things to Jesus as well.
Jesus healed Bartimaeus. Who do we know that is sick or unwell at the moment?
Lord Jesus, as we whisper the names of these people that we care about, we ASK You to reach out and heal them.
As we read the Bible again, let’s listen for a word or a phrase that the Holy Spirit might want to say to us from today’s verses.
Mark 10:49-52
Jesus stopped and said, Tell the man to come here.’ So they called the blind man, saying, ‘Cheer up! Get to your feet. Jesus is calling you.’ The blind man jumped up, left his coat there, and went to Jesus. Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man answered, ‘Teacher, I want to see.’ Jesus said, ‘Go, you are healed because you believed.’ At once the man could see, and he followed Jesus on the road.
Mark 10:49-52 (NCV)
What word or phrase stood out from today’s Bible verses?
And now, let’s say YES to God together.
Lord Jesus, sometimes we forget that You’re not a genie in a bottle, there to simply grant our wishes, but that more than anything else, You really want to be our friend. We say a big YES to knowing You and being known by You – help us to follow You closely today, just like Bartimaeus did.
After enjoying this time with God and each other, let’s say our memory verse together:
John 10:10
[Jesus said] I came to give life – life in all its fullness.
John 10:10b (NCV)
Let’s put a hand on our heart.
Father God, fill us with Your love. Help us to love You, and everything that You’ve made.
Let’s point to our eyes.
Lord Jesus, help us to see You, and to see others the way that You see them too.
Let’s point to our ears.
Holy Spirit, help us to hear You, and give us courage to do what You say.
Phil lives close to a beach in the north of England with his wife, his daughters and his dogs. Phil works for 24-7 Prayer, mostly doing Lectio stuff, and helping to run Prayer Spaces in Schools. He runs a lot, usually for long distances. He likes curry, mountains, reading books and he still plays Pokemon Go.
Vera Lynn is 10 years old and lives in Phoenix, Arizona, USA with her parents, sister, and dog Max. Her favourite hobbies include reading, knitting, sewing, and embroidery. She is very creative. Her favourite book is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the Chronicles of Narnia series by CS Lewis.
