Monthly Archives: September 2015

Day Nineteen with Mark: Mark 5:21-43

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In Mark there are “sandwich stories.”  Those are stories that have a beginning, then something else happens in the middle, and then the thing that is started in the beginning is finished.  In this way, the stories are linked, Mark is trying to say something, not just about the individual story, but about the combination of the two stories together.

Today we see that in Mark 9:21-43:

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” 24 So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

image-717467Ok, so we see two stories.  We see Jesus healing Jarius’ daughter.  Then we see Him heal a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.  Why does Mark tell these two stories in combination?

Well, in the first one story we see that He is going to heal the daughter of a leader of the synagogue.  Notice, we don’t know the daughter’s name.  We only know her as Jarius’ daughter.  Now, Jarius was important, he was a leader of the synagogue, that’s a big deal.  But in that culture, children were not important.  They were simply a step of property.  They didn’t have the same softness towards children that we do today in our world.

But not so with Jesus.  Even though this child would not have been seen as significant, Jesus goes out of His way to heal her.  This child is worthy of His grace and His healing.  All are worthy of His grace and His healing.  No one is insignificant or unworthy.  All are loved, all are valued, and Jesus died for them all.

All.  That’s a big word for Jesus.  All.

And we see that in the middle portion of this text, we don’t so much see Jesus heal a woman as we see a woman have faith that simply touching Jesus would heal her.  And so she takes this leap, takes this risk, and touches Jesus.  And in this, she is healed.

But, just like the child, she would not have been seen as important in the culture. And a woman, much less a woman who had been bleeding (making her unclean) would never dare reach out and touch a religious leader (making Him unclean), but she was desperate.  And she had faith.

And you can’t make Jesus unclean.  Because light drives out darkness.  And good is stronger that evil.  And life is stronger than death.  And Jesus triumphs overall.

Today, we see two “unworthy” receive healing.  So, in that, know that you are worthy of knowing and seeing God’s grace, no matter what.

And let us not look past those today that may be seen as unworthy.  May we seek to love them as Jesus does.

Friday we’ll look at the specifics in Mark 5:21-43.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Eighteen with Mark: Mark 5:1-19

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Yesterday we looked at some of the big picture issues of location and context and fear within Mark 5:1-19.  Today I want to look at little bit a the people involved in this story:

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac
5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 7 and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; 12 and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. 17 Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 But Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”

734215_10152379208205043_756632953_nFirst, we see the man.  Look at the torment he had been through.  One of the things that we see Jesus do over and over again in the text is bring healing.  This man needed physical healing, he was cutting himself, harming himself, in great pain, but his physical needs came from a spiritual place.

Jesus cast out the demons and in doing this it brought spiritual and physical healing to this man.  Healing always starts with the spiritual.  In this life, the physical may, or may not, be healed.  But, through Jesus, the heart and the soul can be healed.  Jesus wants to bring healing.  He wants to bring grace.  He wants to bring forgiveness.  Forgiveness for us, and our ability to forgive others.  He longs to restore our soul and restore our life.

Jesus saw this man in pain, and He brought healing.

And look what the man wanted to do.  He said – let me follow you.  And Jesus said, no.  Do something even harder.  Tell your friends what God has done for you.  Why?  Why didn’t Jesus let him go with them?

Look at the reaction of the people in 17.  The people begged Jesus to leave.  Why?  Why did they want Jesus to leave?  Well, we see that their swine had been destroyed (By the way, sidebar – why did the demons want to go into the pigs?  Lots of opinions on this, but I’ll give you mine.  They were destructive.  They wanted to destroy as much as they could. When they could no longer destroy this man, they wanted to destroy something else).  They saw Jesus’ power.  And they were scared of it.  It was bigger than them.

Jesus was other.  And the didn’t know what to do with Him.  So they asked Him to leave.

We would never do that, would we?  Well, how many of us have felt God calls us to something, we know, we know, we know that there is something that God is calling us to.  And we run.  We run from it, we run from God.

Why?  A thousand different reasons, different reasons for all of us. But for me, and probably for many of us, its control.  We like being in control and to let God and follow Him with abandon means losing control.  Giving Him full control. And that’s terrifying.  Even though we know He is good and only wants the best for us.  It’s still scary.

And that’s why we’ve got to trust Him and follow. And sometimes we follow not to far away places. But to our own town.

Today, no matter where He calls, may we faithfully follow.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 5:21-43.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

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Day Seventeen with Mark: Mark 5:1-19

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Today’s passage has A LOT going on, so we are going to spend at least two days looking at it.  We are looking at Mark 5:1-19:

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac
5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 7 and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; 12 and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. 17 Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 But Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.”

Ok, look who meets Jesus on the other side of the sea.  A guy (the other Gospels say was naked) living a cemetery.  Demon possessed.  And with pigs in the area.  This is literally the worst Jewish nightmare you can think of.  One of the things that I wondered about for the longest time is why there were pigs?  I mean, this is Israel.  Jews don’t do pigs?  Why were their pigs in this story?  Where did they come from?

734215_10152379208205043_756632953_nThis city across the sea of Galilee, you know what it was?  It was a Roman city.  It was a Gentile city.  That’s why there were pigs there. Gentiles (i.e. non-Jews) didn’t mind pigs at all. So that’s why there would have been pigs there.  By the way, the picture to your right was one that I took from the actual place where the pigs jumped off of.  Things have changed since Jesus’ day, but that’s the spot!

This place on the other side of the lake would have been forbidden for Jews. They wouldn’t have wanted, or really, been allowed to go there.  Many of you may have had grandparents say to you – don’t go outside (or wherever) that’s where the boogie man is!  They would tell you “don’t go there” because they wanted to keep you away from that place.

So, good Jewish mamas would tell their kids – don’t go across the lake.  You’ll find pigs!  And naked men!  In cemeteries!  That are Gentiles!  That’s how bad Jesus wanted rest, He went to this place He would have been warned not to go, because He knew no one would follow Him.

And they get across the lake and what do they find?  A naked guy, in a cemetery, demon possessed, who is Gentile.  Oh, and pigs!  Turns out, mama was right!  It would have been everything that they feared!  It was literally the worst combination of what they feared.

And what does Jesus do?  He brings calm.  He brings peace.  He brings restoration.  He brings life.  He brings hope.

Tomorrow, we’ll look deeper at what exactly Jesus did. But today, know this.  Jesus encountered the thing that His Jewish followers would have feared teh most.  And He triumphs over it.

Jesus is greater than whatever it is that you fear.  Always believe that.  Because it is truth.  Always hold tight to that.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 5:1-19 again.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Sixteen with Mark: Mark 4:35-41

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Today in Mark, we look at Mark 4:35-41.  In this passage Jesus calms the storm:

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

resizeIn this passage we see one of the more famous stories in all the Bible.  Jesus calms the sea.  This is one of those stories that we’ll unpack more next week, it says that they were going across to the other side of the sea.  They were going to get away, people back didn’t cross over to other side.  Why?  Come back Monday and find out.

We see in this passage that they set out and a storm blew up.  Now this is not surprising, storms blow up all the time on the Sea of Galilee.  But this was one was fierce.  So fierce that these disciples, many of whom were fishermen and used to storms like this, we scared.

And their question to Jesus, to me, shows the depth of what fear can do.  Look what they ask.  “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing.”  Look at all that Jesus had done, already. Look how He has called them by name.  Look at how He has appointed them.  Look at how He has healed so many already.  Look at what He has done.

Of course He cared.  Of course He loved them.  Or course He would take care of them.

But you know what?  Fear makes you forget these things.  Fear makes you question.  Fear makes you doubt.  Fear takes your trust.  Think about how many times we have chosen wrong or doubted what we know to be true, based off of fear.

And what does Jesus do?  He speaks and brings calm.  He speaks and brings calm.

Sometimes when we read the Bible there is great need in knowing the Greek and the Hebrew and all the context of everything.

Sometimes it is this.  Listen to Jesus speak calm to your fear and your storm.  He loves you today.  He really does.  He loves you.  He will not forsake you.  He cares.

Don’t be afraid.  Not that there aren’t big things out there. But don’t be afraid.  Jesus has not left, not will He leave.

He cares for you today.  Nothing is better than that.

And they were amazed that even the wind and the sea obey.  All things obey for He is Lord of all.  Don’t forget that.

Do not be afraid.

They were really afraid.  And they questioned if Jesus cared for them.  They knew that Jesus loved.  Fear made them doubt.

Monday we’ll look at Mark 5:1-19.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Fifteen with Mark: Mark 4:21-34

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Today in Mark 4:21-34, we are going to look at three parables of Jesus.

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket
21 He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23 Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25 For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples

First, we have the Lamp under a bushel basket.  Ok, a couple of things here.  With parables, you have to remember that this is not to be taken “literally.”  What I mean is this is an illustration or a story.  It’s true, and it illustrates truth, but Jesus is trying to communicate something deeper here.  So, for instance, in the Gospels, light is often seen as a symbol for truth or for Jesus Himself.

So, in this parable, we’ve been given truth.  And we can’t hide that truth.  Truth will come out. What is done is secret, God knows.  But this measure of what we’ve been given is talking about the truth we’ve been given.  The “light.”  So, the more we respond to the truth, the more we search the scriptures, the more we seek God, the more we desire Him, the more of Him we will we know and will receive.  Likewise, the less we seek, the less we search, the less of Him we will know.

Today, we’ve been shown light.  And keeping with the theme of the parables, our response to that light will determine how much more light we receive.

The second parable we hear today is the parable of the growing seed.  In this, the kingdom of God is the seed.  It is planted but notice, it doesn’t grow because of the work of man, but it grows because of the Will of God.  We look up and marvel at what God has done and wonder to ourselves, how did that happen?  And the answer is God.  It happened because God was the one that was at work.  It wasn’t our will or our efforts that made it happen, it was God’s.

Remember, that God is the one that does the work.  Never mistake our faithfulness for God’s work.  God is the one at work.  We along aside beside Him.  But He is the instigator, He is the sustainer, He is the one that makes it happen.  And we look out and wonder, how that happen?  God.  That’s how.

mustardseed_1And our last parable today is mustard seed.  This is the one that we are most familiar with of these three parables.  The kingdom of God is like that mustard seed.  It’s small.  But when it grows roots, it changes everything.  The Gospel is not complicated.  It’s just hard to understand.  I heard someone put it like this.  The love of God is so simple that a child can understand it, but some complicated the greatest theologian can’t fathom it.

All of these parables, what is the emphasis upon?  The Kingdom.  The work and will of God.  He plants it, He grows it, He sustains it, we marvel at it.  Our job is to be receptive.  To do our part.  To listen, to receive, to obey, and to fan the flame that God puts within us.

Let’s be faithful.  But let’s know that it is God that is work within us.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 4:35-41.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Fourteen with Mark: Mark 4:1-20

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Today we are looking again at Mark 4:1-20.  Yesterday we talked about why it is that Jesus taught in parables.  Today we are going to look into what exactly He is talking about in this passage:

The Parable of the Sower
4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

The Purpose of the Parables
10 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12 in order that
‘they may indeed look, but not perceive,
and may indeed listen, but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17 But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

092208_1552_TheParableo1_1We see Jesus tell a parable, much like an illustration or example, about someone sowing seeds.  Some seeds he sows feel on path and birds carried them off.  Others on ground that was rocky, they sprouted up and then without depth, withered.  Others among thorns and they choked them off.  And finally some seed fell on good ground and brought forth lots of yield.

In verses 13-20 Jesus explains to us what exactly is happening here.  I think for us the thing that we need to notice about all these scenario is that in each of them, the seed lands upon the ground, and in some cases begins to show some growth. But then something happens.  Either birds (Satan) take them, or the lack of depth, or the thorns, cause them from fully blossoming.

The seed is that faith, that grace of God given to us.  Grace is not just given to Christians, but through prevenient grace, grace is show to all.  All people, even those that reject God, as shown His goodness.  The bible says that all good gifts from God, so if it’s in your life, and it’s good, it’s from God.

So, the seed is sown, grace is given, and what happens next?  We need to be aware of 3 things when God’s grace is given:

First, we aren’t able to even process we’ve been given it.  Spiritual warfare, distractions, things come against us and before we can even process that we’ve been given grace, we’ve moved on.  So, in other words, pay attention to God’s grace given you.

Second, it is received and it is good. But, there is no depth.  And trials come.  Troubles come.  And it dies on the vine.  So, it isn’t just enough to “believe” and get excited about Jesus.  We’ve got to get deep roots.

Faith isn’t just a matter or excitement of joy.  We need discipline.  Because it’s going to be hard at times.  There’s going to be challenges at times.  There’s going to be troubles.  If we don’t have those roots we will fade.  How do we develop roots?  We attend to things of God.  We read.  We pray.  We stay connected to God’s people.  The way I put it is we read our Bible, we pray, we go to church.  Faithfully doing these things give us roots to survive troubles.

And the third thing we see is the seed is sown and thorns choke them off.  The concerns of the world draw our focus from God, to the world.  Stay focused.  Remember what matters.  Focus on what counts.  Keep your mind on the things of God in all things.  

And last we see ground that is receptive, that is good, that is ready.  Good dirt.  That’s what we want to be.  Receptive to God’s word and focused on seeing it grow when it’s given to us.

Today may we be good dirt!

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 4:21-32.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Thirteen with Mark: Mark 4:1-20

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Ok, today’s reading from Mark is going to be a “two-parter.”  We are going to look at Mark 4: 1-20, which is the parable of the sower, as well as Jesus’ explanation for why He uses parables, and then an explanation for what this parable means.  So, we’ll chew on this for at least another day.  Here’s Mark 4:1-20:

The Parable of the Sower
4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

The Purpose of the Parables
10 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12 in order that
‘they may indeed look, but not perceive,
and may indeed listen, but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17 But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.[b] 18 And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

092208_1552_TheParableo1_1I said before when we started this journey together through Mark (or any Gospel) we’ll see that Jesus isn’t always who we expect, or want Him to be.  He is who is He.  He is the Alpha and Omega, beginning and the End, first and the last.  But when you look at Him, here’s one thing that I’m always drawn to about Him.

He makes you make a decision.  Will you follow, or will you not?  Will we accept His offer of grace or will we not?  He comes to us and make us choose.  And gives us the free will to choose.  But He (and we) know that there are consequences for what it is that we choose.

So we see in verse 12 He says, some folks will not accept the teaching that He offers.  In fact, that’s why He teaches like He does, so that they will not be able to understand.  Now, that’s one of those passages that has never made sense to me.  Why would Jesus teach in a way, on purpose, where people would not be able to understand it?

The reason why is this.  Those that have followed Him, that accept Him, that walk with Him, they are taught, they understand.  To those that reject Him, they are not given the key to understanding Him.

To put it another way, the Bible is an interesting book to all people.  You can learn history, culture, philosophy, so many different things within it’s pages.  But apart from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Bible will never “make sense” to you, or to me. It’s the Spirit that speaks, it’s the Spirit that moves, it’s the Spirit that inspires.

It’s the Spirit that makes it makes sense.  Teachers, preachers, others can help us understand, but it’s the Spirit that truly makes the text come alive.

If if we reject that Spirit, we’ll never really understand the text.

Those that have rejected Jesus never understood Jesus.

The reason that He taught like this was this.  He wants us to make a choice.  To follow Him, or not.  If we choose to follow, these parables will come alive and makes sense.  If we chooses to reject, they never will.

So, we choose.  They choose. That’s why He taught like this.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 4:21-32, but dig into exactly what Jesus is talking about in this parable.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Twelve with Mark: Mark 3:31-35

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Today in our daily journey through Mark, we look at Mark 3:31-35:

The True Kindred of Jesus
31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Sermon-on-the-MountJesus has been ministering in his home.  And He had seen great conflict there.  Faced opposition.  Folks tried to restrain Him, keep him from teaching, really not received Him well.  And today, we see His family come to Him again, and it doesn’t really go well.

He says this is my family. Those that do my will.

Ok, a couple of things here. First, before we get too harsh and think that family doesn’t matter to Jesus, remember a couple of things.  One of the very last things Jesus did upon the cross was look to Mary and look to John the Apostle and says to her – this is your son.  And to John – this is your mother.

One of His very last acts up before His death and resurrection was to take care of His mother.  Also, notice how in the Gospels and in Acts how his mother is one of His followers.  You can’t take this one passage here and say that Jesus is saying – don’t take care of your family.  That’s not what He is saying, His life didn’t doesn’t show that, nor do His words.

Be careful building an entire theology or worldview on one verse alone.  We read scripture in relation to other scripture.  We interpret the Bible through the Bible.  You want to look at one verse through the lens of other verses.  Jesus here is not saying don’t care about your family.

Ok then, what is He saying?  This is what He is saying.  Our family is more that just biological.  As believers, as followers of Jesus, we are family. We are His family.  And we are family to each other.  If you are in Christ, tan you are as much my family as anyone that is “blood” kin to me.

As Christians, the blood relationship that matters the most is being washed in the blood of the Lamb.  If you are His, if you are His child, if you are His disciple, then you are my sister or brother.  And I am called to love you like family.

And you are called to love me like family.

Because we are.

This is Jesus family.  Not just biology.  But those that love Him and follow Him.

And this is my family.  Not just biology.  But those that love Jesus and follow Him.

Today, through Jesus, we are family. No matter what race, what denomination, what theology, what worship style, what whatever.  Today in Jesus, we are family.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

Monday we’ll look at Mark 4:1-9.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!