Will Vaus

When I was getting ready to graduate from college and go off to seminary, my father sat down with me one day and offered me the chance to take over the nonprofit ministry he had started almost thirty years before. I would have had a steady income, the opportunity to lead a significant Christian ministry, and the freedom to take it in new directions. But I wasn’t sure that following in my father’s footsteps in that way was what God wanted me to do. So, I told my father I wasn’t sure. After graduating from seminary, I started into parish ministry and have never looked back.  I do not know how many generations in Simon and Andrew’s, or James and John’s family were in the fishing business. However, I imagine it was quite a few. There must have been great pressure on them to carry on the family tradition, if only to make a living. But they did not. They chose to follow a different dream, the dream of God’s kingdom. Mark tells us about that in Mark 1:14-20… After John was put in prison, ...

Funny things sometimes happen in church, especially surrounding special ceremonies like baptism. When I baptize young people or adults, I usually like to use a lot of water because it is supposed to be a visible sign of invisible grace. I remember one time when I was baptizing a group of four siblings. When I came to the youngest, whose name was Ryan (meaning “little king”), he had already seen how much water I could hold in my hand and pour over the heads of his brothers and sister. Therefore, when I scooped a big handful of water out of the baptismal font and poured it on his head, he quickly moved his tie to one side so that it would not get wet as the water descended. He was smiling as he did this, and it brought a big smile to everyone in the congregation. Baptisms are joyous times. I think Jesus’ baptism also must have been a joyous time. Let us see what Mark has to say about it in Mark 1:9-13…. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jor...

Today we are beginning a journey through the earliest Gospel written about Jesus, the Gospel of Mark. That title is not part of the original text. But this book came to be called the Gospel of Mark because the early church believed it was written by John Mark, a traveling companion of Paul who was also related to the Apostle Peter. If John Mark was the nephew of Peter, he may also have met Jesus as a young boy. We will consider this further when we get to the end of this Gospel.  Scholars date Mark to a time shortly before, or possibly just after AD 70. Mark is a fast-paced narrative, full of action and intrigue. One almost gets the sense in reading this Gospel that the author barely had time to write down these events because there were still so many exciting things happening in the early church. So, let’s dive into the reading of this Gospel for ourselves. Listen for God’s word to you from Mark 1:1-8…  The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, a...

Is the resurrection just a nice story? In other words, did the bodily resurrection of Jesus really take place in space-time history or is it just an inspiring tale?  In the twentieth century, the belief became popular that Jesus rose spiritually but not bodily from the grave, making of the Gospels a nice story, a myth. There is a book by two New Testament scholars, N. T. Wright and Marcus Borg, entitled: “The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions”. In the section on the resurrection, Marcus Borg argued for the spiritual resurrection of Jesus. He wrote, “Indeed, this seems to me to be the central meaning of Easter. Beginning with Easter, the early movement continued to experience Jesus as a living reality after his death, but in a radically new way. After Easter, his followers experienced him as a spiritual reality, no longer as a person of flesh and blood, limited in time and space, as Jesus of Nazareth had been.”  The key question here is: Does the New Testament present the resurre...

I believe that part of the message of Holy Week is, as Corrie ten Boom put it, “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.” Jesus identifies with all our struggles because he has been there before us and triumphed through them and over them. I believe we can discover Jesus in our struggles right now, whatever they may be, and he can help us through them. “But what does this have to do with Palm Sunday?” you may ask. Wasn’t Palm Sunday a day of triumph for Jesus? Yes, to all outward appearances Jesus made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps multitudes were singing his praises. But as Luke records for us, Jesus wept amidst the shouting. He wept because he knew judgment was coming on the city. He wept because his people did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them. (See Luke 19:41-44.) So, Jesus identifies with our struggles… in relationships, with betrayal, when facing death, and even in success. What struggles are there in success? To discover the answer let’s rea...

Listen for God’s word to you from Colossians 4:2-6…   Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.  Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant [ a ]  in the Lord.  I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our  circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.  He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. My fellow prisoner ...