What a great semester of diving deep into the gospel of Mark. I am so grateful for the way Jesus showed up in our group. Sometimes, I saw Jesus in big, obvious ways, such as when our one international student shared how much he appreciated the Mark study community and how he could see God's hand in his time at Cal, teaching him to humble himself so that he could return to his home country with a spirit of love and generosity.
Other times, the work of Jesus felt invisible as we plowed through stories without coming to any firm conclusions as a group. I knew that it takes time to build the skills of asking textually based questions and identifying the core tensions of a passage, but I wondered if we as teachers should be pushing harder or backing off of the correctives. I wrestled with Jesus myself in the process. Then, as we invited students to reflect on what the stories have shown them, I read this student's response:
What I learned through Mark Study was to be curious and ask ... To not be fearful of the future and what it may bring, for when I am afraid is when I do not ask ...
I should just ask him, whether to get rid of the fears that paralyze or the daily issues that I deal with daily. I should ask humbly of my Lord and he will be compassionate. Just as he was to the woman with bleeding, the man whose daughter died, and the paralyzed who he healed. It is by approaching God that I can find him and be healed.
Praise God for opening pathways into places of struggle for students and pouring His grace and love in. I am blessed that I get to see students making new, bolder choices as a result of experiencing Jesus in this seminar.
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