Year 2, Day 159: Mark 12

Ungrateful Residents

Jesus begins Mark 12 with a very interesting parable.  He speaks about people literally living on land that they have no right to possess.  They are there as renters.  The master has set them up with everything that they need to be successful.  When the time for the harvest came, the master of the land sent a servant to claim his part of the harvest.  In fact, he sent several servants.  They completely disrespected the servants, so the master sends His Son, hoping that they will respect the Son.  But they don’t.  They want to live their life for themselves.  They kill the Son so they can have everything for themselves.

Obviously this is a parable about what the Jewish leaders will do to Jesus Christ.  I don’t want to overlook that.  This parable is a clear warning to the Jewish leaders that they are renters of a land that they do not own and have no right to possess and they are about to kill the very Son of the Living God.  Clearly it is a warning about the events to come later in the week for Jesus.

But this parable also has meaning for us as well.  Has not God set us up with everything we need?  Has not God set us up with every reason to be successful in His kingdom?  All God asks is that we strive for His harvest and remember that He is the master.  But we are not interested in this.  We want to pursue our own agenda.  So we sin.  We may not physically kill the Son, but we do give far too many reasons in our life for which the Son needs to be killed for our atonement.

Paying Taxes

This leads us into the next parable.  Jesus is asked about taxes.  Essentially, Jesus is asked about our relationship with the world.  The Pharisees are looking to see if Jesus supports the Roman world so they could turn the crowd against Him or to see if He denounces the Roman world so they can convince the Romans to get rid of Jesus for them. 

In turn, Jesus gives them a third option.  Jesus teaches us that the world is something to be a part of but not to be caught up in its traps such as wealth and reputation.  Money is money.  Use money for what money is to be used for.  Of what concern is money to God?  It’s not like you can take it with you and it’s not like you can do anything meaningful in heaven with it.  Of course, we can do meaningful things on earth with it, so I’m not advocating a laissez-faire approach to money.  What I am advocating is learning to see through and beyond the money - or anything else that the world dangles in front of us.  Jesus teaches that we should focus on God, not the stuff and ways of this world.

Trap of the Sadducees

The third passage in this chapter is about marriage.  Now, what I have to say here might be a bit painful for some people to hear.  It is even painful for me to hear.  But it needs to be said.  Do not miss verse 25.  Those alive in Christ in heaven will neither marry nor be married in heaven.  There is no marriage in heaven.  That’s a little painful, I know.  But it is consistently taught that way all throughout the New Testament.

Now, don’t also hear me saying that we won’t have relationships in heaven, either.  I look forward to the day I can be in heaven with my wife.  I may know that she won’t be my wife in heaven, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to look forward to being there with her for eternity.  But what is going to be special is to be with her in the presence of God.  It is the presence of God in heaven that will make life special.  Being able to share that with my wife will be good – but good because God will be there.  For the record, I can say the same about all the rest of the brothers and sisters we have in Christ.  I can’t wait to be there in heaven with all of them.  But not because it will be cool to be among that crowd.  It will be cool because we will be in the presence of God.  We will be the bride of Christ.  That’s going to be far more awesome than anything else in heaven.

The Great Commandments

This is an absolutely phenomenal lead-in to the next passage about the Great Commandment.  This is an incredibly important set of verses.  Love God.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole rest of the Law follows from these two principles.  The reason that this is so profound is because it is the “Anti Self-monger” rule.  Think about what this teaching says.  Who are we supposed to love?  God.  Then neighbor.  Who isn’t even mentioned?  The self.  Jesus knows that we have no trouble loving our own desires.  What we need help doing is to love things other than ourselves and our own desires.  That is what is profound about this teaching.  The Great Commandment is about setting a different agenda of love than what the wisdom of the world teaches us.

Note here that the scribe humbles Himself to Jesus.  He says, “Rabbi, you are right.”  There is no argument from the scribe here.  There is a coming to Jesus moment and a submission to His authoritative teaching.  This is a model example for all of us to recognize and ponder.

Who Is Jesus?

The next passage is a very confusing one at first pass.  In asking “whose son is the Christ,” Jesus is really asking about the identity of the Messiah.  The Jewish leaders taught that the Messiah would be a human descendant of David.  In this they are half right.  However, what Jesus is trying to get them to open up their minds to is that the Messiah also needed to be God-made-man.  David calls the Messiah “Lord.”  The only being in this life that we are to call “Lord” is God.  Clearly the Messiah must be both a human of the lineage of David as well as God-made-man.  This passage – although confusing at first – is all about making sure we understand the truth about Jesus and have a true expectation for the Messiah.

Condemning The Religious Leaders

The following passage is a passage I take near and dear to my heart.  This is a condemnation of religious leaders.  Jesus is condemning those leaders who demand to be first.  He is condemning those leaders who need to be told how great they are.  He is condemning those leaders who need to have people elevate their status in their midst.  Jesus is saying that their leadership is not spiritual but for worldly reasons.  That is a huge danger in leadership.* 

The Widow’s Great Offering

As I’ve said often in Mark … this leads us perfectly into the next teaching of Jesus.  What is it that Jesus praises about the woman giving her tithe in the temple?  She gives out of her need, not out of her abundance.  She thinks of others before herself.  She doesn’t ask, “How much can I afford to give?”  She asks, “How can I afford to not give?”  She doesn’t count her expenses and then give out of the surplus.  She gives what God has led her to give and trusts God to make up any deficit that is created.

Summary

Today we’ve had story after story about God’s authority and putting our relationship with God before ourselves.  I don’t think that it is any coincidence that as the time for Jesus’ death draws closer that we spend more and more time focusing upon on “defeating the self-monger within.”  When push comes to shove, that is why Jesus died.  We need to think of ourselves and our desire less.  We need to think more of God.  We need to be grateful that until the day we can do that perfectly we can trust in our salvation through Christ’s faithfulness alone.

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*For those of you who know me, this is the reason I always go last at potlucks and things like that when I am among my own congregation.  I need to be humble among others.  I need to remember that God wishes me to care for their needs before my own.  Often I get teased about my behavior and it often leads to some hectic “no, you go” kind of moments.  But it is a deeply spiritual decision for me.  As a spiritual leader, I need to make sure that the people to whom God has called me are taken care of.  My calling comes before my needs.  It necessarily must be that way.  However, if the Bishop or denominational leader or one of my spiritual mentors ever comes to our church … I will gladly eat before them (but still after my congregation)!

Year 2, Day 158: Mark 11

Triumphal Entry

The triumphal entry passage has always been a troubling one for me.  I know in many churches we gather on the Sunday before Easter and wave palms in the air and make some glorious parade around the sanctuary or the church grounds.  Don’t get me wrong, I think those kinds of celebrations are neat and help bring faith to life.  But what is really going on here in the Gospel story?

This is the beginning of a series of passages that show the heights and depths of human emotional attachment to God.  We can sing God’s praise.  We can announce that He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Almighty.  We can shout that He is blessed and anyone who comes in His name is blessed.  Five days later we can shout for Him to be crucified.  We can demand that He be done away with.  We can demand that His life be snuffed out forever.

Now, I’m not trying to suggest that all the people who were excited about Jesus were the same people who demanded Him to die.  Jerusalem was a big important city and at the time of the Passover it would have swelled in population as people came in for the festivities.  So there are plenty of people to go around on both sides of the issue.  But the reality is that we as human beings are very easily polarized.  We think one thing is great.  Someone else thinks it is horrible.  A fight ensues.  Tension abounds.  The next thing we know the Savior of the world is dead. 

But I am getting a bit ahead of myself.  I need to save those kinds of words for a few more days.

In the end, regardless of what it is that we as human beings do when we disobey God’s ways it is still true that Jesus is the Messiah.  He is the one who has come to take away our sin.  He is the great prophet, priest, and king all wrapped up in one.  He is someone to be celebrated.  Let God’s name be praised because He did send His Son to this earth.

The Cursing of the Fig Tree

The cursing of the fig tree has always been a story that haunts me in much the same way as the story of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:31-46.  Jesus looks for fruit.  He finds none.  The fig tree is cursed because it bears no fruit.  It withers and dies.

Make no attempts to argue away this passage.  Yes, people claim that this is a condemnation of the Jews as the fig tree has always been symbolic of Israel.  I have no doubt that this is what Jesus intended – especially as His crucifixion at the hands of the Jewish leaders drew near.  Yet, make sure we learn the lesson.  Jesus did not curse the fig tree because it was a fig tree (and thus a symbol of Judaism).  Jesus cursed the fig tree because it bore no fruit.  It is the lack of fruit that Jesus finds so offensive, not the nature of the tree.  That’s the part that should heighten the level of concern in all of us.  Jesus expects fruit.  We are given the Holy Spirit so that we can bear spiritual fruit. 

The amount of fruit is not as important as whether we bear fruit at all.  In that respect this cursing of the fig tree is like the parable of the four soils.  Three soils bear no fruit and are bad.  One soil bears fruit and is good, although the good soil can bear differing levels of fruit.

Cleansing of the Temple

In the middle of the fig tree passages we have the cleansing of the temple.  This is the practical application of the lesson of the fig tree.  Bear no spiritual fruit and be driven out of the presence of God.  Turn life into something about yourself and not something about God and you will be driven out of God’s presence.  That doesn’t mean the door to repentance and forgiveness is closed – certainly not!  But life is not about us.  Life is about God, God’s will, and God’s ways.  We are to be in a relationship with God – hence the comment on the house of God being a house of prayer.

Furthermore, we get a glorious hinting of the fullness of the Gospel when Jesus says “a house of prayer for all nations.”  The word there is ethnos (ἔθνος).  It is the word often used to describe the whole nations of the world.  The temple was supposed to be a place where the world could come and be in a relationship with the Father.  Instead it became a place to glorify the righteousness of the Jews (and make money).  The Jews of the temple were bearing no fruit – the nations were not being invited into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Therefore the people in the temple were driven out.

Challenging Authority

To conclude this chapter we hear an outright challenge on Jesus’ authority.  The Jewish leaders have had enough of Jesus’ arrogance and self-assurance.  Notice here that Jesus makes a clear point.  If they are not willing to make their position clear, then Jesus will not make His position clear.  In other words, if we are not honest with God, then we have no right to expect Him to bring any truth into our life.  If we do not give Him authority, He will not presume to have it.  He does have it – He’s God, after all – but He will not presume to have it.  Neither will He share His authority with us.

If we deny God’s authority, He can argue with us and prove to us why He has authority.  If we embrace God’s authority, then He can work within us and demonstrate His authority.  But if we sit on the fence hedging our bets and refuse to even come to terms with who God claims to be and whether or not we believe it to be true – then we are lukewarm and God can do nothing with us.

In a manner of speaking, even this last story comes back to bearing fruit.  If we bear good fruit – embracing God’s authority – then God can demonstrate His authority through us.  If we bear bad fruit – denying God’s authority and living according to our own desires – God can work around us to try and help the fruit become good in spite of our own humanity.  But if we bear no fruit at all, what good are we?

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Year 2, Day 157: Mark 10

Divorce

As we begin Mark 10, we have a big question looming before us: Divorce.  About the only thing less common in our society is marriage – and that is because in order to get a divorce one must be married.  But with a society that boasts a divorce rate of greater than 50%* - we can say that in our culture divorce is at least as likely as a lasting marriage.  Since those numbers are reasonably the same in the church as outside of the church, we cannot say that this is a worldly issue.  This is a deeply spiritual issue.

Before we tackle this passage, we need to understand the context.  The Pharisees come to Jesus in order to “test” Jesus.  In fact, the word in Greek means “to obtain information to be used against someone by causing them to make a mistake.”  It could be that the Pharisees heard Jesus’ teaching as related to us in Matthew 5 earlier in His ministry and they were hoping to get Him to contradict Himself at this later time.  It could be that they were hoping Jesus would say something opposed to the Law.  It could be that they were hoping to get Jesus to say something that they could use to pit Him against Herod.  Whatever the motivation, let’s approach this passage under the context that the Pharisees came to challenge Jesus.

Jesus does not back down.  Jesus pushes back.  Jesus stands up for God’s design at creation.  Jesus teaches that marriages are made by God.  Marriages are unmade by human beings because our hearts are hard.  Why are our hearts hard?  Because we think we can only love that which loves us, too.  Remember what I said back when we studied Ephesians?  Husbands are to love their wives unconditionally.  The reason Moses wrote a law about divorce – and God allowed the Law – is because husbands have hard hearts.

Unconditional love is hard to achieve.  Therefore, in order to answer the question posed to Him by the Pharisees, Jesus first points us to the fact that the reason God’s ideal is not attained is inherently because human beings cannot live up to it.  Regardless of whatever other reasons people can give for “divorce,” the reality is that every single person is in need of repenting for not loving unconditionally.

For the record, this isn’t just a stab at divorced folks.  If you can allow me to be honest, there have been times that I haven’t loved my wife unconditionally, too.  The fact that we were able to work through those times and remain married does not absolve me of the guilt I bear.  Married or not, I am likewise guilty of not being able to love unconditionally.

Let The Children Come

Following Jesus’ teaching on divorce, we are transported to another story about love.  This time it is Jesus’ disciples who fail to show a love of unconditional love.  The disciples try and prevent the little children from coming and occupying Jesus’ time.  Actually, the passage reads more like the disciples are barring the parents from coming and getting Jesus’ blessing upon their children.  Jesus teaches another lesson on unconditional love.  If you love unconditionally, you love everyone who genuinely wants to come to Jesus regardless of their qualifications: even age.

Rich Young Ruler

As we move along to the rich young ruler, let’s take a good look at the emotion of the man.  He came up to Jesus running.  This was important to Him.  For the record, eternal life should be important to all of us.  However, the man goes away sorrowful.  Unfortunately, the man realizes that His status here on earth is more important to him than his eternal status. 

What is it that causes this change of perspective?  The rationale is simple.  Jesus asks the rich young man to give up his worldly self-mongerism and start caring about other people.  Jesus asks him to forfeit his life and his luxury and accept the life under God’s directive.  He goes away sad.

How very sad indeed!  But is this any different from the world?  How many people come to God with interest when they hear about eternal life being a free gift?  How many people are initially curious when they hear that God can forgive them for free?  Yet, how many people turn away when they realize that their reception of the gift implies a change of life and a change of perspective?

I love the words that Jesus gives when He talks to His disciples about who can be saved.  With God it is possible.  Without God, we cling to the world.  With God, we can give up this world.  The question is: who is really our authority?  Who do we obey?  Is it God or the world?  To whom do we cling?

Then there is the promise that Jesus gives.  There is nobody that leaves house, home, and family for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive even more in this world and in the next.  I genuinely believe this to be true.  I am deeply connected to many people on a deep spiritual level – not because they are blood relatives or even because I live near them.  I have several close spiritual friends with whom I haven’t ever met or with whom I haven’t even seen for over a decade!  What draws us closer than family is the Holy Spirit.  I wouldn’t trade those spiritual relationships for anything in the world because there is nothing greater than the Holy Spirit binding people together.

Jesus Confesses His Future Again

After all of this, Jesus then talks about His coming death and resurrection for a third time.  Do you know what is really ironic?  Again the story immediately after Jesus talking about His death is a story about the disciples seeking their own glory. 

I have to stop and honestly ask a question.  How can Jesus continue to tolerate our self-mongerism?  Three times now Jesus has told them about His self-sacrifice and three times His very own disciples have come back with an attitude of seeking their own glory!  When will we learn?  When will we allow ourselves to be crucified with Christ?  When will we learn that the only glory worth pursuing is the glory that comes from doing the work of God?

Bartimaeus

Finally, we turn to the blind Bartimaeus.  When the disciples are blind, we can always count on someone along the path to reveal what it is like to truly see Jesus.  Here is a man who will not be quiet about wanting to know Jesus.  Here is a man who will not be silenced by the world telling him to shut up.  Here is a man who when Jesus has an interaction with him his first desire is to lift up Jesus into a place of honor by calling Him his rabbi.  Here is a man whose faith Jesus can praise.

We learn some tough lessons here as Jesus draws close to Jerusalem.  Humanity has a hard heart.  Humanity is innately self-interested.  Humanity has a hard time loving unconditionally.  Humanity has a difficult time choosing eternal life over this life.  What is the answer?  Listen to Bartimaeus.  Call after Jesus and let Jesus be your rabbi.  Then watch as faith makes you well.  Watch what happens to you as God draws you into a life that is about His ways.

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*To be completely fair, these are the statistics that I am using:

At the end of any given year, the percentage of people in America who were married and who have experienced a divorce in that first marriage is between 41% to 50%.  The same rate for people after a second marriage is between 60% to 67%.  The same rate for people after a 3rd marriage is between 73% to 74%.

Divorce rates have been on a decline in the last decade, but this is primarily due to the cultural acceptance of couples living together without being married.

Year 2, Day 156: Mark 9

Division After Only One Verse

The first verse of Mark 9 has caused an incredible amount of division among Christians.  Many people read this verse and assume that Jesus is talking about the second coming.  However, if that is true, then Jesus was flat-out wrong.  Every single one of the people to whom He is speaking is now dead, and Jesus has not yet returned.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe Jesus was ever wrong.  Thus, Jesus must not be speaking about the second coming here.

Rather, let’s look at about what He might be talking.  What is the power and the kingdom of God?  Ultimately, it is a restored relationship with God.  When did that happen?  At the cross.  Most of the people who were alive when Jesus said these words were alive when Jesus was crucified.  Furthermore, what happens after Jesus dies, rises, and ascends?  The Holy Spirit comes and the church explodes over the next few decades.  The church grows from a small band of followers to a religion with genuine disciples in every major city in the Roman Empire and quite a few minor cities, too.  Most of the people alive when Jesus said these words would have still been alive to see the church growing, too.  Jesus is not speaking of the second coming in this opening verse but rather He is speaking of the coming of a restored relationship, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the explosion of Christianity.

Transfiguration

Then we move onto the story of the transfiguration.  Here we see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah.  We hear God’s booming declaration of being pleased with Jesus.  We also hear Peter’s bumbling suggestion to build huts because he didn’t know what else to say.  Let’s go there today.

Peter doesn’t know what to say, so he makes a silly suggestion.  Learn this lesson from Peter.  If you aren’t being led by God to say something meaningful or you don’t have a meaningful question to ask … then stay quiet and learn from God until you do have something meaningful that God wants you to add!  In this light, Peter’s suggestion has two very meaningful faults: 

• First, Peter is suggesting that they stay here forever.  The problem with this suggestion is that while Peter gets the gold star for recognizing the spirituality of the moment, he gets a big minus for not wanting to move forward with God’s plan.  The goal of life is not to settle in and become complacent.  The goal of Christian life is to follow God!  God was leading Jesus to the cross; Peter’s suggestion would have prevented that.  As we learned yesterday, by opening his mouth in this manner Peter is again demonstrating that he is an adversary to God at this moment.  Fortunately, God forgives.
• Second, Peter’s need to speak almost causes him to miss what God was really doing here.  Peter wants to be contributing to the discussion and building small dwellings so that they can enjoy life with Elijah and Moses.  God wants Jesus and His disciples to know just how pleased the Father is with the Son.  By not being patient and waiting for God, Peter runs the risk of missing God’s point!  Fortunately, when God wants to make Himself known He can interrupt our lives and get our attention.

The Hope of an Unknown Man

The next story is an awesome story about the significance of faith.  A father brings his demon-stricken child to Jesus.  Note the heart of the lesson.  The father says, “If anything is powerful, come to the aid of us and have compassion on us.”  There is no faith there.  Don’t get me wrong.  There is absolutely hope present in the man.  But there is not faith.  Not yet.

However, Jesus corrects him.  Jesus repeats the father’s words and then teaches.  “If anything is powerful enough … All power is to the one who believes.”*  Jesus is teaching the man to come out of the shell of his protective hesitation.  For the believer, it is not a question of “if.”  This is not a matter of possibility.  This is a matter of faith and belief.  This is a matter of believing that God desires something rather than hoping that God desires something.  And the man responds.  “I believe, help my unbelief!”

This is such a great lesson for modern Christians.  How many times do we go through life saying, “If God wants this, He’ll make it possible.”  It’s not a question of possibility!  God desires us to have a backbone!  God desires us to be confident about His will.  Yes, it is good to be humble and seek out God’s will over our own.  But once we know God’s will, we need to get out and do it!  We need to quit protecting our hesitation and start genuinely following and believing!  Being a follower of God is a position of power.  When we are following God’s will, who can stop us?

Lack of Understanding

We then have a trio of stories that serve to highlight the disciples’ lack of understanding.  Remember that these stories are coming on the heels of a story where the disciples had failed to use the power that God had bestowed upon them to properly drive out the mute and deaf demon.  Now Jesus tells them plainly that He is going to be handed over into the hands of men.  Then Jesus will die.  Then He will be raised.  The Bible tells us that His disciples didn’t understand.

What’s worse is that they don’t understand so much that immediately after hearing Jesus talk about His humble sacrifice they begin to talk about their own greatness.  If ever there was a “palm-smacking the forehead” moment in the Bible, this is it.  They really don’t get what Jesus is about.  Jesus is about humble submission and forfeiture of His own life for the sake of God’s plan.  The disciples are about glory, self-promotion, their goals, their agenda, and general all around self-mongerism.  As I said earlier with Peter’s blunder of speech at the transfiguration, thankfully God is a God of forgiveness! 

The Lord’s Side

This trio of stories ends with Jesus’ teaching to them that anyone not against God is for God.  It is not up to us to determine who is on God’s side.  That is up to God.  Again we see that we desire to set up our own agenda rather than seeing the world through God’s eyes.

We conclude this chapter with Jesus turning much darker in His teaching.  Up until now he was all about peace and compassion and life.  Now Jesus knows that the time is drawing near.  There is some seriously hard teaching that needs to happen.  Jesus begins with sin.

His point is blunt.  If anything keeps you from God, get rid of it.  Period.  There is no compromise.  If something is leading you away from God and into sin, get it out of your life.  Nothing in this world is so enjoyable that it is worth compromising eternal salvation and life with God.

If we want to follow Jesus, we begin there.  If we are to follow Him, we need to evaluate our life and toss aside what doesn’t fit.  If we are unwilling to do that, then why bother lying to ourselves and tell ourselves that we can follow in any other way?  If we will clutch onto sin and refuse to release it to God for His disposal, then are we really His disciple?

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*Forgive the jarring translation, but this is literally what the Greek says in verses 22 & 23.  I don’t approve at all of the way many Bibles translate the verb “dynamai” (δύναμαι).  This is the word in Greek that is the root of our English words dynamite, dynamic, or dynamo.  When you think of those words in English you probably think of something powerful, explosive, or eye-catching.  Thus, you can see how most Bible’s rendering of the verb “dynamai” as “possible” is really underwhelming.  What is really pathetic are the translations that use the word “can.”  (Much to my dismay, the ESV is one of those translations… L)  The father is not questioning if Jesus can or cannot do something.  The man is questioning whether or not Jesus has power!  Thus, in my translation above I have tried to capture the essence of “power” rather than “possibility.”

Year 2, Day 155: Mark 8

Differences Between Stories

As we look to the feeding of the 4,000, I’d like to spend some time talking about the differences between the feeding of the 4,000 and the feeding of the 5,000.  Obviously, there is a number difference.  However, there are more significant differences. 

• The first is that this happened in the region of the Decapolis, which has a large Gentile population (and isn’t too far from where the demoniac was dealt with).  It could be that a significant population of Gentiles heard about the demoniac and the deaf man who was just healed and these people wanted to see this Jesus.  If this is the case, it points to what I said yesterday about Jesus being open to anyone who is willing to come humbly to God, not just the Jews.
• The second difference is that Jesus spent three days with this crowd instead of one day.  This shows some dedication on behalf of the crowd.  If this was a crowd largely made up of Gentiles (and most commentators I read think that it is likely) it really shows a foreshadowing of the Church.  5,000 Jews gathered together and managed to spend an afternoon with Jesus.  4,000 Gentiles gather and spend three days.  Please don’t hear this in an anti-Semitic way.  Remember that Jesus’ disciples were all Jews!
• The third difference is in the word “basket.”  In the feeding of the 5,000 the word basket (kophinos - κόφινος) means a small personal basket used for carrying around Jewish implements that they would need to keep the Law.  In the case of the feeding of the 4,000 the word basket (spuris - σπυρίς) literally means hamper.  This is the word to describe those big baskets that are large enough to put a man into.  See Acts 9:25 where Paul is described as being let down a wall while being in a basket: spuris.  These are the big baskets you often see people balancing on their heads or tied to the back of donkeys.  Again, if this was a large gathering of Gentiles, it also becomes a great foreshadowing of the Church.  Among the 5,000 Jews, 12 small handheld baskets of bread were left over.  This is still remarkable since it was more than they started with!  In this story of the 4,000 – likely involving many Gentiles – 7 huge hampers of bread are left-over.  Again, remarkable because it is far more than they started with.
• Furthermore, look at the numbers involved.  The number 12 is largely representative of the Jews.  The number 7 is largely representative of God’s completion.  I think given this symbology that it is very reasonable to conclude that this was a large gathering of predominantly Gentiles.  I think it is reasonable that Jesus was giving this story as a foreshadowing of His work yet do come and the Gentile explosion of the church.

Development of the Church

Wrapping this all up, we can see both of the feeding stories as a clear symbolism of the development of Christ’s Church.  Jesus tells His disciples to first go to the Jews to satisfy their spiritual hunger.  There was some success, but not great success.  Then Jesus tells His disciples to go to the Gentiles.  It started smaller, but eventually exploded into far greater success.  This part of Mark is really neat because the last chapter focused on the transition of Jesus from teacher and minister to one who was preparing to die for the forgiveness of sins.  Now immediately in this chapter it appears that we have a real story that is symbolic of what will happen to His followers once He dies and the Holy Spirit comes.  I love when the Holy Spirit uses real events to foreshadow things to come.

More Conflict

It’s neat that we move from this story into conflict with the Jewish leaders.  They demand a sign, and Jesus tells them that a sign will not be given to them.  What’s neat about this is that they are clearly missing the boat {Pun intended, as Jesus leaves them by getting into a boat and leaving them behind}.  The Pharisees could have witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 had they wanted to see it as a sign.  They literally just missed a similar sign being done among a population that was likely mostly Gentile.  Now they demand a sign be performed on their own timing – when there are signs abounding all around them! 

This really speaks to the fact that we as humans demand that God satisfy the signs and wonders that are meaningful to us.  Unfortunately, what we should be doing is opening up our minds to the signs and wonders that God is already doing because they are meaningful to Him.  This is also why Jesus warns His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees.  When we demand God to work on our terms, we are no longer God’s disciple.  We are trying to make God our disciple, which is a very bad thing.

The Confusing Double Healing

Then we move to the man from Bethsaida.  His vision is restored, but notice that it happened gradually.  This is the only miracle that was not instantaneous.  You might ask why.  Truthfully, I cannot answer that.  But I can speculate. 

Remember Jesus in Nazareth?  He couldn’t do things among them because their faith was so pathetic.  It could be that Bethsaida was similarly pathetic, because Jesus takes the blind man and leads him away before healing him.  Then he also tells the man to go home and not enter the village, which might be an indicator of the lack of faith in the people around him. It could also be that the man’s faith was shallow, although I find this less likely.  If the man was shallow in faith, why heal him at all?

Whatever the reason, it does remind us of a spiritual truth that is in all of us.  We may come to faith all at once: one day when suddenly the light bulb goes off and all of a sudden God makes more sense.  But even then, we still grow into faith gradually.   Drawing closer to God has its moments of instantaneous effects, but they are wrapped up in a greater lifelong process.

Peter and Jesus

We end this chapter with one of the most famous passages in the Gospel stories.  Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ.  Then Peter tells Jesus that He cannot die as He says that He will.  In a few moments of time Peter goes from being an inspirational follower to being a fallen saint in desperate need of forgiveness.  I bring this up for a simple reason.  Have we not all been there before?

In spite of this, what I want to end this blog on is the teaching that Jesus gives to Peter.  The word “satan” means adversary.  Jesus is not necessarily saying that Peter is Satan, nor is Jesus claiming that Peter is possessed by Satan.  Jesus is looking to Peter and calling him an adversary to God.  Think about that for a second.  That’s pretty significant.

What must it feel like to be called an adversary to God?  Yet, what does Peter do to put himself in this position?  Peter thinks more about his own life than the life that God wants for him.  That’s it.  Peter cares for Jesus and doesn’t want Him to leave.  Out of his misguided love, Peter becomes an adversary to God.  This should make all of us tremble today.  When we lose sight of God’s plan and pick up our own agenda – even a well-intentioned one – we are God’s adversary.  Hear that again.  Even when well intentioned and acting out of what we think to be love – we can be God’s adversary.

This is a significant place to stop and ponder today.  Yesterday we saw God’s plan begin to unfold.  The disciples are transitioning into the teachers.  Jesus is becoming the sacrifice.  Jesus has begun to open the door for the inclusion of the Gentiles.  This is all still true right not here in our modern life.  The question is, how are we going to respond?  Are we going to crucify our life with Christ and follow God?  Or are we going to become His adversary – even if in a well-meaning way?

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Year 2, Day 154: Mark 7

Laws and Traditions

I learned something a few weeks ago when I covered this first story from Mark 7 in our weekly Bible Study.  Did you know that the washing of hands is not one of the Laws given to the Hebrew people by Moses?*  Perhaps you did, but I didn’t.  For all of these years I just assumed that Jesus was making some theological point about reinterpreting the Law by not washing His hands.  But no!  Jesus was making a distinction between God’s Law and truly man-made laws.

Apparently when the Jews come back from exile under the Babylonians – 500 years prior to Jesus’ time on earth – the rabbis understood that the exile was brought about because the people didn’t take their relationship with God seriously.  So they started writing down laws that would help keep spirituality central to the people.  While that started out okay … after several hundred years it had turned into a legal system of gross micro-management.  It is that system against which Jesus is acting out in this passage.

What this means, then, is that Jesus was being criticized in this story on the basis of man-made laws.  They are not attacking Jesus’ ability to keep the divinely-given Mosaic Law.  Rather, they are attacking Jesus on His ability to keep the man-made rabbinic law.  No wonder this chafes in Jesus’ craw!

Look at what Jesus has to say about them.  He quotes Isaiah 29:13 when he says, “You honor God with your lips but your heart is far from Him.  In vain do you worship God.”  Then Jesus tells them that they are guilty of abandoning God’s commandments in favor of their own man-made laws!  That’s pretty serious when you think about it.  I can’t help but wonder: how many of us are spiritual slaves to our own traditions rather than being in a genuine relationship of spiritual freedom with God?

My wife and I had a fabulous conversation about this very topic on the way to Winston-Salem yesterday.  Together we made a point that must be said here.  There is nothing wrong with religious tradition.  Tradition can be deep and rich.  But we need to have traditions that are rooted in God’s Word and help draw us close to God.  We need traditions that help us remember God’s ways and help us teach God’s ways to others.  Tradition for the sake of tradition is what is dangerous.  I think that is what Jesus is getting at in the first story of Mark 7.

Sin Abides Within

Then we get to a great passage.  What is it that defiles a person?  Sin!  Where does sin abide?  Within us!

This is a great story for two reasons: 

• First, it should bring us humbly to the throne of God.  Nothing we do on our own can escape the effect of sin.  Nothing we do on our own is good enough to earn God’s love.  We are sinful inherently.  That’s why we need Jesus! 
• Second, once we have this understanding, we should be empowered.  We don’t have to build up walls to keep the sin of the world out.  If we’re already sinful and God can heal us of that sin, then we can genuinely go into the world and proclaim God’s grace without worrying about corruption.  Of course, we do still need to genuinely protect ourselves from temptation and falling into sin.  We must absolutely protect ourselves from the lure of sin.  But we don’t need to worry about corruption.  If God knows the sin in our heart and can cleanse us from that, then let us go boldly into the world!  We don’t need to separate ourselves from the world as the Jews do in order to maintain their religious purity.

Syrophoenician

To that very point we march into the next story in Mark: the Faith of the Syrophoenician Woman.  She was a Gentile.  She didn’t observe the Jewish law.  By all rights, coming into contact with her would make a Jew ceremonially unclean.  But Jesus doesn’t avoid her.  In fact, He has a very playful encounter with her. 

Jesus makes sure that she understands that according to Jewish custom they shouldn’t be having this conversation.  She tells Jesus that if she has to be considered a dog to Jesus that she is willing so long as He can help her daughter.  Once Jesus sees a demonstration of her willingness to be humble, He heals the daughter – from a distance, even!  Jesus is not concerned about her Gentile nature; He is concerned about the status of her heart.  After all, it is not what is outside that makes us unclean!

Healing The Deaf Man

Finally we turn to the neat story about the healing of the deaf man, yet in the grand scheme of things, this story is not so neat.  Jesus’ ministry is finally getting to a point where He must start to be careful where He does demonstrations of God’s power.  He pulls the deaf man aside.  He heals the deaf man. 

However, the deaf man still doesn’t hear Jesus.  Jesus tells the man to tell no one; but the deaf man does exactly the opposite.  Again we see that the crowd is not interested in following Jesus and humbling themselves to the will of God.  The deaf man has an incredible miracle done to him that only serves to actually highlight just how much difficulty he really has with hearing God.

What is sad about this story is that it is the real beginning of the end.  Remember yesterday’s readings?  Jesus’ disciples had begun to go out on their own.  They are becoming the message bearers that God’s grace and love and mercy have come near.  It is time for Jesus to focus on what He has ultimately come to do: to die.  How will this come about?  Jesus begins this chapter by telling the Jewish leaders that they have abandoned God for a religion made in their own image.  Now Jesus does a miracle knowing that the man will not be able to obey His command to remain silent about it.  The path to the cross has now begun in earnest.  The inevitable agenda that was hidden is now capable of being clearly seen as inevitable.

There will be conflict.  There will be conflict of authority between Jesus and the religious leaders.  There will be conflict of popularity between Jesus and the religious leaders.  People will begin to slowly defy Jesus while other turn to complete and utter submission.  This chapter is a microcosm of what will come. 

That is why this chapter is so sad.  The disciples are ready; they only need two more things.  They need a genuine demonstration of God’s love in order to receive salvation and they need the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.  But on that note, that is why this chapter is so happy and exciting.  The march to the cross is obvious here.  But we know that the march to the cross is also a march to Pentecost!  Thanks be to God!

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*There is scriptural law about priests who are going to offer up the sacrifice in the temple needing to wash their hands.  But clearly that is not the same context as we are talking in Mark 7!

Year 2, Day 153: Mark 6

Watershed

Mark 6 is a watershed chapter in Mark.  This is the chapter where Jesus is officially rejected by His hometown, He sends out His disciples, we hear about the death of John the Baptist, the disciples return and experience the feeding of the five thousand, and then we get the famous walking on water story.  This chapter has a ton of great stories.  But there is one theme that holds them all together: Jesus and society.

Remember what I said a few days ago about the parables.  Jesus uses parables to weed those who are genuinely coming to learn from Him out away from those who are coming just to see some miracle and have someone do something for them.  Yes, Jesus came into the world so that the “world might be saved,” but Jesus knows that people must receive the free gift of God’s grace.  This chapter shows us quite bluntly who is and who isn’t interested in coming to God.

Nazareth

We begin in Jesus’ hometown.  They are amazed – astonished, really – at His teaching, but they can neither believe it nor believe in Him.  All they can see is the little carpenter.  All they can see is how “normal” the rest of His family is.  Never mind that His half-brother James will become one of the prominent leaders of the church and His half-brother Jude is likely the author of the letter in the Bible that bears his name.  They reject Jesus because Jesus does not fit their mold.  Actually, their rejection isn’t much more different than the rejection Jesus felt among the Gerasenes a chapter earlier.  Jesus cannot be controlled and put into a box.  So He is rejected by society.

Sending Out the Twelve

Jesus then sends out His Twelve.  He gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  I love how this story follows the story of Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth.  Jesus is rejected, and twelve “little Jesuses” go out.  That’s the church, people.  No evangelist is going to be able to get into every single place in this world.  We will all be rejected.  Every single person – no matter how charismatic they are – will eventually rub someone else the wrong way.  We need each other.  When one of us gets rejected, someone else can take their place and do what that first person might have been unable to do – unable because of society’s choice, not because of a fault in God’s power.  Society might be able to reject God’s authority working through Jesus, but it cannot stop it from working and it most certainly cannot stop it from being real.

John’s Interlude

The next story we have is the story of John the Baptizer’s death.  Clearly this is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death.  John stood up for the faith and was persecuted like the Hebrew prophets in whose shoes he walked.  John was killed because he stood up for the faith.  It will be no different for Jesus.  What does Jesus say?  The world will hate us because it has already hated Him.  {See John 15:18-9 or John 17:14 if you are in doubt of the Biblical assertion of this principle.}  

But what is really neat is how this trio of stories goes together.  Jesus is rejected, twelve mini-Jesuses go out, Jesus’ death is foreshadowed.  Mark is telling us a truth here.  It is okay that Jesus dies on the cross because His disciples are able to carry the message for Him!  Jesus does not have to be the sole message-bearer!  Since He doesn’t have to worry about who is going to take the message to the world, Jesus can be the sacrifice that God sent Him here to be – which is something that none of us can do in His place.  Mark’s point is that the rejection of Jesus is one of the linchpins to God’s plan.  It is now okay for the plan to go forward because Jesus has His evangelists and disciple-makers.  He can die for our sins with confidence because there are people willing to carry that message out for Him.

Feeding the Masses

We now get to the feeding of the five thousand.  Notice how this story is set up?  The twelve return, and Jesus wants some alone debriefing time.  So they go out in the boat.  But the crowd is not interested in humbling themselves to Jesus’ will.  They don’t care whether or not Jesus says it is okay for them to come.  They walk to the other side of the lake and are there when Jesus gets off of the boat.

What happens here?  In spite of their self-mongerish lack of humbleness, the crowd gets some great teaching.  They get a great miracle.  But who follows Him?  We are not told of a single one. 

With a bit of luck, hopefully the seed was sown and some of this crowd did come to follow after Jesus’ death.  But we are not told of a single one who became obedient to Jesus’ teaching.  The truth is that even after a day of great teaching and a powerful miracle there were not many – if any – who were willing to change their life.  Here is another sad story about the world and their desire to submit to Jesus’ authority.  The world may think Jesus is a pretty neat show of power, but not neat enough to warrant giving up their life.

Walking On Water

We finally come to the story of the walking on water.  Notice that in Mark there is no account of Peter’s journey out of the boat.  That is because Mark has a very clear point.  The story of Jesus walking on water is a story about the centricity of Jesus, not the courage – or as I believe, foolishness out of disobedience – of the disciples.

Look at what happens.  Jesus tells the disciples to get into the boat.  Here is yet another story where Jesus intentionally directs His disciples to get into a situation that He knows is going to be dangerous.  Then Jesus goes up and prays and then begins to walk across the lake – unaffected by the storm.  The disciples, on the other hand, are worried for their life.

What can we learn?  Humanity – even the strong and faithful among us – has a fairly fickle faith.  We are easily distracted from having our gaze be upon Christ.  The disciples had been commissioned, had a successful ministry on their own for a time, and came back to Jesus only to experience a powerful miracle.  They should not have been so easily frightened into forgetting who is in control of this life!  But they were. 

We all are.  They didn’t do anything that I haven’t done.  I’ve had plenty of times when I’ve lost faith when I had every reason to maintain that very faith.

As I said, this story is about the centricity of Jesus to our lives.  He should be our focus always.  But sometimes we are like the world.  Sometimes we lose our focus.  Sometimes we don’t have what it takes to “wake up with our mind stayed upon Jesus.”

The really cool part is that even though His disciples show their humanity, Jesus does not abandon them.  He comes to them and teaches them.  He demonstrates the foolishness of their humanity so that they can learn from it.  He loves them.  He continues to march ahead with them into God’s plan.  When they get to the other side, it’s ministry as usual – healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven to anyone who will listen.

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Year 2, Day 152, Mark 5

Three Interesting People

Today we meet three interesting people in Jesus’ life: the demoniac, Jairus, and the woman with the flow of blood.  I’m going to handle these people in the order that they come to us in the story.

The Demoniac

When we look at the demoniac, we can note that the result of the demonic possession is that the man lost everything.  He was unable to keep himself under control – he cut himself with stones among other things.  He is utterly controlled by the demons.  Furthermore, his community has abandoned him.  His family is no longer involved in his life.  The message is harsh and clear.  If we follow the ways of Satan and his minions, we will eventually lose everything.  If you don’t believe me, read 1 Peter 5:8-9.   There we are reminded that Satan roams the earth like a roaring lion seeking anyone to devour.  Satan does not wish to simply tempt us into sin – he wishes to devour our lives and destroy us.

We can also see what society can do in response to the power of Satan.  Simply put, society is unable to help the demoniac.  They tried to exert control by binding him, but he was able to break free of any bonds that society placed upon him.  Society is truly powerless against the will of the ruler of this age.  All society can do is to isolate those under the influence of Satan from itself.  Through the idea of isolation they believe that what they cannot control cannot hurt them – as if any human society can isolate itself from the power of sin and the Devil!

Although this comment is a bit out of order, let’s look at how society responds to Jesus.  Society shows its desire to isolate itself from Jesus.  Society really does want no part of what it cannot control.  Just like when society shunned the demoniac because they could not control him, so society shuns Jesus.  They ask Jesus to leave!

How does Jesus respond to the demoniac? 

• First, remember that the last story in Mark 4 is about Jesus intentionally putting His disciples in the line of danger (the storm).  Jesus looks upon this demoniac as someone worth going out into the storm of life to meet.  Jesus puts His own disciples in danger so that this man can find the help he needs.  Remember what I said yesterday about those who believe that Jesus calls us to a life of safety?  Jesus calls us to go with Him into the tumult of the world to meet people who need Him.  Ha! 
• Second, notice that Jesus speaks to both the man and the demonic possessors.  Jesus gets them to confess their identity and agenda.  Notice that the demons do confess Jesus as the Son of the Most High God!  Yet, the demons lack the humbleness that makes such a confession legitimate.  Once Jesus has heard their hollow confession – Jesus casts out the demons and brings the demoniac into a new life.  Indeed, this man was worth crossing over the tumultuous sea on the prior night!

Contrasting Jairus and the Woman

As we look at Jairus and the woman, let me throw up a few contrasts. 

• First, there is a gender contrast.  Clearly Jesus has no issue doing ministry with men and women alike. 
• Second, notice that Jairus is well known while the woman remains anonymous.  Clearly Jesus came to help anyone of any reputation who desires to come to Him for salvation. 
• Third, notice that Jairus was about to lose his daughter – who gave him joy for the past 12 years – while the woman had gained 12 years of suffering with the flow of blood.  Clearly Jesus respects the things that bring joy and glory to God as well as has compassion on the things that bring pain and hinder our praise of God. 

Finally, note that Jairus was a synagogue leader (and likely wealthy) while the woman was broke after having spent everything she owned on false medical cures.  Jesus does not care about our physical assets – only our spiritual willingness to be humble. 

Amidst these contrasts, notice that there is one similarity.  Neither Jairus nor the anonymous woman can find the answer to their problem in the world.  The one thing that brings them together is also the one thing that enables their encounter with Jesus to be meaningful.

The Woman

As we look at the woman, notice that she is both bold and humble at the same time.  She is bold in that she comes to Jesus and touches his cloak.  She is humble in that she doesn’t even require a moment of His time.  She is faithful because she knows that Jesus can heal her without having to dwell upon her.

And then there is Jesus’ interaction with the woman.  There is one very clear lesson here.  Jesus knows that when the woman touched Him that something left Him.  In other words, ministry always costs us something.  It costs us time.  It costs us energy.  It costs us resources.  It costs us concern and worry.  Ministry is never cheap or quick.  Ministry is costly – just like grace.

Jairus

Now we turn to Jairus and his encounter with Jesus.  Here is a man who took risks.  We already know that the Sanhedrin had warned the synagogue leaders to be on the lookout for Jesus, and here is a synagogue leader coming to Jesus and inviting Him into his life!  He may well be trading in his status as synagogue leader for this simple exchange with Jesus.  Talk about ministry costing people things!  This makes Jesus’ response to Jairus even more poignant.  Jesus tells Jairus, “Do not fear.”  Jesus is telling him to not fear the report of his daughter’s death.  Jesus is telling him not to fear what he may have traded in for this encounter with Jesus.  Jesus is telling Him that with God, everything will be just fine.  Jesus is telling him to not fear, but rather to rest in God’s hands.

Summary

So what do we learn today?  I think we learn three big things.

• First, society will push us away when we follow Christ.  Society isolates itself from the things that they cannot control.
• Second, the followers of Christ are both humble and bold.  The demoniac is bold in asking Jesus to stay with him and he has to be even bolder when Jesus tells him that he will serve God better by remaining in the town and being Christ’s ambassador to the Gerasenes.  The woman is bold on so many humble levels in her action and faith.  Jairus is bold in the risks that he is willing to take for a chance meeting with Jesus.
• Third, we learn much about the Christ.  Jesus puts His disciples in the line of danger in order to have meaningful encounters with people who need to meet Him.  Jesus knows that ministry is costly.  Jesus is willing to accept anyone who comes to Him.  Jesus conquers fear.  Jesus points to God.

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