Trees (Mark 11:12-22)

Their eyes were now opened and they saw not only good but evil. They were overwhelmed by their shame and sought a way to cover their guilt. They had eaten the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and their shameful nakedness was exposed, so they looked for help from a different tree. They chose a fig tree not for its fruit but for it’s leaf. They stripped the tree of leaves and, with a skill born from necessity, they sewed the leaves together. But when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, they knew that they needed more than leaves to conceal their guilt. So they hid themselves from Him among the trees.

As Jesus was approaching Jerusalem during Passover Week He saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves. But the value of a fig tree for a hungry man is not its leaves but in its fruit, and this fig tree had no fruit; only leaves. Just as the effort of the guilty pair could not be covered by the sewn leaves of the fig tree, a fig tree full of leaves but no fruit could not satisfy the hunger that Jesus had. Jesus spoke to the fig tree and said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” Early the next day they found the tree withered from the roots up.

Adam and Eve had sought to cover their guilt by their own efforts, and in a similar way the celebration of Passover had become that for the Jews. The Passover had become a ritual. Jeremiah the prophet had warned about treating sin superficially. He had spoken of how God’s people had covered their shame and were no longer humiliated by their rebellion against God. The consequence was there would be “no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither” (Jeremiah 8:13). As Jesus approached Jerusalem the prophecy concerning the fig tree was fulfilled.

Adam and Eve hid from God among the trees after their rebellion. They had tried to hide their shame with fig leaves but, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). “The Lord God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), and so something had to die to clothe their guilt. The feast of the Passover was a memorial of when God set His people free from the bondage of Egypt by the blood of a lamb.

When Jesus began His ministry John the Baptist had cried out in a loud voice, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” Jesus had said that if He were lifted up He would draw all men to Himself. How was He lifted up? It was on a tree. What began in the garden that caused Adam and Eve to hide among the trees was ended when Jesus hung naked upon the tree, taking on all our sin and shame. No fig tree could accomplish what the tree of Calvary accomplished. On that tree the true knowledge of the goodness of God and the price of evil was fully known!

*There will be a tree whose leaves will be for the healing of the nations. It’s not the fig tree it’s the “The Tree of Life” (Revelation 22:2)!

The Triumphant Entry! (Mark 11:1-11, Revelation 19:11-16)

“Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you; righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

All of Jerusalem was making preparations for the Passover. Lambs were being chosen for sacrifice. All was being made ready to celebrate and to remember the night when the angel of death passed over the homes where the blood of the lamb has been applied to the doorpost. This was the feast of God where they were to remember how God had set them free from their bondage and slavery when they were in Egypt. They were set free by the blood of a sacrificial lamb. But they were not only to remember the past, they were also to look forward to a time when their Deliver would come, the promised Messiah.

We know now that it was the final week of Jesus’s life. Everything that unfolded that week had been foretold by the prophets. Jesus sent His disciples into the village and told them where to find the young donkey, on which no one has ever sat. They found everything just as Jesus had said. When they were asked why they were untying the donkey they responded as they had been instructed. “The Lord needs it.”

There was great rejoicing as Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day on the foal of a donkey! The words of Zechariah the prophet were being fulfilled. Many people were filled with expectation as they spread the leafy branches cut from the fields. They took off their robes and spread them on the road. Then those who went ahead and those who followed kept shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven” (Mark 11:9,10, Psalm 118)! And so their hearts were filled with hope and their mouths with praise. But, Jesus wept.

A rabbinic tradition said that when the Messiah returned, if Jerusalem was not ready, he would ride on a donkey’s colt. When Jesus wept He said, “ Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if only you had recognized your day of visitation!” Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day on a donkey’s colt and when He got to the temple complex He looked around at everything and then left and went to Bethany. The rabbinic tradition goes on to say that if Jerusalem was ready, the Messiah would ride on a white horse.  We know from the prophecy in Revelation that there will be another triumphal entry, but this time Jesus will be riding on a white horse! “Now I saw the heavens opened, behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war” (Revelation 19:11). Get ready.

The Gift of Spiritual Sight (Mark 10:46-52) Part Two

She was blinded by grief. For so many years those around her recognized her as the woman whose actions were dictated by the seven demons who possessed her. But all that changed when she met Jesus. He alone truly saw her and had the power to set her free. Even though she watched as He was crucified, her loyalty never died. So she came to His burial site while it was still dark, but at the sight of the empty tomb her heart broke and she was blinded by her grief.

Through the blur of tears she saw the two angels when she stooped and looked into the tomb. They even spoke to her and asked why she was weeping. But everything in her world was being processed
through the lens of heartache and sorrow, so she responded to their question accordingly, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid Him” (John 20:13). So great was her suffering that even when she encountered Jesus she didn’t recognize Him, but supposed Him to be a gardener.

Everything changed when He called her by name. “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’” (John 20:16). When she finally recognized Him and turned to address Jesus, what did she call Him? What was the first title given to Jesus after the resurrection? It was “Rabboni,” which means “Teacher.” Rabboni is used only one other place in Scripture. It was used by Bartimaeus when Jesus gave him sight.

This is the last miracle that is recorded in the Gospel of Mark. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar, but when he heard that Jesus was passing by he began to beg for something other than money. He began to beg for mercy. Though his physical eyes were blind, his spiritual eyes recognized Jesus as “Son of David,” which was a messianic title. When Jesus asked what he wanted, he said, “Rabboni, let me recover my sight.” He had by faith cast aside his beggar’s cloak and run to Jesus.

Both Mary and Bartimaeus had received mercy. Both Mary and Bartimaeus had received sight. The word Rabboni not only means “Teacher,” it also means “Master.” I believe not only in a God who is mighty to save, but in One who knows my name. Jesus entered into our sufferings and answered our cry for mercy by giving us spiritual sight.

What Do You Want? (Mark 10:46-52) Part One

He had prestige, he had power, and he had wealth. But he wanted more, so he came to the man that he believed could help him achieve his goal. What was the goal that he was working towards? He wanted to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. How very different the rich young ruler was from Bartimaeus!

Bartimaeus was sitting on the side of the road while the large crowd went past him. He had nothing to contribute, nothing to give. He was simply begging. However, when he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by him, a spark of hope lit up his dark world, and he began to cry out in faith that the Son of David, Jesus, would have mercy on him.

He represented nothing more than an irritation to those who had come to see this man they had heard so much about, so they tried to silence his cries. But though Bartimaeus’ physical eyes were blind, he recognized that Jesus was the messiah, and so he would not be silenced but continued to cry out for mercy! The crowd’s attitude changed when Jesus stopped and called for him. Irritation was replaced by anticipation as they told the blind man to have courage and get up because Jesus was calling for him. Now they were hoping to see a performance. Perhaps they would get to see Jesus heal the blind man.

The blind beggar had only one possession, his cloak. He could use this garment as a coat or as a blanket to protect himself from the cold. As a beggar he would use his cloak to catch the coins that might be thrown his way. However, when he heard that Jesus was calling him he threw it off, jumped up with anticipation, and came to Jesus. For a blind man to cast aside his cloak in a crowd is significant.

Both the rich young ruler and the blind beggar wanted something from Jesus. The rich young ruler wanted to know what he needed to do to earn eternal life. The blind man could do nothing but beg for mercy. Jesus invited the rich young ruler to leave his possessions and to come and follow Him. The poor beggar flung away the only thing he had because he was hoping to receive mercy. The rich young ruler went away grieving, but the blind beggar by faith received sight and joyfully followed Jesus.

Paradox (Mark 10:28-45)

When Peter spoke about all that he and the disciples had given up in order to follow Jesus, Jesus replied by assuring them that no one who had left house, brothers or sisters, mothers or fathers, children, or fields because of Him or the gospel would fail to be compensated one hundredfold now, and in the age to come eternal life. This conversation took place on the road to Jerusalem.

Jesus was leading the way, and those who were following Him were not only astonished, they were afraid. It is curious to me that after assuring His followers of the blessings that would be theirs as His followers, He now began to tell them what would happen to Him when He got to Jerusalem. “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death. Then they will mock Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him, and He will rise after three days” (Mark 10:33,34).

What was the response of Jesus’ followers to this sobering pronouncement? John and his brother James approached Jesus and asked Him for a favor. I think they must have still been thinking about what they would receive since they had given up their fishing boat and left their father Zebedee to follow Jesus. “Allow us to sit at Your right and Your left in Your glory” (Mark 10:37). Jesus didn’t rebuke them. Instead, He pointed out that they didn’t know what they were asking. The other disciples were furious when they heard what the two brothers had requested! They were indignant! But why were they indignant? I think it was because they all expected the place of honor. When Jesus had promised that they would receive 100 times more at this time—houses, brother and sisters, mothers and children, and fields—somehow they had missed the last thing Jesus had said, “with persecution.”

Jesus used this opportunity to teach them about the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men. “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high position exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all” (Mark 10:42-44).

There was the promise, but with it persecution, There was to be power executed with the heart of a servant. There was the fulfillment of the prophecies written in Isaiah. The disciples were going up to Jerusalem knowing that Jesus was the promised Messiah. They were hoping that finally Jesus would make His name known to their adversaries and that the nations would tremble at His presence! But their spiritual eyes had not yet been open and they couldn’t yet see that the king was coming as a man of sorrows.  He had told them that He would be despised and rejected, but their spiritual ears had not been opened. They didn’t understand that in order for them to inherit the kingdom of God that the Messiah would first have to pour out His soul in death and be numbered with the transgressors. He was going to Jerusalem to bear the sins of many by His death on the cross. But there was also the promise of the resurrection. But as yet their spiritual eyes were blind and their spiritual ears were deaf.

All Things Are Possible With God (Mark 23-27)

The offer was accepted and she reached out and took what was forbidden. With her first bite her eyes were opened. Eyes that before had only seen the goodness of God now saw evil. With the knowledge of evil came the death of innocence. The curse was spoken and sorrow and grief were born. The creation that God had declared good now became infested with thorns. Man whom God had made in His image and declared to be “very good” was now destined to die and to return to the dust from which he had been formed. Cherubim were stationed with flaming, whirling swords to guard the way to the tree of life. Paradise was lost. It was now impossible for a sinful man to have access to a holy God. But with the curse a promise was given that one day a Deliverer would come. “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27).

Time passed, and the promise was given to Abraham that it would be through his descendants that the Deliverer would come. But the years came and went until hope was lost. Abraham and his wife Sarah were cursed with infertility. “But by faith even Sarah, when she was barren, received power to conceive, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the One who had promised was faithful.” “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27)

What happened to the descendants of Abraham through whom this promised Deliverer was to come? In only a short time they were in Egypt, bound as slaves to Pharaoh. Pharaoh, who was not only ruler of one of the most powerful nations on earth, but who was considered by others and by himself to be a god. Abraham’s descendants were in Egypt, powerless and without hope of ever being set free. “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). After 400 years in Egypt God said to Moses, “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments” (Exodus 6:6). How was deliverance accomplished? It was with the blood of a lamb and the death of the firstborn son.

For generations both the promise and the curse strove together until in the fullness of time the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah. Again a woman past the time of childbearing, who had suffered with infertility, was to be the mother of a son. Next, Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son, whom she was to call Jesus. Her son would be called Son of the most High, and He was to have a kingdom that would have no end. When Gabriel told Mary that her relative Elisabeth had conceived a son in her old age he added, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

At last the promised Deliverer came. There was the pain of childbirth, but with it came the promise of hope. Jesus entered into a world that was enslaved by sin and sorrow. He heard the desperate cry of mothers and fathers who watched their children being destroyed and were helpless to save them. He stood at the grave of His friend and heard and felt the grief of death. The sweat of His brow became blood as He accomplished the work of salvation. The curse of thorns that infested the ground became a crown that He wore while on the cross. It was impossible for man to break the curse that came with the knowledge of evil. But what is impossible with man is possible with God. When Zechariah’s son John saw Jesus he proclaimed, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Jesus told His disciples that with men it was impossible for anyone to be saved. “So they were even more astonished, saying to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Looking at them, Jesus said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:26,27). So the curse has been broken and what was impossible has now been made possible by God. Now what is offered is not the knowledge of good and evil but a breaking of the curse that evil brought, and entrance into the Kingdom of God!

The Goodness of God and Eternal Life (Mark 10:17-22)

The definition of identity is who you are, the way you think about yourself, the way you are viewed by the world, and the characteristics that define you.* In the book of Mark there was a man who came and knelt before Jesus. We don’t know his name, only his identity. He was rich, he was young, and he was a ruler. He identified Jesus as “Good Teacher,” and I believe he also saw himself as good. He wanted to know how to be good enough to inherit eternal life.

Jesus responded to his question with a question, “Why do you call me good? Then He went on to say, “No one is good but One -- God” (Mark 10:18). I see myself in this story. When you’re from a large family it’s very important to claim an identity. My nickname was “Saint Sarah,” which might give a hint as to the identity that I was going for. Like the rich young ruler I didn’t just want to be good, I wanted to be good enough for God.

Jesus then listed what I would call the “horizontal commandments,” the ones about how we are to relate to each other. The young man responded that he had kept all these from his youth. Jesus gazed with love at this young, rich ruler, and told him that he was lacking one thing: “Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come follow Me.” With this the man went away sorrowing because the truth was revealed. He didn’t love God with all his heart. He had made his wealth an idol that he couldn’t let go of.

If the rich man had sold everything he owned and given it to the poor, would he have purchased eternal life? If he had followed Jesus, where would Jesus have led him? Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem where He was to be crucified. At the cross everyone who had followed Jesus fled. No one proved good enough to obey the commandment to love God with all your heart...no one. Why? Because no one is good but One -- God.

I believe the truth is that we all cling to one idol or another. There is the desire that was born in the garden, offered by the serpent, that we might be like God. I know I wanted to be good enough for God, but I learned that it was, “when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

*YourDictionary

Childlike Faith (Mark 10:13-16)

Sitting on my bureau in my bedroom is a statue of Jesus embracing a little lamb. Sometimes when I look at it my mind travels back to a time when I was a little girl sitting by my grandfather’s bed.

My grandfather had come to America from Italy as a young man to help build the railroads. When World War I began he went back to Europe to fight. He was gassed in the trenches in France. After the war he immigrated to the USA and worked as a coal miner. He survived the Great Depression and then sent his two sons to fight in World War II. When I was a little girl I was quite sure that my grandfather was the strongest man who ever lived. That is, until the Summer that he had his stroke. When he was finally able to come home it was in a wheelchair. They set up a hospital bed in the living room, and his world was reduced to the kitchen, living room and front porch.

After his stroke I spent many hours sitting with him listening to stories about the “old country”. He told me how he missed the country of his childhood. One day when he was telling me about his father, his voice choked with emotion. That’s when I remembered the picture that he had in his bedroom upstairs. I knew that he would not be able to climb the stairs again, so I brought his father’s picture downstairs and hung it where he could look at it from his hospital bed.

My grandfather filled my mind with stories about his childhood in Italy. As I listened to him it was as if the years were melted away. All the hardships that he had known, the war, the struggle to survive, his concerns about providing for his family, faded into the background. It was also during this time that I began to read the gospel to him. I can still hear his voice in my memory saying, “Sada, tell me again the story of Jesus.

One day I found granddad crying. I now know that depression often comes when people have had a stroke. One of the stories my grandfather had told me was about how he had cared for sheep when he was a boy. I found a picture of Jesus holding a little lamb and brought it to him. “Granddad, you are like this lamb Jesus is holding in his arms. When you were young and strong you were like the other lambs in this picture, running all over the field. But now Jesus holds you close to His heart.”

I think about my grandfather when I read that Jesus said, “Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will not never enter it” (Mark 10:15). I can still hear the echo of my grandfather’s childlike faith saying, “Sada, tell me again the story of Jesus.”

The Challenge (Mark 10:1-10)

It was to be a place to know and to be known, a place where you could be completely vulnerable and safe because you were loved. It was God’s design; a miracle where He would take that which was ordinary and by His presence make it extraordinary. It was a subject close to the heart of God, a perfect target for the Pharisees to strike. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2)

Into whose face did the Pharisees spit this challenge, this question about their right to break the covenant of marriage and send away one whom they had promised to love and cherish? It was Jesus, whose first miracle was to change water into wine at the wedding feast. Jesus, who represented God’s faithful unfailing love despite His creation’s unfaithfulness. Although Jesus knew the law He asked, “What did Moses command you?” (Mark 10:3)

Jesus asked what was commanded by Moses, but they responded with what was permitted, not commanded. The law written on stone tablets had been given to show an unholy people how to relate to a holy God. Jesus used this exchange to expose the hardness of their self-righteous hearts. The Greek word that Jesus used for hardness of heart is sklerokardia. It means “hard because dry”, hardness of heart because of a lack of moisture (lubricant); an obstinate, hard heart which lacks the oil of the Holy Spirit and hence implies rebellion -- i.e., someone refusing to be receptive ( obedient) to God’s inworking of faith.*

Then Jesus took them back to the garden before man’s heart had become hardened by sin, before the rebellion. He took them back to the time when the Creator had surveyed all that He had made and had declared with great satisfaction that it was very good. He had given to the man someone who was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. The gift of love was given, a place to know and be known, where they could be naked and unashamed. 

What the Pharisees didn’t know was that this same Jesus with whom they spoke was the very one who spoke the world into being. He had been there after the serpent came to tear the hearts apart that He had joined together. He had grieved when the dream of love had turned to shame. They had sought permission to rip two hearts apart, but Jesus had come to restore what was lost in the garden. He came to heal every broken heart. He came to turn the water into wine.

*HELPS Word-Studies

“Salted By Fire” (Mark 9:49,50)

There was tension among the disciples as to which one of them was the greatest, and so the argument ensued. This was possibly due to Jesus’ taking Peter, James and John up on the mountain while the other disciples were left in the valley.  However, when Jesus asked what they had been arguing about they were silent. Jesus’ response to their prideful jealousy reminded me of Isaiah 66:2: “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” In other words, God looks with favor on those who have a correct view of themselves because they have a correct view of God.

Jesus ended this chapter by say, “For everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49). As I meditated on this verse another story came to my mind that involved both jealousy and fire. As the Israelites were traveling across the wilderness to the Promised Land an argument arose among the sons of Levi. The tribe of Levi had been chosen by God to serve Him, but Aaron and his sons were appointed as priests. Korah was also a Levite, but he became jealous of both Moses and Aaron which led to a rebellion. Korah came against them and said, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (Numbers 16:3).

The book of Numbers says of Moses that he was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. So the contest was a picture of how, when we are called into God’s service, we should present ourselves. God Himself settled the issue that arose between Korah and Moses and Aaron. He told Moses and Aaron and all the followers of Korah to meet before the tent of meeting. Each man was to take a firepan, place fire in it and put incense on it. When God’s glory appeared a fire came out from Him and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. The fire of the Lord sanctified His humble servants but destroyed those who came before Him in pride.

Chapter 9 in Mark begins by talking about the kingdom of God coming in power and it ends with a warning about judgment. “Everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49). Fire can be purifying. When I look at Peter’s life I see how his faith was tested and purified by fire. He rebuked Jesus when Jesus spoke of His suffering. However, when the test came and Jesus was being mocked by the high priest, Peter denied that he knew Him. Fire came in a blaze and exposed Peter’s heart. He wept as the fire burned away his pride, leaving him humble and contrite.

“Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50). Pride causes dissension. But where the fire is truly burning, all that can be seen is the blaze. So it is with the glory of of God. When we see Him in His gory we will have a right understanding of who we are, because we’ll have a  right understanding of who He is. Where there is humility towards God and others, there is peace.

How Do You Respond? (Mark 9:42-49)

How do you respond to a warning? Maybe it depends on where the warning comes from. What if the warning comes from God?

God sent warnings in the Old Testament, “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place” (2 Chronicles 36:15). It was God’s compassion that was the impetus for the warnings. But how were they received? Look at Jeremiah. He is known as the weeping prophet. He was God’s messenger. His heart was full of compassion, and his heart broke as he watched those who heard his message refuse to change their ways. Instead they became objectives of God’s wrath.

Jesus also gave us warnings. He had taken a child in his arms when He told His disciples that whoever received a child in His name received Him. But that wasn’t all He said. I believe that Jesus was still embracing the child when He gave this warning, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42). Jesus warns of a severe punishment to anyone who would cause a child to sin.

“And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:42-48).

STOP! STOP! Let’s talk about hyperbole! Surely Jesus was using an intentional overstatement and didn’t mean what He said! Yes, I do believe it was hyperbole, it was an intentional overstatement to express the severity of the warning. How would you sin with your hand? Would it be theft, or murder? How would you sin with your feet? Could that mean going somewhere to undertake a sinful activity? Is Jesus really saying that the sins we do with our eyes--such as coveting, lusting or adultery--are so odious in His sight that it would be better to be blind? An even more important question is this, how do we respond to the warnings Jesus has given us?

There is another question raised by these words of Jesus. He talks about being thrown into hell. This too is a warning, but is it hyperbole as well? I believe that the best way to interpret Scripture is to use other Scripture. So come with me to the end of time and look at what is shown to us in Revelation 20:11-15. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

And so we have been warned, But how do we respond to this warning?

Which Side Are You On? (Mark 9:38-41)

In 1973 a movie came out called “The Exorcist.” The definition of exorcism is, “the expulsion or attempted expulsion of an evil spirit from a person or place.” I never watched the movie because it was more about the evil spirit than it was about the expulsion. Paul teaches in Romans that we are to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. Paul goes on say that “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

The problem I’ve observed with the subject of exorcism is that there seems to be two groups of people. One group becomes obsessed with the power of Satan, and their minds become focused on evil spirits. The other group refuses to accept that there is such a thing as being possessed by an evil spirit. However, if you read the Gospels you clearly see the spiritual contest between Jesus and evil spirits that have inhabited people. In each case the emphasis is on Jesus’ authority in the spiritual realm.

In Mark 9 the disciples had been arguing about which of them was the greatest, and Jesus had ended that argument by telling them that the greatest among them would need to be a servant of all. Their jealousy then turned to someone they had seen casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Because this man hadn’t been following them, they tried to make him stop. Jesus told them not to stop him, because no one could do a mighty work in Jesus’ name and then speak evil of Him. This reminds me of an attempted exorcism that took place after the resurrection.

In the book of Acts there is the story of seven sons of a high priest named Sceva who were itinerant exorcists. After they had seen the miraculous way God was using Paul, they decided to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. “The evil spirits answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?’ The man who was possessed with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded” (Acts 19:15,16).

Whether we acknowledge it or not, there is a spiritual battle going on. The question is, which side of the battle are you on? Jesus said, “For the one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). However, it is clear from the story in Acts that to be for Christ involves more than just being aware of the battle with evil. So again I ask the question, which side are you on?

The Suffering Messiah (Mark 9:30-37)

They had been chosen to be His disciples. They were His friends. At last, what they all believed had been proclaimed by Peter in response to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” They believed that the Spirit of the Lord God was on Him. They believed that the Lord had anointed Him, and they had listened as Jesus brought good news to the poor. They had watched and experienced themselves Jesus’ ability to heal the brokenhearted. They had stood in wonder as He proclaimed freedom for the captives and gave sight to the blind. Surely Jesus was the Messiah, who had come to to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor! At last! At last! They were ready to be part of that day when God would take vengeance on His enemies and set up His kingdom!

But, once Peter had finally put into words what they all believed, something changed. Instead of making plans for setting up the kingdom, Jesus had begun to tell them that the Son of Man was going to be rejected and killed. They could not comprehend that He was going to be crushed  for their sins, that the suffering He chose to endure would result in their peace. He knew, however, that they would be healed by His wounds. Because they were His friends, He tried to prepare them. He also told them that He would rise from the dead in three days, but they didn’t understand, and they were afraid to ask Him what He meant.

This time when they had passed through Galilee Jesus avoided the crowds. He was now focused on preparing His disciples for what they would encounter in Jerusalem. When they came into the house in Capernaum, He asked what they had been arguing about along the way. There was silence. While Jesus had been telling them about the rejection and suffering that was awaiting Him, they had been arguing about who would be the greatest in the coming kingdom. These were the men He had chosen, and He knew and understood them. Instead of rebuking them, Jesus sat down and told them that if anyone wanted to be first he had to be last and a servant of all. The one who was speaking to them was the Righteous Servant who would justify many.

The disciples were seeking status now that they had identified themselves as those who were chosen by the Messiah. Jesus took a child and put him in their midst. He then wrapped the child in His arms and said to His disciples, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (Mark 9:37). The disciples had anticipated a Messiah who would tear the heavens open and come down. Someone who would make His name known to His enemies so that all the nations would tremble at His presence. They looked with wonder and confusion as He sat embracing a child and telling them about the suffering and rejection that awaited Him in Jerusalem. They had recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but had not understood that He, as the Messiah, was also the suffering servant spoken of in Isaiah 53.

In their presence was the Messiah. They had seen His compassion. And now, as He began explaining the way of the Kingdom, perhaps the words of Isaiah 55:8,9 came to their minds, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” He taught them that to be great in the Kingdom was to be a servant; that to receive a child in His name was to receive Him. Many years later Peter would reflect on the suffering of the Messiah and say, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed ” (1 Peter 2:24).

The Healing of Unbelief (Mark 9:14-29)

Nothing exposes unbelief like watching someone you love suffering and knowing you can’t take away their pain. Unbelief is laid bare when faced with the truth that you can’t save this precious person that you would gladly die for. And so it was for the father at the foot of the mountain of transfiguration.

From childhood the boy had often been seized by a spirit, thrown down to the ground where he would foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and become rigid. And all his father could do was to watch and grieve. Then the father heard that there was a Healer in the land. He gathered up all the courage and faith that he could muster and took his silent broken child in search of hope. He found the Healer’s disciples, but their faith was weak and they had been unable to heal his child.

Many times he had watched helplessly as his son had been thrown into the fire or water by this spirit in an attempt to destroy his child. When he saw Jesus he ran to Him with this request, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). The request for compassion and help wasn’t simply for his son. The grieving father was asking for compassion and help for himself as well. Watching helplessly as his son was being destroyed had broken him.

This drama of an earthly father who could not save his beloved son was taking place in the shadow of the mountain where the glory of the Heavenly Father had overshadowed Peter, James, and John. The disciples had heard the Heavenly Father’s voice coming from the cloud saying, “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!” (Mark 9:7). So, what did Jesus say in response to the father’s uncertainty about His ability to heal his son? Listen carefully to the words of Jesus, “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Jesus then not only delivered the child from the evil spirit, but He also delivered the man from his unbelief.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). What a marvel, what a mystery, that the Heavenly Father would give His own son as a ransom for this grieving father’s son! How was this accomplished? It happened when the Heavenly Father watched as His Son suffered and died in our place. The Heavenly Father told us to listen to His son. Can you hear what Jesus said? “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Do you believe? Have the sorrows of this live caused your faith to grow weak? There is healing available for you. Obey the Heavenly Father and listen to His son, you can pray and ask Jesus to heal your unbelief.

Spiritual Eyes, Spiritual Ears (Mark 9:1-11)

The prophet Isaiah had been overwhelmed when he saw the glory of God and heard the angels calling to one one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). The sound of their voices had caused the doorposts and the thresholds of the temple to shake and be filled with smoke. Isaiah responded by saying, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Having experienced the holiness of God, he searched carefully and tried to understand what the Spirit of Christ had revealed to him concerning the messianic sufferings. It was Isaiah who had prophesied that the messiah would be “despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:3).

The angels had been present when the Christ created all things that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they were thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. They knew that all things had been created by Him and for Him. They knew what it was to worship Him! These same angels passionately desired to stoop down and gaze at their Lord who had come to earth to give sinful mankind the right to become the children of God. They desired to look down at the One they adored giving Himself as a ransom for mankind, so that He could rescue them from the dominion of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light.

Jesus had assured His disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God come in power. Jesus led Peter, James and John up on a high mountain by themselves to be alone. It was on this mountain that Jesus was transformed in front of them. Their eyes were dazzled by the brilliance of His appearance, and their minds were dazed by the presence of Moses and Elijah. Had the kingdom come at last? Peter, as always, was ready to do his part by setting up three tabernacles. With his physical eyes he had seen Jesus transfigured before him, but his spiritual eyes were still blinded. “A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is my beloved Son; listen to Him!” (Mark 9:7). Now they had not only seen Jesus transformed, but had also heard the voice of God! But could they understand what was said?

As they made their way back down the mountain, still awestruck by what they had seen and heard, Jesus said something that brought even more confusion to their baffled minds. He told them that they were to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They seized upon this statement and kept discussing what rising from the dead meant. Isaiah had searched intently and with the greatest care to understand about the sufferings of the Messiah, but unlike Isaiah, the disciples were going to see prophecy fulfilled before their very eyes! But would they be able to understand what they saw and heard?

Throughout Jesus’ ministry He made blind eyes see and deaf ears hear. These miracles brightened the lives of all He touched. But there is a greater miracle than receiving physical sight and physical hearing. It is the miracle of receiving spiritual sight and spiritual hearing. After Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, He sent His Spirit. Here is the gospel into which the prophets searched and the angels longed to gaze: the Lamb of God has come to take away the sins of the world! By His stripes we have been healed! Can you see? Can you hear? If not ask Jesus to give spiritual sight and the ability to hear spiritual truths. He will, He will!

The Rebuke (Mark 8:31-38)

I remember “The Jesus Movement” of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. I was a teenager, and hearing that Jesus loved me and had a wonderful plan for my life filled me with excitement. I held tightly to the promise in Proverbs 3:6 that if I acknowledged God in all my ways that He would direct my path. When I put the promise of a wonderful plan that He would direct me in together with the Psalm 37:4 that said if I delighted in the Lord He would give me my heart’s desires, I felt that I’d found the perfect formula for a happy life. I think my assumptions of what it meant to be a follower  of Jesus lined up with Peter’s. I understand why he rebuked Jesus.

It was a climactic moment when at last what everyone had been thinking was out in the open. Jesus had asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter had said what all the disciples felt, “You are the Messiah!” What was the unspoken expectation? Their understanding of Messiah was someone who would purge Jerusalem from those who trampled her. He would come in might and destroy the godless nations. But instead Jesus began to talk about suffering. Peter’s response was take Jesus aside to rebuke Him.

In the Greek the word used for rebuke has a fundamental sense of “warning to prevent something from going wrong.”* Peter had to rebuke Jesus, because the suffering, rejection and death that Jesus was describing did not fit into his understanding of the Messiah. He was desperately trying to redirect what Jesus was saying and to keep Jesus on mission.

Peter had tried to rebuke Jesus in private, but when Jesus rebuked Peter He turned around and looked at His disciples and said, “Get behind Me, Satan, because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but man’s!” (Mark 8:33). They all needed to hear the rebuke and to have their thinking redirected. Jesus then summoned the crowd and explained what it meant to be His follower. “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).

When I was a teenager I was in some ways like Peter and the disciples. I was looking at Jesus as a way to have a happy life. I was thinking in temporal terms and not in eternal terms. We can hear the results of how Jesus redirected Peter’s understanding in the conclusion to his first epistle. “Now the God of all grace,who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. To Him be the dominion forever” (Mark 8:31-37). By rebuking Peter Jesus redirected his attention from earthly glory to eternal glory. It was such a greater gift than Peter or I could have ever imagined.

*HELPS Word-studies epitimao (“to warn by instructing”) correct (re-direct) “warning to prevent something from going wrong.”

The Magnitude of the Situation (Mark 8:27-33)

My youngest brother was just beginning to get a handle on language so that he could use it to express himself. My older brother taught him the phrase, “You cannot comprehend the magnitude of the situation!” Since my little brother was too young to mentally grasp what the phrase meant, his older siblings had a lot of fun listening to him talk about the magnitude of the situation.

This memory came back to me when I thought of how Jesus asked His followers, “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:29) Peter didn’t hesitate, “You are the Messiah!” Others might be confused thinking that Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets, but Peter spoke for all the disciples. They had followed Him, they knew that Jesus was the Christ.

This conversation took place on the road as they traveled to Caesarea Philippi. I have a vivid memory of being in this area when I visited Israel. It was beautiful! Caesarea Philippi was the center of the worship for Baal, then the Greek god Pan. Pan is considered to be one of the oldest of the Greek gods. He is associated with nature, wooded areas and pasture lands. The worship of Pan centered on nature. Pan was a mythological creature, a satyr with the legs of a goat and the body of a man. He was a god who claimed to be a man.

Herod the Great was given this beautiful area by Caesar Augustus. Herod then built Caesar three temples. One of these beautiful temples built to Caesar, a man who claimed to be a god, was placed beside Pan’s temple, the god who claimed to be a man. What a setting for Jesus' question, “Who do men say that I am?”

Peter and the disciples knew who He was--or did they? Could they truly understand that Jesus was the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation? Could they begin to comprehend that the one that they had been traveling with was the same one who had created all things in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible? But even if they could begin to comprehend Jesus in this way, it was incomprehensible that the Christ, the Messiah, would suffer at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes. How could it be that the one Israel had waited so long for would be rejected and killed? What did He mean when He said that He would be raised in three days? Peter and the disciples could not understand the magnitude of the situation!

Jesus’ Response to Desperate Prayer (Mark 8:22-26)

“They brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to touch him” (Mark 8:22). “They brought to Him  a deaf man who also had a speech difficulty, and begged Jesus to lay His hand on him” (Mark 7:32). Have you ever brought someone to Jesus in prayer and begged Him to lay His hand on him, to touch him?

There are those I love who are deaf to spiritual things. There are people who cannot see anything but the temporal reality that they are living in. When I try to share my beliefs with them, I realize that they cannot understand what I am saying, and cannot see what I’m trying to show them. I have finally realized the solution lies not only in what I say to them about God, but instead what I say to God about them. Not casual prayers, but the kind I see represented in the Gospels, passionate prayer pleading with God that He would open both eyes and ears to spiritual truths.

With both the deaf man and the blind man, Jesus led them to a private place. He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. We are called to be faithful in prayer. The definition of faith is to be sure of what you hope for and confident about what you don’t see. But I’ll be honest. I struggle with this. Sometimes I simply become discouraged by what I see, and I stop praying. Both of these miracles were performed in private, not in the presence of those who begged Jesus to touch the ones they loved.

Both of these miracles involved the very DNA of Jesus. In other words, spit. Yes, spit! Today many people are using their own spit to find out genetic information about themselves. There are many businesses that have cropped up to help people interpret the information revealed by their spit. This is something I marvel about, and don’t completely understand that Jesus used His own DNA to give both sight and hearing.

The gift of sight was a process. Again, this causes me to pause, because I realize that I want immediate results. However, this gift of sight came slowly and in stages. I feel a deep conviction concerning the admonition to be faithful in prayer as I read this story. First, I see the urgency of the people who begged Jesus to touch their loved one. Second, I recognize that the miracle was done in private. Third,  it took time.

Jesus, please help me to be faithful in prayer!

The Leaven Test (Mark 8:14-21)

“Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mark 8:15). I have a leaven test. 1) Am I using religion to quell my anxiety about not being in control of the world around me? 2) How angry have I become because people are not following my religious beliefs? 3) How hard has my heart become in response to the people who don’t believe the same way I do?

The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about and thought it had something to do with the fact that they didn’t have any bread. You can hear Jesus’ frustration in what He said to them. “Why are you discussing that you do not have any bread. Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Is your heart hardened? Do you have eyes, and not see, and do you have ears, and not hear?” (Mark 8:17,18). He went on to remind them about how He miraculously fed the multitude with enough left over to care for them.

I came up with my leaven test because while I was writing this devotional I was wrestling with my own Pharisaical tendencies. How do I know that I was acting like a Pharisee? I was angry with someone for not following what I believed was right, and my heart was hardened in the process. I was blinded to the fact that I was doing this. I didn’t understand until, as I was studying this passage, I began to pray and ask Jesus to heal my blindness, take away my deafness, softened my heart and help me understand.

After Jesus miraculously fed the five thousand with twelve baskets left over, the disciples found themselves at night in the middle of the sea fighting against the wind. Jesus came to them walking on the water, and they were terrified! He told them, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Mark 6:50). The disciples were completely astounded, because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

Jesus mentions this problem about a hardened heart again after He fed the four thousand and His disciples are worried that they don’t have enough bread on the boat. So what is the cure for this hardening of the heart? What is the cure for the leaven that Jesus is warning them about? I believe that cure can only come when Jesus miraculously removes our spiritual blindness so that we can see who He truly is. I believe that only when He takes away our spiritual deafness so that we can hear and understand Kingdom truths will we at last be released from our religious anxiety and desire for control.

Then He Left Them (Mark 8:11-13)

As Isiah had prophesied, the people who had walked in darkness had seen a great light; on those dwelling in great darkness a light had dawned. The prophet Malachi had also prophesied, “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will come with healing in its wings.” In the fullness of time Jesus had come bringing sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute. The demons had shrieked in response to Jesus’ command that they leave those whom they had possessed. But they had to leave, because He had authority over them. Even Jairus, ruler in the Synagogue, had received his daughter back from the dead at Jesus’ command.

All these things had been done in Galilee. Yet the Pharisees confronted Jesus and demanded a sign from heaven to test Him. When I think about this I find myself wanting to scream as loud as I can, “What is wrong with you! Can’t you see what He’s already done?” This demand provoked  an emotional response in Jesus as well, but not the anger and rage that I feel. Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit.

Jesus had come as the sun of righteousness with healing His wings. He had come as a great light to those who were sitting in darkness. But some preferred the darkness. Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit because He was not only the fulfillment of the sun of righteousness, but He knew how the verse before that prophecy would be fulfilled. “For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Hosts, “not leaving them a root or branches” (Malachi 4:1). He had come not only to heal the diseases of their body, but also of their soul. But He was rejected.

When the Pharisees rejected Jesus, what exactly were they rejecting? They were rejecting the Light of the world. They were rejecting the Sun of Righteousness. They were rejecting the one whom God had sent to take away the sins of the world. They were rejecting the love of God. He had clearly shown them who He was, but they had refused to see. His response wasn’t anger, it was grief. He got in the boat and went away.

This is not the end of the story. I am writing this over 2,000 years later. There is still hope for those who will receive it. The Sun of Righteousness still shines with healing in His wings. The light of the world will illumine the darkness of anyone who comes to Him. But there is a warning that I see in these verses: There will come a time when it will be too late. 

If You Want to Follow Jesus (Mark 8:1-10)

If you have want to follow Jesus, there is something you should know: He is compassionate. If you want to follow Him you will be invited into a holy communion with Him. He will invite you to look through His eyes and see with His heart.

This holy communion with Jesus will cost you something, but that’s the way it is with compassion, isn’t it? Compassion means you don’t look the other way and pretend you don’t notice the hunger and the hurt around you. To follow Jesus is to be willing to take what you have and surrender it to Him. This is what His disciples did when they only had seven loaves of bread and a few fish to divide between 12 hungry men. They gave what they had to Jesus and He took it.

First, there was Jesus’ compassion, then there was an invitation by Jesus for His followers to enter into His compassion. Next, there was a sacrifice as twelve hungry men handed Jesus what they had. What came next? It was the giving of thanks. The Greek word used is eucharisteo. It’s where we get the word Eucharist.

But here is the strange part of this story. I feel like I can see the scene in my mind. I can almost see Jesus lifting the bread heavenward while giving thanks. After He gave thanks He broke the loaves and kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. This reminds me of something we often do at church. When we celebrate communion we remember the sacrificial love of Jesus.

The miracle of the feeding of the 4,000 is a miracle that involves abundance. The first time Jesus feed the multitude there were 12 lunch baskets left over. One for each of the disciples. But this time the Greek word used for basket is the same Greek word for basket that was used in Acts 9:25 when Paul was lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall!

If you want to follow Jesus He will invite you to have holy communion with Him. He will invite you to see the world through His eyes. He will invite you to a place of surrender. He will take what you give Him and He will bless it and break it. If you want to follow Jesus you will know what it means to be empty. But you will also experience what it feels like to have an abundant life.

Unorthodox (Mark 7:24-30)

It was a scream, a shriek, an inarticulate cry from the depths of the heart of a desperate mother! “You’ve got to help her! He’s tormenting my little girl! You can deliver her from his fiendish power! Help, please help!” She screamed her request again and again. To Jesus’ disciples her insistent pleading for help was as irritating as the piercing cry of a raven. They responded by asking Jesus to send her away.

Why were they so callous to this mother’s agony? It’s simple, she wasn’t one of them, she was a Gentile. She had fallen at Jesus feet and showed no signs of giving up until she received the mercy for her child that she desperately needed. A Gentile woman clinging to Jesus was unorthodox, and completely unacceptable in the eyes of Jesus’ disciples. I think that they had forgotten how unorthodox Jesus had appeared to the Pharisees when He had declared all foods clean.

Yet, Jesus didn’t respond immediately, instead He said to the woman, “Let the children be fed first, for it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). This sounds very harsh to my ears, but the mother found hope in the word “first.” She reasoned that first meant that it was not only for the children. She had already humbled herself at His feet, so she requested that her child be allowed to eat the bread crumbs that fell from the table. Jesus responded by saying, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter” (Mark 7:29).

The definition of unorthodox is, “contrary to what is usual, traditional, or acceptable.” I see this as an unorthodox story. It’s not unorthodox for me because a Gentile woman was clinging to Jesus’s feet, like it was for His disciples. But I haven’t been to many prayer meetings where mothers are at the altar screaming their request that Jesus deliver their little girls from demons. Add to that Jesus’ response of comparing her daughter to a dog! Why is this story in the gospel? What “good news” does it show us?

What I see is that Jesus’ unorthodox message of salvation was not only to one group of people. The tender mercy of a loving savior was accessible by faith, even by someone who was deemed unworthy.  But what about this little girl who was possessed by a demon? What do you do with that? One thing for certain, I can understand the mother’s desperate plea. She was both heard and answered. It is an unorthodox story, but it is also true.

Listen and Understand (Mark 7:14-22)

“Listen to Me, all of you, and understand.... If anyone has ears to hear, he should listen!” (Mark 7:14-16). When the surgeons removed my brain tumor they also severed my acoustic nerve, leaving me partially deaf. Sometimes when I’m with a group of people I can hear the sounds of the conversation, but I can’t comprehend the words that are spoken. In other words, I know what it’s like to listen and yet not understand, to have ears that can’t hear. Jesus had summoned the crowd to Him and began what He said with, “Listen to me and understand.” But when His disciples were alone with Him in the house they asked Him to explain. They heard what He said, but didn’t understand.

As I have been studying the book of Mark I’ve come to the conclusion that no one really understood the message of salvation. The Pharisees were trying to be righteous by not only following the law, but in addition to God’s law they were trying to follow all the other rules and regulations that they had surrounded God’s law with. Jesus’ message was that righteousness was not obtained by following rules and regulations. Jesus explained that it’s the heart that causes defilement. A heart that is leaking evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, lewdness, stinginess, blasphemies, pride, and foolishness, isn’t cured by following the rules. But what is the cure for a wicked heart?

The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. But what is the solution? If all that evil comes from within and defiles a person, then it seems like you need a spiritual heart transplant. I think that this story points to a deeper truth about the gospel than the disciples could comprehend. Ezekiel 11:19 says, “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.” A heart transplant is done by the surgeon, not by the patient.

Whenever Jesus spoke a parable that explained a spiritual truth He added the words, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then when He was alone with His disciples they would ask Him what the parable meant. I think that in the same way we cannot do surgery on our own heart, we also cannot hear spiritual truth unless Jesus heals our spiritual deafness. Both the ability to hear and to be healed involve something we receive rather than something we do.

“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart.... This evil people,who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their evil hearts... for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to me” (Jeremiah 11:18, 13:10, 16:12). What is the solution? I think that to hear and understand comes from the same place that the undefiled heart come from. It is a gift of grace. This is why the Word became flesh--so that the deaf ears can hear, and broken hearts can be made whole.

The Outsider (Part 2)

My children still ask, with a twinkle in their eyes, why I didn’t let them watch “The Smurfs”. “The Smurfs” was a cartoon about characters with blue skin and Smufing language that drove me crazy. I just explained to them that I was trying to keep them from being polluted by the world. In retrospect I may have overdone it a bit.

As a mother I wanted to safeguard my children. I saw their innocence as something beautiful that I wanted to preserve and protect. In the book of James a pure and undefiled religion involves keeping yourself unspotted from the world. I wanted to do everything I could to keep my children unstained by the world around them. I was zealous in my refusal to let the world corrupt them, even if that meant not allowing them to watch “The Smurfs”!

We lived in a respectable neighborhood, so when Jessica’s family moved in, it caused a ripple in our placid atmosphere. Jessica was an outsider but desperately wanted to belong. She possessed something that none of the other children had, a working knowledge of “power words”. She happily shared that knowledge with all the other children hoping it would secure a place for her in their society. The children were excited about the new addition to their vocabulary! Their parents, however, were not.

These parents, like me, wanted to keep their children unstained from the world. They decided that Jessica would not be allowed to play with their children. And to be sure that their children weren’t corrupted by Jessica, no child allowed to play with her would be allowed to play with their children. I understood their vigilance; however, I could not stop thinking about how this would effect Jessica.

I invited Jessica into my home to talk with her. I asked her what she thought Jesus would say to her. She didn’t hesitate. She told me that Jesus would tell her to leave the good children alone. Although I didn’t allow my children to watch “The Smurfs” as long as Jessica lived in our neighborhood, she was welcomed in my home.

Children’s services came one day to ask about her. By then Jessica was eating almost all her meals at my house. I made the comment that she ate as if she was starving. At this the social worker put her pen down, looked me directly in the eyes, and said, “She is starving.” But she was not only starving for food. I gave her an interactive children’s Bible. Before two weeks were up she had completed every page. Pure and undefiled religion is more than just being unspotted by the world. It also involves looking out after bereaved and desolate children in their distress.

The Outsider (Mark 7:1-16)

“They’re not one of us. We’re right, they’re wrong. We’re on the inside, they are outsiders.” This is what I hear in the accusatory questions that the Pharisees ask Jesus. “Why don’t your disciples obey the traditions of the elders? Why do they eat with unwashed hands?” There are two things to notice. First, they weren’t disobeying God’s laws, and their hands weren’t dirty, they just weren’t ceremonially clean.

I blush when I think about this, because I can identity with the Pharisees in that there have been times when I’ve wanted to be an insider. I’ve wanted to be right, and that involved following certain rules and regulations. The problem that I see in this passage is that Jesus was considered the outsider because His follows weren’t following the ceremonial washing prescribed by the traditions of the elders. Jesus and His followers are considered in the wrong and the Pharisees in the right. Jesus’ response shed a floodlight on the situation. In order to follow the traditions of the elders they had broken one of the 10 commandments of God!

As I have been thinking through this passage, my mind has gone again and again to Micah 6:8, “Mankind, He has told you what it is the Lord requires of you; to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” So God has shown us what the right way is: 1) act justly; 2) love mercy; 3) walk humbly with God. Where I get into trouble is when I’m trying to act justly, and all of the sudden I realize that I’m following a bunch of rules and regulations that have been given me by other people who are trying to walk justly. Following these rules sometimes overrides both mercy and humility.

Acting justly must be accompanied by loving mercy. The Hebrew word for mercy is hesed, a word that can also be translated loving kindness. What is being asked of us is that we treat others with the same kindness that God has shown us. Jesus is the personification of hesed.

Finally, we are told that mankind is to walk humbly with God. With my mind’s eye I look again at Jesus, Emmanuel, standing in the presence of the Pharisees and being condemned for not following their traditions. In their pride they have raised their throne of judgment above the throne of God. Even as I become aware of what I’m reading I whisper a prayer, “Lord, show me if I’ve made You an outsider.”

Beneath the Healing Wing of the Almighty (Mark 6:53-56)

“When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and beached the boat. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him. They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:53-54). I can feel their excitement even now as I type these words. For those who had so long been under the tyranny of the Devil there was hope. The gentle healer had come!

For long years they had waited for the promise spoken in Malachi to be fulfilled. They been told that, “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). Four hundred years of silence followed this prophecy, and then in their lifetime John the Baptist had burst on the scene! He was a messenger from God, “One crying out in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’” (Mark 1:3). Jesus had come. They recognized Him. And what was their response to His presence? “They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:55). Every broken body on those stretchers represented a broken heart and broken dreams, not only of the sick person but of all who loved them.

Now at last there was hope that the tyranny and oppression under which they had suffered for so long was at last broken. “Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might just touch the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well” (Mark 6:56). What was represented by this tassel? This tassel would have been on the prayer shawl worn by Jewish men.  The Hebrew word for the tassel was “Kanaph.” It can be translated “wing”. The first time this word is ever used is in Exodus 19:4: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings (kanaph), and brought you unto
myself.”

Whoever touched it was made well. The Greek word for “to be made well” is sozo. It means “deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin - into His provisions (safety).”* As this story unfolds before me, my heart begins to beat faster. By faith I see Him. The sun of righteousness has come with healing in His wings, so I come by faith. I come and bring to Him in prayer the ones I love who cannot walk on their own. I seek shelter and healing for myself and those I love beneath the healing wing of the Almighty.

*HELPS Word-studies

Cure For the Hardened Heart (Mark 6:51,52)

There is prayer I often pray, a request that I present to the Great Physician. “Please remove my spiritual blindness so that I can truly see. Please take away my spiritual deafness so that I can understand what You are saying. Take away the hardness of my heart so that I can fully enter into the story of the Kingdom of God that is being revealed around  me.” I pray this prayer because I want to live my life fully embracing the mystery that surrounds me and because Jesus promised that if I asked anything according to His will I would receive what I asked for. So, I ask with great anticipation.

As I study the Gospel of Mark, I am more and more aware of the miracles within the miracles. There is a prophecy in Isaiah that is quoted in the Gospels, “He has blinded their eyes  and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them” (John 12:40). I don’t fully understand this prophecy, but I do recognize that when people asked for physical healing they often received more than they asked for. But what about the healing of a hard heart?

My grandmother suffered from hardening of the arteries. [Hardening of the arteries happens when the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the other parts of the body become narrowed because fat is deposited on the inside walls of the arteries, then becomes hardened by fibrous tissue and calcification. When this occurs there is a reduction of both the oxygen and blood supply to the affected organ (like the heart, eyes, kidneys, legs, gut, or the brain).*] In Mark, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, it says, “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves but their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51,52). The Greek word used here for hardened mean to render callous, “like a formed callus which petrifies.”**

The disciples had been battling in the darkness against the winds of adversity. Since they were keenly  aware of the spiritual forces of darkness, when they saw Jesus walking on the water they were terrified because they thought that He was a ghost. But when Jesus spoke to them and told them not to be afraid, and then got into the boat causing the wind to cease, they were flabbergasted!

Why? Why were they so overcome with amazement? It was because they hadn’t put the whole story together. They didn’t understand the significance of the miracle that they had participated in. “They didn’t understand about the loaves” (Mark 6:52). Instead, there was calcification that prevented the life-giving flow of the Spirit. The free flow of the Spirit that opens our understanding of the Kingdom of God is the cure for fear.

For a year now I have been working on memorizing the book of Revelation. Many have asked why I chose Revelation to memorize. My reason is very simple. I want the blessing that is promised twice in the first chapter. I am discovering in the process that there is a softening of my heart that is taking place. By heart I don’t mean the physical pump that drives my blood, but instead, my mind and inner self that the Greek word heart refers to. As I look through John’s eyes at the visions given to him and through him to me, I am gaining understanding. The more spiritual sight I’m given, the greater the peace I experience. And day after day I pray, “Touch my eyes, that I might see. Touch my ears so that I can hear you. Touch my heart, take away its hardness so that I can understand.” This blessing is available for anyone who wants to experience the mystery of God’s Kingdom. The healing of a hardened heart is a blessing that God wants to give, it’s there for the asking.

*emedicinehealth

**HELPS word-studies

He Didn’t Pass Me By (Mark 9:17-24)

My heart was aching. The setting was a church service filled with the sounds of worship. Everyone had thronged to the front where hearts were tender. I could hear the notes of praise and the whispered prayers. I could see eyes shining, having been washed clean by tears; life touching life in sweet harmony. Yes, everyone had thronged to the front of the church except those who were closest to me. They were untouched, unmoved, disconnected. As I watched what was happening, I was reminded of a song I’d learned as a child:

Pass me not, oh gentle Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others Thou art calling
Do not pass me by.

As I sat there I felt His presence. The one who had written the song that had come to my mind was blind. Her name was Fanny Crosby. God never took away her physical blindness, but instead gave her great spiritual sight. What I heard whispered to my spirit was that I was to worship God in the circumstances where I had been placed. I was invited to see the throne of mercy through the eyes of the blind songwriter. There I was able to find sweet relief knowing that I was loved and understood. The deep longing of my heart was that those I loved would come to the spring of all comfort and drink the living waters Jesus offered.

My cry was heard. I had not been passed by, nor had those that I brought with me to Jesus. In the profound comfort of His presence I again heard His words, “Everything is possible to the one who believes” (Mark 9:23). This had been Jesus’ response to the father who had said, “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). My prayer had echoed that father’s prayer. At the center of my prayer was this question, “Jesus, are You truly able to save the ones I have brought to You? Do You really care?”

In the front of the building there was worship and sounds of praise. In the back of the building I humbly brought to Jesus my wounded, broken spirit. I worshiped in prayer by giving to Jesus both my belief and my unbelief, it was all that I had to offer Him. Sweet peace bathed my being as I looked at my Savior with eyes of faith. In that moment I abandoned my heart to the One who had given His all for me. Once more I surrender my soul to Him and anchored my faith in His promises. That night I experienced the sweet relief of knowing that the Savior had not passed by me nor the ones that I loved. He had heard my humble cry.

The Fourth Watch of the Night (Mark 6:47-50)

Have you ever been suddenly awakened around 3 am and found yourself wrestling with dark thoughts and fears? Did you feel a sense of helplessness? This time period between 3-6 am was defined by the Romans as the fourth watch of the night. It is a time usually reserved for sleep, but there are battles in the night that make sleep an impossibility. When awakened in the fourth watch, we are keenly aware of our vulnerability, and prayer often becomes a plea for help.

Jacob wrestled with God during this time period, having been told that his brother Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. Esau had had a grudge against Jacob and had determined in his heart to kill him. Jacob felt his vulnerability: Esau had his 400 men; Jacob had his wives, children and livestock. What did Jacob do? He wrestled until daybreak. In the morning his name was changed from Jacob to Israel because he had struggled with both God and man and had prevailed.

It was dark when the Israelites looked up and saw Pharaoh, his troops and 600 of Pharaoh’s best chariots bearing down on them. Yes, they had left Egypt triumphantly, but now in the dark they were trapped by the sea and they were terrified! But the God who led them out of Egypt was also the Lord of the wind, the waves and the sea. The answer to the vulnerability of the Israelites was the power of the Almighty God. He drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all night. God’s people went through the sea on dry ground. The Lord had promised to fight their battles and He did. The enemy, however, was overthrown into the sea.

Jesus had instructed His disciples to go ahead of Him to Bethsaida. “When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on land. He saw them being battered as they rowed, because the wind was against them. Around three in morning He came towards them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them” (Mark 6:47-48). Wait! He saw them in the middle of the sea being battered by the wind and He wanted to pass by them?! Why?

What happened when Jacob wrestled all night with the angel? He was given a new name. But from then on he walked with a limp so that at the end of his life he worshiped while leaning on a staff, a reminder that he was dependent on something more than his own strength. His night of wrestling with the Lord showed him his relationship to an Almighty God. For the children of Israel, it was in the night that God showed His power to save. It was Jesus who led His disciples into the boat. In the boat at night their faith was tested.

My faith is often tested in the night. When all I can see is my vulnerability, do I really believe in an Almighty God? But it’s in the night, when my vulnerability is exposed, that I encounter Jesus who can walk on water. And by faith I hear Him say, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” This is what happens in the fourth watch of the night.

Unseen Footprints in the Storm (Mark 6:47-50)

I was rearranging the books on my bookshelf when I found it hidden behind some larger volumes. It was a diary that had been given to my daughter over twenty years ago when she graduated from high school and left home. On the cover was a picture of a slightly opened gate and below was written, “Your future is as bright as the promises of God.” I still remember walking into her almost empty room and finding the diary on the floor in the corner. She hadn’t wanted it so I asked if I could use it, now that she was gone, to share my thoughts with her.

The first entry was marked 6/13/97. It read, “Faith, it’s midnight and I miss you. I have found it hard to sleep tonight. There’s an emptiness in the house and in my heart.” I didn’t realize when I wrote those words that there would be many sleepless nights to come. I didn’t know that I was going into a storm. The book became my companion as I tried to navigate the storm in the dark night of my soul where all the things that I believed seemed to be put to the test.

As I read through the entries in the diary I was reminded of storms that the disciples encountered in the ship at night. The first time they woke Jesus with the words, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” (Mark 4:38). The storm had exposed their vulnerability but it had also exposed who they thought Jesus was--a teacher. However, when He spoke to the wind and the sea and they had obeyed Him they asked, “Who is this?” In the second storm they are alone in the boat being battered as they rowed, because the wind was against them. Again it was the dark of night. Once more Jesus showed that He was Lord of the storm by walking on the water.

As I read through the pages that I had written so long ago, the memories came alive. I could feel again not only my connection with the disciples, but also with the psalmist who penned the words, “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me. In my day of trouble I sought the Lord. My hands were lifted up all night long; I refused to be comforted” (Psalm 77:1,2). Being in a storm strips away the veneer and leaves behind the naked, exposed soul. What can be hidden in the light of day is revealed in the darkness of a stormy night.

I would discard this diary if the only thing I found there was my own vulnerability. But what I found revealed in its pages was a reflection of what both the psalmist and the disciples discovered. “The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; lightning lit up the world. The earth shook and quaked. Your way went through the sea, and Your path through the great waters, but Your footprints were unseen” (Psalm 77:18,19). There in the pages of this diary as I wrestled in the darkness in the storm I began to get a glimpse of the unseen footprints of my shepherd.

The book had been lost for over twenty years, but now that my daughter is the age that I was when I wrote it for her, perhaps she’ll understand. Yes, perhaps she’ll understand.

Feed My Sheep (Mark 6:30-44)

“Do you love me?... Feed my sheep.” After Peter’s greatest failure, when he felt broken, Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?” Three times Peter was instructed to feed and shepherd Jesus’ sheep. I wonder if Peter was not only reminded of denying Jesus three times, but also of the time when they had gone to a remote place to rest only to encounter a multitude. He had been there when Jesus stepped ashore; when Jesus saw the huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

How did Jesus shepherd His flock? In Mark it says that He taught them many things. In His teaching He pulled back the curtains of heaven and showed them a glimpse of the eternal kingdom. On that day, in that remote place, the crowd tasted the bread of life. They drank living water from the Rock. On that day the Shepherd cared for His sheep, and their souls and spirits rested and were satisfied. But their stomachs were empty.

The disciples who had hoped to find rest and not a multitude in that remote place suggested sending the crowd away. How did they know the crowd was hungry? Because they were hungry! Jesus, however, had a different idea. “You give them something to eat.” I wonder if Peter’s memory flashed back to this scene when, on a different shore, Jesus told Peter that if he loved Him he would feed His sheep.

It was an impossible request! How could they feed 5,000 men, not even counting any women and children that might be there! They were incredulous! Jesus’ response to them was similar to what God said to Moses when He gave him the task of shepherding His people out of Egypt. God asked Moses, “What is in your hand?” Jesus asked His disciples what they already had. They brought what they had to Jesus, He broke it, multiplied it, and gave it back to them to distribute.

Peter had felt inadequate when Jesus had asked him to feed the 5,000, and I think he felt that same sense of inadequacy when Jesus told him on a different shore that, if he loved Him, to feed His sheep. Jesus had broken the bread before He multiplied it. Before Peter could shepherd and feed Jesus’ sheep, he too had been broken. “Do you love me?” What does loving Jesus look like? If you are being shepherded by Jesus, where does He take you? I think I find the answer to those questions in this story.

Transformed From Death to Life

There is something soothing about the rhythmic click of knitting needles. This is particularly true after the heart has been wounded. What I have found in my life is that when a wounded heart is untended, bitterness begins to grow. Every time the hurtful scene is replayed on the mind’s eye the bitter root grows deeper. Along with the growth of this bitter root, if you listen carefully you will hear the faint click, click, click of the knitting needle.

Each detail is carefully knit into a shroud so that by the time bitterness has finished its work the shroud is ready to wrap the relationship that has been strangled to death. Sometimes we deceive ourselves and think that we’ve been knitting a blanket where we can find comfort as we rehearse all the details of how we have been wronged. Each shroud has unique colors and patterns. But shrouds, no matter how well they are crafted, are for covering the dead.

Bitterness brings with it death. Not only does it kill relationships but with each strangled, shrouded relationship part of our own heart dies as well. This is oppression. And according to Proverbs 15:15, “All the days of the oppressed are miserable.” I have both seen and known this misery.

Something that has died cannot bring itself back to life. Something that has been wrapped in a shroud cannot unbind itself. But there is good news. Even though we cannot call a corpse to come forth from the tomb, Jesus can.

When Jesus called Lazarus to come forth from his tomb he was still bound by grave cloths. It took the hands of others to set him free. I prefer to be independent when I’ve been hurt or wounded; however, true freedom from shrouds of bitterness calls for humility. When the heart has been released from bitterness, it is transformed from death to life. That which had been shrouded in misery is now invited to a feast.

Part of a Greater Story (Mark 6:21-33)

Sometimes, in order to understand what is happening in my life, I remind myself that the story of my life is more than the chapter that I’m living at the present. I also find meaning when I think about my life being part of a eternal story written by God Himself. He is both the author and the finisher of my faith and the story of my life.

John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins. The prediction of John’s birth broke the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testament. When John spoke, hearts and minds were stirred. Everyone who heard him was filled with a sense of anticipation. After he baptized Jesus he said, “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30). However, I don’t think he had any idea about what that would look like.

It wasn’t until after John was arrested that Jesus began His ministry in Galilee. And why was John arrested? It was because he boldly confronted Herod for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife. He remained in Herod’s prison while Jesus increased in popularity. At the height of Jesus’ ministry John was beheaded by Herod at the request of his step-daughter, who had pleased him by her seductive dance. How can this make sense, and how did Jesus respond? “When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone” (Matthew 14:13).

He not only withdrew to be alone for Himself but for His Apostles’ sake as well. He had sent them out on their first missionary journey, and when they returned they were full of excitement at what they had experienced. His popularity was so great that they didn’t even have time to eat. When the soul becomes wrinkled by grief or exhaustion there is a deep longing for solitude. But solitude wasn’t what was waiting for Jesus in that remote place. His ministry had increased, and where He went the crowds followed.

The only way I can make sense of John’s imprisonment and beheading is to see it as a chapter of a larger story than the story of his life. Jesus’ message was that the kingdom of God had come near. To understand this kingdom, you must view life through the lens of eternity.  When you see your life through an eternal lens you are able to walk by faith, being sure of what you hope for, and confident about what you do not see. I believe that this was how John lived his life, and this is how I want to live my life as well.