Monthly Archives: October 2015

Day Thirty-Five with Mark: Mark 9:1-8

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Today we look at one of the more amazing stories in the Bible in Mark 9:1-8.  We see Jesus’ transfiguration:

1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

The Transfiguration
2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

transfiguration2003-3This is why I like this story.  In this, we see Jesus for who He is.  He is glorious.  He is powerful.  He is majestic.  He is strong.  He is God.

We see Jesus today in all of His power and might.  We truly see Jesus as is He.  He left the right hand of God to be born of a virgin, to be fully God and fully man, to redeem humanity.  While on the earth, He suffered.  He bled.  He was abandoned.  He was betrayed.  He walked around Israel and Judah with a group of followers.  He lived a tough life.  He did.

He was tested as we were, yet remained without sin.  He was tested and tried.  He experienced the death of friends, He felt rejection from family, He did not have an easy time fulfilling His Father’s plan.

And, by the way, that was for us.  All that He went through was for our sake and for our salvation.  Let us not forget that.

But today, today we see Jesus in His glory.  We see Him in His power.  We see Him as He is.  King of Kings.  Lord of Lords.  Alpha and Omega.  Beginning and the End.  The First and the Last.

He is the visible image of the invisible God.  He is the firstborn of all creation.  He is God Himself.

Don’t forget that.  Don’t forget who He is.  Don’t take Him for granted.  Don’t forget His grace.  His mercy.

And His strength.  And His power.  And His might.

He is Jesus.

Monday we’ll look at Mark 9:9-13.

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 Thirty-Four with Mark: Mark 8:27-38

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Today we’ll finish out Mark 8 with verses 27-38:

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”  30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Today Jesus gives His disciples and His followers perhaps His greatest teaching on what it means to be the Messiah.  As we talked about yesterday, people had in their minds what it would be to be the Messiah.  So, today starts off with Jesus asking the disciples two HUGE questions.

First, who to do people say that I am?  This is important, but not the most important question.  What are others saying about Him.

carrying-the-crossThe important one is this.  Who do you say that I am?  That’s the key question to really all of life.  I mean, everything comes down to the answer of that question.  Who do you say that I am?  Who am I to you?

And in our lives, that really is that key question.  Not what do your parents, your friends, your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your church, not what any of these think of Jesus, but what do you think of Jesus?

Who is He to you?

Friends, that truly is the question that matters more than anything else in all of life, because how we answer that question determines everything else.

Well, Peter answers right.  He says you are the Messiah.  And then Jesus begins to teach about what it meant to be the Messiah.  And it wasn’t what Peter was expecting.  It wasn’t about being an earthly king.  It wasn’t about power or might.  But to be the Messiah was about Jesus laying down His life for the sake and for the sins of the world.  It was about the perfect Lamb of God, the sinless Son of God, redeeming us.

It wasn’t about power, it was sacrifice.  And after the sacrifice, the power of life and resurrection triumph.  But to get the triumph, to get to the empty grave, we had to go through the cross.

Well Peter hears this and says, no.  That’s not right. That’s not what it means.  That can’t be right.

And Jesus rebukes Him.  He says – Peter, you are focused on earthly thoughts, not heavenly ones.  For to follow Jesus is not the way of power, but of sacrifice.  Because true life is not found in receiving, true life is found in giving.  The world tells us to receive and receive and receive and receive.  Jesus tells us to give.  And in giving, we find life.

In laying down our life, we find our lives.

To be a Christian means to follow Jesus.  And that’s the path that Jesus walked.  And that’s the path He calls us to walk.

It is a path of life. Seriously.  It’s the path that gives us life.  Loving.  Serving.  Giving.  There is life.  It’s what our Lord taught us.  May we follow!

Friday we’ll look at Mark 9:1-8.

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!

Commitment, Healing, and Dreaming

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581086_382241601814983_555317416_nSpeechless.  That’s something hard for me to be.  I am very rarely at a loss for words.  But that’s where I am right now.  Speechless.

This past Sunday we had our time of renewal and commitment here at St. Matthew’s.  We reaffirmed our Baptism and made our ministry and financial commitments.  And y’all, it may have been the most amazing response I’ve ever seen.  I wanted to give you a brief update, and then let you know this.  We need you!

Sunday, we had 137 financial commitment cards returned, an increase of 37% from our initial commitment Sunday last year.  Our initial pledged support was up nearly 50% from last year and of those cards that were returned 70% of those that that renewed their commitment increased that commitment.  And over the past year we have 93 new individuals or families that have given to our church.

We also had 64 cards returned making ministry commitments.  New commitments were made to serve in youth, children, evangelism, so many different ministries here at our church.  It was truly amazing to see and experience what God did in worship this past Sunday!

One of the questions that someone asked me is what is my vision for our church?  I said Sunday that’s kind of hard right now; we are still hanging up pictures at our home; we are still figuring it all out.  But I will tell you this, my vision is not a vision that is programmatic.  My vision is not about necessarily what we do.  It’s about who we are.  My vision is a word I couldn’t get out my head this past week.

Healing.

We are called as a church to be about healing. There are children in our community that are terrified because their mom and dad won’t stop fighting. And they need healing.

There are youth that are giving into peer pressure, doing anything that they can do to feel loved.  And they need healing.

There are older adults that are looking for a reason to just go on living. And they need healing.

There are families that are one light breeze away from falling apart. And they need healing.

There are people that are spending money they don’t have to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like, all for a sense of worth. And they need healing.

The healing we all need, the cure of our souls is Jesus. He is the source of healing in our church, our community, our world.  We all need His healing grace. And we are called to agents of that healing to a world and community in need of healing.  The world and our community are not in need of programs or religion but in need of the healing of Jesus Christ.  That’s our call.

And we need you.  We really do.  To do this, to be this agent of healing, we need everyone connected, plugged in, giving, serving, being faithful. What a great response we had this past week.  But we need everyone.

Imagine what we can do.  Imagine what can happen.  Imagine the difference it can make.  Imagine.

And we can do it.  We can.  Together.  As one.  Unified.  Living out His healing grace.

There is still time to turn in your commitment cards if you haven’t. There will be more available at the church.

We need you.  The kingdom needs you.  And we can do it. Together, as one we can do it.

May God be glorified in all that happens in this place!

Day Thirty-Three with Mark: Mark 8:22-26

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Today in Mark we look at Mark 8:22-26:

Jesus Cures a Blind Man at Bethsaida
22 They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” 24 And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”

This is the second time we see Jesus heal someone by using spit or saliva.  We talked a good bit in the day about why Jesus chose to use saliva as an instrument of healing.  I think there is much to be said about the notion of Jesus using “modern” understandings of medicine for other’s benefit as well the notion that He is showing illness and disease who is really in control.

But here is the thing that is significant about this text to me.  Notice Jesus takes the man out of town to heal him and then after the healing tells him to not even go back into the town.  Why?  Why did Jesus do this great act in private?  Many of His other miracles, particularly early in His ministry were done in public so everyone could see.

Now, this is in private with the express directions to not ever go into town and tell others.  Why?

Imperial-Crown-IndiaWell, the people of Jesus day were looking for a Messiah. They were looking for a savior. They were looking for a King from the line of David.  In fact at times some people will even call Him the Son of David.  What is happening here is they are saying yes, you are the one that is to come from David’s line.

You will be a king just like David!

And for the people, David was the greatest earthly king the people had ever had.  He was it.  He was the icon of what a king should be.  All other kings would measure up against him.  And when that promised king from David’s line would come, he would drive out their oppressors.  He would restore the fortunes of Israel and make them great again.

He would restore the kingdom.

But, as Jesus tells us, His kingdom is not of this world.  Yes, He is a king, but it is not of an earthly kingdom.  It is a heavenly kingdom.

So why did Jesus do this in private and tell others not to tell.  Because they didn’t understand the kingdom Jesus was going to bring.  So He did these healings in secret.  He did them in private.  Because they didn’t understand the kingdom Jesus was coming to bring.

We will see tomorrow, that even His closest disciples didn’t get it just yet.

So, when I read these stories, the question I always have to ask myself is this. What do I do when Jesus isn’t what I expect Him to be?  What do I do when Jesus’ plan, His will, His purpose aren’t what I would have done myself?

Do I buck Him?  Or do I trust?  That’s always the question.  What do we do when Jesus doesn’t do what we expect.

Today, and each day, may we learn to trust.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 8:27-38.

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 Thirty-Three with Mark: Mark 8:14-21

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Today we look at Mark 8:14-21:

The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod
14 Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” 16 They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” 17 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Computer-CodeWhat do you see?  Friday in Mark we talked about seeing miracles everywhere when we believe.  Today, we see Jesus talk about something very similar.  Today He’s talking about sight.  But it’s not necessarily the sight of miracles.  It’s the deeper truth that can be found.

And I think today this is especially true with scripture.  I subscribe what Wesley called a simple reading of scripture.  You need to understand context, you need to understand the bigger picture with scripture, but for most of scripture, it simply means what it says.

But, there are times, lots of times, many times, where there is a deeper truth right there in plain sight.  Sometimes there is something right in front of us that we may or may not be able to see.  Look at today’s text. The Disciples are talking about bread and Jesus basically says, guys, you are missing the point.

Do you not see the deeper meaning and deeper truth here.  He recalls the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000. And then He asks how many baskets were left over.  For the 5000, there were 12.  For the 4000 there were 7.  And then He says, do you not understand?

What should they have understood?  What may we be missing?

Twelve and seven are very important numbers in scripture.  Twelve in particular is important in two main places.  There are 12 tribes of Israel (the 12 sons of Jacob).  And there are 12 Apostles.  The Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  So this number is seen many times in scripture (a lot in Revelation) to mean everyone or a completeness.  This number is many ways a number that is almost a code word for “all.”

Everyone that would have seen Him feed 5000 and then see 12 baskets left over would have understood that 12 was a big deal.  He has come, preaching to the Jews first, so that they would complete their calling from Genesis 12 to be a light to the world.  As God’s people, their mission would be the point others to who God is and be that light.  This 12 means that the

The 5000, that crowd was mostly like all Jewish.  The fact that Jesus recovered 12 baskets meant that God would call from His people a group that would finish the calling of Abraham.  And that is what happened.  How many Jewish disciples did Jesus have?

Twelve.

And where did they go?  Everywhere.

And that brings us to the seven.  Seven is another important number in scripture, and is often seen is as the “perfect” number.  Think the seven days of creation.  So it’s a word that associated with that creation account.  The 4000, that crowd would have mostly included Gentiles within it. So on a day when a crowd including Gentiles in it was feed, there were seven baskets left.  The number of creation.  A creation that was made God.  A creation that Jesus was coming to redeem.

In other words, Jesus didn’t just come to feed this crowd, He came to save them, and all (Jew or Gentile) that would believe.

That’s why He says, do you not get it?  Do you not see the bigger truth?

This is why it’s so important to read the Bible together.  Because together we can see the bigger truths that we may miss, just looking at the text.  There are deeper truths that Bible study and shared conversation can teach us.

That’s one of the many, many reasons we need each other and need the church!

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 8:22-26.

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 Thirty-Two with Mark: Mark 8:11-12

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Today we look some of the doubters Jesus had to deal with in Mark 8:11-12:

The Demand for a Sign
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

faithI love certain words in scripture. I love how they jump out, how they explode, how the just kind of hang there.  Today for me in this reading that word, or that phrase was “He sighed deeply in His spirit.”

Jesus has literally just feed thousands of people twice.  He has healed Jews and Gentiles across the land.  People are flocking from all over to hear Him preach and to just perhaps touch the fringe of His robe that they may be healed.

Miracles are literally, not figuratively, literally happening everywhere.

And the Pharisees come, asking for a sign.  And He sighed.  Why?

Because what more signs could He produce.  Short of His death and resurrection, which was going to happen, and which they didn’t believe either, what could He do?  So He sighed.  Was is frustration?  Was it exasperation?  Was it just exhaustion?  We don’t know, but we know they He knew they wouldn’t get it. They wouldn’t see, no matter how many signs He did.

Why?  Why wouldn’t they see the signs?  Because they didn’t believe.

When we believe, we see. When we have faith, we see miracles everywhere, every day.  When faith enlivens the eyes, we see the signs of God, of faith, of miracles every day.

When we do not, we do not. When we do not see through faith, we will look, but never see. When we look though, through the eyes of faith, we see them everywhere.

Today, do you see?  God is work. Jesus is doing great things.  It is happening everywhere.

It is.  We can see it.

We just have to look right.  We just have to look through the eyes of faith.

Today, do you see?

Monday we’ll look at Mark 8:14-21.

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 Thirty-One with Mark: Mark 8:1-10

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Today in Mark 8:1-10 we see Jesus feed another multitude.  Earlier in Mark He fed the 5000.  Today, He feeds the 4000:

Feeding the Four Thousand
8 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2 “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4 His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” 5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8 They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

NT Ch15Ok, so why does Jesus feed large crowds twice?  Not to be trite, but the simple answer is that Jesus loved people, and this is at least twice in His ministry when large crowds were with Him, and He knew that if He was to send them away without food they may not make it home.  So, why did Jesus do this twice?  The simple reason is because people needed it twice.

But there is something deeper and bigger going on here, as there is with almost all that happens in the Bible. There are two things that jump out to me in this reading that I think are significant.  First, look at the “faith” of the Disciples.  Remember, they had already seen Jesus feed an even larger crowd before. But when He says that the people must be fed, they say, how can we feed this many people here in the desert?

They’d seen Jesus do it before.  They knew that He could do it, they saw it with their own eyes, the experienced it, they helped.  And yet, they still doubted.

Aren’t we like that?  Don’t we know what God can do?  Haven’t we seen Him do it before?  Aren’t we aware of His power?  Yes.  Yes we are.  And yet, don’t we doubt, as they did?  Don’t we forget, as they did?  They did.  And we do.

On one hand, we need to learn, as they did, to have faith, to not doubt, to remember the faithfulness of God.  Remember how He has been there.  Remember what He has done.  Remember who He is. Remember His faithfulness from generation to generation.

But when we do, we need to show ourselves grace as well. Because we weren’t the first to doubt.  The very ones that walked with Jesus doubted as well.  And He didn’t give up on them. And He won’t give up on us either.

Second, many scholars believe that the first feeding of the multitude (the 5000) was a Jewish crowd, and many think that this crowd, if not mainly Gentile, had many Gentiles within it.  This was on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, which was the more Gentile area.  We cannot say for 100% certain that there were Gentile there, but reading into the context of scripture, it’s a safe assumption.

So, we have seen Him heal Gentiles.  Now we see Him feed Gentiles. We are seeing more and more that Jesus Christ came to redeem the world. All the world.  All that call upon His name.  All

And in a world that is so, so, so very polarized and full of hardening lines, I think it’s important for us to remember that Jesus Christ came for the world.  The entire world. For all who believe.

Today, may we live out that grace with all that we meet.

Friday we’ll look at Mark 8:11-12.

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 Thirty with Mark: Mark 7: 31-37

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Today in Mark 7: 31-37, we see Jesus perform another miracle:

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

maxresdefaultI’m always fascinated with the way that Jesus chooses to heal people.  There are some instances where Jesus doesn’t even show up on the scene, He simply says that someone would be healed and they are healed.  There are other times when He speaks a word and healing occurs.  And then there are times like today when He uses some object as an instrument of healing.

Today, He does that. And look what it is?  Spit.

Why?  That’s a great question.  I’ve done some reading about that, and there’s not really a great answer. There at two that I like through.

One is this.  It was a common thought in the culture that saliva had healing properties.  So, in doing using this, He was doing and visible, recognized act that all would understand.  This was not “magic” or superstition, this was Jesus Christ, using the power at His disposal to bring healing.

Another is that the tradition of the elders (and we’ve already seen how Jesus is pointing to truth there) said that spitting was an insult.  So, perhaps just was “insulting” the disease the man had.  Showing this disease that it was not all-powerful, that it was weak, that He was in control, not it.  Or perhaps in doing this He was showing that not all the teachings of the religious leaders were true.

He was truth, not the teachings of the religious leaders.

But in the end, the fact that we don’t know and it’s a mystery, that’s ok.  That’s good.  That’s the way that it’s supposed to be.  Some things (many things) should be a mystery.  Afterall, we aren’t God.  We aren’t all knowing.  His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

You don’t have to know everything.  I don’t have to know everything.  It’s ok.  God knows everything.

Trust in that.  He knows what He is doing, and it is good.  Trust, even when you don’t understand.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 8:1-10.

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 Twenty-Nine with Mark: Mark 7:24-30

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Today we are going to look at one of those passages in Scripture that frankly, no one really understands.  Listen to what happens in Mark 7:24-30:

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith
24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

syrophoenician-woman-3mbOk, there’s a lot happening here.  In Mark’s Gospel, for the first time, we see Jesus heal a Gentile.  We  see Jesus talking with a women (who is a Gentile) which went against the customs of the people by like 1,000%. But these things aren’t out of the ordinary, we see Jesus do things like this quite often.  This is what is different about it.  The language that He uses when talking to the woman.

First He says that the children, which in this case refers to the Jews, must be feed first.  That’s not too unusual in Jesus ministry, several times He sends the Disciples out only the Jewish village.  Jesus is following through with the echoes of Genesis 12 where God tells Abraham that his descendants (the Jewish people) will be a light to the world.  In other words, the call of Abraham was ultimately that the Jewish people would be that light to all the world.  This is God calling out once again to His people.

But what happens next is the part that is hard to understand.  He says to her “it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  In other words is seems to be implying that Jesus is calling Gentiles dogs.  Now some Biblical commentators will say that the word Jesus was using there was more the word for puppy, a play thing, a term of affection. But that really doesn’t seem to be the case.

This is the part that we struggle with, why did Jesus use that term?

Well, let me give you my opinion.  And like I say all the time with my opinion, it and a $1.50 will get you cup of coffee.

I think the first reason He called here that was for her benefit.  Let there be no doubt, He loved her.  He loves the world, He created the world.  So know this.  He loved and valued her.  So, why then did He do it this way?  I think He wanted here to know that she was of great worth to her.  He “tested” her.  And here’s the thing about when God tests us.  The test is never for His benefit, it’s always for ours.  He knows what we will do.  He is not surprised by our choices.  He knows what we will decide.

The test is not for Him.  It’s for us.

Jesus knew she was beloved and His.  She didn’t.  In this conversation, she said out loud that she matters.  And she found within her strength that she didn’t know that she had.  This conversation pushed her to look within herself and say out loud who she was.  She was a child of God.  Jesus knew it.  Now she knew it.

And the second person, or persons, this benefited was the disciples.  They had seen very little interaction with Gentiles.  This would have been one of their first encounters with a Gentile.  And now they see a Gentile WOMAN speaking to Jesus, arguing with Him and now being rewarded by Jesus saying that she has the type of faith that everyone should have.

Could there be any doubt now that Jesus came for the entire world?

This conversation and healing wasn’t just for her benefit, but it was the benefit the Disciples and those that followed Jesus.  He guided the conversation to a place where she had to say out loud what Jesus knew to be true.  She mattered.  She was valuable.  She was His.

He knew that.  In saying it, so does she.  And so did all those that followed.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 7:31-37.

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 Twenty-Eight with Mark: Mark 7:1-23

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Wednesday we looked at the concept of tradition we found in Mark 7:1-23, today we’ll look at some of the specifics of what happens in this text:

The Tradition of the Elders
7 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles. 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

9 Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God — 12 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”

14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

imgresJesus point in all of this is this.  It’s what on the inside that causes the outward action to happen.  Our faith, at its heart, is a matter of the heart.  We are an inside out religion.  What happens in the heart, what happens in our faith that will show itself in our actions.

Here’s the thing, like I like to tell my church, if Jesus has your heart, He will have your actions.  He just will.  If He is Lord of your heart, He will become Lord of your actions.

But you can “do” right, and not “be” right.  And if you are not right, in time, you will stop acting right.  Because our heart always determines our actions.  For us, as Christians, it starts internally.  And it shows itself externally.

In this passage, He is saying that the people are honoring God with their words, but their hearts are far away.  And in time, their words will move as well.  Their words and their actions will follow their heart.

So, the first, and the main question is this.  Where is our heart?  That question truly does determine everything else.  That question answers all the other issues that we will face.

We are an inside out religion.  Never forget that.  Never put the cart before the horse.  If Jesus is Lord of our heart, He will become Lord of every area of our life.

Today, may that be so.

Monday we’ll look at Mark 7:24-30.

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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