I was rather surprised when I ordered my favorite meal at the restaurant a few months back, and found it had changed. And not for the better. This was at the only restaurant I knew that served beef enchiladas with an authentic Mexican molé sauce. To die for! And the molé sauce was as good as I remembered. But inside the enchiladas I found ground beef, and a rather bland, institutional type of ground beef, like what you get out of a 45 ounce can, rather than the spicy shredded beef that they used to fill it with. Why the change? Then I remembered, the restaurant was under new management. And one change the new management was making was from gourmet shredded beef to cheaper ground beef, probably to cut costs. It didn’t surprise me too much when that restaurant went out of business recently. That’s what you get for skimping on real shredded beef.

In the stories of healing and exorcism of Mark chapter 1, things are happening that tell us the whole world is coming under new management. Unlike my former favorite Mexican restaurant, this time, for the better. In effect, the long-promised and prayed-for kingdom of God is drawing near through the healing ministry of Jesus. For more on what the healing ministry and miracles of Jesus mean from an Anabaptist Christian perspective, check out last Sunday’s message (April 20) atDownload healingword.doc