Before we look ahead to Season 3, The Way to Follow, let’s do a brief recap of where in are in Mark’s gospel. Our second installment of More Like Jesus has confronted the next six lies we carry.
Whereas the lies of Book 1 were about God’s character and proximity (is he good? is he near? does he care?), the Book 2 lies are about faith itself. Consider:
Each lie is actually a version of the same fear, that trusting Jesus will cost me more than I can afford to lose, and each truth is the same counter-claim: Jesus has proven himself worth trusting, and the ones who risk it don’t regret it.
We have distorted faith by turning it into an intellectual exercise. Do I have the right beliefs? Have I understood correctly? Am I in the right theological position?
That’s faith as intellectual achievement, which ironically is a form of control.
What Mark’s chapter 2-3 actually shows is faith as the opposite of control. The paralytic’s friends tearing through a roof, the tax collector leaving everything mid-meal, the woman with the hemorrhage reaching through a crowd. None of them had their theology sorted.
They simply trusted that Jesus was worth the risk.
Faith is not mastery of belief or intellectual achievement or alignment. Simply, it is surrender to someone trustworthy.
What does it mean to actually trust Jesus?
Not “do you believe in God?” or “are you religious?” or even, “do you have faith?” but “do you trust Jesus and what does that mean for your life?”
Rather than adopt an intellectual position, Jesus invites us to answer with our feet.
The crowd was amazed, but the disciples followed. Amazement and trust are not the same country. Your feet betray your belief. As we look ahead, Book 3, The Way to Follow, is about formation: learning to live in and from his presence.
Book 2 ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, recapitulating the first, demon-possessed person’s reaction to Jesus in the synagogue on day one: “you are the Son of God!” And then Jesus telling the person to be quiet about it.
So, Book 2 wraps but questions remain—big ones. The pressure is mounting as hordes of people are coming and the Pharisees are plotting murder.
As my dad used to say when we’d watch a good movie together, the plot thickens!
When it comes to our lives, the unresolved nature of the story so far is actually good news. Because if your life still feels unresolved—if you’re still wrestling with doubt or disappointment or spiritual weariness—Jesus is still walking the road with you. He hasn’t disappeared. He hasn’t given up. He’s still saying, “Come, follow me.”
The first crowds who gathered around Jesus discovered this. They came seeking relief and healing. They stayed because they discovered something far greater: a call to a new kind of life, as his apprentices.
Book 1 is about experiencing God’s nearness.
Book 2 is about responding to that nearness by turning toward Jesus and trusting him.
As we close this season, take a moment to reflect:
Where have you seen your heart soften toward Jesus?
What stories stayed with you?
What fears or hesitations still linger?
Next, trust deepens into a new kind of relationship. Response becomes a way of life. The question shifts from “Will I follow?” to “How do I follow?” and maybe more importantly, “What kind of person will following make me?”
Christ forms our character not through self-improvement strategies, but when we abide in the presence of the One who calls us.
That’s the journey ahead. The Way to Follow, Book 3 in the More Like Jesus series, invites you into that deeper journey. Jesus doesn’t just want you to believe. The Greek word pisteuō (Mark 1:15) invites more than intellectual agreement. It means to lean your full weight on someone, or to trust with your life.
Through healings, teachings, and confrontations, Jesus has revealed himself as worthy of that trust. But the journey doesn’t stop with trust.
In the next book, we step into the life of a disciple—learning not just to believe, but to follow, and in following, to become more like Jesus.
The More Like Jesus series is a story-driven journey through the Gospel of Mark and our own spiritual formation. Staying close to Jesus changes who we become.
Learn more about book 1, The Way to Begin Again, and pre-order today.
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