Mark 9:33-37 New Living Translation 33 After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” 34 But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” 36 Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.” Pastor Larry would often say, the measure with which you love and serve others is the actually measure you love God. It would crush me when he said that because I know I can serve people more. John the Apostle said something similar, "If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?" 1John 4:20
It's easy to say we love God but He makes clear what loving Him looks like. The Disciples must have known that what they were arguing about was wrong because when Jesus asked them about it, they didn't answer. So Jesus sits down, which was the posture a rabbi or teacher had when he was about to teach, and flipped their thinking upside down by saying, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” With this he gave them a new target and no excuse. If they were to seek 1st place or greatness they only had to make themselves servants. Something easier said than done because who gets to decide who we will serve. Some only serve the poor because they need it more but neglect the rich as if they don't need Jesus as well. Let us be careful that we aren't prejudice in whom we show the love of God to. This wasn't only the thinking of their day but we are programmed today as well to seek out what is best for us. We seem to be an even more selfish people than we were before. We need to recognize our new target in Christ Jesus, not one who looks to be in first place but serves all and in doing so we become great in the eyes our Master whom we desire to serve.
1 Comment
Mark 9: 30-32 New Living Translation 30 Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, 31 for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” 32 They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant. Fear is a powerful thing, it can cause you to run in the opposite direction or just stay frozen in the same place. It seems that thinking rationally gets thrown out the window and we tend to think the worst or ignore it altogether.
Jesus wanting to instruct His disciples went away from the crowds and told them again very plainly that He will "be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead." The Bible tells as clearly that the disciples "didn’t understand what he was saying" but rather than ask Him plainly what or why He is saying what He saying they just allowed their fear to keep them silent. Sometimes we are afraid to ask because we know the answer and just down want to accept it, like not wanting to go to the doctor because you know he's going to tell you you're sick. Somehow we think as if not knowing the truth would make things better. Fear doesn't have to be a bad thing. The fact is that we all should have a healthy fear of God. A kind of fear that causes us to run from what we do not know to Him who knows all things. We can and should trust Him. He tells us in Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law." Mark 9:14-29 New Living Translation 14 When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him. 16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked. 17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” 19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. 21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” 23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” 24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” 26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. 28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” 29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.” As believers we are all called to be the kind of people that don't back down easily when we know what God has called us to. Those who choose to live their life like everyone else in this world want things instantly as if it was their right. Our constitution declares that we have certain unalienable rights given to us by our Creator, one of which is the pursuit of happiness. This does not mean we have the right to be happy but the right to pursue happiness. It seems that people in and out of the church have lost the sense of delayed gratification which means happiness that comes later.
In today's reading the people wanted this boy healed NOW and they blamed the disciples for not making it happen but Jesus quickly turned the tables on them and let them know that it wasn't the fault of the disciples but their faith. By definition faith is,"confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is a willingness to live in such a way that believes what we are promised will come in due time, His time not ours. Jesus cares more about our character than our comfort. How will you live today- discontent, angry or even disappointed that God has not acted on your time table or by faith in light of we hope for and cannot see? Let us pray that we may live according to way God sees the world and not the way we see it. Mark 9: 9-13 New Living Translation 9 As they went back down the mountain, [Jesus] told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.” 11 Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?” 12 Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.” "Don't shoot the messenger" is a phrase that means to blame or punish the person who tells
you about something bad that has happened instead of the person who is responsible for it. It's often used to be humorous or lighten the mood but when Jesus responds to the Disciples question, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?”, with another question it's anything but funny. The odd thing is that Jesus isn't even delivering bad news, He talks about His resurrection because it's the very thing that lets us know that the Father received His sacrifice on the cross for our sin. Of course the disciples didn't understand but instead of asking they want to know when the messiah would set up his kingdom. They would have known that that was prophesied by Micah so I'm not sure if the were playing dumb in order to make sure that Jesus was the Messiah or they really were ignorant. The interesting thing is that Jesus spoke of His suffering and also pointed out that the one coming before Him to prepare the way also suffered. He said, "But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.” One thing is for sure, those who want to know Jesus will know Him best through suffering. Paul said, "I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death," Philippians 3:10 " Mark 9: 1-8 New Living Translation 9 Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!” 2 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. 4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. 5 Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.”8 Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them. Lighting is so important on a stage. Where it is coming from and it's intensity will set the mood you are targeting. People spend a ton of money and hire experts in the field in order to ensure that their play, concert, lecture etc. will be just right and that the audience will be drawn in because their work was done effectively.
Peter, James and John saw Jesus in a new light but this light wasn't external it was from the inside. The body of Jesus was like a veil covering what He new He was on the inside. Jesus took Peter, James and John up to the mountain and showed them what the other Apostles would not see until after the resurrection, Jesus showed them His glory. Peter and John would later write what they saw and James would be the first one killed for his faith in Jesus Christ. What it must have meant to James to see what only two others were privileged to see. A couple of things stand out to me in today passage, 1) that they recognized who Moses and Elijah were. Maybe Jesus had to tell them but the Bible doesn't let us know. 2) they were terrified, we too get scared when we don't know what we are looking at. If it were today maybe we'd think we were seeing aliens or something. When I read this passage sometimes I walk away with more questions than answers but one thing that is absolutely clear are the Father's words, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.” To listen means more than just take in sound with our ears it means to obey. Peter James and John obviously had respect for Moses and Elijah who represented the Law and the Prophets but it was Jesus whom God declared His Son and told them to listen to. When we are pressed for a decision we shouldn't be looking to the Law or someone to speak for God we should follow Jesus by doing what He said and how He did it. For Jesus living a life of obedience to His Father was an act of worship, it should be so for us as well. Mark 8: 31-37 New Living Translation 31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. 33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” 34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” A couple of days ago my wife and I interviewed a woman from our church that wants to officially be a member of our congregation. One of the questions asked of her was, What does it mean to be a christian? She said very simply and accurately a Christ follower.
In Jesus' day rabbis, who where Jewish teachers, had disciples and their disciples would literally follow their teacher everywhere he went and did what he did. They became a mirror of their master. After Jesus clearly told them what messiah meant, that He would die as the promised suffering servant and rise again on the third day, Peter instantly, "took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things." If we're honest there are times that we believe we know better and in some ways try to correct God as well. Jesus quickly and in front of the rest of the disciples corrected Peter letting Him know he was adopting the devil's ideas as his own when he told him, "“Get away from me, Satan!, You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s." Two times Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man in this passage. As Jews they should have known He was saying, the Son of Man is the One who was given the everlasting Kingdom as pictured and prophesied in the book of Daniel hundreds of years beforehand. Jesus came the first time as the Suffering Servant but He let them know clearly when He comes again it will not be in humility but in power, "when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." What a glorious day that will be. Live today in light of this truth knowing that no matter what we may be going through it will pale in comparison to the glory that will be. Who will you be led by today, your feelings which are subject to change or Jesus who is the same yesterday today and forever? Mark 8: 27-30 New Living Translation 27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” 29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.” 30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Messiah comes from the Hebrew word mashiach and means “anointed one” or “chosen one.” The Greek equivalent is the word Christos or, in English, Christ. The name “Jesus Christ” is the same as “Jesus the Messiah.” In biblical times, anointing someone with oil was a sign that God was consecrating or setting apart that person for a particular role. Thus, an “anointed one” was someone with a special, God-ordained purpose.
read more: gotquestions.org/what-does-Messiah-mean.html The disciples knew what a messiah or christ was but their answer to Jesus' question was "You are the Messiah." These four words are very important and if we just read through and not stop for a minute we will miss something very important. Remember the Holy Spirit is ultimately the one who speaks through the Bible and He does not waste words. First they acknowledged that it was Jesus to whom they were speaking by saying "You", then they said "are", not will be or may be but are. The definite article "the" tells us they knew that Jesus wasn't just any messiah or one of others to come like Moses or Joshua but rather He was THE Messiah. Now the question is were they using the same definition when they looked to Jesus as the Messiah? The Jews were expecting the Messiah to come and set them free not just spiritually but also physically like Moses did from Egypt but Jesus came the first time as the Suffering Servant who was foretold in Isaiah 53, "To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected--a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion,crushed for our sins.He was beaten so we could be whole.He was whipped so we could be healed.All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.We have left God’s paths to follow our own.Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all." Isaiah 53:2-6 Just as sure as Jesus came the first time as our Suffering Servant for our internal renewal so He will return as our conquering King. It is then we will be completely freed from these sin cursed bodies and this sin cursed world. He will make all things new. So let us not make the mistake of making Jesus what we want Him to be but rather accept Him for who He is- Lord and Savior. Mark 8: 22-26 New Living Translation 22 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. 23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?” 24 The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” 25 Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.” An argument breaks out and one brother is saying, "no just by saying you're healed" while another brother says "no, first He spits on his fingers then touches the eyes then he's healed" still another brother argues that it's not instant or in spitting on his fingers but directly in his eyes then touching the eyes!
These are three are three different ways that Jesus healed blind people. Some of us can get caught up in the how and loose the marvel that He was willing and that He did! Part of the big idea for this past Sunday's Bible study was that if God chooses to grant mercy, it will come, but it may be odd. This kind of reminds me of how each Christian grows at different rates but regardless they all will grow. The problem, like the guys who argue how Jesus heals, is we think it should look one way when the truth is we all learn in different ways and in different times. One thing that stands out to me in the book of Mark is how many times it was someone bringing a person to Jesus or asking for healing on their behalf. In today's reading it says, "some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him." It's something we need to keep in mind, there are those who will not come to Jesus on their own they need someone to bring them to Him. I firmly believe that Jesus will draw people to Himself but how and when can look so many different ways, which is why I love hearing people's testimonies. They are as different as the people telling them and they all have one thing in common, Jesus saved them. Mark 8:14-21 New Living Translation 14 But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. 15 As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” 16 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 17 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 18 ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear? ’Don’t you remember anything at all? 19 When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” “Twelve,” they said. 20 “And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said. 21 “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them. Friendship Bread is one of the most delicious breads I've ever had. It's usually given as a gift but not already prepared. You receive all that is needed in order to make the bread along with a piece of dough already prepared, that piece is very important because it contains the yeast you'll need for your dough to rise. Think about it, the yeast is passed on from person to person and is enough to permeate the whole bread.
It's no wonder Jesus said, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” In the friendship bread the influence the yeast had is a good thing but the yeast of the Pharisees was false teahcing and hypocracy and the yeast of Herod was immoral and curropt behavior, let's not forget that he had John the baptizer beheaded. This is the yeast that Jesus was warning them of. The disciples had no clue what Jesus was warning them of, they actually thought he was talking about bread for them to eat. Jesus quickly quizzed them on the miracles of the loaves and the amount that was leftover for each miracle. this would serve them well and it would seem that they "got it" in light of Peter's confession that we'll read on Friday. Jesus' frustration and rebuke was not unique to the disciples. Both the Apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews say something similiar in to the church as well. Paul writing to the divided and sin drunk Church of Corinth said, "I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready." 1 Corinthians 3:2 and the writer of Hebrews said to the church thinking of going back to Judaism, "You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food." Hebrews 5:12 We may not know all the answers to people's Bible questions but there are plain truths that we can live by today. Love God and love your neighbor, these two truths can and should keep us busy for a lifetime. Mark 8: 11-13 New Living Translation 11 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. 12 When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” 13 So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake. Yesterday I was watching David Blaine an incredibly talented magician/illusionist on Netflix. He was visiting the homes of famous people and performing his world famous street magic. This kind of magic is not all smoke and mirrors, it's in your face and blows people's minds. You're watching it knowing it's just magic but your still thinking somehow it's supernatural. I still remember the first time I watched him. I was a teenager and he was on David Letterman doing card tricks right at David's desk. As I watched what he was doing I said to myself, this is from the devil, just because it was too much for me to take in that a person can just learn how to do tricks like these.
This is me, now imagine people 2,000 years ago and what they must have thought about what Jesus did. There were those who thought as I did about David Blaine that Jesus was doing his miracles by the power of the devil, then you have the guys from today's Bible reading that wanted to see a miracle for themselves. They argued, tested and demanded from Jesus but He simply sighed deeply and left them. Let us be careful that we aren't saying to ourselves, "If only He would just..." Jesus is not our genie in bottle, He has already proven Himself to be what He said by His miracles and they are recorded for us in His word. Let's remember Jesus words to Thomas who doubted and was granted physical proof, " You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me." John 20:29 I am blessed because I haven't seen Him yet I believe. |
Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|