CRU Update

CRU returned this week after the holidays, opening a new book of the Bible for the new Term, the gospel of Mark in the New Testament. Mr Kellahan introduced the book, and we heard the Bible reading from the first 15 verses of chapter 1 before Caleb Schmidt spoke to us about the passage. Caleb clearly divided the passage into three sections: the Kingdom Promised, the Kingdom Here and the Kingdom Message. With a nice connection to last Term’s study of Isaiah, we saw the way that the prophecy of the Old Testament over 700 years earlier was fulfilled in John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah. John said he was not even worthy to untie the sandals of this person! John was baptising people who repented for the forgiveness of their sins, but when Jesus was baptised, it was significant because he had never actually sinned. In fact, Jesus’ baptism actually marked the beginning of his ministry on earth, and through this, we see God’s Kingdom here. It is made clear to us that Jesus is the Son of God with the voice from heaven saying “This is my Son whom I love.” Finally, the Kingdom Message is revealed from the lips of Jesus himself in verse 15. Jesus stated the Kingdom has come near, and in response we need to repent and believe the good news. Repenting means to turn away from our sin and toward God, believing in Jesus his Son. In verse 1, Mark said he was writing about the good news of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. This good news is that Jesus went on to die for our sins, so we can be forgiven. This is the gospel we will be exploring in the coming weeks at CRU on Friday lunchtimes in the Christian Studies Centre.

Daniel Becker
(Year 11)