Category: MARK

RE Verse reading–Mark 7:1-23 (day two)
Mark chapter 7 is Jesus’ evaluation of the Tradition of the Elders. We tend to avoid evaluation at all costs. The cost of being stuck in tradition is challenged in Mark 7:8. Evaluation (the Work of the Holy Spirit- John 16) is a must for believers. Questions like “Why?”, “What if?”, Why Not?” often present unpopular responses that sometimes call for an uncomfortable direction. Some of the instruction I have received sounded like this: “Go talk to this person”, “Start a Bible Study group”, “Form friendships with someone not like you”, “Listen to their point of view (They may be right)”. Evaluation is most effective as a daily process that uses God’s Word as a mirror (James 1:22) and prayer as a intercom (Psalm 139:23-24). The last question (perhaps the most difficult) is “Will you?” (change, flex, start, stop, wait, forgive) The goal of the Christian Life and the WORK of the Holy Spirit is for us to be more like Jesus.

RE Verse reading–Mark 7:1-23 (day one)
“There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”  (vs 15)  One difference that Jesus had with the Judaism of His day was its externalism.  Over attention to what was touched, done or eaten.  The issue for Christ was deeper–in the heart.  The heart is the “inner man” consisting of both thoughts and intentions.  See Hebrews 4:12.  The heart is who we really are.  It is the place that is either cleansed by grace through faith or remains resistant to the Lordship of Christ.  Part of Jesus’ purpose was to expose the human heart in all of its deceitfulness.  Jeremiah 17:9.  An urgent warning to us lest we rely on religious tradition and duty (even done sincerely) to reach deep enough inside to address and cleanse the real problem.  “This people honors me with their lips, but their HEARTS are far from me.”  (vs 6)

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:1-6 (day seven)
“And they took offense at him” (vs 3)  Faith in Christ sets people free.  “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”  (2 Corinthians 3:17)  Unbelief traps the human soul.  Wrong choices harden our attitudes into prisons.   When Mark describes the people of Nazareth (Jesus’ hometown) he says they took offense.  The word in Greek is very picturesque.  Scandolon was the stick inside an animal trap.  When the stick was dislodged, the trap fell into place and the animal was caught.  Good image.  That is what happened to the Nazarenes.  They refused to believe and got  trapped inside a world and a perspective of their own making–without life, without progress.  Are you trapped today?  Do you desire freedom?   Ask the Lord to help you return to the place where faith was being required of you.  Repent of your reluctant, stubborn heart.  Trust the Lord.  Faith can move mountains, it can also open traps.

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:1-6 (day six)
“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? . .and they took offense at Him.”  (vs 3)  Nothing is free.  Not even grace.  Not if you mean “without obligation”.  The grace of God makes us debtors.  See Romans 1. We have something to repay.   “To whom much is given, much is required.”  (Luke 12:48)  Perhaps this is where the people of Nazareth stumbled.  Rather than feeling the moral urgency of a faith response to Christ ( What the miracles and teaching of His public ministry were calling for), they used their history/personal knowledge of  Jesus as permission to “hang back” unchanged.  Is it possible that we do the same?  Do we ever allow past experiences with Christ to substitute for progress with Him?  Do we ever say, “I have known Him for years”, without appreciating that we are NOT following Him at the present moment?  God’s goodness obligates us to trust!  Even when the new chapter is unexpected.

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:1-6 (day four)
Verse 2 says, “When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue;”  Jesus would always be found in His Father’s house on the Sabbath day.  There was no ‘day off’ from worshipping or teaching on this sacred day.  When the people heard Him teach, they were astonished!  They had never heard anything like this before.  And He demonstrated power…power to heal…power to do miracles…such wisdom…who was this man?  They clearly recognized the power that was Jesus’, but they didn’t necessarily accept the truth of who He was.  They couldn’t get past what their eyes could see to the point of faith to trust Him.  As believers, Jesus lives within us.  Do the people around us recognize the power of Christ in our lives?  Often, we pray and ask God to come in power among us.  As Henry Blackaby says, that is the only way that He comes!  In our faith, may God reveal His power through us to those who would believe!

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:1-6 (day three)
The fact that we read “He was amazed at their lack of faith” tells us that this was something Jesus did not expect.  That doesn’t make the Savior less divine.  It does make him human.  In Jesus we see how a human being at his best operates in the face of unexpected turns.  Jesus was amazed, and that amazement began to shape the way he engaged people.  It informed his refusal to force his thinking upon people when they clearly did not want it: Witness his “Shake the dust off” instruction to his disciples later.  It drove him to look for open doors to the gospel—even when those doors led to places and people outside Jewish ethnic zones.  May we become as amazed and as responsive.

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:1-6 (day two)
“He went…to His hometown, and…they were offended by Him” (6:1,3). We’ve seen what it looks like when people respond to Jesus in faith. Now, we see the opposite response. Same Jesus. Same power. Same wisdom. Same proclamation of the Kingdom of God arriving. Same gospel. Different response. Exposure to the gospel doesn’t guarantee a good response. Without faith, the gospel is just as likely to harden as it is to heal, to offend as it is to open, to rebuff as it is to redeem. Perhaps observing this phenomenon helped the Apostle Paul conclude “he saved us…by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Paul realized that unless the Spirit initiates a work in a heart, the heart will never turn to Jesus in faith. Therein lies our hope for evangelism. If God has already sent His Spirit to work “regeneration” in hearts, then our task is to share faithfully. His task is to renew hearts so that they respond in faith.

RE Verse reading–Mark 6:1-6 (day one)
God is amazing.  No argument.  His grace.  His faithfulness.  His mercy.  We sing about it.  “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.”  But people are amazing too, sometimes, and for all the wrong reasons.  Vs 6 of Mark 6 says, “He (Jesus) was amazed at their unbelief”  The greek word is thaumazo–“to marvel, or wonder”  It means that Jesus had questions re. human behavior that didn’t have answers.  Illogical stuff.  Irrational choices.  We often think of the “questions” we have for God.  Think of the “questions” He will have for us!  “Why didn’t you trust me?”  “Why, when it came between the Spirit’s voice and your own fears/logic did you always choose the latter?”  With all the clues packed into the universe and all the proof of His faithfulness, it just doesn’t make sense.  Not to Jesus.  Our unbelief causes Him to shake His head in wonder.  He is amazed, but for the wrong reason.

RE Verse reading–Mark 5:22-43 (day seven)
“Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher any more?”  “Dont’ be afraid; just believe.” (vs 35-36)  The argument is simple.  The girl was dead.  I was a waste of time to press further.  Death trumps everything.  Right?  There are moments when to continue believing is both futile and foolish.  Right?  Wrong!  Jesus knew there is never a time when faith is powerless to save.  Especially at the point of death.  Believe! He said to the young father.  Don’t let fear take ahold of your heart.  Trust!  Are you ever discouraged?  Defeated?  Tempted to think that (whatever the present disaster) the situation is hopeless?  If so, I hope you take great courage in the words of Christ.  There is NEVER a time when nothing can be done!  NEVER a time when faith is not the victory.  A God of infinite power and love is near.  Crisis and defeat are moments when faith matters most.

RE Verse reading–Mark 5:22-43 (day six)
“But Jesus kept looking to see who had done it”  (vs 32)  The Bible speaks of real salvation as more rare than we normally think. “The way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  (Matthew 7:14)  Appreciating this, Jesus was not one to ignore real faith when he saw it.  Even in a great crowd with people pressing in on Him; even with the pressure of the anxious Father who wanted Him to hurry, the Lord refused to walk past the opportunity to recognize faith.  I am certain that He still has this priority.  In every crowd, there may be thousands of motives in thousands of hearts.  What Jesus notices, what Jesus values is faith–the person who has accurately and positively connected the person and power and promises of Christ to his/her own situations.  When we believe and act He still notices and says  “Your faith has healed you.”  (vs 34)