“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.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Friday, August 23, 2019
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.
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.
Friday, August 16, 2019
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.
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.
Thursday, August 8, 2019
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.
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.
Monday, August 5, 2019
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.
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.
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