Category: MARK

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:45-52, 8:1-21 (day five)
What was it the disciples didn’t “see”? What was it they didn’t “hear”? What was it they didn’t “understand”? What was it they didn’t “remember”? What was it they were missing? They stopped at the point of “what” Jesus was doing instead of “Who” He is? They were perceiving Him as a “cosmic waiter”, there to meet their own needs and demands. (Sounds so much like American Christianity these days) In this passage, Jesus is trying to get them to see that the bigger lesson was on the power, compassion, and generosity of the living God. In scripture the “what” (God does) is designed to teach and point to the “Who” (He is). The goal of this perspective is a personal, growing, intimate relationship with God, where we discover more about His nature, character, and kindness. I’m asking Him to help me learn (see, hear, understand, and remember) a little more about Him every day!!

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:45-52, 8:1-21 (day four)
It was a stinging question!  In verse 8:17, Jesus was amazed at His disciples.  They had first seen Him feed over five thousand people with a few loaves and fish.  Then, He did it again and fed over four thousand the same way.  Now they were worried about a dozen people having something to eat.  What was it that kept the disciples from understanding who Jesus was?  Why did they not comprehend His power over the physical?  These men were the closest ones to Jesus…they were with Him all the time…they heard Him teach every day.  Maybe it was their expectations…maybe it was their selfishness…or maybe it was self-sufficiency.  Whatever it was, it was sin.  It so disoriented them to Jesus, that they could not recognize the truth.  What is it in our life, that keeps us from seeing and understanding?  Ask God to ‘open your eyes’ to see the Master!

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:45-52; 8:1-21 (day three)
“Don’t you remember?” (8:18)  From time to time, scarce food became plenteous.  Fierce storms would recede.  Those who witnessed Jesus pushing back on what they saw as a cold and menacing universe thought that surely here was someone worth following.  But they had it wrong.  Jesus was not winning an occasional skirmish with a cruel cosmos.  He was Maker of heaven and earth.  If they would pay attention, they would see that he carried himself as a man who knew intimately everything about “summer and winter and springtime and harvest; sun, moon and stars in their courses above.”  Jesus is unafraid of this universe because it is his.  Here is someone worth following indeed—not because he bullies the universe into submission, but because he is its Maker, its Lord.  And yours.

“Why are you discussing that you do not have any bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend?” Jesus sensed the great struggle for power at work all around him. The Pharisees wanted it through religious compulsion. The Herodians wanted it through political action. Both groups were chasing popular opinion through compromised integrity. Where did Jesus’ followers side in this epic struggle for power?! They were just worried about who was going to have to skip the next meal! If only we were gripped with the cosmic struggle for power all around us! If only we were engaged in confronting and redeeming the culture all around us. If only we would get hungry for “your kingdom come!” But sadly, I think we are much too like the disciples…hungry for immediate comfort instead of hungry for lifelong transformation.

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:45-52, 8:1-21 (day one)
“Then He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign?  (6:12)  “Then He said to them (disciples), ‘Do you not yet understand?’ ” (8:21)  Salvation is a free gift.  No argument.  It is possible, however, to be genuinely saved and still a great disappointment to the Savior.  When means of grace are ignored, when He provides the necessary proof and we still don’t “get it”, we face His frustration and even discipline.  “But I have this against you” Jesus says to the Ephesian church. (Revelation 2:4)  Mark 6 and 8 is a story of a patient Savior who is disappointed with the lack of progress in his disciples.  Even in the face of repeated miraculous events, they seem unable to grasp and apply the obvious truth. . . God Himself is among us and worthy of our trust/obedience.  Do we ever disappoint Him?  Do we lag behind when we should be “getting forward?”

RE Verse reading–Mark 7:1-23 (day seven)
“For it is from within, from the human heart that evil intentions come. . . and they defile a person”  (vs 21)  The word that we translate defile is koinoo, “to make common”.  (Notice the similarity  to koinonia, “to have things in common”)  Sad but true, the sins of mankind are “normal behavior”.  When any of us act in ways detailed in vs 21, we are being “so ordinary”.  Want to be special?   Uncommon?   “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful who will not allow you  to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will provide a way of escape also, so that you may be able to endure it.”  (1 Corinthians 10:13)  The only way for an individual to rise above the ordinary life experience and eternal destiny of the human race is to God.  A trust/obedience relationship with Him makes a soul uncommon.  Uncommonly beautiful.

RE Verse reading–Mark 7:1-23 (day six)
“For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders.”  A subtle clue.  Unnoticed by most readers.  When Mark takes time to explain the tradition of handwashing, he signals  his intended audience was probably Roman.  Culturally sensitive.  A thoughtful act toward outsiders who would have otherwise been lost or confused.  Do we do the same?  Are we regularly and deeply aware of the people outside of religious circles, those who require some explanation in order to comprehend what we are doing or saying?  In Colossians 1, Paul says, “We proclaim Him, admonishing EVERY man and teaching EVERY man. . .that we may present EVERY man complete in Christ.”  (vs 28)  If we have the same purpose, we cannot be satisfied to preach only to insiders or people who easily understand our message.  With great thoughtfulness we must address our message to a wider audience.

Mark 7:1-23 (Day Five)
“Unclean.” Not an accusation of bad hygiene, the Pharisees used ritual washing as a defining mark of who was a “true Jew” against the backdrop of cultural and religious pluralism. It was their boundary marker of who was “truly devoted.” Every religious community does this. The Muslim will pray 5 times a day. The Mormon will serve a missionary term. At one point in the American south, it was said that a Baptist “doesn’t drink, smoke or go with girls who do!” Jesus’ answer is not to reject boundary markers and make everything acceptable (or sacred for that matter). Rather, Jesus affirms the target to which the law has always pointed. “Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart,” Ps. 119:2. The heart has always been the aim of God’s commands, and it is a changed (and changing!) heart that Jesus says marks out who is “truly devoted” in His community. Is your heart changing?

RE Verse reading–Mark 7:1-23 (day four)
The problem with the Pharisees was not that they participated in elaborate rituals.  The problem was that they looked with contempt on those who did not.  Many of their practices had developed over the centuries to discipline mind and body toward greater understanding of and faithfulness to the Law of Moses.  The Bible does not forbid the development of such practices; Paul himself spoke of disciplining his body so as not to become “disqualified for the prize.”  But the Pharisees forgot that disciplines and traditions serve not as laurels for the strong, but as braces for the weak—people who need assistance to train themselves toward obedience.  By that reasoning, the Pharisees could have used more ritual, not less. Jesus’ disciples were in the physical presence of one who was himself serving as a brace for them as they learned obedience, so they had no need for these other methods at this time.  The Pharisees ignored that, to their great peril.

RE Verse reading–Mark 7:1-23 (day three)
Verse 14 begins a lesson on the heart of man.  The heart is the source of our actions.  Jesus made reference to concerns of the Pharisees…they were worried about the cleanliness of the hands, the utensils, and what was eaten.  Jesus said, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles the man, because it enters the stomach and is eliminated.  What man needs to be concerned with are the thoughts and actions that come out of his heart…those are the things that defile.  Evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness…quite a list of wrongs!  The source for these is our sinful heart.  Only Jesus can cleanse our heart, only He can replace these evil actions with the fruits of the Spirit.  Ephesians 5:26 says be cleansed with the washing of the water of the word…let Jesus’ Word cleanse your defiled heart.  He will! …He promised in 1 John 1:9!