Jesus Calms the Storm
35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
BACKGROUND READING:
Psalm 65:5-9
Psalm 89:8-9
Psalm 93
Psalm 107:23-30
Dig Deeper
A few years ago, while we were in Memphis, we experienced a bizarre meteorological event. We were outside, enjoying a beautifully warm and sunny day. In a matter of minutes, the whether switched to a severe storm with high winds and nearly golf ball sized hail. Those familiar with the Sea of Galilee have come to accept that storms like that can whip up out of nowhere. What was just a nice day can turn into a storm with high winds in a matter of minutes.
Evidently, Jesus and his disciples were caught in one of those high wind storms. The severity of this particular storm is evidenced by the fact that Jesus' disciples, which included a good number of seasoned fisherman, were worried that they were going to drown.
Mark, no doubt, knew that including a story like this would bring up several Old Testament images. Not the least of these are the echoes of the account of the prophet Jonah. Jonah didn't care for God's plan and so he tried to run in the opposite direction from where God told him to go. A large storm rose up and was only calmed when Jonah instructed the crew of the ship to throw him into the sea. Or perhaps the reader's minds were drawn to the Israelites on their exodus out of Egypt. Seemingly trapped by the Egyptian army, God made an escape route for them through the sea. There are even older echoes tied up in a story like this, back to the beginning, when God's created order emerged from the dark waters that covered the earth. The Psalms (as you read in the background reading) speak often of the raging seas being calmed only by the power of the creator God. It is only YHWH who can calm the storm and quiet the winds.
Apart from the fishermen, the Jews were not a seafaring people. They stayed away, for the most part, from sea travel. In Jewish literature the sea came to symbolize the great abyss. The sea was often depicted as the place from where Israel's great enemies rose up, or the place to where YHWH would cast Israel's enemies in judgment. In fact, the sea even came to be used as a metaphor for Israel's enemies. In Daniel, for instance, the sea is the place where the beasts come from. Similarly, one of the great beasts arise from the sea in the Revelation.
It becomes rather clear, then, why Mark would include this account of Jesus. It says in action, what the previous parables have said in word. The very power of the almighty was being unleashed in the world. God's kingdom was at hand. It is the same God that created the world that was now calming the storm. He is the only one capable of such a thing. Daniel 7 describes the beasts from the sea being put to flight by "one like a son of man." Now, in fulfillment of that passage, Jesus has come to put down the forces of evil. So, this is a real account, but it is also deeply symbolic of the whole of Jesus' vocation and ministry. He has come to face the storms, just like Jonah did so long ago. Only this time, Jesus wasn't running from God's direction, he was running straight into God's will.
Jesus is so confident that he is following God's plan, so assured of his presence and power that he is calmly sleeping while this fierce storm rages on. His disciples are a bit frustrated by this. He seems to be shockingly unconcerned that they are on the verge of drowning. Yet, they seem to have the sense that if anyone is going to save them from their fate, it will be him. It is interesting that they turn to Jesus rather than praying to YHWH. Although they clearly don't totally understand who Jesus is, it seems that they realize there is an incredible power there, even if they don't yet comprehend it. Although they mean to put Jesus on the spot, asking him if he doesn't even care about what is going on, Jesus (as he so often does) turns the tables on them. Mark is building up towards chapter 8, where once again the issue will be: Do you still have no faith?
What Mark is careful to point out, is that even though the disciples have just witnessed something incredible, something that should have clued them into just who this man was, they still didn't get it. They are still left to wonder, who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him? Mark clearly hopes that we, his readers, are beginning to see the answer to that, the answer that his disciples are yet to discover.
Devotional Thought
When the storms of life rage around you do you lack faith? We all do at times. What this passage in Mark invites us to do is to realize that when we are lacking in faith, that is the time to realize who Jesus is and turn to him. When you do, don't be surprised that when you call out to him, you'll find that he was right there all along, waiting for your call. Don't be surprised when the storm subsides. And definitely, don't be surprised when God raises the clear question in your heart: Do you still have no faith?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Mark 4:26-34
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."
33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
BACKGROUND READING:
Genesis 1:4-18
Isaiah 40:18
Ezekiel 17:22-24; 31:3-6
Daniel 4:10-22; 12:1-4
Joel 3:1-16
Dig Deeper
Mark continues on the theme of hidden things that cannot really be seen. He wants us to really understand the concept of the secret message of the kingdom. We have to want to know what Jesus is talking about in order to see or understand it. The first story is about a seed that is dropped into the ground and goes about its business away from the sight of anyone. The second story is about another small and seemingly insignificant seed that becomes bigger than anyone would have imagined once it emerges from its secret place in the soil.
Just like his other parables, the surface meaning of these parables is pretty obvious. It is only when we begin to peel away the layers that we see the true depth of meaning that Jesus intended. We can surmise that many people in the crowds listening to Jesus had the same trouble that we do today peeling back the many layers, that is why Jesus often had to fully explain things to his disciples in private. Jesus wasn’t being cryptic and difficult just for the sake of it. His message was so volatile and explosive that he was saying it in the only way that it could be said.
The first story is about a seed that grows in secret. It seems innocent and straightforward enough. The seed grows in the ground, unobserved, doing its work. Eventually it appears, first the stalk then the head, then the full kernel in the head. Once it is ripe, it is time for the harvest.
Once we begin to peel the layers back, however, we see far more than we might have picked up at first. The language of the sickle being put to the grain comes from Joel 3:13, near the end of a passage Joel promises that after a time of devastation on God’s people, God would pour out his Spirit and restore them, reaping a harvest of judgment on the nations. This is exactly what the Jews were waiting for. Jesus is telling them that this awaited judgment will come, but not in the way that they expect. In fact, Mark is setting us up for the information that Jesus will reveal later in the book: Israel has become the enemy of God that will be judged in the great and mighty day of the Lord.
The second layer within the story has to do with the seed germinating and growing. The farmer goes to bed, gets up, and repeats that cycle day and night, but does not know how the seed sprouts and grows. What the farmer doesn’t realize is that the seed sleeps and then gets up, just as the farmer does. It sleeps in the soil and then gets up. This is how God’s creation has worked since the very beginning: night and day; sowing and harvesting, mirroring one another within God’s ordered creation. But, what does this have to do with the kingdom? The word translated ‘get up’ here is egeiro, which is a normal word for resurrection. The resurrection, in Jewish thinking, had to do with the ‘age to come’ when God would reverse Israel’s fortunes and make all things new.
Jesus’ point is that although his ministry doesn’t look like the type of kingdom movement that people were expecting, it was the time for the sowing of God’s long-awaited promise. The crowds wouldn’t be able to see any of that from this seed but it would grow, and the harvest would come. The ‘age to come’ was very near and it would open the door to the great resurrection that had been promised in Daniel 12.
There are also deeper layers in the second parable worth looking at. Isaiah asks (Is. 40:18) what God could be compared to. It is no accident that Jesus’ question about the kingdom of God echoes this question. He is offering a fresh vision of what God and his promised ‘age to come’ would look like and how it would come. No one should look at the small beginnings of Jesus’ ministry and say that it was incapable of growing into God’s kingdom movement. Whether they realized it or not, it would come and grow into a large plant, big enough for the birds of the air to nest in. Ezekiel and Daniel both used the image of a great kingdom growing like a tree, offering shade and shelter for all those who came under its branches. Jesus is assuring his followers that although the beginning seems very small, it will grow into a great tree that will offer protection to the whole world.
Devotional Thought
For us, the kingdom of God often acts in our lives in the same way that Jesus described it would be at its onset. It starts out small and seemingly insignificant. It can appear, even to us, that it has had no real effect in our lives. What we need to do is give it time and have faith that it will produce a mighty crop in our lives. Have you been impatient in your own life, waiting for the kingdom to have an effect? Have you been expecting something grander and more immediate? Have faith that God’s seed will produce a great harvest in your own life.
26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."
33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
BACKGROUND READING:
Genesis 1:4-18
Isaiah 40:18
Ezekiel 17:22-24; 31:3-6
Daniel 4:10-22; 12:1-4
Joel 3:1-16
Dig Deeper
Mark continues on the theme of hidden things that cannot really be seen. He wants us to really understand the concept of the secret message of the kingdom. We have to want to know what Jesus is talking about in order to see or understand it. The first story is about a seed that is dropped into the ground and goes about its business away from the sight of anyone. The second story is about another small and seemingly insignificant seed that becomes bigger than anyone would have imagined once it emerges from its secret place in the soil.
Just like his other parables, the surface meaning of these parables is pretty obvious. It is only when we begin to peel away the layers that we see the true depth of meaning that Jesus intended. We can surmise that many people in the crowds listening to Jesus had the same trouble that we do today peeling back the many layers, that is why Jesus often had to fully explain things to his disciples in private. Jesus wasn’t being cryptic and difficult just for the sake of it. His message was so volatile and explosive that he was saying it in the only way that it could be said.
The first story is about a seed that grows in secret. It seems innocent and straightforward enough. The seed grows in the ground, unobserved, doing its work. Eventually it appears, first the stalk then the head, then the full kernel in the head. Once it is ripe, it is time for the harvest.
Once we begin to peel the layers back, however, we see far more than we might have picked up at first. The language of the sickle being put to the grain comes from Joel 3:13, near the end of a passage Joel promises that after a time of devastation on God’s people, God would pour out his Spirit and restore them, reaping a harvest of judgment on the nations. This is exactly what the Jews were waiting for. Jesus is telling them that this awaited judgment will come, but not in the way that they expect. In fact, Mark is setting us up for the information that Jesus will reveal later in the book: Israel has become the enemy of God that will be judged in the great and mighty day of the Lord.
The second layer within the story has to do with the seed germinating and growing. The farmer goes to bed, gets up, and repeats that cycle day and night, but does not know how the seed sprouts and grows. What the farmer doesn’t realize is that the seed sleeps and then gets up, just as the farmer does. It sleeps in the soil and then gets up. This is how God’s creation has worked since the very beginning: night and day; sowing and harvesting, mirroring one another within God’s ordered creation. But, what does this have to do with the kingdom? The word translated ‘get up’ here is egeiro, which is a normal word for resurrection. The resurrection, in Jewish thinking, had to do with the ‘age to come’ when God would reverse Israel’s fortunes and make all things new.
Jesus’ point is that although his ministry doesn’t look like the type of kingdom movement that people were expecting, it was the time for the sowing of God’s long-awaited promise. The crowds wouldn’t be able to see any of that from this seed but it would grow, and the harvest would come. The ‘age to come’ was very near and it would open the door to the great resurrection that had been promised in Daniel 12.
There are also deeper layers in the second parable worth looking at. Isaiah asks (Is. 40:18) what God could be compared to. It is no accident that Jesus’ question about the kingdom of God echoes this question. He is offering a fresh vision of what God and his promised ‘age to come’ would look like and how it would come. No one should look at the small beginnings of Jesus’ ministry and say that it was incapable of growing into God’s kingdom movement. Whether they realized it or not, it would come and grow into a large plant, big enough for the birds of the air to nest in. Ezekiel and Daniel both used the image of a great kingdom growing like a tree, offering shade and shelter for all those who came under its branches. Jesus is assuring his followers that although the beginning seems very small, it will grow into a great tree that will offer protection to the whole world.
Devotional Thought
For us, the kingdom of God often acts in our lives in the same way that Jesus described it would be at its onset. It starts out small and seemingly insignificant. It can appear, even to us, that it has had no real effect in our lives. What we need to do is give it time and have faith that it will produce a mighty crop in our lives. Have you been impatient in your own life, waiting for the kingdom to have an effect? Have you been expecting something grander and more immediate? Have faith that God’s seed will produce a great harvest in your own life.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Mark 4:21-25
A Lamp on a Stand
21He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? 22For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
BACKGROUND READING:
Isaiah 51:1-16
Isaiah 60
Dig Deeper
Throughout their history, the nation of Israel had a clear vocation: they were to be the light of the world. It was God’s intentions that, armed with Torah (the Old Testament Law) and the prophets, Israel would show the entire world how to be the people of God. They never really got that right, however. This was an integral part of Jesus’ kingdom message. Rather than being a lighthouse to the world, a city on a hill, they had shined the light on themselves and then looked down on those in the dark.
Jesus, then, is giving a clear message about his version of God’s kingdom. He was giving them this message in secret now, but it should not always remain that way, nor would it. The whole reason for announcing God’s kingdom was to bring God’s light to the world. In pointing out how silly it is to cover a lamp, Jesus is simultaneously telling them about his kingdom announcement, but he is also condemning the way that Israel had handled the light that God had given them.
Jesus’ words here are both a promise and a warning. He is informing his disciples that they needn’t worry, this radical message of the kingdom of God will go public soon enough; that is the promise. But the warning is that they had better be listening because they will need to know and understand what this kingdom is all about. But it’s not just about listening, because everyone has ears. What did Jesus mean, then, by saying ‘if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear’? He is talking about listening with your spiritual ears, going beyond the surface meaning and listening to what he is really saying.
If you thought Jesus’ remarks about hearing were a bit cryptic, it gets even more so in his next statement. He warns his listeners to listen carefully to his message because with the measure you use, it will be measured to you--and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. What Jesus seems to be saying to his disciples is that they need to pay attention to what he is teaching them because they will receive the benefits of the kingdom to that same level.
There are two things that we can glean from that concept. The first is that Jesus is implying that he is saying what he is saying because Israel did not pay attention to God’s word and did not receive the benefits that he had in store for them. The second thing is that just as this concept was true for Israel and for Jesus’ first disciples, so it is true for us. Our knowledge of the word of God, and the degree to which we pay attention to it and apply it in our lives, will always be equal to our level of holiness and our ability to enjoy the spiritual benefits of God’s kingdom.
This does not mean to imply that this is all a matter of our own effort or that Jesus is instituting a principle of getting out what we put in. That leaves no room for God’s grace and the Holy Spirit. Rather he was saying that if they take in Jesus’ words and go deeper and deeper with it, they will get more and more back from God. If, however, they remain at a superficial level, they will be no better off then the crowds who are hearing but not comprehending. They will lose out on the new thing that God is doing in their midst right now.
God had once sown Israel, but they did not go deeper with his word. They did not hear what he was saying. Instead they stayed at a superficial level and did what they wanted to with his word. Jesus was giving a promise here that his kingdom would not be like that, but he was also warning that if people did act that way, they would find themselves outside of the kingdom. Once again, Mark wants us to see the lines of distinction that Jesus’ gospel draws wherever they go.
Devotional Thought
Do you have a passion to constantly go deeper and deeper with God’s word, or are you content to stay at a very surface level? Challenge yourself to go deeper into your knowledge of God’s word. You can never know too much. Create a plan to go deeper into the word of God, whether it be more Bible reading, reading deeper-level books about the Bible, or finding someone to teach you more.
21He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? 22For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
BACKGROUND READING:
Isaiah 51:1-16
Isaiah 60
Dig Deeper
Throughout their history, the nation of Israel had a clear vocation: they were to be the light of the world. It was God’s intentions that, armed with Torah (the Old Testament Law) and the prophets, Israel would show the entire world how to be the people of God. They never really got that right, however. This was an integral part of Jesus’ kingdom message. Rather than being a lighthouse to the world, a city on a hill, they had shined the light on themselves and then looked down on those in the dark.
Jesus, then, is giving a clear message about his version of God’s kingdom. He was giving them this message in secret now, but it should not always remain that way, nor would it. The whole reason for announcing God’s kingdom was to bring God’s light to the world. In pointing out how silly it is to cover a lamp, Jesus is simultaneously telling them about his kingdom announcement, but he is also condemning the way that Israel had handled the light that God had given them.
Jesus’ words here are both a promise and a warning. He is informing his disciples that they needn’t worry, this radical message of the kingdom of God will go public soon enough; that is the promise. But the warning is that they had better be listening because they will need to know and understand what this kingdom is all about. But it’s not just about listening, because everyone has ears. What did Jesus mean, then, by saying ‘if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear’? He is talking about listening with your spiritual ears, going beyond the surface meaning and listening to what he is really saying.
If you thought Jesus’ remarks about hearing were a bit cryptic, it gets even more so in his next statement. He warns his listeners to listen carefully to his message because with the measure you use, it will be measured to you--and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. What Jesus seems to be saying to his disciples is that they need to pay attention to what he is teaching them because they will receive the benefits of the kingdom to that same level.
There are two things that we can glean from that concept. The first is that Jesus is implying that he is saying what he is saying because Israel did not pay attention to God’s word and did not receive the benefits that he had in store for them. The second thing is that just as this concept was true for Israel and for Jesus’ first disciples, so it is true for us. Our knowledge of the word of God, and the degree to which we pay attention to it and apply it in our lives, will always be equal to our level of holiness and our ability to enjoy the spiritual benefits of God’s kingdom.
This does not mean to imply that this is all a matter of our own effort or that Jesus is instituting a principle of getting out what we put in. That leaves no room for God’s grace and the Holy Spirit. Rather he was saying that if they take in Jesus’ words and go deeper and deeper with it, they will get more and more back from God. If, however, they remain at a superficial level, they will be no better off then the crowds who are hearing but not comprehending. They will lose out on the new thing that God is doing in their midst right now.
God had once sown Israel, but they did not go deeper with his word. They did not hear what he was saying. Instead they stayed at a superficial level and did what they wanted to with his word. Jesus was giving a promise here that his kingdom would not be like that, but he was also warning that if people did act that way, they would find themselves outside of the kingdom. Once again, Mark wants us to see the lines of distinction that Jesus’ gospel draws wherever they go.
Devotional Thought
Do you have a passion to constantly go deeper and deeper with God’s word, or are you content to stay at a very surface level? Challenge yourself to go deeper into your knowledge of God’s word. You can never know too much. Create a plan to go deeper into the word of God, whether it be more Bible reading, reading deeper-level books about the Bible, or finding someone to teach you more.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Mark 4:1-20
The Parable of the Sower
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,
" 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"
13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
BACKGROUND READING:
Isaiah 5
Isaiah 40
Isaiah 55:10-11
Dig Deeper
I had one semester while teaching high school history that will certainly not ever be inducted into the hall of fame of great teaching moments. I had decided to attempt to teach a unit on political cartoons. This was a pretty bold move considering the inner-city environment of the high school at which I was teaching. The thing didn’t turn out to be a total disaster but it was a pretty tough unit. The primary problem was that the students had an extremely difficult time understanding the true point of the cartoons. They just could never get it. The real problem was not that they weren’t intelligent enough to understand them, it was that they hadn’t been exposed to enough culture and history to be able to identify the symbols that most political cartoons use. For instance, when they saw a big elephant in a suit they weren’t thinking about the Republican Party, they just saw a big elephant in a suit. They would miss the entire point of the symbol.
The people of the ancient world were no strangers to symbols either. It was very common to use symbols like animals to tell stories about nations and kingdoms. There are many examples of this in the Old Testament. Jesus used symbols like this quite often in his parables as well. Quite often, Jesus took his symbols from older Old Testament symbols. The picture of God sowing the seed of Israel is a familiar one, particularly in the book of Isaiah. After many years of exile, God would restore the fortunes of his people. Like Isaiah 55 says: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty."
In the same way, this is a story about the word that produces fruit, even though the grass will wither and flowers will fade. The big problem for Israel was that Jesus’ vision of how God was sowing his word was radically different from what they expected. They wanted all the flash and dash of the glory cloud from Exodus when God would come in dramatic fashion and destroy all of their enemies, restoring Israel to their rightful place as God’s true people. Jesus has something else in mind, though. God’s word is more like a seed hidden in the soil. It will apparently go to waste if the soil receiving it isn’t good and able to sustain it. Jesus wasn’t offering a timeless truth on how people listen to sermons (although it might certainly apply to that) he was giving a specific word-picture story on what was happening to the crowds as he was announcing God’s coming kingdom. He is telling them that for them being a part of the kingdom wasn’t automatic. It was available to all but not an universal birthright for the Jews.
Jesus was not only describing the division that the word of God would create, but his parables were part of the process. Not everyone who hears will take the seed to heart and produce fruit. Some may hear but not understand. But why would Jesus do that, doesn’t he want everyone to understand? Yes, and no. His concept of the kingdom was too radical to be said out in the open. If the authorities like Herod Antipas heard of his kingdom movement it would be too dangerous. Yet, it was so radical that if said in a straightforward manner, the regular people would be furious as well. He was saying that Israel was out as the children of God. God was doing a new thing and they may or may not be included.
This was the secret of the kingdom, then. It would be a spiritual kingdom that was far different than anything they had imagined, and they had better prepare their hearts for it or they would be left out.
Devotional Thought
Jesus’ words were so dramatic and subversive, so unexpected that he needed to wrap them in coded language so that only those with faith would fully understand. Is what we are saying so subversive and unconventional that we need to be discerning about how we say it? It it’s not, perhaps we’re not really spreading the same gospel that Jesus was.
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,
" 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"
13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
BACKGROUND READING:
Isaiah 5
Isaiah 40
Isaiah 55:10-11
Dig Deeper
I had one semester while teaching high school history that will certainly not ever be inducted into the hall of fame of great teaching moments. I had decided to attempt to teach a unit on political cartoons. This was a pretty bold move considering the inner-city environment of the high school at which I was teaching. The thing didn’t turn out to be a total disaster but it was a pretty tough unit. The primary problem was that the students had an extremely difficult time understanding the true point of the cartoons. They just could never get it. The real problem was not that they weren’t intelligent enough to understand them, it was that they hadn’t been exposed to enough culture and history to be able to identify the symbols that most political cartoons use. For instance, when they saw a big elephant in a suit they weren’t thinking about the Republican Party, they just saw a big elephant in a suit. They would miss the entire point of the symbol.
The people of the ancient world were no strangers to symbols either. It was very common to use symbols like animals to tell stories about nations and kingdoms. There are many examples of this in the Old Testament. Jesus used symbols like this quite often in his parables as well. Quite often, Jesus took his symbols from older Old Testament symbols. The picture of God sowing the seed of Israel is a familiar one, particularly in the book of Isaiah. After many years of exile, God would restore the fortunes of his people. Like Isaiah 55 says: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty."
In the same way, this is a story about the word that produces fruit, even though the grass will wither and flowers will fade. The big problem for Israel was that Jesus’ vision of how God was sowing his word was radically different from what they expected. They wanted all the flash and dash of the glory cloud from Exodus when God would come in dramatic fashion and destroy all of their enemies, restoring Israel to their rightful place as God’s true people. Jesus has something else in mind, though. God’s word is more like a seed hidden in the soil. It will apparently go to waste if the soil receiving it isn’t good and able to sustain it. Jesus wasn’t offering a timeless truth on how people listen to sermons (although it might certainly apply to that) he was giving a specific word-picture story on what was happening to the crowds as he was announcing God’s coming kingdom. He is telling them that for them being a part of the kingdom wasn’t automatic. It was available to all but not an universal birthright for the Jews.
Jesus was not only describing the division that the word of God would create, but his parables were part of the process. Not everyone who hears will take the seed to heart and produce fruit. Some may hear but not understand. But why would Jesus do that, doesn’t he want everyone to understand? Yes, and no. His concept of the kingdom was too radical to be said out in the open. If the authorities like Herod Antipas heard of his kingdom movement it would be too dangerous. Yet, it was so radical that if said in a straightforward manner, the regular people would be furious as well. He was saying that Israel was out as the children of God. God was doing a new thing and they may or may not be included.
This was the secret of the kingdom, then. It would be a spiritual kingdom that was far different than anything they had imagined, and they had better prepare their hearts for it or they would be left out.
Devotional Thought
Jesus’ words were so dramatic and subversive, so unexpected that he needed to wrap them in coded language so that only those with faith would fully understand. Is what we are saying so subversive and unconventional that we need to be discerning about how we say it? It it’s not, perhaps we’re not really spreading the same gospel that Jesus was.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Mark 3:31-35
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
31Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 12:46-49
Psalm 69
Dig Deeper
The goal for most American families is to raise up their children so that they are happy, responsible adults, capable of leaving home and starting their own family. For most of us it is a common thing to create a new circle of friends and support that are quite separate from the family that we grew up with. These are the people that become our new inner circle and know us far better than the parents and siblings that we knew as young people. We keep in touch with our families, no doubt, but usually only a few times a year. In fact, most young people even look forward to the time when they can separate from their parents and go off in life to make their own way, to find their own job, and find their own friends.
For a society that lives like that, Jesus’ words and actions here don’t seem like that big of a deal. We pass over them with little more than a passing thought that perhaps he was letting the people of his time know that his followers were very important to him. For us, what Jesus is doing here really loses most of its original sting. The fact is, this wasn’t a mildly interesting statement from Jesus. In his first century setting, this was absolutely scandalous.
We must remember that Jesus lived in a culture where loyalty to family was part of the very fabric of life. Children grew up and remained very close to their parents their whole lives, sometimes still living in their house until their parents died. In fact a typical first-century Jewish home might have 20-30 rooms for the 50-60 family members that would all live together in one house.
The family unit was also often the family business. Male children took up the family business and continued it on for generations, while the women married off into their husband’s family. For the Jews, though, the concept of family ran much deeper than that. It was tied up in the way that they interpreted the fifth commandment to honor father and mother. Solidarity to family was right up there with Sabbath observance as a marker of being a true and loyal Jew. The family unit was a special part of the way that God had organized his people and if that was broken, then an important part of being God’s people was shattered. Being loyal to family meant being loyal to God and his people. Not being loyal to family meant not being loyal to God and betraying your people.
It is in this culture that Jesus makes these statements. Mark has already told us that Jesus’ family considered the possibility that he had gone mad. Now we learn that they actually came to see him. We can assume that they were coming to get him and take him back with them. Mary clearly didn’t have a clue as to what Jesus was doing in his ministry, at least not at this point.
When Jesus says here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother, we must not miss the shock of these words. Jesus was cutting right into the heart of what it meant to be God’s people. Just as would challenge other symbols of being Jewish like Sabbath observance and the food laws, he was now challenging another integral part of being the people of God.
Jesus is sending a very clear signal. He has a new vocation in which he is announcing the new thing that God is doing. He is redefining in a spectacular way what it means to be a family. God, Jesus is letting people know, is starting a new family, a new holy people. There is to be no regard for the traditional family ties in relation to being the people of God. The followers of Jesus are your new family, the new holy people of God. Although Jesus didn’t begin the Church, his followers did, Jesus clearly lays the foundation for the way that Christians should view one another. We are not just fellow members of a religious movement. We are members of the same family; a family that has been radically redefined by Jesus.
Mark sets up a clear distinction between who is on the inside of this new movement and who is on the outside. He will continue to expound on that concept: the true gospel will divide families not bring them closer together in the old way.
Devotional Thought
Many people struggle with this concept, even in our society, that God’s people are to be our new family without regard to the family in which we were born (this does not mean we disrespect or disassociate with our biological families, it speaks to our primary loyalty). For others, moving loyalties from old friendships to new one’s in God’s kingdom are the challenge. Where do your loyalties lie? Who are your best friends? Do you have the same view that Jesus did of who your mother and brothers are?
31Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 12:46-49
Psalm 69
Dig Deeper
The goal for most American families is to raise up their children so that they are happy, responsible adults, capable of leaving home and starting their own family. For most of us it is a common thing to create a new circle of friends and support that are quite separate from the family that we grew up with. These are the people that become our new inner circle and know us far better than the parents and siblings that we knew as young people. We keep in touch with our families, no doubt, but usually only a few times a year. In fact, most young people even look forward to the time when they can separate from their parents and go off in life to make their own way, to find their own job, and find their own friends.
For a society that lives like that, Jesus’ words and actions here don’t seem like that big of a deal. We pass over them with little more than a passing thought that perhaps he was letting the people of his time know that his followers were very important to him. For us, what Jesus is doing here really loses most of its original sting. The fact is, this wasn’t a mildly interesting statement from Jesus. In his first century setting, this was absolutely scandalous.
We must remember that Jesus lived in a culture where loyalty to family was part of the very fabric of life. Children grew up and remained very close to their parents their whole lives, sometimes still living in their house until their parents died. In fact a typical first-century Jewish home might have 20-30 rooms for the 50-60 family members that would all live together in one house.
The family unit was also often the family business. Male children took up the family business and continued it on for generations, while the women married off into their husband’s family. For the Jews, though, the concept of family ran much deeper than that. It was tied up in the way that they interpreted the fifth commandment to honor father and mother. Solidarity to family was right up there with Sabbath observance as a marker of being a true and loyal Jew. The family unit was a special part of the way that God had organized his people and if that was broken, then an important part of being God’s people was shattered. Being loyal to family meant being loyal to God and his people. Not being loyal to family meant not being loyal to God and betraying your people.
It is in this culture that Jesus makes these statements. Mark has already told us that Jesus’ family considered the possibility that he had gone mad. Now we learn that they actually came to see him. We can assume that they were coming to get him and take him back with them. Mary clearly didn’t have a clue as to what Jesus was doing in his ministry, at least not at this point.
When Jesus says here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother, we must not miss the shock of these words. Jesus was cutting right into the heart of what it meant to be God’s people. Just as would challenge other symbols of being Jewish like Sabbath observance and the food laws, he was now challenging another integral part of being the people of God.
Jesus is sending a very clear signal. He has a new vocation in which he is announcing the new thing that God is doing. He is redefining in a spectacular way what it means to be a family. God, Jesus is letting people know, is starting a new family, a new holy people. There is to be no regard for the traditional family ties in relation to being the people of God. The followers of Jesus are your new family, the new holy people of God. Although Jesus didn’t begin the Church, his followers did, Jesus clearly lays the foundation for the way that Christians should view one another. We are not just fellow members of a religious movement. We are members of the same family; a family that has been radically redefined by Jesus.
Mark sets up a clear distinction between who is on the inside of this new movement and who is on the outside. He will continue to expound on that concept: the true gospel will divide families not bring them closer together in the old way.
Devotional Thought
Many people struggle with this concept, even in our society, that God’s people are to be our new family without regard to the family in which we were born (this does not mean we disrespect or disassociate with our biological families, it speaks to our primary loyalty). For others, moving loyalties from old friendships to new one’s in God’s kingdom are the challenge. Where do your loyalties lie? Who are your best friends? Do you have the same view that Jesus did of who your mother and brothers are?
Monday, March 26, 2007
Mark 3:20-30
Jesus and Beelzebub
20Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
22And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
23So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
30He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 12:22-37
Luke 11:14-28
Dig Deeper
We’ve all heard the saying "a face only their mother could love." The point of that often true saying is that a person’s mother is usually their biggest supporter, their biggest fan. When the chips are down and everyone else has abandoned you, you can always count on your mother. This must have been a tough time for Jesus. Just as his ministry is really getting rolling, and so is the opposition to what he is doing, his own family, including his mother begins to question his sanity. The things that he is saying are so radical, so new that they came to the conclusion that perhaps he was out of his mind. If they were to question him, what was the general public to think?
A detail like this clues us into three things about the life of Jesus. The first thing is that we can conclude that Jesus had a pretty normal life before his baptism and before his ministry began. Some of the Gnostic gospels, written hundreds of years after his life, claimed that Jesus performed many miracles as even a small child. Even some popular Christmas songs give us a myth of the child Jesus, with lines like "the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." If Jesus had shown special God-like qualities while growing up, we can safely assume that his family would not have come to the conclusion that he was crazy. The second thing we can learn is that the accounts of Jesus’ life weren’t made up. Certainly if they were fabricated, the gospel writers wouldn’t have included details like Jesus being accused of working with Satan or that his own family thought he was out of his mind. The third thing is that people only accuse others of being crazy or satanic when things are going on that they can’t explain through normal circumstances.
Mark wants us to know precisely what is going on. In Mark 1:7, he says that John the Baptist said Jesus was more powerful than he. Now, Jesus is talking about a stronger man that ties up the strong man. He uses the same word in chapter 1 and this chapter, ischuros, which means ‘strong’ or ‘mighty’. Mark intends for us to see that Jesus is telling his listeners that he is the stronger man, who has won an initial victory over Satan. When Satan came to Jesus after his baptism, just as he had come to Adam and Eve in the Garden, his intention was to tempt him into sin just as he had Adam and Eve. Satan failed, however, and Jesus had won an important and decisive victory. Due to that victory he is now able to make inroads into Satan’s territory. One of Israel’s expectations was that the Messiah would defeat Israel’s enemies. This is precisely what Jesus is doing here. He is taking on Israel’s true enemy, even if they don’t realize that Satan and not Rome is their primary enemy.
The teachers of the law have already decided that they are apposed to anything Jesus says, so they must find a way to discount him in the minds of the people. The people have seen him perform many signs and wonders so they cannot simply claim that these things did not happen or that someone is making it all up. They are left with making accusations about Jesus’ character. They begin to charge that Jesus has indeed done many seemingly incredible things, but only because he is in league with Satan. Perhaps he’s even demon-possessed.
Jesus doesn’t respond back with a nasty label for the Pharisees, he points out a fatal flaw in their logic. If Satan were to cast out and work against the forces of evil, then he would be fighting himself. Once civil war breaks out in a kingdom, it is a signal of the end of that kingdom. So, even if Satan is fighting against himself, then his kingdom is still coming to an end. Even if the teachers are correct in their accusations, Satan’s kingdom is crumbling, and the only thing that could cause that is God. In essence, Jesus is saying that God’s kingdom is coming through his work, no matter how they want to label him.
We know, of course, that their labeling of him was wrong. Jesus was the stronger one that was attacking the kingdom of Satan. The strong one has had his house broken into and found that there is nothing he can do about it.
What about this business of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Many a good Christian has worried themselves over whether or not they have committed this sin. The point is not as mysterious as some would have it be. Once you have attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, there is no place to turn. They have painted themselves into a corner. It is like deciding that someone hates you, no matter what they do, you will perceive it as more of their hate. In the same way, once you label the coming of God’s kingdom as evil, there is no way to see God. They were blind to the truth, like a patient who has decided that the doctor who is trying to save their life is really trying to kill them. They are biting the very hand that is trying to feed them.
Devotional Thought
When confronted here by slanderous accusations, Jesus didn’t respond with labels of his own for them, he coolly and calmly dismantled their faulty thinking. How do you react when people say unkind or untrue things about you? Do you get angry and respond back in kind, or do you respond more in a manner like Jesus did?
20Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
22And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
23So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
30He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 12:22-37
Luke 11:14-28
Dig Deeper
We’ve all heard the saying "a face only their mother could love." The point of that often true saying is that a person’s mother is usually their biggest supporter, their biggest fan. When the chips are down and everyone else has abandoned you, you can always count on your mother. This must have been a tough time for Jesus. Just as his ministry is really getting rolling, and so is the opposition to what he is doing, his own family, including his mother begins to question his sanity. The things that he is saying are so radical, so new that they came to the conclusion that perhaps he was out of his mind. If they were to question him, what was the general public to think?
A detail like this clues us into three things about the life of Jesus. The first thing is that we can conclude that Jesus had a pretty normal life before his baptism and before his ministry began. Some of the Gnostic gospels, written hundreds of years after his life, claimed that Jesus performed many miracles as even a small child. Even some popular Christmas songs give us a myth of the child Jesus, with lines like "the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." If Jesus had shown special God-like qualities while growing up, we can safely assume that his family would not have come to the conclusion that he was crazy. The second thing we can learn is that the accounts of Jesus’ life weren’t made up. Certainly if they were fabricated, the gospel writers wouldn’t have included details like Jesus being accused of working with Satan or that his own family thought he was out of his mind. The third thing is that people only accuse others of being crazy or satanic when things are going on that they can’t explain through normal circumstances.
Mark wants us to know precisely what is going on. In Mark 1:7, he says that John the Baptist said Jesus was more powerful than he. Now, Jesus is talking about a stronger man that ties up the strong man. He uses the same word in chapter 1 and this chapter, ischuros, which means ‘strong’ or ‘mighty’. Mark intends for us to see that Jesus is telling his listeners that he is the stronger man, who has won an initial victory over Satan. When Satan came to Jesus after his baptism, just as he had come to Adam and Eve in the Garden, his intention was to tempt him into sin just as he had Adam and Eve. Satan failed, however, and Jesus had won an important and decisive victory. Due to that victory he is now able to make inroads into Satan’s territory. One of Israel’s expectations was that the Messiah would defeat Israel’s enemies. This is precisely what Jesus is doing here. He is taking on Israel’s true enemy, even if they don’t realize that Satan and not Rome is their primary enemy.
The teachers of the law have already decided that they are apposed to anything Jesus says, so they must find a way to discount him in the minds of the people. The people have seen him perform many signs and wonders so they cannot simply claim that these things did not happen or that someone is making it all up. They are left with making accusations about Jesus’ character. They begin to charge that Jesus has indeed done many seemingly incredible things, but only because he is in league with Satan. Perhaps he’s even demon-possessed.
Jesus doesn’t respond back with a nasty label for the Pharisees, he points out a fatal flaw in their logic. If Satan were to cast out and work against the forces of evil, then he would be fighting himself. Once civil war breaks out in a kingdom, it is a signal of the end of that kingdom. So, even if Satan is fighting against himself, then his kingdom is still coming to an end. Even if the teachers are correct in their accusations, Satan’s kingdom is crumbling, and the only thing that could cause that is God. In essence, Jesus is saying that God’s kingdom is coming through his work, no matter how they want to label him.
We know, of course, that their labeling of him was wrong. Jesus was the stronger one that was attacking the kingdom of Satan. The strong one has had his house broken into and found that there is nothing he can do about it.
What about this business of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Many a good Christian has worried themselves over whether or not they have committed this sin. The point is not as mysterious as some would have it be. Once you have attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, there is no place to turn. They have painted themselves into a corner. It is like deciding that someone hates you, no matter what they do, you will perceive it as more of their hate. In the same way, once you label the coming of God’s kingdom as evil, there is no way to see God. They were blind to the truth, like a patient who has decided that the doctor who is trying to save their life is really trying to kill them. They are biting the very hand that is trying to feed them.
Devotional Thought
When confronted here by slanderous accusations, Jesus didn’t respond with labels of his own for them, he coolly and calmly dismantled their faulty thinking. How do you react when people say unkind or untrue things about you? Do you get angry and respond back in kind, or do you respond more in a manner like Jesus did?
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Mark 3:7-19
Crowds Follow Jesus
7Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
The Appointing of the Twelve Apostles
13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
BACKGROUND READING:
Genesis 49:1-28
Dig Deeper
What kind of people draw big crowds when they go out in public these days? Athletes certainly do. Perhaps the biggest crowds are drawn by movie stars and musicians. Occasionally even certain politicians might draw a crowd. One group that rarely draws a crowd everywhere they go are religious leaders. Jesus was able to do this, though. Mark stresses time and again that word had gotten out about Jesus. He was pressed in by crowds on every side. Despite his best efforts to keep things relatively quiet, word had spread by the way things spread best back then: word of mouth. Everyone was talking about this healer and teacher.
One of the main reasons for his popularity was his ability to heal. In a time when medical care was suspect at best, and downright primitive at worst, word of someone who could actually heal diseases got around fast. Word went from town to town, village to village like wild fire, until people were descending on the little town on the Sea of Galilee from all over the region. They were coming in eager expectation of being healed by this wonder worker.
Mark reminds us though, that in everything Jesus did, there was always a darker side present. Jesus’ was obviously healing these people by operating on a deep spiritual plane, he was no ordinary doctor. Once you engage in the spiritual world, however, you become open to the ever-present evil forces as well. These demons were called evil (or quite literally, unclean) spirits. This demonstrates two things for us. The first is that these were non-physical, bodiless spirits that operated upon, and often, from within a person. Second, these spirits defiled the one they inhabited, making them unclean. They caused people to behave in unhuman ways that betrayed their true calling of being in the image and likeness of God.
As we have already seen, these evil spirits knew exactly who Jesus was, long before anyone else. It seems to be that way quite often in life, where people trying to serve God are attacked by the forces of evil, who see their potential, long before anyone sees the positive marks of God in their life. The spirits that were encountered by Jesus seem quite fearful, recognizing the power of who he was, the Son of God, the Messiah, the true King of Israel. Mark stresses, once again for us to see, that most people did not yet know who Jesus truly was, even though he had clearly begun to give the signs of his true identity. Jesus continues to tell them to be quiet. He does not want Antipas to hear these claims just yet. There is also another element to his demand for silence. Jesus knows that his followers need to discover for themselves who Jesus is. This is not something that can be simply told to them.
Mark now switches to another story with similar meanings to the first. Jesus took his followers up to the mountainside. This was no vacation by the lake, however. In the first century, leaders of movements didn’t take their followers to the hills around the lake for relaxation, they went to plot revolutions. This is precisely what Jesus was doing, as he makes one of his most symbolically revolutionary moves.
How does Jesus’ appointment of twelve apostles come off as a clear revolutionary symbol to the people of his time? Every single Jew immediately knew the significance of the number twelve. This was the number of the sons of Jacob in the book of Genesis. From his sons, came the twelve tribes of Israel, into which Israel had been traditionally been organized. Ten of the tribes had been lost when the Assyrians had invaded Israel and taken them into captivity, but the prophets often spoke of the coming restoration when God would once again make Israel a great nation.
When Jesus takes his disciples into the hillside and sets aside twelve of them for a special purpose, no one would have missed what he was doing. This was far more than just a great healing or spiritual movement. He was signifying that this was the great restoration for which Israel had been waiting. His revolution was taking place at every level: spiritual, physical, social, and political. Any restoration movement, including Jesus’, was also a denunciation of the current powers-that-be. Jesus took his followers into those hills for the same reason that others of his day did: to craft his movement into a truly revolutionary group away from the watching eyes of the authorities. He was, in short, redefining the nation of Israel. He was, in a powerfully symbolic way, saying that his kingdom movement was the new and true Israel.
Even here, though, we are reminded of the ever-present evil lurking around Jesus all the time. One of his own inner circle, Judas Iscariot, would eventually give in to the evil forces and betray him.
Devotional Thought
Jesus was very adept at announcing symbolically, exactly what he was doing. This was often a far more powerful than mere words. How can you announce God’s great restoration project that is available to all men? How can you symbolically demonstrate to the lost souls around you that the exile between them and God is over?
7Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
The Appointing of the Twelve Apostles
13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
BACKGROUND READING:
Genesis 49:1-28
Dig Deeper
What kind of people draw big crowds when they go out in public these days? Athletes certainly do. Perhaps the biggest crowds are drawn by movie stars and musicians. Occasionally even certain politicians might draw a crowd. One group that rarely draws a crowd everywhere they go are religious leaders. Jesus was able to do this, though. Mark stresses time and again that word had gotten out about Jesus. He was pressed in by crowds on every side. Despite his best efforts to keep things relatively quiet, word had spread by the way things spread best back then: word of mouth. Everyone was talking about this healer and teacher.
One of the main reasons for his popularity was his ability to heal. In a time when medical care was suspect at best, and downright primitive at worst, word of someone who could actually heal diseases got around fast. Word went from town to town, village to village like wild fire, until people were descending on the little town on the Sea of Galilee from all over the region. They were coming in eager expectation of being healed by this wonder worker.
Mark reminds us though, that in everything Jesus did, there was always a darker side present. Jesus’ was obviously healing these people by operating on a deep spiritual plane, he was no ordinary doctor. Once you engage in the spiritual world, however, you become open to the ever-present evil forces as well. These demons were called evil (or quite literally, unclean) spirits. This demonstrates two things for us. The first is that these were non-physical, bodiless spirits that operated upon, and often, from within a person. Second, these spirits defiled the one they inhabited, making them unclean. They caused people to behave in unhuman ways that betrayed their true calling of being in the image and likeness of God.
As we have already seen, these evil spirits knew exactly who Jesus was, long before anyone else. It seems to be that way quite often in life, where people trying to serve God are attacked by the forces of evil, who see their potential, long before anyone sees the positive marks of God in their life. The spirits that were encountered by Jesus seem quite fearful, recognizing the power of who he was, the Son of God, the Messiah, the true King of Israel. Mark stresses, once again for us to see, that most people did not yet know who Jesus truly was, even though he had clearly begun to give the signs of his true identity. Jesus continues to tell them to be quiet. He does not want Antipas to hear these claims just yet. There is also another element to his demand for silence. Jesus knows that his followers need to discover for themselves who Jesus is. This is not something that can be simply told to them.
Mark now switches to another story with similar meanings to the first. Jesus took his followers up to the mountainside. This was no vacation by the lake, however. In the first century, leaders of movements didn’t take their followers to the hills around the lake for relaxation, they went to plot revolutions. This is precisely what Jesus was doing, as he makes one of his most symbolically revolutionary moves.
How does Jesus’ appointment of twelve apostles come off as a clear revolutionary symbol to the people of his time? Every single Jew immediately knew the significance of the number twelve. This was the number of the sons of Jacob in the book of Genesis. From his sons, came the twelve tribes of Israel, into which Israel had been traditionally been organized. Ten of the tribes had been lost when the Assyrians had invaded Israel and taken them into captivity, but the prophets often spoke of the coming restoration when God would once again make Israel a great nation.
When Jesus takes his disciples into the hillside and sets aside twelve of them for a special purpose, no one would have missed what he was doing. This was far more than just a great healing or spiritual movement. He was signifying that this was the great restoration for which Israel had been waiting. His revolution was taking place at every level: spiritual, physical, social, and political. Any restoration movement, including Jesus’, was also a denunciation of the current powers-that-be. Jesus took his followers into those hills for the same reason that others of his day did: to craft his movement into a truly revolutionary group away from the watching eyes of the authorities. He was, in short, redefining the nation of Israel. He was, in a powerfully symbolic way, saying that his kingdom movement was the new and true Israel.
Even here, though, we are reminded of the ever-present evil lurking around Jesus all the time. One of his own inner circle, Judas Iscariot, would eventually give in to the evil forces and betray him.
Devotional Thought
Jesus was very adept at announcing symbolically, exactly what he was doing. This was often a far more powerful than mere words. How can you announce God’s great restoration project that is available to all men? How can you symbolically demonstrate to the lost souls around you that the exile between them and God is over?
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Mark 3:1-6
1Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
4Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
BACKGROUND READING:
Exodus 20:8-11
Exodus 31:12-18
Colossians 2:16-19
Hebrews 4:1-13
Dig Deeper
The tendency for most people when it comes to observing religious regulations like the Sabbath is to take a bit more of a liberal view of it in reality than the one that they claim to hold in public. When asked, people will usually uphold the ideal, while in reality, living out a far lower standard. What is perhaps shocking about Jesus when it comes to the issue of the Sabbath is that he takes a surprisingly leniant stance. Whenever he is faced with the question of Sabbath observance, he upholds the unique view he had on the Sabbath, rather than affirming the ideal, while living something differently. His actions and his rhetoric were equally liberal in Sabbath observance.
Jesus’ stance on the Sabbath is usually made worse by the fact that most modern Christians are a bit confused by the whole subject, especially what it means for the Christian today. Most Christians have a sense that the Old Testament Sabbath observance is no longer necessary, but do tend to believe that one day off a week is a good idea. We’re just not sure how to best achieve that or if it is an actual command or a suggestion under the New Covenant.
To really understand the situation here, though, we have to move beyond what the Sabbath might mean for us and look at what it meant to the first-century Jew. There were certainly elements of social pressure and legal punishments for breaking those societal standards, but it meant more than that. Observing the Sabbath was like a national flag. It was a mark of being Jewish that set them apart from all other nations and people. It pointed ahead to the time when God would come in his kingdom and restore all of creation. It looked back to the original creation and to the Exodus from Egypt, and specifically marked out those who observed the Sabbath as the special people of God. It was seen as marking out the march of time, under God’s control, as time rolled on from the original Sabbath when God rested right up until the final Sabbath when God made all things new. These were God’s faithful people who held the hope of the age to come.
So why does Jesus always seem to drive a huge hole right through it? It is because it had become a weapon rather than a source of rest. It had become a sign of the Jewish nationalism that had become exclusive rather than inclusive. The purpose of Israel was to be a light to the world but they had, instead, come to see themselves as the children of the light, while the rest of the world remained ‘rightfully’ in the dark. Rather than the Sabbath being a sign of Covenant that pointed to the age to come when God would rule, it had become a list of oppressive rules designed to show which people were the right kind of Jews.
Mark doesn’t tell us exactly what Jesus did in healing this man’s hand, but whatever it was, it seems that he didn’t break Sabbath observance in any way. Their problem with him seems more ideological than any real violation on his part. Jesus is distressed at their stubborn hearts. This was a common charge for prophets to level at law-breaking Israelites of their day. They are unable to see what God is doing right in front of them, so he asks them, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? The answer in Jesus’ mind is obvious, and if they don’t see that, then their interpretation of Sabbath observance is clearly wrong.
At the end of this account, Mark hands us a very curious detail. He says that the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Why would these two groups that did not get along well do this? It is because the Pharisees were an unofficial body and had no power of themselves. If they were going to get anything done in stopping Jesus, they had to make alliances, even if meant making alliances with traditional enemies of theirs. They were truly willing to live up to the old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." This is certainly a foreshadowing of events to come when Caiaphas and Pilate worked together to crucify Jesus. The Pharisees would, in fact, continue the same strategy when the Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, received authority from the chief priests to carry out the persecution of the Church.
Devotional Thought
What does observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy mean for us today? If we consider the passage in the background reading from Hebrews 4, how can we think about and observe the Sabbath?
4Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
BACKGROUND READING:
Exodus 20:8-11
Exodus 31:12-18
Colossians 2:16-19
Hebrews 4:1-13
Dig Deeper
The tendency for most people when it comes to observing religious regulations like the Sabbath is to take a bit more of a liberal view of it in reality than the one that they claim to hold in public. When asked, people will usually uphold the ideal, while in reality, living out a far lower standard. What is perhaps shocking about Jesus when it comes to the issue of the Sabbath is that he takes a surprisingly leniant stance. Whenever he is faced with the question of Sabbath observance, he upholds the unique view he had on the Sabbath, rather than affirming the ideal, while living something differently. His actions and his rhetoric were equally liberal in Sabbath observance.
Jesus’ stance on the Sabbath is usually made worse by the fact that most modern Christians are a bit confused by the whole subject, especially what it means for the Christian today. Most Christians have a sense that the Old Testament Sabbath observance is no longer necessary, but do tend to believe that one day off a week is a good idea. We’re just not sure how to best achieve that or if it is an actual command or a suggestion under the New Covenant.
To really understand the situation here, though, we have to move beyond what the Sabbath might mean for us and look at what it meant to the first-century Jew. There were certainly elements of social pressure and legal punishments for breaking those societal standards, but it meant more than that. Observing the Sabbath was like a national flag. It was a mark of being Jewish that set them apart from all other nations and people. It pointed ahead to the time when God would come in his kingdom and restore all of creation. It looked back to the original creation and to the Exodus from Egypt, and specifically marked out those who observed the Sabbath as the special people of God. It was seen as marking out the march of time, under God’s control, as time rolled on from the original Sabbath when God rested right up until the final Sabbath when God made all things new. These were God’s faithful people who held the hope of the age to come.
So why does Jesus always seem to drive a huge hole right through it? It is because it had become a weapon rather than a source of rest. It had become a sign of the Jewish nationalism that had become exclusive rather than inclusive. The purpose of Israel was to be a light to the world but they had, instead, come to see themselves as the children of the light, while the rest of the world remained ‘rightfully’ in the dark. Rather than the Sabbath being a sign of Covenant that pointed to the age to come when God would rule, it had become a list of oppressive rules designed to show which people were the right kind of Jews.
Mark doesn’t tell us exactly what Jesus did in healing this man’s hand, but whatever it was, it seems that he didn’t break Sabbath observance in any way. Their problem with him seems more ideological than any real violation on his part. Jesus is distressed at their stubborn hearts. This was a common charge for prophets to level at law-breaking Israelites of their day. They are unable to see what God is doing right in front of them, so he asks them, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? The answer in Jesus’ mind is obvious, and if they don’t see that, then their interpretation of Sabbath observance is clearly wrong.
At the end of this account, Mark hands us a very curious detail. He says that the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Why would these two groups that did not get along well do this? It is because the Pharisees were an unofficial body and had no power of themselves. If they were going to get anything done in stopping Jesus, they had to make alliances, even if meant making alliances with traditional enemies of theirs. They were truly willing to live up to the old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." This is certainly a foreshadowing of events to come when Caiaphas and Pilate worked together to crucify Jesus. The Pharisees would, in fact, continue the same strategy when the Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, received authority from the chief priests to carry out the persecution of the Church.
Devotional Thought
What does observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy mean for us today? If we consider the passage in the background reading from Hebrews 4, how can we think about and observe the Sabbath?
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Mark 2:23-28
Lord of the Sabbath
23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
25He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."
27Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
BACKGROUND READING:
1 Samuel 21:1-9
1 Samuel 22:6-23
Dig Deeper
If someone were to read the New Testament without a decent understanding of the Pharisees, they might get the impression that they were some sort of secret police. It almost seems like they were spying around on Jesus and his followers waiting for them to break the law so that they could drop the hammer. The impression that they were a sort of official secret police force, however, would be a mistaken impression.
The Pharisees were actually an unofficial group. They had no basis in the law itself. They were, in reality, self-appointed guardians of the law. They had been around for almost 200 years by the time of Jesus but they had no official authority. They could not make laws nor did they have the power to enforce the laws. What they did have, though, was the power of public opinion. The Pharisees were extremely influential with the common people of Jesus’ day. These people had a great deal of respect for the expertise that the Pharisees had in regard to Israel’s ancestral laws and traditions.
No, they weren’t a police force, but what were they then? It is important to note that many Pharisees were sincere, devout, holy men. There were others, though, that were more like investigative journalists. They wouldn’t have bothered following around ordinary people, but Jesus and his followers were clearly not ordinary people. The things that Jesus had done and the claims he was making had set them apart as unique. Just as journalists will go after someone running for political office, Jesus had stuck his head up from the crowd, and so the Pharisees were going to check him out.
Keeping the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments and was one of the symbols that set apart the Jews as God’s people. They observed the Sabbath to demonstrate that they were God’s people and to set them apart from the rest of the pagan nations around them. For the Pharisees, following the various laws of the Torah were more about the political statement of separation from the pagan nations than the actual purity of keeping the law.
When asked, Jesus doesn’t deny that he and his followers were stepping outside of the boundaries of normal Sabbath observance. He admits that much, but he appeals to special circumstances and implies that these special circumstances should apply to him as well. What Jesus was not doing was providing a legal parallel from history to create a legal loophole. He was giving the Pharisees a kingdom-parallel in what, for him, was a clear kingdom-case.
The circumstances to which he appeals is from the life of King David. The story comes from 1 Samuel 21, a time in David’s life when he had already been anointed as king, but had yet to take the throne. He was on the run from Saul, gathering support, and waiting for his time to come. The point that Jesus is making is not so much about the fact that David went outside of normal Sabbath rules. He is making that point, but he is doing so much more than that. Jesus is clearly identifying himself with King David, implying his kingdom aspirations. He is saying that he is the true King. He has been anointed at his baptism as God’s chosen one, but has yet to be recognized by the people and has not yet been enthroned. He has the right, as did David, to go around the normal Sabbath regulations. Rather than this being an example of Jesus’ lack of respect for the law, we find that it was, in fact, a deliberate sign just like the refusal of Jesus and his disciples to fast. The real King was here. God’s kingdom was coming, but in a different way than anyone expected.
This leads to Jesus’ final statement in this passage: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. This is the second time Mark has used the phrase, ‘the son of man’, and the point is clear. Jesus is saying that the Messiah, the one who would represent the people of God, has the authority over institutions that had been turned on their head to repress people. The Sabbath was meant as a sign to point to the Messiah, not to be seen as the point itself. A new day was dawning and even Israel’s God-given laws would be seen in a new light. When the light is present the shadows are no longer needed. The Sabbath rest was no longer needed in the same way now that the Messiah, the true place of rest for God’s people was here. This is yet another example (of which Mark will give us many) of Jesus redefining Israel and what it meant to be Israel through the reality of his ministry and followers.
Devotional Thought
The Commandment concerning the Sabbath called for people to honor it and keep it holy. The point of the New Testament is fairly clear that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath, our rest. To honor the Sabbath for us, then, means to honor Christ, not just one day a week but all the time. Does that sound like your life? Do you honor Jesus in everything you do? What areas of your life would not be honoring to Jesus? In what areas of your life do you seek to find rest in things or people other than Jesus Christ?
23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
25He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."
27Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
BACKGROUND READING:
1 Samuel 21:1-9
1 Samuel 22:6-23
Dig Deeper
If someone were to read the New Testament without a decent understanding of the Pharisees, they might get the impression that they were some sort of secret police. It almost seems like they were spying around on Jesus and his followers waiting for them to break the law so that they could drop the hammer. The impression that they were a sort of official secret police force, however, would be a mistaken impression.
The Pharisees were actually an unofficial group. They had no basis in the law itself. They were, in reality, self-appointed guardians of the law. They had been around for almost 200 years by the time of Jesus but they had no official authority. They could not make laws nor did they have the power to enforce the laws. What they did have, though, was the power of public opinion. The Pharisees were extremely influential with the common people of Jesus’ day. These people had a great deal of respect for the expertise that the Pharisees had in regard to Israel’s ancestral laws and traditions.
No, they weren’t a police force, but what were they then? It is important to note that many Pharisees were sincere, devout, holy men. There were others, though, that were more like investigative journalists. They wouldn’t have bothered following around ordinary people, but Jesus and his followers were clearly not ordinary people. The things that Jesus had done and the claims he was making had set them apart as unique. Just as journalists will go after someone running for political office, Jesus had stuck his head up from the crowd, and so the Pharisees were going to check him out.
Keeping the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments and was one of the symbols that set apart the Jews as God’s people. They observed the Sabbath to demonstrate that they were God’s people and to set them apart from the rest of the pagan nations around them. For the Pharisees, following the various laws of the Torah were more about the political statement of separation from the pagan nations than the actual purity of keeping the law.
When asked, Jesus doesn’t deny that he and his followers were stepping outside of the boundaries of normal Sabbath observance. He admits that much, but he appeals to special circumstances and implies that these special circumstances should apply to him as well. What Jesus was not doing was providing a legal parallel from history to create a legal loophole. He was giving the Pharisees a kingdom-parallel in what, for him, was a clear kingdom-case.
The circumstances to which he appeals is from the life of King David. The story comes from 1 Samuel 21, a time in David’s life when he had already been anointed as king, but had yet to take the throne. He was on the run from Saul, gathering support, and waiting for his time to come. The point that Jesus is making is not so much about the fact that David went outside of normal Sabbath rules. He is making that point, but he is doing so much more than that. Jesus is clearly identifying himself with King David, implying his kingdom aspirations. He is saying that he is the true King. He has been anointed at his baptism as God’s chosen one, but has yet to be recognized by the people and has not yet been enthroned. He has the right, as did David, to go around the normal Sabbath regulations. Rather than this being an example of Jesus’ lack of respect for the law, we find that it was, in fact, a deliberate sign just like the refusal of Jesus and his disciples to fast. The real King was here. God’s kingdom was coming, but in a different way than anyone expected.
This leads to Jesus’ final statement in this passage: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. This is the second time Mark has used the phrase, ‘the son of man’, and the point is clear. Jesus is saying that the Messiah, the one who would represent the people of God, has the authority over institutions that had been turned on their head to repress people. The Sabbath was meant as a sign to point to the Messiah, not to be seen as the point itself. A new day was dawning and even Israel’s God-given laws would be seen in a new light. When the light is present the shadows are no longer needed. The Sabbath rest was no longer needed in the same way now that the Messiah, the true place of rest for God’s people was here. This is yet another example (of which Mark will give us many) of Jesus redefining Israel and what it meant to be Israel through the reality of his ministry and followers.
Devotional Thought
The Commandment concerning the Sabbath called for people to honor it and keep it holy. The point of the New Testament is fairly clear that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath, our rest. To honor the Sabbath for us, then, means to honor Christ, not just one day a week but all the time. Does that sound like your life? Do you honor Jesus in everything you do? What areas of your life would not be honoring to Jesus? In what areas of your life do you seek to find rest in things or people other than Jesus Christ?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Mark 2:18-22
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
18Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
19Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."
BACKGROUND READING:
Isaiah 58
Matthew 9:14-17
Luke 5:33-39
Dig Deeper
Observing fasts was a deeply cherished part of Jewish society. A Jew who didn’t observe the law, the Sabbath, and certain social expectations like fasting was considered to be a traitor to Jewish identity. They were striking a blow at the very heart of what it meant to be the people of God. This was of particular concern for the Pharisees. They were of the belief that it was a lack of observing God’s law that caused the delay of YHWH returning to Israel and instituting the ‘age to come’. They believed that if all of Israel would observe all of the law for one day, then God would return.
If some hotshot was going around teaching that this long-awaited kingdom of God was at hand, then they wanted to make sure that he was holding people to the law. What they found to their horror, however, was that he seemed to be playing fast-and-loose with the various ways of observing the law. This is why Jesus was asked about his lack of observing the normal two-a-week fasts observed by John’s disciples and the Pharisees.
In answering, Jesus accomplishes two things. First, he compares his own ministry to a wedding party in which he is the groom. Second, he explains why his followers were not keeping the fast days that most devout Jews would have observed.
There was no mistake in Jesus’ comparison of his ministry to a wedding celebration. Weddings say something good about the world. They signify a new beginning. It should be of no surprise, then, that many Jews’ by Jesus’ time used a picture of a great wedding to describe the ‘age to come’. God’s wonderful, new, restored creation could best be described in terms of a great wedding feast.
Jesus is doing something else here, though. It was also common to describe Israel as God’s bride. They were sometimes wayward and unfaithful, but God would win her back to his side one day. That would be the day of the great wedding. By comparing himself to a bridegroom, Jesus is wafting out some new but rather clear teachings into the air. Israel needs to rethink how the groom is going to return and what exactly that wedding will look like. Jesus was redefining what that great time of restoration would look like. The time Israel had been longing for had come if they could only see it.
This sets us up to make more sense of two quick word pictures that Jesus paints. The first involves an everyday idea like patching up a rip in an old article of clothing. Jesus, as he so often did, used a simple example from everyday life. You can’t take a new piece of cloth to patch up a tear in an old garment. When the new patch shrinks (as it will surely do) it will make a worse rip than the one you started with. Jesus isn’t suggesting that you need an old patch to go with the old garment, his simple point was that old and new don’t mix. Putting them together has disastrous results.
He continues this thought in describing the wineskins. Putting new wine in old skins will get you nothing but burst skins. The old way of thinking simply cannot contain this new concept of God’s kingdom that Jesus is teaching.
God has indeed returned for the great day of restoration but it is in a very different way than anyone had expected. The wedding was at hand, but not at all in the way that they had thought. The bridegroom was nothing like what they were expecting. Jesus was telling his listeners that they were going to need to listen carefully to him, and to completely change their thinking in order to contain this new concept of the kingdom. It simply would not fit in any way, shape, or form, into their old ways of thinking.
Devotional Thought
We can be just as guilty of trying to combine our old ways of thinking with God’s new way of being human as a part of his kingdom. In what areas do you most struggle with thinking about the world the way the rest of the world does, rather than seeing things through the eyes of the kingdom of God? How can you transform your thinking in those areas?
18Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
19Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."
BACKGROUND READING:
Isaiah 58
Matthew 9:14-17
Luke 5:33-39
Dig Deeper
Observing fasts was a deeply cherished part of Jewish society. A Jew who didn’t observe the law, the Sabbath, and certain social expectations like fasting was considered to be a traitor to Jewish identity. They were striking a blow at the very heart of what it meant to be the people of God. This was of particular concern for the Pharisees. They were of the belief that it was a lack of observing God’s law that caused the delay of YHWH returning to Israel and instituting the ‘age to come’. They believed that if all of Israel would observe all of the law for one day, then God would return.
If some hotshot was going around teaching that this long-awaited kingdom of God was at hand, then they wanted to make sure that he was holding people to the law. What they found to their horror, however, was that he seemed to be playing fast-and-loose with the various ways of observing the law. This is why Jesus was asked about his lack of observing the normal two-a-week fasts observed by John’s disciples and the Pharisees.
In answering, Jesus accomplishes two things. First, he compares his own ministry to a wedding party in which he is the groom. Second, he explains why his followers were not keeping the fast days that most devout Jews would have observed.
There was no mistake in Jesus’ comparison of his ministry to a wedding celebration. Weddings say something good about the world. They signify a new beginning. It should be of no surprise, then, that many Jews’ by Jesus’ time used a picture of a great wedding to describe the ‘age to come’. God’s wonderful, new, restored creation could best be described in terms of a great wedding feast.
Jesus is doing something else here, though. It was also common to describe Israel as God’s bride. They were sometimes wayward and unfaithful, but God would win her back to his side one day. That would be the day of the great wedding. By comparing himself to a bridegroom, Jesus is wafting out some new but rather clear teachings into the air. Israel needs to rethink how the groom is going to return and what exactly that wedding will look like. Jesus was redefining what that great time of restoration would look like. The time Israel had been longing for had come if they could only see it.
This sets us up to make more sense of two quick word pictures that Jesus paints. The first involves an everyday idea like patching up a rip in an old article of clothing. Jesus, as he so often did, used a simple example from everyday life. You can’t take a new piece of cloth to patch up a tear in an old garment. When the new patch shrinks (as it will surely do) it will make a worse rip than the one you started with. Jesus isn’t suggesting that you need an old patch to go with the old garment, his simple point was that old and new don’t mix. Putting them together has disastrous results.
He continues this thought in describing the wineskins. Putting new wine in old skins will get you nothing but burst skins. The old way of thinking simply cannot contain this new concept of God’s kingdom that Jesus is teaching.
God has indeed returned for the great day of restoration but it is in a very different way than anyone had expected. The wedding was at hand, but not at all in the way that they had thought. The bridegroom was nothing like what they were expecting. Jesus was telling his listeners that they were going to need to listen carefully to him, and to completely change their thinking in order to contain this new concept of the kingdom. It simply would not fit in any way, shape, or form, into their old ways of thinking.
Devotional Thought
We can be just as guilty of trying to combine our old ways of thinking with God’s new way of being human as a part of his kingdom. In what areas do you most struggle with thinking about the world the way the rest of the world does, rather than seeing things through the eyes of the kingdom of God? How can you transform your thinking in those areas?
Monday, March 19, 2007
Mark 2:13-17
The Calling of Levi
13Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 9:9-13
Luke 5:27-32
Dig Deeper
There are certain jobs that are pretty thankless. I think of a sports referee, where no matter what call you make, half of the fans are angry at you. Another example of that would be a parking meter attendant. No one is happy to see these people. If they have any interaction with the public it is usually to be yelled at or castigated. Most people revile parking meter attendants, it is just the nature of their job. They are out to write tickets that will collect money from people, and no one likes to pay more than they feel they should have to.
This was the type of job that Levi (Matthew) had. As a tax collector in Capernaum he was reviled by everyone, with the exception of other tax collectors. Part of this comes from the man he was probably working for, Herod Antipas. When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., his kingdom was divided between his three sons: Judea in the south went to Archalaus; Galilee in the north went to Antipas; and what we now call the Golan Heights went to Philip. Capernaum was part of Antipas’ territory, right on the border between his land and Philip’s. People traveling from one area into the other would have to stop and pay a toll in Capernaum.
It is probable that many people would remember when that journey could be made for free. Now they had to pay a toll to a man who represented a king that was not liked by the people. Even worse for these tax collectors was the fact that they were backed by the power of the Roman Empire. In the minds of the people then, these tax collectors were traitors to their people because they were working in collusion with the hated occupiers of the land of Israel.
Due to the incredible power of the Roman Empire, however, there was nothing that an average citizen could do. Their anger and frustration would boil just below the surface, and guess who it would often spill out on? It was tax collectors like Levi. They took a great deal of abuse, verbal and otherwise, and were nearly outcasts in the society. So much so, that in first-century Judaism, one’s entire house would be considered ceremonially unclean if a tax collector entered the house.
Suddenly though, a man comes to Levi one day and doesn’t abuse or mistreat him. No, he actually comes right to him, speaks to him like a human being, and invites him to follow him and to learn from him. Students of a rabbi, were expected to follow their teacher so closely that if the dust came off the rabbis shoes, it would land on theirs. They would follow their teacher and learn how he did everything. This was Jesus’ shocking offer to Levi: Follow me.
There is a deeper point that Mark wants us to catch here, though. Levi had been working for a man who fancied himself the King of the Jews. Now he was being called to follow someone else with designs on that role. Mark is gently moving towards the point in chapter 8, when Jesus’ followers will finally begin to realize who he is.
Part of the problem that the teachers of the law had with Jesus was that he was constantly bucking social standards. He didn’t ascribe to a strict observation of the religious requirements or the political expectations of the day. Shunning tax collectors was a form of political protest against Antipas and the Romans. Jesus’ ministry challenged social expectations and instigated opposition at the social, cultural, political, and religious levels.
Jesus’ response to those critics was vital to his understanding of his vocation. He was a type of doctor that was healing not only physical ailments, but societal ailments of outcasts like Levi, and ultimately the spiritual ailments of all who were willing. There’s not much point for a doctor to always be around healthy people. Nor is there much use in a doctor spending time around the sick who won’t accept that they are sick. The real place for a doctor to be is among the company of those who are sick, who realize it, and who want to get better.
Devotional Thought
Levi had one of those jobs that made it easy for people to, at worst, despise him, and, at best, ignore him. How do you treat people that others tend to dislike or ignore? Do you take special time to get to know and appreciate them or do you treat them like everyone else does? Take some time this week to notice people that are ignored or mistreated by most people. Treat them with the same love and respect that Jesus showed to the tax collectors of his day.
13Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 9:9-13
Luke 5:27-32
Dig Deeper
There are certain jobs that are pretty thankless. I think of a sports referee, where no matter what call you make, half of the fans are angry at you. Another example of that would be a parking meter attendant. No one is happy to see these people. If they have any interaction with the public it is usually to be yelled at or castigated. Most people revile parking meter attendants, it is just the nature of their job. They are out to write tickets that will collect money from people, and no one likes to pay more than they feel they should have to.
This was the type of job that Levi (Matthew) had. As a tax collector in Capernaum he was reviled by everyone, with the exception of other tax collectors. Part of this comes from the man he was probably working for, Herod Antipas. When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., his kingdom was divided between his three sons: Judea in the south went to Archalaus; Galilee in the north went to Antipas; and what we now call the Golan Heights went to Philip. Capernaum was part of Antipas’ territory, right on the border between his land and Philip’s. People traveling from one area into the other would have to stop and pay a toll in Capernaum.
It is probable that many people would remember when that journey could be made for free. Now they had to pay a toll to a man who represented a king that was not liked by the people. Even worse for these tax collectors was the fact that they were backed by the power of the Roman Empire. In the minds of the people then, these tax collectors were traitors to their people because they were working in collusion with the hated occupiers of the land of Israel.
Due to the incredible power of the Roman Empire, however, there was nothing that an average citizen could do. Their anger and frustration would boil just below the surface, and guess who it would often spill out on? It was tax collectors like Levi. They took a great deal of abuse, verbal and otherwise, and were nearly outcasts in the society. So much so, that in first-century Judaism, one’s entire house would be considered ceremonially unclean if a tax collector entered the house.
Suddenly though, a man comes to Levi one day and doesn’t abuse or mistreat him. No, he actually comes right to him, speaks to him like a human being, and invites him to follow him and to learn from him. Students of a rabbi, were expected to follow their teacher so closely that if the dust came off the rabbis shoes, it would land on theirs. They would follow their teacher and learn how he did everything. This was Jesus’ shocking offer to Levi: Follow me.
There is a deeper point that Mark wants us to catch here, though. Levi had been working for a man who fancied himself the King of the Jews. Now he was being called to follow someone else with designs on that role. Mark is gently moving towards the point in chapter 8, when Jesus’ followers will finally begin to realize who he is.
Part of the problem that the teachers of the law had with Jesus was that he was constantly bucking social standards. He didn’t ascribe to a strict observation of the religious requirements or the political expectations of the day. Shunning tax collectors was a form of political protest against Antipas and the Romans. Jesus’ ministry challenged social expectations and instigated opposition at the social, cultural, political, and religious levels.
Jesus’ response to those critics was vital to his understanding of his vocation. He was a type of doctor that was healing not only physical ailments, but societal ailments of outcasts like Levi, and ultimately the spiritual ailments of all who were willing. There’s not much point for a doctor to always be around healthy people. Nor is there much use in a doctor spending time around the sick who won’t accept that they are sick. The real place for a doctor to be is among the company of those who are sick, who realize it, and who want to get better.
Devotional Thought
Levi had one of those jobs that made it easy for people to, at worst, despise him, and, at best, ignore him. How do you treat people that others tend to dislike or ignore? Do you take special time to get to know and appreciate them or do you treat them like everyone else does? Take some time this week to notice people that are ignored or mistreated by most people. Treat them with the same love and respect that Jesus showed to the tax collectors of his day.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Mark 2:1-12
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
BACKGROUND READING:
Daniel 7
Jeremiah 33
Luke 5:17-26
Dig Deeper
Mark paints an amazing picture here for us in a very short amount of space. Within this story of faith and healing, we have an extraordinary picture of friendship. Most people who were paralyzed in the first century faced a very difficult life. There was no government organization to help them get a job or give them support. Crippled people were just not thought very highly of at all in that society and were usually relegated to begging to make a living.
There was something different about this man, though. Jesus, was no doubt as impressed by their mere friendship as he was their faith. He would surely have been moved by their display of friendship and loyalty to their paralyzed friend.
This may have removed some of the sting that was possibly Jesus’ own house that had the roof torn up to drop their friend through. Many people speculate that Jesus lived with Peter when he moved to Capernaum, but it is just as likely, if not more so, that he had secured his own small house there. A large crowd had heard that Jesus had returned home and was pressing around his house at all sides. In order to see him, these men dismantled the roof (which may have been Jesus’ own roof) and dropped their friend through.
Jesus was impressed when he saw the faith of these men. This paralytic must have been a special individual to induce that kind of loyalty. To take in the full impact of the situation in real time, however, we must enter the story here from the standpoint of the paralyzed man. He and his friends have gone through a great deal of trouble for the chance to be healed by Jesus. Just then, Jesus sees him and walks over to him. This is it, their hard work has paid off. Except that Jesus says something very unexpected; he tells this man that his sins are forgiven. What would your reaction be, especially if you were a Jew that probably saw no particular need for such a thing on a personal level. For the first-century Jew, forgiveness of sins primarily referred to a time when all of Israel was brought back from the exile from God that had been caused by their national sin (see: Lam. 4:22; Jer. 31:31-34; Jer. 33:4-11; Ezek. 36:24-26, 33; Ezek. 37:21-23; Isa. 40:1-2; etc.) He must have been more than a bit bewildered, and probably was disappointed.
Mark doesn’t tell us the response of the paralyzed man, however, we are left to speculate. He does tell us the response of the teachers of the law. Their response was pretty predictable for teachers of the law at the time. They were deeply offended and consider Jesus’ statement blasphemous. Forgiving sins were activities of the Temple and of God. How could a man be claiming to do what only God could do at the Temple? This was not only a shot at their religious beliefs, their political and social beliefs were all tied up together in their beliefs about the Temple. Jesus’ claiming to forgive sins would be like if you began to issue driver’s licenses and marriage certificates with your name on them. These are functions of the state. In the same way, sins could only be forgiven by the priests as an official Temple activity in the worldview of the Jews.
The key sentence in this passage is verse 10: The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. To understand what Jesus meant by this phrase, we have to look at Daniel 7, which provides us with the deeper meaning. In that passage, ‘one like a son of man’ is the representative of God’s true people. He is opposed by evil, but God vindicates him, rescues him, and gives him authority. This authority, according to Daniel, gives him the right to dispense God’s judgment. He is also seen, in this passage in Mark, dispensing God’s forgiveness.
Jesus offering to forgive sins, then, is far more than some crackpot claiming to be God. Jesus was ripping a hole far bigger than the one in the roof, right through the very worldview of first-century Israel. He was again, in another way, symbolically telling the people around him that God’s kingdom was going to be a far different deal than they had expected, and that he was the one with the power and authority to announce and institute it. And, perhaps the most shocking things of all was that this kingdom was there now.
One other thing in this passage is worth noting. Mark does here what he does several other times in his gospel. He gives this account in such a way that it becomes a signpost to the larger story he is relating. This story becomes a smaller version of the book as a whole. He shows us Jesus teaching and healing, being charged with blasphemy, and finally being vindicated. The healing of this man points forward to the new life that Jesus will grasp at the resurrection and then share with whosoever will.
Devotional Thought
One detail that we should not overlook in this passage is that when Jesus forgave the man and told him to get up and walk, he did just that. Often times we want to feel God’s loving forgiveness, but then we would prefer to stay on our mats and be taken care of. Have you gotten up off of the mat or are you still laying there in some respects. Pray and meditate today about getting up off your mat and discovering where God wants you to go.
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
BACKGROUND READING:
Daniel 7
Jeremiah 33
Luke 5:17-26
Dig Deeper
Mark paints an amazing picture here for us in a very short amount of space. Within this story of faith and healing, we have an extraordinary picture of friendship. Most people who were paralyzed in the first century faced a very difficult life. There was no government organization to help them get a job or give them support. Crippled people were just not thought very highly of at all in that society and were usually relegated to begging to make a living.
There was something different about this man, though. Jesus, was no doubt as impressed by their mere friendship as he was their faith. He would surely have been moved by their display of friendship and loyalty to their paralyzed friend.
This may have removed some of the sting that was possibly Jesus’ own house that had the roof torn up to drop their friend through. Many people speculate that Jesus lived with Peter when he moved to Capernaum, but it is just as likely, if not more so, that he had secured his own small house there. A large crowd had heard that Jesus had returned home and was pressing around his house at all sides. In order to see him, these men dismantled the roof (which may have been Jesus’ own roof) and dropped their friend through.
Jesus was impressed when he saw the faith of these men. This paralytic must have been a special individual to induce that kind of loyalty. To take in the full impact of the situation in real time, however, we must enter the story here from the standpoint of the paralyzed man. He and his friends have gone through a great deal of trouble for the chance to be healed by Jesus. Just then, Jesus sees him and walks over to him. This is it, their hard work has paid off. Except that Jesus says something very unexpected; he tells this man that his sins are forgiven. What would your reaction be, especially if you were a Jew that probably saw no particular need for such a thing on a personal level. For the first-century Jew, forgiveness of sins primarily referred to a time when all of Israel was brought back from the exile from God that had been caused by their national sin (see: Lam. 4:22; Jer. 31:31-34; Jer. 33:4-11; Ezek. 36:24-26, 33; Ezek. 37:21-23; Isa. 40:1-2; etc.) He must have been more than a bit bewildered, and probably was disappointed.
Mark doesn’t tell us the response of the paralyzed man, however, we are left to speculate. He does tell us the response of the teachers of the law. Their response was pretty predictable for teachers of the law at the time. They were deeply offended and consider Jesus’ statement blasphemous. Forgiving sins were activities of the Temple and of God. How could a man be claiming to do what only God could do at the Temple? This was not only a shot at their religious beliefs, their political and social beliefs were all tied up together in their beliefs about the Temple. Jesus’ claiming to forgive sins would be like if you began to issue driver’s licenses and marriage certificates with your name on them. These are functions of the state. In the same way, sins could only be forgiven by the priests as an official Temple activity in the worldview of the Jews.
The key sentence in this passage is verse 10: The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. To understand what Jesus meant by this phrase, we have to look at Daniel 7, which provides us with the deeper meaning. In that passage, ‘one like a son of man’ is the representative of God’s true people. He is opposed by evil, but God vindicates him, rescues him, and gives him authority. This authority, according to Daniel, gives him the right to dispense God’s judgment. He is also seen, in this passage in Mark, dispensing God’s forgiveness.
Jesus offering to forgive sins, then, is far more than some crackpot claiming to be God. Jesus was ripping a hole far bigger than the one in the roof, right through the very worldview of first-century Israel. He was again, in another way, symbolically telling the people around him that God’s kingdom was going to be a far different deal than they had expected, and that he was the one with the power and authority to announce and institute it. And, perhaps the most shocking things of all was that this kingdom was there now.
One other thing in this passage is worth noting. Mark does here what he does several other times in his gospel. He gives this account in such a way that it becomes a signpost to the larger story he is relating. This story becomes a smaller version of the book as a whole. He shows us Jesus teaching and healing, being charged with blasphemy, and finally being vindicated. The healing of this man points forward to the new life that Jesus will grasp at the resurrection and then share with whosoever will.
Devotional Thought
One detail that we should not overlook in this passage is that when Jesus forgave the man and told him to get up and walk, he did just that. Often times we want to feel God’s loving forgiveness, but then we would prefer to stay on our mats and be taken care of. Have you gotten up off of the mat or are you still laying there in some respects. Pray and meditate today about getting up off your mat and discovering where God wants you to go.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Mark 1:35-45
Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
A Man With Leprosy
40A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
43Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44"See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
BACKGROUND READING:
Leviticus 13:1-46
Leviticus 14:1-32
Dig Deeper
Any athlete will tell you that championships are not really won during the championship game. That, of course, is not entirely true, but the point they are making is a good one. What they mean by statements like that is that they believe they won their championship during the hard practice times that took place long before the season began. This is when the foundation was laid that enabled them to do the great things they did. Here, Mark is careful to point out that the many spectacular things that Jesus did had a foundation that was laid in solitude. It was his prayer life. We can conclude that his prayer habits were important considering that his closest followers felt it vital to comment on them, pointing to their belief that Jesus’ prayer habits were the source of his authority and power.
What can we learn from Jesus’ prayer life? Perhaps the most important thing is that his prayer life was costly and sacrificial. It took place early in the morning when he probably would have rather been sleeping. Jesus did not just take a few quick minutes on his way to something else, to sneak in an obligatory prayer. Jesus prayed both after great victories and before great challenges, he didn’t just pray when he wanted God to bail him out of a tough situation.
It was this incredible commitment to prayer with the Father that enabled Jesus to do what he did and be who he was. This included his ability to encounter the most fearsome forces of evil and to treat everyone with loving kindness, even those who were relegated to the dregs of society because of an illness like leprosy.
This passage raises on obvious question. If Jesus was going about announcing this new kingdom movement, why would he strongly warn this man that had been healed of leprosy to be quiet about what Jesus had done? He had also forbade the demons from announcing his identity but why?
It seems that it is all tied up in Jesus’ sense of timing and fulfilling the prophecies. As we will see later in his life, Jesus knew, as a prophet, that he must die in Jerusalem. He also knew that there were many things he had to accomplish before he would die. It was not yet his time. He could not do things that risked his enemies pressing in on him too soon. He didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of notice from the wrong kind of people. This action of healing the man with leprosy would certainly do that.
Jesus’ instructions to the man after he heals him seem a bit puzzling. Jesus tells him to go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them. If someone had been cured of blindness or paralysis they could go back to their friends and family and clearly demonstrate that they had been cured. With leprosy, it wasn’t that easy. This man could not simply show up in his hometown and claim to be healed. (Jesus’ act of healing, incidentally, would have been shocking to the original readers, if for no other reason than he touched this man with a highly contagious disease). It would cause deep suspicions amongst the priests and officials. He should go through the proper steps, said Jesus, to be officially accepted as having been healed and accepted back into society. The next time he went to Jerusalem he would make the required sacrifice, thank God officially, and be given a proper endorsement of his clean bill of health. He needed to do all of this in order to keep the law of Moses, to be accepted into his society once again, and to avoid bringing too much premature attention to Jesus.
Healing a man of leprosy was dangerous business for Jesus, particularly if the man just began to walk around and tell everyone (which of course he did which caused some trouble to Jesus). This was a clear indicator that Jesus was doing things that only the Temple had the authority to do. Jesus was sending a message that he had the authority that had been previously held by the Temple, but that message could not get out too quickly.
Jesus’ desire to keep his actions quiet wasn’t an act of cowardice, it was an act of wisdom. As Mark tells us, though, the word leaked out anyway, yet, Jesus remained confident and focused. We can, no doubt, attribute that in large part, to his depth of prayer life.
Devotional Thought
From where do you receive your strength and security? Is it from God through prayer or is from other things like friends, self-esteem, money, or something else? Is it better to rely on temporary things that will pass away, or the eternal creator of the universe? It seems kind of obvious when stated in those terms, yet is that really how things are in your life? What do you need to do in order to have the kind of sacrificial prayer life that Jesus had?
35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
A Man With Leprosy
40A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
43Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44"See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
BACKGROUND READING:
Leviticus 13:1-46
Leviticus 14:1-32
Dig Deeper
Any athlete will tell you that championships are not really won during the championship game. That, of course, is not entirely true, but the point they are making is a good one. What they mean by statements like that is that they believe they won their championship during the hard practice times that took place long before the season began. This is when the foundation was laid that enabled them to do the great things they did. Here, Mark is careful to point out that the many spectacular things that Jesus did had a foundation that was laid in solitude. It was his prayer life. We can conclude that his prayer habits were important considering that his closest followers felt it vital to comment on them, pointing to their belief that Jesus’ prayer habits were the source of his authority and power.
What can we learn from Jesus’ prayer life? Perhaps the most important thing is that his prayer life was costly and sacrificial. It took place early in the morning when he probably would have rather been sleeping. Jesus did not just take a few quick minutes on his way to something else, to sneak in an obligatory prayer. Jesus prayed both after great victories and before great challenges, he didn’t just pray when he wanted God to bail him out of a tough situation.
It was this incredible commitment to prayer with the Father that enabled Jesus to do what he did and be who he was. This included his ability to encounter the most fearsome forces of evil and to treat everyone with loving kindness, even those who were relegated to the dregs of society because of an illness like leprosy.
This passage raises on obvious question. If Jesus was going about announcing this new kingdom movement, why would he strongly warn this man that had been healed of leprosy to be quiet about what Jesus had done? He had also forbade the demons from announcing his identity but why?
It seems that it is all tied up in Jesus’ sense of timing and fulfilling the prophecies. As we will see later in his life, Jesus knew, as a prophet, that he must die in Jerusalem. He also knew that there were many things he had to accomplish before he would die. It was not yet his time. He could not do things that risked his enemies pressing in on him too soon. He didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of notice from the wrong kind of people. This action of healing the man with leprosy would certainly do that.
Jesus’ instructions to the man after he heals him seem a bit puzzling. Jesus tells him to go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them. If someone had been cured of blindness or paralysis they could go back to their friends and family and clearly demonstrate that they had been cured. With leprosy, it wasn’t that easy. This man could not simply show up in his hometown and claim to be healed. (Jesus’ act of healing, incidentally, would have been shocking to the original readers, if for no other reason than he touched this man with a highly contagious disease). It would cause deep suspicions amongst the priests and officials. He should go through the proper steps, said Jesus, to be officially accepted as having been healed and accepted back into society. The next time he went to Jerusalem he would make the required sacrifice, thank God officially, and be given a proper endorsement of his clean bill of health. He needed to do all of this in order to keep the law of Moses, to be accepted into his society once again, and to avoid bringing too much premature attention to Jesus.
Healing a man of leprosy was dangerous business for Jesus, particularly if the man just began to walk around and tell everyone (which of course he did which caused some trouble to Jesus). This was a clear indicator that Jesus was doing things that only the Temple had the authority to do. Jesus was sending a message that he had the authority that had been previously held by the Temple, but that message could not get out too quickly.
Jesus’ desire to keep his actions quiet wasn’t an act of cowardice, it was an act of wisdom. As Mark tells us, though, the word leaked out anyway, yet, Jesus remained confident and focused. We can, no doubt, attribute that in large part, to his depth of prayer life.
Devotional Thought
From where do you receive your strength and security? Is it from God through prayer or is from other things like friends, self-esteem, money, or something else? Is it better to rely on temporary things that will pass away, or the eternal creator of the universe? It seems kind of obvious when stated in those terms, yet is that really how things are in your life? What do you need to do in order to have the kind of sacrificial prayer life that Jesus had?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Mark 1:21-34
Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit
21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil[e] spirit cried out, 24"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
25"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Jesus Heals Many
29As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
BACKGROUND READING:
Luke 4:14-44
Dig Deeper
Authority and tradition were important concepts in Jewish society. The source of one’s authority was something that was of vital importance, especially to the official teacher of the law. Along comes this son of a carpenter that is telling people how the kingdom of God will be and how it will come about. This was a topic of great interest to all of the official teachers of the law, and now this unrecognized teacher is teaching new things, apparently on his own authority. The priests and scribes were the official teachers, along with the Pharisees, who were the self-appointed, but highly respected guardians of Jewish law and traditions. None of these teachers, though, would dare teach on their own authority. They would all say something like, ‘Moses said’, or ‘Rabbi so-and-so said’. Jesus didn’t do that though, and it turned heads. He quietly spoke with a quiet confidence and authority all his own.
The official guardians of the Jewish religion refused to recognize this authority that he was exhibiting. In fact, it was usually the most afflicted members of the society that seemed to have no problem recognizing both Jesus and from where his authority came. Mark points out repeatedly in the opening chapters of his book that those who were the most afflicted and those who had been possessed by demons, were the ones who recognized Jesus first. The demons that had come to be in control of these individuals knew immediately who Jesus was, but he did not want them to announce yet who he was. Whoever came to Jesus, whether a demon possessed individual, a woman with a severe fever, or people with any other kinds of sicknesses, they all thronged to Jesus, and he dealt with them all with the same gentle, but effective authority.
Because of this, Jesus began to attract large crowds of followers. The fact that he was drawing large crowds would have been a big enough threat, in itself to the authorities, but there was more to it than just that. Jesus had begun an all-out assault against the forces of darkness, evil, and destruction, forces that were crashing in on and crushing the people of Israel. Jesus came as the one with the authority to show these people to safety. He was not so much like a fireman or policeman, but more like one who takes authority in a crisis and begins to lead others to safety, knowing that his actions will cost him his own life. The demons would take their final shot against Jesus at the Cross, challenging his authority for the last time. But it was at that very moment of his death, that he proved his own authority over them and all the forces of evil and destruction.
The authority that Jesus was demonstrating caused great fear among Jesus’ fiercest opponents. They had already decided that his message was far too radical and different, and so, could not be from God. Once they had made that decision, they were backed into a corner when they saw his miraculous healings, his exorcisms, and the fact that he taught with such authority. If it was not from God, which they were convinced it could not be, then from where did his authority and power come? This is the question that the Jewish authorities began to ponder. It is though they had already determined that 2 plus 2 could not equal four, and then began the job of figuring out what the answer must be.
Devotional Thought
Our world is still mired in darkness and evil and is looking for someone with the same kind of healing authority that Jesus demonstrated in his day. Because of the work of Christ, however, these same shrieking forces of evil do not have power and authority, they only have fear and intimidation? How can the church provide the same voice of gentle authority that Jesus brought in his day? How can you bring this same voice of gentle authority to the people in your life that are locked in darkness?
21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil[e] spirit cried out, 24"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
25"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Jesus Heals Many
29As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
BACKGROUND READING:
Luke 4:14-44
Dig Deeper
Authority and tradition were important concepts in Jewish society. The source of one’s authority was something that was of vital importance, especially to the official teacher of the law. Along comes this son of a carpenter that is telling people how the kingdom of God will be and how it will come about. This was a topic of great interest to all of the official teachers of the law, and now this unrecognized teacher is teaching new things, apparently on his own authority. The priests and scribes were the official teachers, along with the Pharisees, who were the self-appointed, but highly respected guardians of Jewish law and traditions. None of these teachers, though, would dare teach on their own authority. They would all say something like, ‘Moses said’, or ‘Rabbi so-and-so said’. Jesus didn’t do that though, and it turned heads. He quietly spoke with a quiet confidence and authority all his own.
The official guardians of the Jewish religion refused to recognize this authority that he was exhibiting. In fact, it was usually the most afflicted members of the society that seemed to have no problem recognizing both Jesus and from where his authority came. Mark points out repeatedly in the opening chapters of his book that those who were the most afflicted and those who had been possessed by demons, were the ones who recognized Jesus first. The demons that had come to be in control of these individuals knew immediately who Jesus was, but he did not want them to announce yet who he was. Whoever came to Jesus, whether a demon possessed individual, a woman with a severe fever, or people with any other kinds of sicknesses, they all thronged to Jesus, and he dealt with them all with the same gentle, but effective authority.
Because of this, Jesus began to attract large crowds of followers. The fact that he was drawing large crowds would have been a big enough threat, in itself to the authorities, but there was more to it than just that. Jesus had begun an all-out assault against the forces of darkness, evil, and destruction, forces that were crashing in on and crushing the people of Israel. Jesus came as the one with the authority to show these people to safety. He was not so much like a fireman or policeman, but more like one who takes authority in a crisis and begins to lead others to safety, knowing that his actions will cost him his own life. The demons would take their final shot against Jesus at the Cross, challenging his authority for the last time. But it was at that very moment of his death, that he proved his own authority over them and all the forces of evil and destruction.
The authority that Jesus was demonstrating caused great fear among Jesus’ fiercest opponents. They had already decided that his message was far too radical and different, and so, could not be from God. Once they had made that decision, they were backed into a corner when they saw his miraculous healings, his exorcisms, and the fact that he taught with such authority. If it was not from God, which they were convinced it could not be, then from where did his authority and power come? This is the question that the Jewish authorities began to ponder. It is though they had already determined that 2 plus 2 could not equal four, and then began the job of figuring out what the answer must be.
Devotional Thought
Our world is still mired in darkness and evil and is looking for someone with the same kind of healing authority that Jesus demonstrated in his day. Because of the work of Christ, however, these same shrieking forces of evil do not have power and authority, they only have fear and intimidation? How can the church provide the same voice of gentle authority that Jesus brought in his day? How can you bring this same voice of gentle authority to the people in your life that are locked in darkness?
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Mark 1:14-20
The Calling of the First Disciples
14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18At once they left their nets and followed him.
19When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 4:18-22
Luke 5:1-11
John 1:35-42
Dig Deeper
In our society, most of us do not have the same job that our parents had. We foster a mindset of independence and exploration of one’s own gifts and passions that was largely unknown in the ancient world. In the time of Jesus, it was probable that fishermen like Andrew, Simon, James, and John were taking part in the family business. Most likely, their families had been involved in fishing in that area going back more generations than they could remember (although being that they were far more aware of their heritage than we are, they might well have known who the first fisherman in the family was).
When we understand the culture that this account takes place in, we realize the full shock of what Jesus was asking them. By the second century, It would be normal for families to take their young children to a rabbi to ask them to train their child in Torah (the books of the law of the Old Testament). The rabbi would pick the best of the students and train them in his interpretation of Torah. Those who could not make the cut as rabbis-in-training went back to the family business. The degree to which this would have been fully in place by the time of Jesus is left to some conjecture, but this system would still not have been unknown or unusual at the time of Jesus.
What Jesus was doing, then, was common in one respect, but quite radical in another. These men had possibly not made the cut and had returned to the security of the family business. This is what they would do for the rest of their lives, and most likely, what their sons would do. Jesus begins to gather disciples around him, which was not unusual in his society, but it was quite unusual for the teacher to go and call the students. He was calling them to do something crazy: Leave your security, your family business, and your family (family solidarity was an important part of Jewish life). He was asking them to leave the certainty of their current lives for the uncertain future of this new kingdom movement that he was announcing.
There are also echoes in this account of the bigger story of Israel, the people of God. Just as Abraham, the ancestor of God’s people, was called to leave his country and family to follow God’s call, so Peter, John and the others are answering this new call from God to leave their family. Mark is dropping hints that the old way of being the people of God needs to be left behind, that following Jesus is the new way to be God’s true people.
Jesus’ timing in beginning all of this is no accident. With John out announcing the coming of the kingdom, Jesus does not need to act, he can bide his time. As soon as John is arrested, however, Jesus swings into action. It is clear that Jesus would have waited upon the Father for a sense of the right time, and this seems to be the clear indicator that his time has come. With John in prison, it was time for Jesus to go public with his vocation as the kingdom announcer. His ministry had officially begun.
The message that he begins to announce is to repent and believe the good news. If we were to walk through the streets of our cities today, telling people to repent, they would probably think we meant something somewhat different than what Jesus’ first-century audience would have understood. We tend to reduce the word ‘repent’ to solely the concept of ceasing to sin. Of course, Jesus wanted people to stop sinning but there was more to it than that. He wanted them to turn away from their whole concept of what the kingdom of God was and how it would come about. They had a social and political expectation that was waiting for the kingdom to be led by a great military leader who would defeat Israel’s enemies, allow for YHWH to return to Jerusalem, and would set up Israel as the ruler of the nations. Jesus wanted them to abandon that ruinous and fruitless way of thinking. They needed to completely recalibrate their thinking as to what the kingdom of God was. Jesus was also calling them to return to a true loyalty to YHWH. They had come to trust many other things rather than God: their ancestry and family identity, their possession of the land of Palestine, their Temple, and their laws.
Jesus was announcing the message that it was time for Israel to repent, to change their way of thinking of what the kingdom of God was all about. He was calling them to trust that God was working in a wonderful new way. To be a part of this, they would have to cut the old ties of what it meant to be God’s people. Jesus, then, was calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John to do in their own lives what he was calling the rest of Israel to do on a large, national scale. Jesus was, in fact, beginning the process of gathering a new and reconstituted people of God around him.
Devotional Thought
Truly following the way of God’s kingdom means to completely change the way we think, the way we view the world, and often the way we expect God to work. What are the areas of your thinking and worldview that Jesus is still calling you to change in order to truly fit into his kingdom? Spend some time thinking about not only how you need to change your thinking, but how you can actually accomplish the needed changes in your life.
14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18At once they left their nets and followed him.
19When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
BACKGROUND READING:
Matthew 4:18-22
Luke 5:1-11
John 1:35-42
Dig Deeper
In our society, most of us do not have the same job that our parents had. We foster a mindset of independence and exploration of one’s own gifts and passions that was largely unknown in the ancient world. In the time of Jesus, it was probable that fishermen like Andrew, Simon, James, and John were taking part in the family business. Most likely, their families had been involved in fishing in that area going back more generations than they could remember (although being that they were far more aware of their heritage than we are, they might well have known who the first fisherman in the family was).
When we understand the culture that this account takes place in, we realize the full shock of what Jesus was asking them. By the second century, It would be normal for families to take their young children to a rabbi to ask them to train their child in Torah (the books of the law of the Old Testament). The rabbi would pick the best of the students and train them in his interpretation of Torah. Those who could not make the cut as rabbis-in-training went back to the family business. The degree to which this would have been fully in place by the time of Jesus is left to some conjecture, but this system would still not have been unknown or unusual at the time of Jesus.
What Jesus was doing, then, was common in one respect, but quite radical in another. These men had possibly not made the cut and had returned to the security of the family business. This is what they would do for the rest of their lives, and most likely, what their sons would do. Jesus begins to gather disciples around him, which was not unusual in his society, but it was quite unusual for the teacher to go and call the students. He was calling them to do something crazy: Leave your security, your family business, and your family (family solidarity was an important part of Jewish life). He was asking them to leave the certainty of their current lives for the uncertain future of this new kingdom movement that he was announcing.
There are also echoes in this account of the bigger story of Israel, the people of God. Just as Abraham, the ancestor of God’s people, was called to leave his country and family to follow God’s call, so Peter, John and the others are answering this new call from God to leave their family. Mark is dropping hints that the old way of being the people of God needs to be left behind, that following Jesus is the new way to be God’s true people.
Jesus’ timing in beginning all of this is no accident. With John out announcing the coming of the kingdom, Jesus does not need to act, he can bide his time. As soon as John is arrested, however, Jesus swings into action. It is clear that Jesus would have waited upon the Father for a sense of the right time, and this seems to be the clear indicator that his time has come. With John in prison, it was time for Jesus to go public with his vocation as the kingdom announcer. His ministry had officially begun.
The message that he begins to announce is to repent and believe the good news. If we were to walk through the streets of our cities today, telling people to repent, they would probably think we meant something somewhat different than what Jesus’ first-century audience would have understood. We tend to reduce the word ‘repent’ to solely the concept of ceasing to sin. Of course, Jesus wanted people to stop sinning but there was more to it than that. He wanted them to turn away from their whole concept of what the kingdom of God was and how it would come about. They had a social and political expectation that was waiting for the kingdom to be led by a great military leader who would defeat Israel’s enemies, allow for YHWH to return to Jerusalem, and would set up Israel as the ruler of the nations. Jesus wanted them to abandon that ruinous and fruitless way of thinking. They needed to completely recalibrate their thinking as to what the kingdom of God was. Jesus was also calling them to return to a true loyalty to YHWH. They had come to trust many other things rather than God: their ancestry and family identity, their possession of the land of Palestine, their Temple, and their laws.
Jesus was announcing the message that it was time for Israel to repent, to change their way of thinking of what the kingdom of God was all about. He was calling them to trust that God was working in a wonderful new way. To be a part of this, they would have to cut the old ties of what it meant to be God’s people. Jesus, then, was calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John to do in their own lives what he was calling the rest of Israel to do on a large, national scale. Jesus was, in fact, beginning the process of gathering a new and reconstituted people of God around him.
Devotional Thought
Truly following the way of God’s kingdom means to completely change the way we think, the way we view the world, and often the way we expect God to work. What are the areas of your thinking and worldview that Jesus is still calling you to change in order to truly fit into his kingdom? Spend some time thinking about not only how you need to change your thinking, but how you can actually accomplish the needed changes in your life.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Mark 1:9-13
The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by
John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw
heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with
you I am well pleased."
12At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13and he was in the
desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals,
and angels attended him.
BACKGROUND READING:
Psalm 2
Matthew 3:13-4:11
Luke 3:21-22; 4:1-12
John 1:29-34
Devotional Thought
As we read this passage on baptism, it is important to first see it through the
eyes of Mark and the early church. They believed that when YHWH looks on
believers at baptism, that he looks at us in the same way and says the same
thing that he said to Jesus on the day of his baptism: You are my Son (or
daughter), whom I love, with you I am well pleased. God does not see us as
we are in ourselves, but as we are in Christ. We will need to read the whole
story of Mark, including Jesus’ death and resurrection to fully understand that
concept, but this is the core message of the gospel. The early church
understood that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he represented his people.
What is true of the Messiah is true of his people.
The Messiah means ‘the anointed one’; and this was the story of Jesus being
anointed with the Holy Spirit and marked out as God’s son. The Messiah was
referred to as God’s son in some biblical passages, including Psalm 2:7. The
early Christians would come to understand the concept of Jesus being God’s
son in a much deeper sense, but his messiahship was always very important
to them. It is because he is the Messiah, God’s son, that God views us as his
children. It is in this moment of his baptism, that Jesus was set apart; his
vocation as the Messiah had been confirmed by God and his prophet, John.
This is a moment that hold a great deal of significance to who Jesus believes
himself to be as he carries out his mission to Jerusalem.
Mark uses very Old Testament language when he says that he saw heaven
being torn apart. This shouldn’t be taken literally that a door opened in the
sky. The term ‘heaven’ in the Bible usually refers to God’s dimension that is
behind the ordinary, natural reality. It’s more as if what was there all along
was suddenly revealed as though it was behind a curtain that was pulled back
(see 2 Kings 6:17 for an example). It was if, rather than standing in the middle
of the river, Jesus was suddenly standing in the presence of a different reality.
Recognizing this reality and living according to it even when we can’t see it is
a good part of what living by faith is all about. This is anther of the great
themes of Mark that he wants us to see as we read his gospel. He wants us to
learn to see the life of Jesus in these terms. We need to see beyond the
surface, physical reality and see what Jesus was trying to teach and do in the
spiritual reality. This is not to completely exclude the physical reality as
irrelevant, but rather, it is to teach us to see both realms as real and important.
Viewing Mark’s words in this way will help us to see, for instance, why Jesus
went into the desert. He was acting out (acting out scenes representing Israel
was something prophets often did) Israel’s exodus from Egypt, particularly,
their journey through the wilderness into the promised land. He must go
through what Israel went through, become the new Israel in a sense, in order
to take Israel’s place (thus, the significance of him being there for forty days).
He is only able to face this time of loneliness and tempting because he has
heard God’s words of approval, setting him apart as his own son. The same
is true for us. If we don’t understand God’s view of us as his own beloved sons
and daughters, we will not be able to stand up to the siren’s call of temptation.
We will begin to think that the thing tempting us is something that is more in
our best interest, than is following God.
The angels that were with him were not able to keep Jesus from being
tempted, just as they would not keep him from being crucified, but they were
there to assure him that his Father is watching over him. Jesus is able to stand
up to the temptation of Satan, and because of this, His defeat of Satan has
been set in motion. This is a process that will only end in his resurrection.
Mark also adds the detail that he was with the animals. It is quite probable
that Mark wants us to think of this as a new Eden. Sin had, among many other
things, put a wedge between man and animal. Now through the work of
God’s son who has overcome Satan, the creation is about to be put back to
rights. This points to the restored age to come that will be fully realized one
day (see Isaiah 11 for a poetic description of the age to come). Through sin,
man had been separated from God, from God’s will, from other men, and
even from the animals. Mark wants us to see that through the work of Christ,
all of these things are to be restored.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever taken some time to meditate on your baptism as the
moment when God began to view you as you are in Christ, as his beloved
son or daughter? That is an incredible and overwhelming thought. Read
back through this passage slowly and think about your own baptism.
Insert your name into this passage and think of the full extent of God
viewing you as you are in Christ. If you’ve yet to be baptized, then
meditate on what it would mean to experience this, and ask yourself what
you are waiting for.
9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by
John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw
heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with
you I am well pleased."
12At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13and he was in the
desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals,
and angels attended him.
BACKGROUND READING:
Psalm 2
Matthew 3:13-4:11
Luke 3:21-22; 4:1-12
John 1:29-34
Devotional Thought
As we read this passage on baptism, it is important to first see it through the
eyes of Mark and the early church. They believed that when YHWH looks on
believers at baptism, that he looks at us in the same way and says the same
thing that he said to Jesus on the day of his baptism: You are my Son (or
daughter), whom I love, with you I am well pleased. God does not see us as
we are in ourselves, but as we are in Christ. We will need to read the whole
story of Mark, including Jesus’ death and resurrection to fully understand that
concept, but this is the core message of the gospel. The early church
understood that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he represented his people.
What is true of the Messiah is true of his people.
The Messiah means ‘the anointed one’; and this was the story of Jesus being
anointed with the Holy Spirit and marked out as God’s son. The Messiah was
referred to as God’s son in some biblical passages, including Psalm 2:7. The
early Christians would come to understand the concept of Jesus being God’s
son in a much deeper sense, but his messiahship was always very important
to them. It is because he is the Messiah, God’s son, that God views us as his
children. It is in this moment of his baptism, that Jesus was set apart; his
vocation as the Messiah had been confirmed by God and his prophet, John.
This is a moment that hold a great deal of significance to who Jesus believes
himself to be as he carries out his mission to Jerusalem.
Mark uses very Old Testament language when he says that he saw heaven
being torn apart. This shouldn’t be taken literally that a door opened in the
sky. The term ‘heaven’ in the Bible usually refers to God’s dimension that is
behind the ordinary, natural reality. It’s more as if what was there all along
was suddenly revealed as though it was behind a curtain that was pulled back
(see 2 Kings 6:17 for an example). It was if, rather than standing in the middle
of the river, Jesus was suddenly standing in the presence of a different reality.
Recognizing this reality and living according to it even when we can’t see it is
a good part of what living by faith is all about. This is anther of the great
themes of Mark that he wants us to see as we read his gospel. He wants us to
learn to see the life of Jesus in these terms. We need to see beyond the
surface, physical reality and see what Jesus was trying to teach and do in the
spiritual reality. This is not to completely exclude the physical reality as
irrelevant, but rather, it is to teach us to see both realms as real and important.
Viewing Mark’s words in this way will help us to see, for instance, why Jesus
went into the desert. He was acting out (acting out scenes representing Israel
was something prophets often did) Israel’s exodus from Egypt, particularly,
their journey through the wilderness into the promised land. He must go
through what Israel went through, become the new Israel in a sense, in order
to take Israel’s place (thus, the significance of him being there for forty days).
He is only able to face this time of loneliness and tempting because he has
heard God’s words of approval, setting him apart as his own son. The same
is true for us. If we don’t understand God’s view of us as his own beloved sons
and daughters, we will not be able to stand up to the siren’s call of temptation.
We will begin to think that the thing tempting us is something that is more in
our best interest, than is following God.
The angels that were with him were not able to keep Jesus from being
tempted, just as they would not keep him from being crucified, but they were
there to assure him that his Father is watching over him. Jesus is able to stand
up to the temptation of Satan, and because of this, His defeat of Satan has
been set in motion. This is a process that will only end in his resurrection.
Mark also adds the detail that he was with the animals. It is quite probable
that Mark wants us to think of this as a new Eden. Sin had, among many other
things, put a wedge between man and animal. Now through the work of
God’s son who has overcome Satan, the creation is about to be put back to
rights. This points to the restored age to come that will be fully realized one
day (see Isaiah 11 for a poetic description of the age to come). Through sin,
man had been separated from God, from God’s will, from other men, and
even from the animals. Mark wants us to see that through the work of Christ,
all of these things are to be restored.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever taken some time to meditate on your baptism as the
moment when God began to view you as you are in Christ, as his beloved
son or daughter? That is an incredible and overwhelming thought. Read
back through this passage slowly and think about your own baptism.
Insert your name into this passage and think of the full extent of God
viewing you as you are in Christ. If you’ve yet to be baptized, then
meditate on what it would mean to experience this, and ask yourself what
you are waiting for.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Mark 1:1-8
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"—
3"a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' " 4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
BACKGROUND READING:
Malachi 3:1-5
Isaiah 40:1-11
Dig Deeper
Israel believed that they had been in exile for over five hundred years. Even though they had returned from their Babylonian exile hundreds of years before, they felt that the exile wasn't truly over because God had not returned his presence to Jerusalem and the Temple. They had long awaited the Messiah to come and set things right. They believed that the Messiah would come and defeat Israel's biggest enemy, which at the time was Rome. It would be this long-awaited Messiah that would restore the Temple and usher in the age to come, which was God's Kingdom on earth, This was when the righteous would be resurrected, sin would be done away with, and God would rule on earth with his people. Based on the passages that Mark quotes here (see the background reading) and others, the Jews were expecting a forerunner to the Messiah; they thought that it might very well be Elijah, himself, or at least someone that came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Now, Mark tells us that out of nowhere, John the baptizer bursts onto the scene like a loud voice that wakes you out of a sound sleep. They were expecting a Messiah that would lead them in a glorious revolt over the Romans, not a prophet telling them to repent. They were expecting freedom, but had no clue of what that freedom would actually look like and what it would require of them. They were expecting an Exodus story but not one like this.
Every Jew of the time would have been very familiar with the Exodus story. It was the national story that identified them as YHWH's (the Hebrew name of God) people. Now John was telling them that they were going to be actors in a play that would recreate the Exodus. They were to come through the water to be free from their Egypt, except their Egypt was the world of sin that they would leave behind. They were looking for freedom in the wrong direction. They were waiting for a violent military rebellion when what they really needed was to turn around and go in the right way spiritually, which is what repentance really is. They needed to change the way they thought and lived, radically.
John wore the traditional clothes of an Old Testament prophet, and now he was telling them to straighten up, someone far greater than him was about to burst onto the scene. It doesn't appear that even John knew for sure who that someone would be, or what he would be. He did know, however, that what he was doing with the water, symbolizing the willingness of people to turn their lives in another direction, the one to come would do permanently with the power of the Holy Spirit. Israel was waiting for a repeat of the Exodus story, when YHWH would come and free them from their enemies. He would return and live with them just as his presence had dwelt with them in the Tabernacle after the first Exodus.
What is clear is that the people of Israel saw John as a prophet like those in the Old Testament who had tried to tell the people that God was more concerned with their heart than with their ritual sacrifices. John quickly became very popular with the people, as they had been waiting for a prophet like him for a long time.
They were not ready, and maybe John wasn't either, for what they got. Mark is trying to surprise his readers here into seeing the shock that God was doing a new thing, something no one expected. This was like an alarm clock going off in the middle of the night that no one expected.
Devotional Thought
Israel was, in many ways, asleep. John came to wake them up to this new thing that God was about to do. What areas of your life are you asleep in? Where are the areas that God wants to work in your life, but hasn't because you're just not aware of what he wants to do? In what areas do you need to wake up so that God's will can be done in your community, your church, your life? What are the areas in your life in which you need to repent so that God can do something new in your life?
1The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"—
3"a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' " 4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
BACKGROUND READING:
Malachi 3:1-5
Isaiah 40:1-11
Dig Deeper
Israel believed that they had been in exile for over five hundred years. Even though they had returned from their Babylonian exile hundreds of years before, they felt that the exile wasn't truly over because God had not returned his presence to Jerusalem and the Temple. They had long awaited the Messiah to come and set things right. They believed that the Messiah would come and defeat Israel's biggest enemy, which at the time was Rome. It would be this long-awaited Messiah that would restore the Temple and usher in the age to come, which was God's Kingdom on earth, This was when the righteous would be resurrected, sin would be done away with, and God would rule on earth with his people. Based on the passages that Mark quotes here (see the background reading) and others, the Jews were expecting a forerunner to the Messiah; they thought that it might very well be Elijah, himself, or at least someone that came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Now, Mark tells us that out of nowhere, John the baptizer bursts onto the scene like a loud voice that wakes you out of a sound sleep. They were expecting a Messiah that would lead them in a glorious revolt over the Romans, not a prophet telling them to repent. They were expecting freedom, but had no clue of what that freedom would actually look like and what it would require of them. They were expecting an Exodus story but not one like this.
Every Jew of the time would have been very familiar with the Exodus story. It was the national story that identified them as YHWH's (the Hebrew name of God) people. Now John was telling them that they were going to be actors in a play that would recreate the Exodus. They were to come through the water to be free from their Egypt, except their Egypt was the world of sin that they would leave behind. They were looking for freedom in the wrong direction. They were waiting for a violent military rebellion when what they really needed was to turn around and go in the right way spiritually, which is what repentance really is. They needed to change the way they thought and lived, radically.
John wore the traditional clothes of an Old Testament prophet, and now he was telling them to straighten up, someone far greater than him was about to burst onto the scene. It doesn't appear that even John knew for sure who that someone would be, or what he would be. He did know, however, that what he was doing with the water, symbolizing the willingness of people to turn their lives in another direction, the one to come would do permanently with the power of the Holy Spirit. Israel was waiting for a repeat of the Exodus story, when YHWH would come and free them from their enemies. He would return and live with them just as his presence had dwelt with them in the Tabernacle after the first Exodus.
What is clear is that the people of Israel saw John as a prophet like those in the Old Testament who had tried to tell the people that God was more concerned with their heart than with their ritual sacrifices. John quickly became very popular with the people, as they had been waiting for a prophet like him for a long time.
They were not ready, and maybe John wasn't either, for what they got. Mark is trying to surprise his readers here into seeing the shock that God was doing a new thing, something no one expected. This was like an alarm clock going off in the middle of the night that no one expected.
Devotional Thought
Israel was, in many ways, asleep. John came to wake them up to this new thing that God was about to do. What areas of your life are you asleep in? Where are the areas that God wants to work in your life, but hasn't because you're just not aware of what he wants to do? In what areas do you need to wake up so that God's will can be done in your community, your church, your life? What are the areas in your life in which you need to repent so that God can do something new in your life?
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