🍞 Mark 12

Mark 12 is a real chapter from the New Testament. It starts, “He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.

Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.”” Mark 12 opens with these words: “He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower,…” The line to keep is Mark 12:30: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first…” Carry the word “love” from that verse into the rest of the day.

The line worth learning out loud is Mark 12:30: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.

What happens first in Mark 12? Then try this: Read “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.