The Gospel of Mark. Study Guide Workbook

Transcription

1 The Gospel of Mark Study Guide Workbook Momentum Ministries

2 Day 1 - Mark 1:1-8 1The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" 3"a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " 4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Malachi 3:1-5 Malachi 4:1-6 Isaiah 40:1-11 Israel was, in many ways, asleep. John came to wake them up to this new thing that God was about to do. What areas of your life are you asleep in? Where are the areas that God wants to work in your life, but hasn t because you re just not aware of what he wants to do? In what areas do you need to wake up so that God s will can be done in your community, your church, your life? What are the areas in your life in which you need to repent so that God can do something new? Israel believed that they had been in exile for over five hundred years. Even though they had returned from their Babylonian exile hundreds of years before, they felt that the exile wasn t truly over because God had not returned his presence to Jerusalem and the Temple. They had long awaited the Messiah to come and set things right. They believed that the Messiah would come and defeat Israel s biggest enemy, which at the time was Rome. It would be this long-awaited Messiah that would restore the Temple and usher in the age to come, which was God s Kingdom on earth, This was when the righteous would be resurrected, sin would be done away with, and God would rule on earth with his people. Based on the passages that Mark quotes here (see the background reading) and others, the Jews were expecting a forerunner to the Messiah; they thought that it might very well be Elijah, himself, or at least someone that came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Now, Mark tells us that out of nowhere, John the baptizer bursts onto the scene like a loud voice that wakes you out of a sound sleep. They were expecting a Messiah that would lead them in a glorious revolt over the Romans, not a prophet telling them to repent. They were expecting freedom, but had no clue of what that freedom would actually look like and what it would require of them. They were expecting an Exodus story but not one like this. Every Jew of the time would have been very familiar with the Exodus story. It was the national story that identified them as YHWH s (the Hebrew name of God) people. Now John was telling them that they were going to be actors in a play that would recreate the Exodus. They were to come through the water to be free from their Egypt, except their Egypt was not Rome, itwas the world of sin that they would leave behind. They were looking for freedom in the wrong direction. They were waiting for a violent military rebellion when what they really needed was to turn around and go in the right way spiritually, which is what repentance really is. They needed to change the way they thought and lived, radically. John wore the traditional clothes of an Old Testament prophet, and now he was telling them to straighten up, someone far greater than him was about to burst onto the scene. It doesn t appear that even John knew for sure who that someone would be, or what he would be. He did know, however, that what he was doing with the water, symbolizing the willingness of people to turn their lives in another direction, the one to come would do permanently with the power of the Holy Spirit. Israel was waiting for a repeat of the Exodus story, when YHWH would come and free them from their enemies. He would return and live with them just as his presence had dwelt with them in the Tabernacle after the first Exodus. What is clear is that the people of Israel saw John as a prophet like those in the Old Testament who had tried to tell the people that God was more concerned with their heart than with their ritual sacrifices. John quickly became very popular with the common people, as they had been waiting for a prophet like him for a long time. He was not, however, very popular with the Jewish authorities. Preaching a baptism for the forgiveness of sins meant that he was leading a counter-temple movement. He was claiming through his baptism what the Jews believed could only be done at the Temple. The Jews were not ready, and maybe John wasn t either, for what they got in the message of John, and ultimately Jesus. Mark is trying to surprise his readers here into seeing the shock that God was doing a new thing, something no one expected. This was like an alarm clock going off in the middle of the night that no one had anticipated. 1. Why would Mark begin his gospel with two quotes from the Old Testament? What can we learn about his thinking from his decision to do this? 2. What was the meaning and purpose of John s baptism? What did it symbolize for the people of Israel? 3. What would be different about the Messiah s work when he came, according to John?

3 Day 2 - Mark 1:9-13 9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." 12At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. Psalm 2 Matthew 3:13-4:11 Luke 3:21-22; 4:1-12 John 1: What is the significance of Jesus being baptized by John? 2. What does it mean when it says that heaven was torn open? 3. What was the purpose of Jesus going to the desert to be tempted? Have you ever taken some time to meditate on your baptism as the moment when God began to view you as you are in Christ, as his beloved son or daughter? That is an incredible and overwhelming thought. Read back through this passage slowly and think about your own baptism. Insert your name into this passage and think of the full extent of God viewing you as you are in Christ. If you ve yet to be baptized, then meditate on what it would mean to experience this, and ask yourself what you are waiting for. As we read this passage on baptism, it is important to first see it through the eyes of Mark and the early church. They believed that when YHWH looks on believers at baptism, that he looks at us in the same way and says the same thing that he said to Jesus on the day of his baptism: (or daughter),. God does not see us as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Christ. We will need to read the whole story of Mark, including Jesus death and resurrection to fully understand that concept, but this is the core message of the gospel. The early church understood that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he represented his people. What is true of the Messiah is true of his people. The Messiah means the anointed one ; and this was the story of Jesus being anointed with the Holy Spirit and marked out as God s son. The Messiah was referred to as God s son in some biblical passages, including Psalm 2:7. The early Christians would come to understand the concept of Jesus being God s son in a much deeper sense, but his messiahship was always very important to them. It is because he is the Messiah, God s son, that God views us as his children. It is in this moment of his baptism, that Jesus was set apart; his vocation as the Messiah had been confirmed by God and his prophet, John. This is a moment that holds a great deal of significance to who Jesus believes himself to be as he carries out his mission to Jerusalem. Mark uses very Old Testament language when he says that. This shouldn t be taken literally that a door opened in the sky. The term heaven in the Bible usually refers to God s dimension that is behind the ordinary, natural reality. It s more as if what was there all along was suddenly revealed as though it was behind a curtain that was pulled back (see 2 Kings 6:17 for an example). It was if, rather than standing in the middle of the river, Jesus was suddenly standing in the presence of a different reality. Recognizing this reality and living according to it even when we can t see it is a good part of what living by faith is all about. This is anther of the great themes of Mark that he wants us to see as we read his gospel. He wants us to learn to see the life of Jesus in these terms. We need to see beyond the surface, physical reality and see what Jesus was trying to teach and do in the spiritual reality. This is not to completely exclude the physical reality as irrelevant, but rather, it is to teach us to see both realms as real and important. Viewing Mark s words in this way will help us to see, for instance, why Jesus went into the desert. He was acting out (acting out scenes representing Israel was something prophets often did) Israel s exodus from Egypt, particularly, their journey through the wilderness into the promised land. He must go through what Israel went through, become the new Israel in a sense, in order to take Israel s place (thus, the significance of him being there for forty days). He is only able to face this time of loneliness and tempting because he has heard God s words of approval, setting him apart as his own son. The same is true for us. If we don t understand God s view of us as his own beloved sons and daughters, we will not be able to stand up to the siren s call of temptation. We will begin to think that the thing tempting us is something that is more in our best interest, than is following God. The angels that were with him were not able to keep Jesus from being tempted, just as they would not keep him from being crucified, but they were there to assure him that his Father is watching over him. Jesus is able to stand up to the temptation of Satan, and because of this, his defeat of Satan has been set in motion. This is a process that will only end in his resurrection. Mark also adds the detail that It is quite probable that Mark wants us to think of this as a new Eden. Sin had, among many other things, put a wedge between man and animal. Now through the work of God s son who has overcome Satan, the creation is about to be put back to rights. This points to the restored age to come that will be fully realized one day (see Isaiah 11 for a poetic description of the age to come). Through sin, man had been separated from God, from God s will, from other men, and even from the animals. Mark wants us to see that through the work of Christ, all of these things are to be restored.

4 Day 3 - Mark 1: After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" 16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18At once they left their nets and followed him. 19When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22 Luke 5:1-11 John 1: What is the significance of Mark stressing that Jesus began his ministry after John had gone into prison? 2. Consider the different layers of what repent meant to Jesus hearers. If you hear Jesus words with those same points of emphasis, what does repent mean to you now? 3. Why would these four men follow Jesus into such an unknown future? What is Jesus calling you to do, that you have been hesitant to do? Truly following the way of God s kingdom means to completely change the way we think, the way we view the world, and often the way we expect God to work. What are the areas of your thinking and worldview that Jesus is still calling you to change in order to truly fit into his kingdom? Spend some time thinking about not only how you need to change your thinking, but how you can actually accomplish the needed changes in your life. In our society, most of us do not have the same job that our parents had. We foster a mindset of independence and exploration of one s own gifts and passions that was largely unknown in the ancient world. In the time of Jesus, it was probable that fishermen like Andrew, Simon, James, and John were taking part in the family business. Most likely, their families had been involved in fishing in that area going back more generations than they could remember (although being that they were far more aware of their heritage than we are, they might well have known who the first fisherman in the family was). When we understand the culture that this account takes place in, we realize the full shock of what Jesus was asking them. By the second century, It would be normal for families to take their young children to a rabbi to ask them to train their child in Torah (the books of the law of the Old Testament). The rabbi would pick the best of the students and train them in his interpretation of Torah. Those who could not make the cut as rabbis-in-training went back to the family business. The degree to which this would have been fully in place by the time of Jesus is left to some conjecture, but this system would still not have been unknown or unusual at the time of Jesus. What Jesus was doing, then, was common in one respect, but quite radical in another. These men had possibly not made the cut and had returned to the security of the family business. This is what they would do for the rest of their lives, and most likely, what their sons would do. Jesus begins to gather disciples around him, which was not unusual in his society, but it was quite unusual for the teacher to go and call the students. He was calling them to do something crazy: Leave your security, your family business, and your family (family solidarity was an important part of Jewish life). He was asking them to leave the certainty of their current lives for the uncertain future of this new kingdom movement that he was announcing. There are also echoes in this account of the bigger story of Israel, the people of God. Just as Abraham, the ancestor of God s people, was called to leave his country and family to follow God s call, so Peter, John and the others are answering this new call from God to leave their family. Mark is dropping hints that the old way of being the people of God needs to be left behind, that following Jesus is the new way to be God s true people. Jesus timing in beginning all of this is no accident. With John out announcing the coming of the kingdom, Jesus does not need to act, he can bide his time. As soon as John is arrested, however, Jesus swings into action. It is clear that Jesus would have waited upon the Father for a sense of the right time, and this seems to be the clear indicator that his time has come. With John in prison, it was time for Jesus to go public with his vocation as the kingdom announcer. His ministry had officially begun. The message that he begins to announce is to. If we were to walk through the streets of our cities today, telling people to repent, they would probably think we meant something somewhat different than what Jesus first-century audience would have understood. We tend to reduce the word repent to solely the concept of ceasing to sin. Of course, Jesus wanted people to stop sinning but there was more to it than that. He wanted them to turn away from their whole concept of what the kingdom of God was and how it would come about. They had a social and political expectation that was waiting for the kingdom to be led by a great military leader who would defeat Israel s enemies, allow for YHWH to return to Jerusalem, and would set up Israel as the ruler of the nations. Jesus wanted them to abandon that ruinous and fruitless way of thinking. They needed to completely recalibrate their thinking as to what the kingdom of God was. Jesus was also calling them to return to a true loyalty to YHWH. They had come to trust many other things rather than God: their ancestry and family identity, their possession of the land of Palestine, their Temple, and their laws. Jesus was announcing the message that it was time for Israel to repent, to change their way of thinking of what the kingdom of God was all about. He was calling them to trust that God was working in a wonderful new way. To be a part of this, they would have to cut the old ties of what it meant to be God s people. Jesus, then, was calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John to do in their own lives what he was calling the rest of Israel to do on a large, national scale. Jesus was, in fact, beginning the process of gathering a new and reconstituted people of God around him.

5 Day 4 - Mark 1: They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God!" 25"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. 29As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. 32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Luke 4:14-44 Our world is still mired in darkness and evil and is looking for someone with the same kind of healing authority that Jesus demonstrated in his day. Because of the work of Christ, however, these same shrieking forces of evil do not have power and authority, they only have fear and intimidation? How can the church provide the same voice of gentle authority that Jesus brought in his day? How can you bring this same voice of gentle authority to the people in your life that are locked in darkness? Authority and tradition were important concepts in Jewish society. The source of one s authority was something that was of vital importance, especially to the official teacher of the law. Along comes this son of a carpenter that is telling people how the kingdom of God will be and how it will come about. This was a topic of great interest to all of the official teachers of the law, and now this unrecognized teacher is teaching new things, apparently on his own authority. The priests and scribes were the official teachers, along with the Pharisees, who were the self-appointed, but highly respected guardians of Jewish law and traditions. None of these teachers, though, would dare teach on their own authority. They would all say something like, Moses said, or Rabbi so-and-so said. Jesus didn t do that though, and it turned heads. He quietly spoke with a quiet confidence and authority all his own. The official guardians of the Jewish religion refused to recognize this authority that he was exhibiting. In fact, it was usually the most afflicted members of the society that seemed to have no problem recognizing both Jesus and from where his authority came. Mark points out repeatedly in the opening chapters of his book that those who were the most afflicted and those who had been possessed by demons, were the ones who recognized Jesus first. The demons that had come to be in control of these individuals knew immediately who Jesus was, but he did not want them to announce yet who he was. Whoever came to Jesus, whether a demon possessed individual, a woman with a severe fever, or people with any other kinds of sicknesses, they all thronged to Jesus, and he dealt with them all with the same gentle, but effective authority. Because of this, Jesus began to attract large crowds of followers. The fact that he was drawing large crowds would have been a big enough threat, in itself to the authorities, but there was more to it than just that. Jesus had begun an all-out assault against the forces of darkness, evil, and destruction, forces that were crashing in on and crushing the people of Israel. Jesus came as the one with the authority to show these people to safety. He was not so much like a fireman or policeman, but more like one who takes authority in a crisis and begins to lead others to safety, knowing that his actions will cost him his own life. The demons would take their final shot against Jesus at the Cross, challenging his authority for the last time. But it was at that very moment of his death, that he proved his own authority over them and all the forces of evil and destruction. The authority that Jesus was demonstrating caused great fear among Jesus fiercest opponents. They had already decided that his message was far too radical and different, and so, could not be from God. Once they had made that decision, they were backed into a corner when they saw his miraculous healings, his exorcisms, and the fact that he taught with such authority. If it was not from God, which they were convinced it could not be, then from where did his authority and power come? This is the question that the Jewish authorities began to ponder. It is though they had already determined that 2 plus 2 could not equal four, and then began the job of figuring out what the answer must be. 1. Why would Mark include so many accounts of Jesus demonstrating power over demons, when describing his amazing authority? 2. What interesting detail do we learn about Simon (Peter) in this passage? 3. What do you think Jesus main purpose in performing healing miracles was?

6 Day 5 - Mark 1: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" 38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. 40A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." 41Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. 43Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44"See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Leviticus 13:1-46 Leviticus 14: When his disciples found Jesus praying, what did he want to immediately go do? What does this tell us? 2. What is significant about Jesus touching this man? What can we learn from that act? 3. Why did Jesus not want this man to tell what had happened? From where do you receive your strength and security? Is it from God through prayer or is it from other things like friends, self-esteem, money, or something else? Is it better to rely on temporary things that will pass away, or the eternal creator of the universe? It seems kind of obvious when stated in those terms, yet is that really how things are in your life? What do you need to do in order to have the kind of sacrificial prayer life that Jesus had? Any athlete will tell you that championships are not really won during the championship game. That, of course, is not entirely true, but the point they are making is a good one. What they mean by statements like that is that they believe they won their championship during the hard practice times that took place long before the season began. This is when the foundation was laid that enabled them to do the great things they did. Here, Mark is careful to point out that the many spectacular things that Jesus did had a foundation that was laid in solitude. It was his prayer life. We can conclude that his prayer habits were important considering that his closest followers felt it vital to comment on them, pointing to their belief that Jesus prayer habits were the source of his authority and power. What can we learn from Jesus prayer life? Perhaps the most important thing is that his prayer life was costly and sacrificial. It took place early in the morning when he probably would have rather been sleeping. Jesus did not just take a few quick minutes on his way to something else, to sneak in an obligatory prayer. Jesus prayed both after great victories and before great challenges, he didn t just pray when he wanted God to bail him out of a tough situation. It was this incredible commitment to prayer with the Father that enabled Jesus to do what he did and be who he was. This included his ability to encounter the most fearsome forces of evil and to treat everyone with loving kindness, even those who were relegated to the dregs of society because of an illness like leprosy. This passage raises on obvious question. If Jesus was going about announcing this new kingdom movement, why would he strongly warn this man that had been healed of leprosy to be quiet about what Jesus had done? He had also forbade the demons from announcing his identity but why? It seems that it is all tied up in Jesus sense of timing and fulfilling the prophecies. As we will see later in his life, Jesus knew, as a prophet, that he must die in Jerusalem. He also knew that there were many things he had to accomplish before he would die. It was not yet his time. He could not do things that risked his enemies pressing in on him too soon. He didn t want to attract the wrong kind of notice from the wrong kind of people. This action of healing the man with leprosy would certainly do that. Jesus instructions to the man after he heals him seem a bit puzzling. Jesus tells him to. If someone had been cured of blindness or paralysis they could go back to their friends and family and clearly demonstrate that they had been cured. With leprosy, it wasn t that easy. This man could not simply show up in his hometown and claim to be healed. (Jesus act of healing, incidentally, would have been shocking to the original readers, if for no other reason than he touched this man with a highly contagious disease). It would cause deep suspicions amongst the priests and officials. He should go through the proper steps, said Jesus, to be officially accepted as having been healed and accepted back into society. The next time he went to Jerusalem he would make the required sacrifice, thank God officially, and be given a proper endorsement of his clean bill of health. He needed to do all of this in order to keep the law of Moses, to be accepted into his society once again, and to avoid bringing too much premature attention to Jesus. Healing a man of leprosy was dangerous business for Jesus, particularly if the man just began to walk around and tell everyone (which of course he did which caused some trouble to Jesus). This was a clear indicator that Jesus was doing things that only the Temple had the authority to do. Jesus was sending a message that he had the authority that had been previously held by the Temple, but that message could not get out too quickly. Jesus desire to keep his actions quiet wasn t an act of cowardice, it was an act of wisdom. As Mark tells us, though, the word leaked out anyway, yet, Jesus remained confident and focused. We can, no doubt, attribute that in large part, to his depth of prayer life.

7 Day 6 - Mark 2:1-12 1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" Daniel 7 Jeremiah 33 Luke 5: Why does Mark stress the difficulty that these men went through to get their friend to Jesus? 2. Why does Jesus heal the man? What does this tell us about miracles as a whole? 3. Why would Jesus use the phrase son of man here? One detail that we should not overlook in this passage is that when Jesus forgave the man and told him to get up and walk, he did just that. Often times we want to feel God s loving forgiveness, but then we would prefer to stay on our mats and be taken care of. Have you gotten up off of the mat or are you still laying there in some respects. Pray and meditate today about getting up off your mat and discovering where God wants you to go. Mark paints an amazing picture here for us in a very short amount of space. Within this story of faith and healing, we have an extraordinary picture of friendship. Most people who were paralyzed in the first century faced a very difficult life. There was no government organization to help them get a job or give them support. Crippled people were just not thought very highly of at all in that society and were usually relegated to begging to make a living. There was something different about this man, though. Jesus, was no doubt as impressed by their mere friendship as he was their faith. He would surely have been moved by their display of friendship and loyalty to their paralyzed friend. This may have removed some of the sting that this was possibly Jesus own house that had the roof torn up to drop their friend through. Many people speculate that Jesus lived with Peter when he moved to Capernaum, but it is just as likely, if not more so, that he had secured his own small house there. A large crowd had heard that Jesus had returned home and was pressing around his house at all sides. In order to see him, these men dismantled the roof (which may have been Jesus own roof) and dropped their friend through. Jesus was impressed when he saw the faith of these men. This paralytic must have been a special individual to induce that kind of loyalty. To take in the full impact of the situation in real time, however, we must enter the story here from the standpoint of the paralyzed man. He and his friends have gone through a great deal of trouble for the chance to be healed by Jesus. Just then, Jesus sees him and walks over to him. This is it, their hard work has paid off. Except that Jesus says something very unexpected; he tells this man that his. What would your reaction be, especially if you were a Jew that probably saw no particular need for such a thing on a personal level. For the first-century Jew, forgiveness of sins primarily referred to a time when all of Israel was brought back from the exile from God that had been caused by their national sin (see: Lam. 4:22; Jer. 31:31-34; Jer. 33:4-11; Ezek. 36:24-26, 33; Ezek. 37:21-23; Isa. 40:1-2; etc.) He must have been more than a bit bewildered, and probably was disappointed. Mark doesn t tell us the response of the paralyzed man, however, we are left to speculate. He does tell us the response of the. Their response was pretty predictable for teachers of the law at the time. They were deeply offended and consider Jesus statement blasphemous. Forgiving sins were activities of the Temple and of God. How could a man be claiming to do what only God could do at the Temple? This was not only a shot at their religious beliefs, their political and social beliefs were all tied up together in their beliefs about the Temple. Jesus claiming to forgive sins would be like if you began to issue driver s licenses and marriage certificates with your name on them. These are functions of the state. In the same way, sins could only be forgiven by the priests as an official Temple activity in the worldview of the Jews. The key sentence in this passage is verse 10:. To understand what Jesus meant by this phrase, we have to look at Daniel 7, which provides us with the deeper meaning. In that passage, one like a son of man is the representative of God s true people. He is opposed by evil, but God vindicates him, rescues him, and gives him authority. This authority, according to Daniel, gives him the right to dispense God s judgment. He is also seen, in this passage in Mark, dispensing God s forgiveness. Jesus offering to forgive sins, then, is far more than some crackpot claiming to be God. Jesus was ripping a hole far bigger than the one in the roof, right through the very worldview of first-century Israel. He was again, in another way, symbolically telling the people around him that God s kingdom was going to be a far different deal than they had expected, and that he was the one with the power and authority to announce and institute it. And, perhaps the most shocking things of all was that this kingdom was there now. One other thing in this passage is worth noting. Mark does here what he does several other times in his gospel. He gives this account in such a way that it becomes a signpost to the larger story he is relating. This story becomes a smaller version of the book as a whole. He shows us Jesus teaching and healing, being charged with blasphemy, and finally being vindicated. The healing of this man points forward to the new life that Jesus will grasp at the resurrection and then share with whosoever will.

8 Day 7 - Mark 2: Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:9-13 Luke 5:27-32 There are certain jobs that are pretty thankless. I think of a sports referee, where no matter what call you make, half of the fans are angry at you. Another example of that would be a parking meter attendant. No one is happy to see these people. If they have any interaction with the public it is usually to be yelled at or castigated. Most people revile parking meter attendants, it is just the nature of their job. They are out to write tickets that will collect money from people, and no one likes to pay more than they feel they should have to. This was the type of job that Levi (Matthew) had. As a tax collector in Capernaum he was reviled by everyone, with the exception of other tax collectors. Part of this comes from the man he was probably working for, Herod Antipas. When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., his kingdom was divided between his three sons: Judea in the south went to Archalaus; Galilee in the north went to Antipas; and what we now call the Golan Heights went to Philip. Capernaum was part of Antipas territory, right on the border between his land and Philip s. People traveling from one area into the other would have to stop and pay a toll in Capernaum. It is probable that many people would remember when that journey could be made for free. Now they had to pay a toll to a man who represented a king that was not liked by the people. Even worse for these tax collectors was the fact that they were backed by the power of the Roman Empire. In the minds of the people then, these tax collectors were traitors to their people because they were working in collusion with the hated occupiers of the land of Israel. Due to the incredible power of the Roman Empire, however, there was nothing that an average citizen could do. Their anger and frustration would boil just below the surface, and guess who it would often spill out on? It was tax collectors like Levi. They took a great deal of abuse, verbal and otherwise, and were nearly outcasts in the society. So much so, that in first-century Judaism, one s entire house would be considered ceremonially unclean if a tax collector entered the house. 1. Why might Jesus have chosen a tax collector to be one of his followers? 2. Who are the people in our society that are looked down upon the way tax collectors and prostitutes were in the first century? Do you treat those people the way everyone else does or the way that Jesus would? 3. What did Jesus mean by saying that he came to the sick, not the healthy, considering that there is, in reality, no one who is righteous? Levi had one of those jobs that made it easy for people to, at worst, despise him, and, at best, ignore him. How do you treat people that others tend to dislike or ignore? Do you take special time to get to know and appreciate them or do you treat them like everyone else does? Take some time this week to notice people that are ignored or mistreated by most people. Treat them with the same love and respect that Jesus showed to the tax collectors of his day. Suddenly though, a man comes to Levi one day and doesn t abuse or mistreat him. No, he actually comes right to him, speaks to him like a human being, and invites him to follow him and to learn from him. Students of a rabbi, were expected to follow their teacher so closely that if the dust came off the rabbi s shoes, it would land on theirs. They would follow their teacher and learn how he did everything. This was Jesus shocking offer to Levi:. There is a deeper point that Mark wants us to catch here, though. Levi had been working for a man who fancied himself the King of the Jews. Now he was being called to follow someone else with designs on that role. Mark is gently moving towards the point in chapter 8, when Jesus followers will finally begin to realize who he is. Part of the problem that the teachers of the law had with Jesus was that he was constantly bucking social standards. He didn t ascribe to a strict observation of the religious requirements or the political expectations of the day. Shunning tax collectors was a form of political protest against Antipas and the Romans. Jesus ministry challenged social expectations and instigated opposition at the social, cultural, political, and religious levels. Jesus response to those critics was vital to his understanding of his vocation. He was a type of doctor that was healing not only physical ailments, but societal ailments of outcasts like Levi, and ultimately the spiritual ailments of all who were willing. There s not much point for a doctor to always be around healthy people. Nor is there much use in a doctor spending time around the sick who won t accept that they are sick. The real place for a doctor to be is among the company of those who are sick, who realize it, and who want to get better.

9 Day 8 - Mark 2: Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?" 19Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 21"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins." Isaiah 58 Matthew 9:14-17 Luke 5: Why were the Pharisees and others so concerned about whether Jesus was observing the fast days? 2. How would Jesus point in verses 21 and 22 relate to churches who try to use modern marketing techniques in order to bring people to church? 3. How does Jesus point in verses 21 and 22 relate to a member of God s kingdom and their conception of wealth and success in the world? We can be just as guilty of trying to combine our old ways of thinking with God s new way of being human as a part of his kingdom. In what areas do you most struggle with thinking about the world the way the rest of the world does, rather than seeing things through the eyes of the kingdom of God? How can you transform your thinking in those areas? Observing fasts was a deeply cherished part of Jewish society. A Jew who didn t observe the law, the Sabbath, and certain social expectations like fasting was considered to be a traitor to Jewish identity. They were striking a blow at the very heart of what it meant to be the people of God. This was of particular concern for the Pharisees. They were of the belief that it was a lack of observing God s law that caused the delay of YHWH returning to Israel and instituting the age to come. They believed that if all of Israel would observe all of the law for one day, then God would return. If some hotshot was going around teaching that this long-awaited kingdom of God was at hand, then they wanted to make sure that he was holding people to the law. What they found to their horror, however, was that he seemed to be playing fast-and-loose with the various ways of observing the law. This is why Jesus was asked about his lack of observing the normal two-a-week fasts observed by John s disciples and the Pharisees. In answering, Jesus accomplishes two things. First, he compares his own ministry to a wedding party in which he is the groom. Second, he explains why his followers were not keeping the fast days that most devout Jews would have observed. There was no mistake in Jesus comparison of his ministry to a wedding celebration. Weddings say something good about the world. They signify a new beginning. It should be of no surprise, then, that many Jews by Jesus time used a picture of a great wedding to describe the age to come. God s wonderful, new, restored creation could best be described in terms of a great wedding feast. Jesus is doing something else here, though. It was also common to describe Israel as God s bride. They were sometimes wayward and unfaithful, but God would win her back to his side one day. That would be the day of the great wedding. By comparing himself to a bridegroom, Jesus is wafting out some new but rather clear teachings into the air. Israel needs to rethink how the groom is going to return and what exactly that wedding will look like. Jesus was redefining what that great time of restoration would look like. The time Israel had been longing for had come if they could only see it. This sets us up to make more sense of two quick word pictures that Jesus paints. The first involves an everyday idea like patching up a rip in an old article of clothing. Jesus, as he so often did, used a simple example from everyday life. You can t take a new piece of cloth to patch up a tear in an old garment. When the new patch shrinks (as it will surely do) it will make a worse rip than the one you started with. Jesus isn t suggesting that you need an old patch to go with the old garment, his simple point was that old and new don t mix. Putting them together has disastrous results. He continues this thought in describing the wineskins. Putting new wine in old skins will get you nothing but burst skins. The old way of thinking simply cannot contain this new concept of God s kingdom that Jesus is teaching. God has indeed returned for the great day of restoration but it is in a very different way than anyone had expected. The wedding was at hand, but not at all in the way that they had thought. The bridegroom was nothing like what they were expecting. Jesus was telling his listeners that they were going to need to listen carefully to him, and to completely change their thinking in order to contain this new concept of the kingdom. It simply would not fit in any way, shape, or form, into their old ways of thinking.

10 Day 9 - Mark 2: One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" 25He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." 27Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." 1 Samuel 21:1-9 1 Samuel 22:6-23 If someone were to read the New Testament without a decent understanding of the Pharisees, they might get the impression that they were some sort of secret police. It almost seems like they were spying around on Jesus and his followers waiting for them to break the law so that they could drop the hammer. The impression that they were a sort of official secret police force, however, would be a mistaken impression. The Pharisees were actually an unofficial group. They had no basis in the law itself. They were, in reality, self-appointed guardians of the law. They had been around for almost 200 years by the time of Jesus but they had no official authority. They could not make laws nor did they have the power to enforce the laws. What they did have, though, was the power of public opinion. The Pharisees were extremely influential with the common people of Jesus day. These people had a great deal of respect for the expertise that the Pharisees had in regard to Israel s ancestral laws and traditions. No, they weren t a police force, but what were they then? It is important to note that many Pharisees were sincere, devout, holy men. There were others, though, that were more like investigative journalists. They wouldn t have bothered following around ordinary people, but Jesus and his followers were clearly not ordinary people. The things that Jesus had done and the claims he was making had set them apart as unique. Just as journalists will go after someone running for political office, Jesus had stuck his head up from the crowd, and so the Pharisees were going to check him out. Keeping the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments and was one of the symbols that set apart the Jews as God s people. They observed the Sabbath to demonstrate that they were God s people and to set them apart from the rest of the pagan nations around them. For the Pharisees, following the various laws of the Torah were more about the political statement of separation from the pagan nations than the actual purity of keeping the law. 1. Why were the Pharisees apparently following Jesus? 2. Why did Jesus tell a story about David, what was his specific purpose in bringing up a story about this King? 3. If Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, what does that mean for us, today? The Commandment concerning the Sabbath called for people to honor it and keep it holy. The point of the New Testament is fairly clear that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath, our rest. To honor the Sabbath for us, then, means to honor Christ, not just one day a week but all the time. Does that sound like your life? Do you honor Jesus in everything you do? What areas of your life would not be honoring to Jesus? In what areas of your life do you seek to find rest in things or people other than Jesus Christ? When asked, Jesus doesn t deny that he and his followers were stepping outside of the boundaries of normal Sabbath observance. He admits that much, but he appeals to special circumstances and implies that these special circumstances should apply to him as well. What Jesus was not doing was providing a legal parallel from history to create a legal loophole. He was giving the Pharisees a kingdom-parallel in what, for him, was a clear kingdom-case. The circumstances to which he appeals are from the life of King David. The story comes from 1 Samuel 21, a time in David s life when he had already been anointed as king, but had yet to take the throne. He was on the run from Saul, gathering support, and waiting for his time to come. The point that Jesus is making is not so much about the fact that David went outside of normal Sabbath rules. He is making that point, but he is doing so much more than that. Jesus is clearly identifying himself with King David, implying his kingdom aspirations. He is saying that he is the true King. He has been anointed at his baptism as God s chosen one, but has yet to be recognized by the people and has not yet been enthroned. He has the right, as did David, to go around the normal Sabbath regulations. Rather than this being an example of Jesus lack of respect for the law, we find that it was, in fact, a deliberate sign just like the refusal of Jesus and his disciples to fast. The real King was here. God s kingdom was coming, but in a different way than anyone expected. This leads to Jesus final statement in this passage:. This is the second time Mark has used the phrase, the son of man, and the point is clear. Jesus is saying that the Messiah, the one who would represent the people of God, has the authority over institutions that had been turned on their head to repress people. The Sabbath was meant as a sign to point to the Messiah, not to be seen as the point itself. A new day was dawning and even Israel s God-given laws would be seen in a new light. When the light is present the shadows are no longer needed. The Sabbath rest was no longer needed in the same way now that the Messiah, the true place of rest for God s people was here. This is yet another example (of which Mark will give us many) of Jesus redefining Israel and what it meant to be Israel through the reality of his ministry and followers.

11 Day 10 - Mark 3:1-6 1Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." 4Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. 5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Exodus 20:8-11 Exodus 31:12-18 Colossians 2:16-19 Hebrews 4: Why do you think that Mark often includes the detail that Jesus was often going into or coming out of the synagogue? 2. What does Jesus view of the Sabbath mean for us when it comes to our view of the rules when it comes to church? 3. Mark tells us that Jesus was angry and deeply distressed, what does this do for your perception of Jesus? Why was Jesus angry? What does observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy mean for us today? If we consider the passage in the background reading from Hebrews 4, how can we think about and observe the Sabbath? The tendency for most people when it comes to observing religious regulations like the Sabbath is to take a bit more of a liberal view of it in reality than the one that they claim to hold in public. When asked, people will usually uphold the ideal, while in reality, living out a far lower standard. What is perhaps shocking about Jesus when it comes to the issue of the Sabbath is that he takes a surprisingly lenient stance. Whenever he is faced with the question of Sabbath observance, he upholds the unique view he had on the Sabbath, rather than affirming the ideal, while living something differently. His actions and his rhetoric were equally liberal in Sabbath observance. Jesus stance on the Sabbath is usually made worse by the fact that most modern Christians are a bit confused by the whole subject, especially what it means for the Christian today. Most Christians have a sense that the Old Testament Sabbath observance is no longer necessary, but do tend to believe that one day off a week is a good idea. We re just not sure how to best achieve that or if it is an actual command or a suggestion under the New Covenant. To really understand the situation here, though, we have to move beyond what the Sabbath might mean for us and look at what it meant to the first-century Jew. There were certainly elements of social pressure and legal punishments for breaking those societal standards, but it meant more than that. Observing the Sabbath was like a national flag. It was a mark of being Jewish that set them apart from all other nations and people. It pointed ahead to the time when God would come in his kingdom and restore all of creation. It looked back to the original creation and to the Exodus from Egypt, and specifically marked out those who observed the Sabbath as the special people of God. It was seen as marking out the march of time, under God s control, as time rolled on from the original Sabbath when God rested right up until the final Sabbath when God made all things new. These were God s faithful people who held the hope of the age to come. So why does Jesus always seem to drive a huge hole right through it? It is because it had become a weapon rather than a source of rest. It had become a sign of the Jewish nationalism that had become exclusive rather than inclusive. The purpose of Israel was to be a light to the world but they had, instead, come to see themselves as the children of the light, while the rest of the world remained rightfully in the dark. Rather than the Sabbath being a sign of Covenant that pointed to the age to come when God would rule, it had become a list of oppressive rules designed to show which people were the right kind of Jews. Mark doesn t tell us exactly what Jesus did in healing this man s hand, but whatever it was, it seems that he didn t break Sabbath observance in any way. Their problem with him seems more ideological than any real violation on his part. Jesus is distressed at their stubborn hearts. This was a common charge for prophets to level at law-breaking Israelites of their day. They are unable to see what God is doing right in front of them, so he asks them, The answer in Jesus mind is obvious, and if they don t see that, then their interpretation of Sabbath observance is clearly wrong. At the end of this account, Mark hands us a very curious detail. He says that. Why would these two groups that did not get along well do this? It is because the Pharisees were an unofficial body and had no power of themselves. If they were going to get anything done in stopping Jesus, they had to make alliances, even if meant making alliances with traditional enemies of theirs. They were truly willing to live up to the old saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This is certainly a foreshadowing of events to come when Caiaphas and Pilate worked together to crucify Jesus. The Pharisees would, in fact, continue the same strategy when the Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, received authority from the chief priests to carry out the persecution of the Church.

12 Day 11 - Mark 3:7-19 7Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. 13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve designating them apostles that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter) 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Genesis 49: What message might Jesus have been sending to his followers by taking them to a place where revolutionaries often went to plot? 2. Why does Mark continually stress that the evil spirits were able to recognize Jesus true identity long before his followers? 3. What was the symbolism of Jesus choosing twelve followers? Jesus was very adept at announcing symbolically, exactly what he was doing. This was often a far more powerful than mere words. How can you announce God s great restoration project that is available to all men? How can you symbolically demonstrate to the lost souls around you that the exile between them and God is over? What kind of people draw big crowds when they go out in public these days? Athletes certainly do. Perhaps the biggest crowds are drawn by movie stars and musicians. Occasionally even certain politicians might draw a crowd. One group that rarely draws a crowd everywhere they go are religious leaders. Jesus was able to do this, though. Mark stresses time and again that word had gotten out about Jesus. He was pressed in by crowds on every side. Despite his best efforts to keep things relatively quiet, word had spread by the way things spread best back then: word of mouth. Everyone was talking about this healer and teacher. One of the main reasons for his popularity was his ability to heal. In a time when medical care was suspect at best, and downright primitive at worst, word of someone who could actually heal diseases got around fast. Word went from town to town, village to village like wild fire, until people were descending on the little town on the Sea of Galilee from all over the region. They were coming in eager expectation of being healed by this wonder worker. Mark reminds us though, that in everything Jesus did, there was always a darker side present. Jesus was obviously healing these people by operating on a deep spiritual plane, he was no ordinary doctor. Once you engage in the spiritual world, however, you become open to the ever-present evil forces as well. These demons were called (or quite literally, unclean). This demonstrates two things for us. The first is that these were non-physical, bodiless spirits that operated upon, and often, from within a person. Second, these spirits defiled the one they inhabited, making them unclean. They caused people to behave in unhuman ways that betrayed their true calling of being in the image and likeness of God. As we have already seen, these evil spirits knew exactly who Jesus was, long before anyone else. It seems to be that way quite often in life, where people trying to serve God are attacked by the forces of evil, who see their potential, long before anyone sees the positive marks of God in their life. The spirits that were encountered by Jesus seem quite fearful, recognizing the power of who he was, the, the Messiah, the true King of Israel. Mark stresses, once again for us to see, that most people did not yet know who Jesus truly was, even though he had clearly begun to give the signs of his true identity. Jesus continues to tell them to be quiet. He does not want Antipas to hear these claims just yet. There is also another element to his demand for silence. Jesus knows that his followers need to discover for themselves who Jesus is. This is not something that can be simply told to them. Mark now switches to another story with similar meanings to the first. Jesus took his followers up to the. This was no vacation by the lake, however. In the first century, leaders of movements didn t take their followers to the hills around the lake for relaxation, they went to plot revolutions. This is precisely what Jesus was doing, as he makes one of his most symbolically revolutionary moves. How does Jesus appointment of twelve apostles come off as a clear revolutionary symbol to the people of his time? Every single Jew immediately knew the significance of the number twelve. This was the number of the sons of Jacob in the book of Genesis. From his sons, came the twelve tribes of Israel, into which Israel had been traditionally been organized. Ten of the tribes had been lost when the Assyrians had invaded Israel and taken them into captivity, but the prophets often spoke of the coming restoration when God would once again make Israel a great nation. When Jesus takes his disciples into the hillside and sets aside twelve of them for a special purpose, no one would have missed what he was doing. This was far more than just a great healing or spiritual movement. He was signifying that this was the great restoration for which Israel had been waiting. His revolution was taking place at every level: spiritual, physical, social, and political. Any restoration movement, including Jesus, was also a denunciation of the current powers-that-be. Jesus took his followers into those hills for the same reason that others of his day did: to craft his movement into a truly revolutionary group away from the watching eyes of the authorities. He was, in short, redefining the nation of Israel. He was, in a powerfully symbolic way, saying that his kingdom movement was the new and true Israel. Even here, though, we are reminded of the ever-present evil lurking around Jesus all the time. One of his own inner circle, Judas Iscariot, would eventually give in to the evil forces and betray him.

13 Day 12 - Mark 3: Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." 22And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." 23So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." 30He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit." Matthew 12:22-37 Luke 11: What would be your response if you were following God in a righteous manner, and people at your school or work began to spread around that you were insane or part of a cult? 2. Why do you think Jesus told a parable here rather than just denying their accusations straight out? 3. Considering what Jesus meant by blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, how do you think this statement would have been taken by those that he was implying were in danger of getting to that point. When confronted here by slanderous accusations, Jesus didn t respond with labels of his own for them, he coolly and calmly dismantled their faulty thinking. How do you react when people say unkind or untrue things about you? Do you get angry and respond back in kind, or do you respond more in a manner like Jesus did? We ve all heard the saying a face only their mother could love. The point of that often true saying is that a person s mother is usually their biggest supporter, their biggest fan. When the chips are down and everyone else has abandoned you, you can always count on your mother. This must have been a tough time for Jesus. Just as his ministry is really getting rolling, and so is the opposition to what he is doing, his own family, including his mother begins to question his sanity. The things that he is saying are so radical, so new that they came to the conclusion that perhaps he was out of his mind. If they were to question him, what was the general public to think? A detail like this clues us into three things about the life of Jesus. The first thing is that we can conclude that Jesus had a pretty normal life before his baptism and before his ministry began. Some of the Gnostic gospels, written hundreds of years after his life, claimed that Jesus performed many miracles as even a small child. Even some popular Christmas songs give us a myth of the child Jesus, with lines like the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes. If Jesus had shown special God-like qualities while growing up, we can safely assume that his family would not have come to the conclusion that he was crazy. The second thing we can learn is that the accounts of Jesus life weren t made up. Certainly if they were fabricated, the gospel writers wouldn t have included details like Jesus being accused of working with Satan or that his own family thought he was. The third thing is that people only accuse others of being crazy or satanic when things are going on that they can t explain through normal circumstances. Mark wants us to know precisely what is going on. In Mark 1:7, he says that John the Baptist said Jesus was more powerful than he. Now, Jesus is talking about a stronger man that ties up the strong man. He uses the same word in chapter 1 and this chapter,, which means strong or mighty. Mark intends for us to see that Jesus is telling his listeners that he is the stronger man, who has won an initial victory over Satan. When Satan came to Jesus after his baptism, just as he had come to Adam and Eve in the Garden, his intention was to tempt him into sin just as he had Adam and Eve. Satan failed, however, and Jesus had won an important and decisive victory. Due to that victory he is now able to make inroads into Satan s territory. One of Israel s expectations was that the Messiah would defeat Israel s enemies. This is precisely what Jesus is doing here. He is taking on Israel s true enemy, even if they don t realize that Satan and not Rome is their primary enemy. The teachers of the law have already decided that they are apposed to anything Jesus says, so they must find a way to discount him in the minds of the people. The people have seen him perform many signs and wonders so they cannot simply claim that these things did not happen or that someone is making it all up. They are left with making accusations about Jesus character. They begin to charge that Jesus has indeed done many seemingly incredible things, but only because he is in league with Satan. Perhaps he s even demon-possessed. Jesus doesn t respond back with a nasty label for the Pharisees, he points out a fatal flaw in their logic. If Satan were to cast out and work against the forces of evil, then he would be fighting himself. Once civil war breaks out in a kingdom, it is a signal of the end of that kingdom. So, even if Satan is fighting against himself, then his kingdom is still coming to an end. Even if the teachers are correct in their accusations, Satan s kingdom is crumbling, and the only thing that could cause that is God. In essence, Jesus is saying that God s kingdom is coming through his work, no matter how they want to label him. We know, of course, that their labeling of him was wrong. Jesus was the stronger one that was attacking the kingdom of Satan. The strong one has had his house broken into and found that there is nothing he can do about it. What about this business of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Many a good Christian has worried themselves over whether or not they have committed this sin. The point is not as mysterious as some would have it be. Once you have attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, there is no place to turn. They have painted themselves into a corner. It is like deciding that someone hates you, no matter what they do, you will perceive it as more of their hate. In the same way, once you label the coming of God s kingdom as evil, there is no way to see God. They were blind to the truth, like a patient who has decided that the doctor who is trying to save their life is really trying to kill them. They are biting the very hand that is trying to feed them.

14 Day 13 - Mark 3: Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." Matthew 12:46-49 Psalm Are you more like Jesus family here (holding to societal expectations and viewing the true gospel as too radical) or like Jesus (challenging the old way and embracing God s new thing)? 2. What relationships do you tend to rely on and put ahead of your loyalty to those who do the will of the Father? 3. What do you suppose was the response of Jesus family to his words here? How do you think they felt? Many people struggle with this concept, even in our society, that God s people are to be our new family without regard to the family in which we were born (this does not mean we disrespect or disassociate with our biological families, it speaks to our primary loyalty). For others, moving loyalties from old friendships to new one s in God s kingdom are the challenge. Where do your loyalties lie? Who are your best friends? Do you have the same view that Jesus did of who your mother and brothers are? The goal for most American families is to raise up their children so that they are happy, responsible adults, capable of leaving home and starting their own family. For most of us it is a common thing to create a new circle of friends and support that are quite separate from the family that we grew up with. These are the people that become our new inner circle and know us far better than the parents and siblings that we knew as young people. We keep in touch with our families, no doubt, but usually only a few times a year. In fact, most young people even look forward to the time when they can separate from their parents and go off in life to make their own way, to find their own job, and find their own friends. For a society that lives like that, Jesus words and actions here don t seem like that big of a deal. We pass over them with little more than a passing thought that perhaps he was letting the people of his time know that his followers were very important to him. For us, what Jesus is doing here really loses most of its original sting. The fact is, this wasn t a mildly interesting statement from Jesus. In his first century setting, this was absolutely scandalous. We must remember that Jesus lived in a culture where loyalty to family was part of the very fabric of life. Children grew up and remained very close to their parents their whole lives, sometimes still living in their house until their parents died. In fact a typical first-century Jewish home might have rooms for the family members that would all live together in one house. The family unit was also often the family business. Male children took up the family business and continued it on for generations, while the women married off into their husband s family. For the Jews, though, the concept of family ran much deeper than that. It was tied up in the way that they interpreted the fifth commandment to honor father and mother. Solidarity to family was right up there with Sabbath observance as a marker of being a true and loyal Jew. The family unit was a special part of the way that God had organized his people and if that was broken, then an important part of being God s people was shattered. Being loyal to family meant being loyal to God and his people. Not being loyal to family meant not being loyal to God and betraying your people. It is in this culture that Jesus makes these statements. Mark has already told us that Jesus family considered the possibility that he had gone mad. Now we learn that they actually came to see him. We can assume that they were coming to get him and take him back with them. Mary clearly didn t have a clue as to what Jesus was doing in his ministry, at least not at this point. When Jesus says, we must not miss the shock of these words. Jesus was cutting right into the heart of what it meant to be God s people. Just as he would challenge other symbols of being Jewish like Sabbath observance and the food laws, he was now challenging another integral part of being the people of God. Jesus is sending a very clear signal. He has a new vocation in which he is announcing the new thing that God is doing. He is redefining in a spectacular way what it means to be a family. God, Jesus is letting people know, is starting a new family, a new holy people. There is to be no regard for the traditional family ties in relation to being the people of God. The followers of Jesus are your new family, the new holy people of God. Although Jesus didn t begin the Church, his followers did, Jesus clearly lays the foundation for the way that Christians should view one another. We are not just fellow members of a religious movement. We are members of the same family; a family that has been radically redefined by Jesus. Mark sets up a clear distinction between who is on the inside of this new movement and who is on the outside. He will continue to expound on that concept: the true gospel will divide families not bring them closer together in the old way.

15 Day 14 - Mark 4:1-20 1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." 9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that, " 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" 13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." Isaiah 5 Isaiah 40 Isaiah 55:10-11 Jesus words were so dramatic and subversive, so unexpected that he needed to wrap them in coded language so that only those with faith would fully understand. Is what we are saying so subversive and unconventional that we need to be discerning about how we say it? If it s not, perhaps we re not really spreading the same gospel that Jesus was. I had one semester while teaching high school history that will certainly not ever be inducted into the hall of fame of great teaching moments. I had decided to attempt to teach a unit on political cartoons. This was a pretty bold move considering the inner-city environment of the high school at which I was teaching. The thing didn t turn out to be a total disaster but it was a pretty tough unit. The primary problem was that the students had an extremely difficult time understanding the true point of the cartoons. They just could never get it. The real problem was not that they weren t intelligent enough to understand them, it was that they hadn t been exposed to enough culture and history to be able to identify the symbols that most political cartoons use. For instance, when they saw a big elephant in a suit they weren t thinking about the Republican Party, they just saw a big elephant in a suit. They would miss the entire point of the symbol. The people of the ancient world were no strangers to symbols either. It was very common to use symbols like animals to tell stories about nations and kingdoms. There are many examples of this in the Old Testament. Jesus used symbols like this quite often in his parables as well. Quite often, Jesus took his symbols from older Old Testament symbols. The picture of God sowing the seed of Israel is a familiar one, particularly in the book of Isaiah. After many years of exile, God would restore the fortunes of his people. Like Isaiah 55 says: As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty. In the same way, this is a story about the word that produces fruit, even though the grass will wither and flowers will fade. The big problem for Israel was that Jesus vision of how God was sowing his word was radically different from what they expected. They wanted all the flash and dash of the glory cloud from Exodus when God would come in dramatic fashion and destroy all of their enemies, restoring Israel to their rightful place as God s true people. Jesus has something else in mind, though. God s word is more like a seed hidden in the soil. It will apparently go to waste if the soil receiving it isn t good and able to sustain it. Jesus wasn t offering a timeless truth on how people listen to sermons (although it might certainly apply to that) he was giving a specific word-picture story on what was happening to the crowds as he was announcing God s coming kingdom. He is telling them that for them being a part of the kingdom wasn t automatic. It was available to all but not an universal birthright for the Jews. Jesus was not only describing the division that the word of God would create, but his parables were part of the process. Not everyone who hears will take the seed to heart and produce fruit. Some may hear but not understand. But why would Jesus do that, doesn t he want everyone to understand? Yes, and no. His concept of the kingdom was too radical to be said out in the open. If the authorities like Herod Antipas heard of his kingdom movement it would be too dangerous. Yet, it was so radical that if said in a straightforward manner, the regular people would be furious as well. He was saying that Israel was out as the children of God. God was doing a new thing and they may or may not be included. This was the secret of the kingdom, then. It would be a spiritual kingdom that was far different than anything they had imagined, and they had better prepare their hearts for it or they would be left out. 1. Why did Jesus use such coded language when speaking? 2. How can Jesus message to the Jews about the seed and good soil apply to our vocation as kingdom announcers? 3. Why did Jesus apparently not want everyone to understand his message?

16 Day 15 - Mark 4: He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? 22For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." 24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." Isaiah 51:1-16 Isaiah 60 Throughout their history, the nation of Israel had a clear vocation: they were to be the light of the world. It was God s intentions that, armed with Torah (the Old Testament Law) and the prophets, Israel would show the entire world how to be the people of God. They never really got that right, however. This was an integral part of Jesus kingdom message. Rather than being a lighthouse to the world, a city on a hill, they had shined the light on themselves and then looked down on those in the dark. Jesus, then, is giving a clear message about his version of God s kingdom. He was giving them this message in secret now, but it should not always remain that way, nor would it. The whole reason for announcing God s kingdom was to bring God s light to the world. In pointing out how silly it is to cover a lamp, Jesus is simultaneously telling them about his kingdom announcement, but he is also condemning the way that Israel had handled the light that God had given them. Jesus words here are both a promise and a warning. He is informing his disciples that they needn t worry, this radical message of the kingdom of God will go public soon enough; that is the promise. But the warning is that they had better be listening because they will need to know and understand what this kingdom is all about. But it s not just about listening, because everyone has ears. What did Jesus mean, then, by saying? He is talking about listening with your spiritual ears, going beyond the surface meaning and listening to what he is really saying. If you thought Jesus remarks about hearing were a bit cryptic, it gets even more so in his next statement. He warns his listeners to listen carefully to his message because. What Jesus seems to be saying to his disciples is that they need to pay attention to what he is teaching them because they will receive the benefits of the kingdom to that same level. 1. In what ways do you tend to put the lamp of God s kingdom under a bowl? 2. What do you think Jesus would say about your zeal and effort in going deeper into his words and the other writings of the New Testament? 3. Spend some time considering whether the amount of faith and desire you have put into knowing Jesus teachings have kept you from some of the benefits of the kingdom. Do you have a passion to constantly go deeper and deeper with God s word, or are you content to stay at a very surface level? Challenge yourself to go deeper into your knowledge of God s word. You can never know too much. Create a plan to go deeper into the word of God, whether it be more Bible reading, reading deeper-level books about the Bible, or finding someone to teach you more. There are two things that we can glean from that concept. The first is that Jesus is implying that he is saying what he is saying because Israel did not pay attention to God s word and did not receive the benefits that he had in store for them. The second thing is that just as this concept was true for Israel and for Jesus first disciples, so it is true for us. Our knowledge of the word of God, and the degree to which we pay attention to it and apply it in our lives, will always be equal to our level of holiness and our ability to enjoy the spiritual benefits of God s kingdom. This does not mean to imply that this is all a matter of our own effort or that Jesus is instituting a principle of getting out what we put in. That leaves no room for God s grace and the Holy Spirit. Rather he was saying that if they take in Jesus words and go deeper and deeper with it, they will get more and more back from God. If, however, they remain at a superficial level, they will be no better off than the crowds who are hearing but not comprehending. They will lose out on the new thing that God is doing in their midst right now. God had once sown Israel, but they did not go deeper with his word. They did not hear what he was saying. Instead they stayed at a superficial level and did what they wanted to with his word. Jesus was giving a promise here that his kingdom would not be like that, but he was also warning that if people did act that way, they would find themselves outside of the kingdom. Once again, Mark wants us to see the lines of distinction that Jesus gospel draws wherever they go.

17 Day 16 - Mark 4: He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." 30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." 33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. Genesis 1:4-18 Isaiah 40:18 Ezekiel 17:22-24; 31:3-6 Daniel 4:10-22; 12:1-4 Joel 3: Why would Jesus drop hints of the general resurrection in a story about the kingdom? How are these two concepts related? 2. How can the kingdom of God be like a mustard seed in your life? 3. Why do you think Jesus spoke only in parables to the crowds, but then explained everything to his disciples in private? For us, the kingdom of God often acts in our lives in the same way that Jesus described it would be at its onset. It starts out small and seemingly insignificant. It can appear, even to us, that it has had no real effect in our lives. What we need to do is give it time and have faith that it will produce a mighty crop in our lives. Have you been impatient in your own life, waiting for the kingdom to have an effect? Have you been expecting something grander and more immediate? Have faith that God s seed will produce a great harvest in your own life. Mark continues on the theme of hidden things that cannot really be seen. He wants us to really understand the concept of the secret message of the kingdom. We have to want to know what Jesus is talking about in order to see or understand it. The first story is about a seed that is dropped into the ground and goes about its business away from the sight of anyone. The second story is about another small and seemingly insignificant seed that becomes bigger than anyone would have imagined once it emerges from its secret place in the soil. Just like his other parables, the surface meaning of these parables is pretty obvious. It is only when we begin to peel away the layers that we see the true depth of meaning that Jesus intended. We can surmise that many people in the crowds listening to Jesus had the same trouble that we do today peeling back the many layers, that is why Jesus often had to fully explain things to his disciples in private. Jesus wasn t being cryptic and difficult just for the sake of it. His message was so volatile and explosive that he was saying it in the only way that it could be said. The first story is about a seed that grows in secret. It seems innocent and straightforward enough. The seed grows in the ground, unobserved, doing its work. Eventually it appears,. Once it is, it is time for the. Once we begin to peel the layers back, however, we see far more than we might have picked up at first. The language of the sickle being put to the grain comes from Joel 3:13, near the end of the passage Joel promises that after a time of devastation on God s people, God would pour out his Spirit and restore them, reaping a harvest of judgment on the nations. This is exactly what the Jews were waiting for. Jesus is telling them that this awaited judgment will come, but not in the way that they expect. In fact, Mark is setting us up for the information that Jesus will reveal later in the book: Israel has become the enemy of God that will be judged in the great and mighty day of the Lord. The second layer within the story has to do with the seed germinating and growing. The farmer goes to bed, gets up, and repeats that cycle day and night, but. What the farmer doesn t realize is that the seed sleeps and then gets up, just as the farmer does. It sleeps in the soil and then gets up. This is how God s creation has worked since the very beginning: night and day; sowing and harvesting, mirroring one another within God s ordered creation. But, what does this have to do with the kingdom? The word translated get up here is, which is a normal word for resurrection. The resurrection, in Jewish thinking, had to do with the age to come when God would reverse Israel s fortunes and make all things new. Jesus point is that although his ministry doesn t look like the type of kingdom movement that people were expecting, it was the time for the sowing of God s long-awaited promise. The crowds wouldn t be able to see any of that from this seed but it would grow, and the harvest would come. The age to come was very near and it would open the door to the great resurrection that had been promised in Daniel 12. There are also deeper layers in the second parable worth looking at. Isaiah asks (Is. 40:18) what God could be compared to. It is no accident that Jesus question about the kingdom of God echoes this question. He is offering a fresh vision of what God and his promised age to come would look like and how it would come. No one should look at the small beginnings of Jesus ministry and say that it was incapable of growing into God s kingdom movement. Whether they realized it or not, it would come and grow into a large plant, big enough for the birds of the air to nest in. Ezekiel and Daniel both used the image of a great kingdom growing like a tree, offering shade and shelter for all those who came under its branches. Jesus is assuring his followers that although the beginning seems very small, it will grow into a great tree that will offer protection to the whole world.

18 Day 17 - Mark 4: That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" Psalm 65:5-9 Psalm 89:8-9 Psalm 93 Psalm 107: What do you think the people on the other boats (v. 36) were feeling during this storm? 2. How do the passages from the Psalms relate to this passage? 3. Do you think that Jesus (and Mark by recording it) were making a connection between fear and faith? What do you think that connection is? When the storms of life rage around you do you lack faith? We all do at times. What this passage in Mark invites us to do is to realize that when we are lacking in faith, that is the time to realize who Jesus is and turn to him. When you do, don t be surprised that when you call out to him, you ll find that he was right there all along, waiting for your call. Don t be surprised when the storm subsides. And definitely, don t be surprised when God raises the clear question in your heart: Do you still have no faith? A few years ago, while we were in Memphis, we experienced a bizarre meteorological event. We were outside, enjoying a beautifully warm and sunny day. In a matter of minutes, the whether switched to a severe storm with high winds and nearly golf ball sized hail. Those familiar with the Sea of Galilee have come to accept that storms like that can whip up out of nowhere. What was just a nice day can turn into a storm with high winds in a matter of minutes. Evidently, Jesus and his disciples were caught in one of those high wind storms. The severity of this particular storm is evidenced by the fact that Jesus disciples, which included a good number of seasoned fisherman, were worried that they were going to drown. Mark, no doubt, knew that including a story like this would bring up several Old Testament images. Not the least of these are the echoes of the account of the prophet Jonah. Jonah didn t care for God s plan and so he tried to run in the opposite direction from where God told him to go. A large storm rose up and was only calmed when Jonah instructed the crew of the ship to throw him into the sea. Or perhaps the reader s minds were drawn to the Israelites on their exodus out of Egypt. Seemingly trapped by the Egyptian army, God made an escape route for them through the sea. There are even older echoes tied up in a story like this, back to the beginning, when God s created order emerged from the dark waters that covered the earth. The Psalms (as you read in the background reading) speak often of the raging seas being calmed only by the power of the creator God. It is only YHWH who can calm the storm and quiet the winds. Apart from the fishermen, the Jews were not a seafaring people. They stayed away, for the most part, from sea travel. In Jewish literature the sea came to symbolize the great abyss. The sea was often depicted as the place from where Israel s great enemies rose up, or the place to where YHWH would cast Israel s enemies in judgment. In fact, the sea even came to be used as a metaphor for Israel s enemies. In Daniel, for instance, the sea is the place where the beasts come from. Similarly, one of the great beasts arise from the sea in the Revelation. It becomes rather clear, then, why Mark would include this account of Jesus. It says in action, what the previous parables have said in word. The very power of the almighty was being unleashed in the world. God s kingdom was at hand. It is the same God that created the world that was now calming the storm. He is the only one capable of such a thing. Daniel 7 describes the beasts from the sea being put to flight by one like a son of man. Now, in fulfillment of that passage, Jesus has come to put down the forces of evil. So, this is a real account, but it is also deeply symbolic of the whole of Jesus vocation and ministry. He has come to face the storms, just like Jonah did so long ago. Only this time, Jesus wasn t running from God s direction, he was running straight into God s will. Jesus is so confident that he is following God s plan, so assured of his presence and power that he is calmly sleeping while this fierce storm rages on. His disciples are a bit frustrated by this. He seems to be shockingly unconcerned that they are on the verge of drowning. Yet, they seem to have the sense that if anyone is going to save them from their fate, it will be him. It is interesting that they turn to Jesus rather than praying to YHWH. Although they clearly don t totally understand who Jesus is, it seems that they realize there is an incredible power there, even if they don t yet comprehend it. Although they mean to put Jesus on the spot, asking him if he doesn t even care about what is going on, Jesus (as he so often does) turns the tables on them. Mark is building up towards chapter 8, where once again the issue will be: Do you still have no faith? What Mark is careful to point out, is that even though the disciples have just witnessed something incredible, something that should have clued them into just who this man was, they still didn t get it. They are still left to wonder, Mark clearly hopes that we, his readers, are beginning to see the answer to that, the answer that his disciples are yet to discover.

19 Day 18 - Mark 5:1-20 1They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" 8For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" 9Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." 10And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. 11A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." 13He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. 14Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well. 17Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. 18As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demonpossessed begged to go with him. 19Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis[c]how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Luke 8:26-39 Matthew 8: Why does Mark go to such great lengths to demonstrate the unclean state of this man? 2. How often do you heed Jesus words in verse 19 in your own life? 3. Write out your own testimony of what God did for you in a space of similar size to this account. Once Jesus has touched our lives, it is our role to take that healing message to others. Who is in your life that really needs to hear the message of Jesus today? How can you best bring them that message? After Herod the Great died in 4 BC, the territory of Judea was split up between his sons. Philip took charge of the area to the north-east of the Sea of Galilee, but the area to the south-east, where this story takes place, had never clearly been Jewish territory. It was often called the Decapolis, meaning ten towns, though even ancient writers could never seem to agree which ten towns made up the Decapolis. The area was a muddle of different territories and name disputes. This seems to have led to some confusion among the gospels whether this account took place in the area of Gerasenes, Gergasenes, or Gadarenes. The gospels offer different names, so the question must be asked, is this a contradiction or an error? Gadara is about 5 miles from the Sea of Galilee, and so cannot be the location where this took place. Gerasa is 37 miles southeast from Galilee, so it cannot be the correct location. Gergesa is on the eastern shore of Galilee and is also the only spot on that shore with a steep bank overlooking the sea, just as Mark describes. Church historian, Eusebius identified Gergesa as the spot where this account took place. There are also the remains of a Byzantine monastery that were built there in the sixth century to commemorate this biblical sight. It would seem then, that the earliest texts rendered the site as Gergesenes, but that due to the confusion of the area, and the similarity between pronunciation and spelling, the two alternate sites came to be substituted at some point. One thing that we should be clear on, however, is that this wasn t Jewish land, these were probably not Jews. This is evidenced by the fact that they were herding pigs, something Jews would never have done. The Jews saw pigs as entirely unclean and would not have had them around. To add to the feeling of uncleanness in this account, we are told that it took place in a graveyard. A Jew would become instantly unclean by having contact with a dead body or even graves. As if that wasn t enough, the man that runs out to Jesus is contaminated by an unclean spirit. He was clearly demon possessed. Between the pigs, the graves, and the evil spirit, this young man was about as unclean as a human being could possibly get. The question may arise, who or what are demons? Demons are not fallen angels, as many believe. They are, apparently, the offspring of fallen angels and human women (Genesis 6:1-6). These offspring were exceedingly sinful and violent, and possibly giants. According to the book of 1 Enoch (which is quoted by Jude and referenced by Peter) these offspring, known as the Nephilim, were sentenced by God to roam the earth as bodiless spirits until the age to come. The fallen angels who perpetrated this act are locked in a part of Hades called Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6-7). This is another account that really happened, but Mark seems to have deeper reasons for including it, than just the face value. When Jesus asks the spirit what his name is, the response is. This word immediately brings to mind the Roman Empire, the ultimate beast, the quintessential unclean example of incarnate evil. His point is that the demons here represent Rome (and the Jews who have thrown their lot in with the Romans). Jesus is here to confront evil, announce God s kingdom, and demonstrate God s sovereign rule. God s kingdom was bringing healing and restoration, but as for the unclean forces that were fouling up human lives, to the sea with them, just as the demon-possessed pigs went into the lake. Once again, though, with Mark, there is yet another layer. This account represents a victory over evil, but not the ultimate victory. How will Jesus accomplish that. As we read the rest of Mark we will find that it will be Jesus naked, isolated, among the tombs, and being ripped apart by a Roman legion. This is how he would gain his ultimate victory. The early church father, Athanasius, said that Jesus was like a champion wrestler taking the very best the enemy had to offer. He took the full force of evil on himself and defeated it. Mark also wants us to see that once we have felt the healing touch of the Master, we are to do more than just follow him around and keep it to ourselves. Jesus tells the young man to return to his home and find a new life, one that will announce what Jesus had done and who he was. In some respects, this man, not Paul, was the first apostle to the Gentiles.

20 Day 19 - Mark 5: When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" 31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' " 32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." Numbers 15:37-41 Malachi 4 Luke 8: What would it take for you to forget all social convention and go to God wholeheartedly the way Jairus did? 2. Why do you think Mark included the account of this woman? 3. What do you think Jesus meant with his final words to this woman? What can these words mean to us? Despite a great deal of fear, both Jairus and the woman went to Jesus for healing. The small amount of faith they had overrode any amount of fear they had. What do you do when you re afraid of circumstances? Do you turn to God with even a small amount of faith, or do you let your fear overtake you? The reading for today and tomorrow is really one passage. Within this longer passage, we have a good example of something that Mark does several times in his gospel, he puts a story within a story, often called a Markan sandwich. The inner story and the outer story always add flavor, depth, and understanding to each other. The outer story here is about a father who comes to plead with Jesus to heal his twelve-year old daughter who has a serious illness. In the inner story we find a woman who has been plagued with severe internal bleeding for those same twelve years. Both of these stories are about fear and faith, and how Jesus can take a small amount of faith and overcome the fear, leading people to an even greater faith. Both of these stories are particularly helpful to enter into them through the world of imagination. As we examine these two accounts from different angles and perspectives they will come to life all the more. As Jesus is walking amidst the usual large crowd, Jairus, the synagogue president comes up to him (this would be equivalent to something like a city alderman in a small city). Normally, someone in Jairus position wouldn t want to have a whole lot to do with Jesus. Local teachers of the law weren t very happy with what Jesus was doing. His words were dangerous, especially if word of what he was saying got back to Herod Antipas or the Roman Emperor. It is likely that having Jesus in town was a pretty big headache for someone in Jairus position. That is, until tragedy strikes home. Suddenly none of that seems to matter very much. When your daughter s life is at stake, you go to the one person who can possibly cure her. Jairus no longer cares about religious controversy, political dangers, or what the people at the synagogue might say. He falls at the feet of this mysterious teacher and begs him to come heal his daughter. At this point, Mark breaks off the description of Jairus, to include some details about a woman in the crowd. As they are on the way to Jairus house, a woman reaches out and touches the cloak of Jesus. Immediately, Jesus feels healing power leaving him, and turns to ask who touched him. The response of his disciples is almost laughable. How can he seriously be worried about who touched him in the midst of a pressing crowd? Immediately touching him, though, the woman is healed of twelve years of sickness. The woman was quite afraid that Jesus might know that she touched him. The main reason for that was probably due to her state of uncleanness. Bleeding and bodily discharges were among the main causes for someone becoming ceremonially unclean. One question that pops to mind is, why would this woman think that merely touching the clothes of Jesus would bring healing to her? The answer is rather interesting. In Numbers 15, God tells Moses that all Jews should make tassels on the corners of their garments as a reminder to obey the commands of YHWH. The word for tassels is. The Hebrew word for corners is. Malachi 4, a passage predicting the coming Messiah, says, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. The word Malachi uses for wings there is, the same word in Numbers that refers to the edges of the garment. As a result, a belief grew up among many Jews, and possibly this woman, that when the Messiah came, he would have special healing powers in his, the tassels of his prayer shawl. This woman clearly believed that Jesus is the promised Messiah. This is what Mark wants us to see here. The woman, being full of faith, touched his garment and was healed just like Malachi had said. Jairus wanted Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter, while the woman sneaks up to Jesus in the crowd thinking she will be healed if she can only touch his. Your faith has healed you, Jesus tells this woman. Don t be afraid, just believe, he will tell Jairus (v. 36). Clearly these two incidents compliment one another, as Mark continues to stress that the helpless and unclean were recognizing who Jesus was long before anyone else. The final thing to consider here is a question about faith. It is obvious that it is the power from Jesus that has healed this woman, yet why does he say that her faith has healed her? It seems that faith by itself is powerless, but it is the conduit through which the power of God flows. This is why at times, when people had no faith, they could not be healed. When the fountain is turned off, there will be no water.

21 Day 20 - Mark 5: While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" 36Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." 37He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." 40But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!" ). 42Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. Luke 7:11-17 John 11:1-44 As we mentioned yesterday, this is one of those passages that is particularly beneficial to enter into and think about from the perspectives of the different people involved. Can you imagine being Jairus during this very real event? His daughter is ill, near the point of death. He must have been numb with grief, fear, horror. He goes and does what all of his learning, education, and common sense tell him not to, he seeks out Jesus. This is his last shot, it may be her only hope. Just when all may have seemed lost, he finds Jesus, and actually gets to talk to him. Then this woman interrupts, seeking healing of her own. But this isn t a life-threatening sickness. Couldn t she have waited for this? This could be done later, how selfish this woman must be. And what about Jesus? Why is he taking his sweet time? Imagine Jairus feelings when some men come and tell him that his daughter is dead. Could she have been saved if this woman hadn t slowed Jesus down? Then they tell Jairus not to. Has the tiny seed of faith that he came to the teacher with been lost? Just when it seems, though, that the realization of fear will overtake him and destroy his faith, Jesus turns to him and says,. This is exactly what the sick woman had just demonstrated. She overcame her fear with faith. As they got near, it would have been obvious that Jarius daughter was dead. The Jews had an established grieving ritual which had probably swung into action by now. Professional mourners and flute players would be immediately brought in and the family members would be able to publicly give vent to their feelings. Jesus, however, would take no part in the official grieving. He didn t allow anyone to follow him except his three closest disciples. Jesus says she s. Perhaps Mark is hoping that his readers will hear echoes of the previous chapter s story of the seed and the plant. It goes to sleep and rises up, and now this girl will do the same. It s yet another sign that the kingdom of God is coming in the unlikely form of the son of a carpenter in a small town by the lake. It s also a foreshadowing of how this story will end, with people coming to see a dead body that is no longer there, but has been raised by the power of God. 1. What is your response when someone interrupts or takes someone s attention that you have wanted? What do you think Jairus response was? 2. Why do you think Jesus chose to raise this little girl from the dead? 3. After seeing Jesus calm the storm and raise this girl from the dead, why do you think that his disciples still did not fully understand who he was? Even though his close disciples had seen Jesus do some incredible things, Mark will make it clear that they still do not yet understand who Jesus is. What marvelous things has God done in your life? Do you recognize his full power over all circumstances or do you still not completely get it? In what area of your life have you yet to realize God s full power? The response of the mourners was to laugh at Jesus, but he didn t let that deter him. He took only five people with him into the room where the dead girl was lying. Jesus grabs her hand and tells her to get up. She gets up, and then we are given a detail that seems would not have been made up: Jesus says,, because she s hungry. Why did Mark leave the Aramaic,, untranslated? Why not write it in Greek the way the rest of the book is. There are, after all, only a handful of occasions in Mark s gospel where he leaves words in the original language that Jesus spoke. The answer is probably pretty simple. Tradition holds that Peter was Mark s primary source for this gospel. These words probably stuck in their memory and made a deep impression. When Peter told the story, he probably kept those memorable words in the original language, as he heard them the day Jesus spoke them. A deeper question is why did Jesus apparently only raise three people from the dead? There must have been many other recently deceased people in his vicinity during the three, or so, years of his ministry. Some people might raise the question of fairness. If Jesus raised a few people from the dead, why not more? Why not everyone? This way of thinking misses the whole point. Jesus wasn t coming to be a one-man liberation or healing unit. That wasn t the point. His ministry was pointing to the real healing that God would accomplish through his death and resurrection. It was pointing to the age to come. These were signposts. Signposts are important but they are not the destination. Again, Jesus tells them to keep this quiet. If the authorities knew that Jesus had power even over death, their response might be swift and fear-driven. This was a clear challenge of the powers-that-be and the time for a face-toface confrontation had not yet come.

22 Day 21 - Mark 6:1-6 1Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Matthew 13:53-57 Deuteronomy 18: Corinthians 15:3-7 James 1: What apparent connection do we see here between faith and miracles? 2. Why do you think that there is such an apparent connection between faith and healing? 3. Why would the fact that these people knew Jesus effect their faith in him? James had no idea at this point, what lay in the future for both Jesus and for him. The question is, what does God have in store for your future? Maybe you feel like you ve never done anything major for God, or perhaps you feel as if your best days are behind you. Yet, we know that it is God s will to use all of His people. We are, after all, saved to do good works. If you don t already know, spend some time praying and seeking advice to see in what ways God might use you in the coming months and years. I have had many opportunities to preach and teach from the Bible, but without a doubt the most difficult and stressful lesson I ever gave was the very first time I spoke in my hometown with many of my friends and family present. There is just something different about a crowd that contains people who knew you growing up. It s probably a little weird for them as well. Most people in the audience see the minister on stage preaching and can listen to the words of God that he is sharing. When it s your family, they tend to see the little boy that got into trouble or the teenage boy who got into even more. Sermons are usually a public event that results from deeply personal thoughts and feelings. To display that in front of those who know you so intimately is difficult for both you and them. Jesus had been going around teaching with a great deal of authority. He wasn t just another teacher of the law or synagogue teacher, he was here announcing that the long-awaited kingdom of God was coming. The other teachers would explain from the prophets how the kingdom of God would come, but they didn t really know when. Now Jesus was telling people that it was coming and was, in fact, at hand. He was apparently doing this on his own authority. This authority amazed and mesmerized some, and angered and infuriated others. But they couldn t question that he had some sort of power that they couldn t explain. There was no doubt about that. But when he came to Nazareth there was doubt. They had heard of the incredible things he had supposedly done. How could this be? They d known him his whole life. They knew his mother, his father, and his siblings. Good kid, yes; but mighty prophet and Messiah, speaking on behalf of YHWH, no way. So they teased and taunted him, challenging him to do the same sorts of signs and wonders for them. Added to that was the fact that the type of kingdom Jesus was announcing was not the sort of kingdom that the Jews really wanted. As soon as they found a reason to reject it, they took. For the people of Nazareth, the reason to reject him was that they had known Jesus growing up, he couldn t be a prophet. (This is another clue that Jesus was of no special consequence growing up: no miracles or special power.) Mark also demonstrates for us, the curious connection between faith and healing. Their lack of faith, severely limited the miracles that Jesus could perform. If even Jesus power could be slowed by the faucet of faith being turned off, then we shouldn t be surprised that sometimes we are limited by our own lack of faith or the lack of faith of others. As Mark does so frequently, there are echoes in this story too, of the larger story and the way it will end. It is a foreshadowing to the time when the Messiah will enter Jerusalem, the city that the Messiah might think of as his home. Yet, Jerusalem was the place that was known for killing God s prophets. It was the city of God, yet it rejected his messengers. He will come to the Temple, the place of God s home, the place the Messiah would go. Yet, he will be rejected by his own people. Among the brothers of Jesus mentioned, and no doubt present at some point during this visit, was James, the one to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7). James would later become the leader of the church in Jerusalem, a co-worker in leading the church with men like Peter and Paul. At this point though, none of that is apparent. James is still a major skeptic at best, and an angry little brother at worst. He may well have felt that Jesus was shaming the family honor, and no doubt believed that he had betrayed the family unity to some degree. It would have been particularly grievous in that society for the older brother to walk away from the family for any reason, thus shaming them. Perhaps this can serve as a reminder that no one should be overlooked. The people that we see today that appear to have no interest in the things of God may be the church leaders of tomorrow.

23 Day 22 - Mark 6:7-13 Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. 8These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them." 12They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Jeremiah 31 Matthew What was the significance of the disciples being able to cast out demons? 2. What are the urgent situations in our world, your community, or your personal world that you need to address with the message of God s kingdom? 3. What was the meaning of shaking the dust off their feet? Why would Jesus tell them to do this? Do you look around for the urgent situations that your country, community, or friends have put themselves in? Maybe it s a disastrous national policy, or gang violence, or a dangerous personal decision that someone has made. Do you share the message of God s reconciling kingdom with an urgency that equals the situation at hand? Usually when someone is sent off on an urgent mission, they don t have the time to take a lot of extra stuff with them. Not only do they not have time to pack, they generally don t want a bunch of extra stuff with them, weighing them down and slowing their progress. This seems to be the basic gist behind Jesus instructions to his disciples here. The time was short and the mission was urgent. There was no time for extra supplies. This wasn t a vacation. Nor were these instructions on how churches should continue to operate. Sometimes churches like to have special evangelism campaigns, and that s okay, but this is certainly not the intent of this passage. This was a specific set of instructions for a specific mission, not a paradigm for future church operations. In some ways, the disciples on this mission would have looked a lot like the Cynics of the time. These were a group of traveling teachers who went from town to town making their living by begging and teaching. They tended to teach that the present world was just a pretense of empty flash and that people shouldn t pay any attention to it. In particular, they tended to take shots at the rich and comfortable. Some people, seeing a couple of Jesus disciples coming into a village, teaching and preaching may have thought, at first, that they were Cynics. The big difference between Jesus disciples and the Cynics was that the Cynics couldn t cast out demons. Casting out demons wasn t just a way of helping distressed people who were under the control of these evil spirits. It was a sign, as Jesus has already pointed out, that the kingdom of God was coming upon the world. This is why the mission was so urgent. They were town-criers of sorts, spreading the urgent message of the kingdom of God to the Jews. They were telling people to get ready for something new (a message that the Cynics never would have given). Getting ready for this kingdom meant repenting and entirely changing one s life and way of thinking, it wasn t just regret over one s sins. There was no room for compromise or time to waste. In sending out his disciples he gave them a share of the dominion that he was wresting from Satan. God had originally given Adam dominion over the earth, but he surrendered that dominion at the Fall. Satan had held that dominion all this time, but now one stronger than he was here to take it back. What Jesus started in the desert, he would finish at the Cross, completely seizing dominion from Satan at that time. For now, Jesus gave his followers a certain amount of authority over demons. After his resurrection and before his ascension, he would give them the dominion mandate of his full authority. He would echo the dominion command from Genesis, telling his disciples to once again exercise dominion on God s behalf throughout the earth, being fruitful and multiplying. God has sent out his twelve representatives before, in the form of the twelve tribes of Israel, to be the light of the world, but they had failed miserably. These new twelve representatives, being sent out as both a literal and symbolic act, would not fail. Jesus was always a realist, though, and he realized that not everyone would receive his message happily. The message was too urgent and the time to short to dwell on those people though. If they didn t want to hear it, then his disciples should engage in the common symbolic action at the time of wiping the dust off of their feet. They shouldn t tarry, but should move onto the next town. This wasn t just an act of being more efficient by sending out six groups rather than all staying together. In sending out the twelve to drive out evil as they went, Jesus is setting up another deeply symbolic act. He is sending off his twelve, his recreation of God s renewed people in an echo of the original conquering of the promised land in the name of YHWH. A great climax in the annals of history was coming very soon. So, Jesus, in sending out this mission was gathering supporters, giving as many Jews as possible a last chance to repent before history changed dramatically, and laying the groundwork for the very different kind of kingdom that was about to come to fruition. Although Jesus mission here doesn t relate directly to us today, it would be unwise to set it aside as completely irrelevant for us. The setting and circumstances of our times are different but perhaps our response should not be. The church needs to be discerning and understand the urgency of our own time and craft a message that will spread to the world the fact that the great exile between God and man can come to an end in the kingdom of God.

24 Day 23 - Mark 6: King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." 15Others said, "He is Elijah." And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." 16But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!" 17For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 18For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. 21Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." 23And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." 24She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist," she answered. 25At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Malachi 4 Matthew 14: What do you think that Mark is foreshadowing about Jesus story by including this account of John the Baptist s death? 2. What is noteworthy of the fact that everyone thought Jesus was someone more than a regular human being? When confronted with human sin and pride do you stand up and confront it like John or do you just let it slide like what other people do isn t your business? Who do you know who might benefit by being confronted about their behavior? Are you willing to suffer the possible consequences of speaking out for God? The inevitable had finally happened. Jesus had avoided it for as long as possible, but word about Jesus and his doings had gotten back to Herod Antipas. News traveled pretty well by word-of-mouth back then, and despite Jesus best efforts to keep things relatively quiet, Herod now knew what was going on. Due to this, from here on out, the mission changes, things are even more urgent now. The question that was raging, and this question is one of the themes of Mark s gospel, is who Jesus was. Some thought that perhaps he was Elijah, returned to Israel. That made sense because according to the Old Testament Elijah had never died, he was simply taken to heaven. On top of that, some read Malachi 4 and concluded that Elijah, himself, was to come back. Could he be Elijah? Others thought that he was one of the prophets of long ago. He was behaving like these prophets described in the Scriptures. Others thought that he was John the Baptist, raised from the dead. Looking at the three possibilities of who people thought Jesus was gives us two things to think about. First, this should dispel any notions that Jesus was a soft, effeminate teacher with nothing more than a message of love and social responsibility. His message was certainly full of those things, but it was so strong, so authoritative, and so confrontational that people thought he might be one of the great radical prophets of old. Second, Jesus was obviously doing incredibly miraculous things to make everyone think that the only explanation was that he was not a normal human being, but was somehow connected with a resurrected prophet. The theory that Herod latched on to was that of him being John the Baptist. Herod probably didn t have a well-thought-out theory of resurrection, but he did clearly entertain it as a possibility. If it was John, back from the dead, that would explain the incredible things that Jesus was doing. He assuredly was demonstrating powers that John before his death did not have. It doesn t take much speculation to see Herod s fear in hearing about this man. If it was John, who would be the first one on John s hit list? Mark, perhaps realizing that he hasn t informed his readers about the details of what happened to John, takes a moment to go back and tell us what happened between John and Herod. There was no sense of a right to privacy in the ancient world like we have now. Only royalty might have some sense of a private life (this is why they often employed deaf and mute servants), yet word of Herod s life had obviously leaked out anyway. He had already married his brother s wife, and now comes this scandalous tale of his step-daughter dancing erotically at his party. John s confrontation with Herod is far deeper than just a prophet denouncing the shabby moral behavior of a king. Herod the Great, the father of Herod Antipas, had fancied himself to be the true king of the Jews, the one in the line of David and Solomon who would restore the Temple and bring about the kingdom of God. Antipas, no doubt, saw himself as continuing in that legacy. He desperately wanted to be the sovereign ruler over all of Israel, the one who would restore the kingdom, and the one whom his fellow Jews would finally recognize as their true king (to this point he was only king because of the Roman power backing him). John s vision of the kingdom was very different. It wasn t about great Temple rebuilding projects and power, it was about repentance. John was announcing one who would come and be the true king. To really drive home that point that Antipas was not the one, John confronts him. Would the true king, the Messiah, act like this? Would the Messiah marry his brother s wife (who had clearly thrown in her lot with him for reasons of political aspirations)? This is why Herodias was so annoyed with John; he was standing in the way of Herod being seen as the true king (although we can look back now and realize that John, or no John, that would have never happened). Herod was a bit distressed at putting to death such a popular figure, but it seems that he was more afraid of Herodias. John s death demonstrates a point which is made time and again throughout the Bible. There is a clear connection between those who would speak for God s standards and point out human pride, folly, and sin, and the fact that they will suffer in this age for those actions.

25 Day 24 - Mark 6: The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." 32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" 38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five and two fish." 39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Ezekiel 34:5; Zechariah 10:2 Matthew 14:13-21 Luke 9: Why does Mark place this passage right after the story about Herod? 2. In what areas of your life, do you need to imitate Jesus patient compassion with others? 3. Why did Jesus feed the people rather than sending them out to eat? What efforts have you made lately to demonstrate that the kingdom of God has broken into the present age? What can you do for other people in this present age that would point to the power of the age to come? To really appreciate this passage we must compare it to the previous account. It is no mistake that Mark has placed these accounts side-by-side, even though at first glance they don t appear to be related at all. So how are these two passages related? Mark has just finished with the fine mess of Herod s court. He has taken his brother s wife for his own. There are tales of having the girl who was his step-daughter and niece dancing seductively for him and his guests. He has a popular prophet beheaded. And this is the man who would claim to be the true King of the Jews? Is this the kind of Godly leadership that the people of God have been waiting for to institute God s great restoration project? Now contrast that mess with what we read in this passage. Jesus has been pressed by crowds to the point of exhaustion. They make an attempt to get away and get a brief moment of rest, but the when they arrive they find that the crowds have beaten them to the punch. Rather than finding another spot or sending the crowds away, Jesus has? Why? Because. This was a common biblical way of describing the people of Israel when they had no leader, no true king (see background reading for references). While everything Herod Antipas did was about himself, his own pleasure and his own agenda. Mark draws a clear distinction here. Everything Jesus did was about the crowds. They needed a king, a leader. The rest of the story stresses the fact that Jesus was the true leader of the crowds but in a very different way than anyone would have expected. He met their needs because he was their leader. Herod wanted to be leader so the crowds could meet his needs. Mark draws our attention to a few other details (we always have to ask why little details are included; there are no mistaken details in the Bible). He tells us that the grass is green. In Galilee, this means the story is set in the springtime, which would make it right around Passover. Mark would have been acutely aware of this, and the words he uses are clearly chosen to draw connections to what the early church did in breaking bread, the new Passover meal: he took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it. Many would suppose this account to have been a fabrication of the early church, yet that criticism doesn t really hold water. The early church would not have made up such a fantastic story within the lifetime of many who were there if it did not happen. It could have been easily refuted as fantasy if it were not true. But what was the point of this particular miracle? Why was Jesus doing this? This wasn t just a bit of magic meant to wow the crowds and pull them in to hear the real message. This was a sign of the new creation. The powerful force of God was breaking into the world in a new way, with new revelation, and this was another miracle pointing to that reality. We should make the connection between Jesus compassion for the crowds and his miracle with the bread and fish. God s kingdom is not simply about impressive power, it includes overflowing, compassionate love. The two must go together in the kingdom of God. I have personally known people who have struggled with one point of this story. If Jesus could feed five thousand men (and probably a similar number of women and even more children) why didn t he feed all of the hungry people of his day? Why doesn t he feed all of the starving children around the world today? Surely he has the power to do that? This is a good question, but it demonstrates a misunderstanding of the nature of Jesus miracles. They were not at all about mighty supernatural acts meant to demonstrate how powerful Jesus was. They were not about showing that he, if he so chose, could solve all of the world s problems with a wave of his hand. They weren t that sort of thing at all. They were signs pointing to the fact that the kingdom of God was breaking into the present age. This breaking in was a complex event that would culminate in Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension. From there, the power of the new creation would go into all the earth, but still has to face the resistant forces of evil. Feeding the hungry, helping the poor, and rescuing the oppressed are all signs that point to the kingdom and the age to come. They cannot be the point of what we are to do, they are merely the signs. If they become the point, then we lose what the kingdom of God is really about in the first place.

26 Day 25 - Mark 6: Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. 47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. 53When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went into villages, towns or countryside they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. Genesis 1:1-10; Genesis 3:16-24 Psalm Why do you think Jesus sent the disciples on the boat ahead of him? 2. Why did he walk out on the water to them? To this point Mark has been building a solid case to demonstrate Jesus sovereignty over the natural world as well as his claim to be the true King, the Messiah of God s people. Mark wants his readers to understand exactly who he thinks Jesus is. This story is another note in the crescendo in chapter 8 to which he is working. That is the point when Jesus will ask his disciples if they still don t get the point of the miracles; do they still not understand that they are signs pointing to who he is and what he is doing? It is because. This is the first point that will explicitly mention that the disciples have yet to understand who Jesus is, but it won t be the last. Mark is about to start a long section that has to do with the exact point of drawing distinction between those who can see what is going on and those who can t. He has given us, his readers, however, plenty of information to this point, to be able to see clearly by the time we get to that section. Mark is inviting us to weigh the evidence and see whether we will be like the disciples, watching the events but not drawing the right conclusions, or like those whose hearts were softened, whose eyes were opened, and who could see the incredible thing that is breaking into the world. Many have seen this story as a clear indicator of Jesus divinity. It certainly doesn t detract from that correct conclusion, but I don t believe this is the conclusion that is primary on Mark s mind. He is building us up to the point in chapter 8 when we will realize, along with the disciples, that Jesus is the Messiah. The realization that Jesus was also divine would come later for the disciples, it wasn t an automatic conclusion from the fact that he was the Messiah. In Mark s point of view, Jesus walking on the water is more about him being human than being divine. The job of the Messiah was to restore the humanity of man that was lost in the Garden of Eden, with the opening of the door for sin to enter the world. In demonstrating his power over storms, waves, bread, and fish, Jesus is, in Mark s mind, pointing to the fact that he is not only Israel s Lord, but the world s Messiah that is ushering in God s kingdom. It is breaking in here and now. The Messiah was coming to take dominion back from Satan and return it to those who would choose to follow him and be part of his kingdom. In walking on the water, Jesus is not so much demonstrating his divinity, as he is his genuine humanness. But this humanness is being done the way it was supposed to be, with man having dominion over the natural world (that should not be taken to argue, as some have, that Adam had the ability to walk on water and do the things that Jesus did). Mark wants us to see the rightful King of the universe, long exiled, now returning. He is the last Adam, since his time with the beasts in the wilderness, striding through his garden to set things right. At this point we should remember that if all of this seems to difficult to accept, then we are in good company. Mark s reference to the disciples should not be taken, necessarily as a criticism. It is a mere admission of the facts. They didn t understand, but they wanted to. His point in mentioning this detail is that it will take a suspension of the way we normally think about the world in order to truly understand who Jesus is and what he is really up to. 3. If the point of this account is to demonstrate Jesus dominion as a genuine human, then what principles can we take from this story to apply to our own lives? In Christ, we are given the authority to take dominion over the world and spread the age to come in the present age. Is that how you see your Christian mission? What is one specific way that you can spread symbols of the age to come to those around you in the present age?

27 Day 26 - Mark 7:1-13 1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?" 6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." 9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." Exodus 21:15-17 Leviticus 20:7-9 Isaiah After reading Isaiah 24, what do you think Jesus full intent was in quoting that passage (often when Jews quoted a sentence from a passage they meant to infer the meaning of the whole passage)? 2. Why would Mark choose to include this passage in with the rest of his book? The Jews of Jesus day had started out with the good intention of following YHWH s law. They had, however, lost sight of God and began to serve the law and their interpretations and additions to it instead. Do you ever have the tendency to go through religious motions and do things out of obligation rather than due to your love of God? What can we as Christians do to keep from doing that? Some have argued that this section proves that Mark was written to a Gentile audience. The point of this passage wouldn t make a lot of sense if you don t understand the Jewish culture in which it takes place. If his audience, was intended be Jewish, goes the argument, then he wouldn t bother explaining some of the details that he does. It is only because Mark knew that his audience was not Jewish did he feel the need to explain certain details from the Jewish culture. I don t think that this is necessarily the case. All that is necessary to know, however, is that Mark was aware that both Jews and Gentiles would read this book, not one or the other. Jews, of course, wouldn t need the extra explanations, but the Gentiles would. Mark interrupts his stories about healing and awesome displays of the coming kingdom, in order to describe a debate between Jesus and the Pharisees and teachers of the law over Jewish traditions and customs. The obvious question is why, but first we have to examine a few things. We can all appreciate cleanliness, especially in a society where we almost demand that people wash their hands after using the restroom or before they eat. We understand the importance of cleanliness. The Jews had a great many customs to do with remaining ceremonially clean, which Mark briefly explains. These would eventually be codified and written down about two centuries after Jesus death, but by this time there was already a great deal of oral tradition that had built up. Seemingly, cleanliness is a good thing, so why would there be an issue with this? Why does Mark include this incident? The question that Jesus was asked was about the observance of the purity rituals of his disciples. The answer Jesus gives concerns the controversy between Scripture and tradition. This is not, however, the same type of argument over Scripture and tradition that is often debated today between the Protestant and Catholic Church. The real debate here was about two different concepts of what it meant to be a good Jew in the first century. The charge that Jesus is leveling against them is teaching human custom as fundamental law. This is, in Jesus mind, hypocrisy. They claim to be teachers of the law, but are really teaching tradition. To clearly demonstrate the hypocrisy of their position on tradition, Jesus gives an example of how they were using tradition and custom to circumvent the law rather than uphold it. They were like creative accountants looking for a loophole in the rules when it fit their fancy. Rather than upholding the law s standard of honoring and supporting their parents, they were claiming that all of their money and possessions belonged to God (they were just the stewards holding his possessions). That way, they didn t have to live up to their obligations to take care of their parents; they just claimed that they didn t have any money. By claiming to give the money to God and not really honoring their parents in the process, they were actually making a mockery of the God they were claiming to honor. At the heart of the matter, then, was who spoke for God? Was it the Pharisees and those who had built up hundreds of years of extra laws, rules, and traditions? They had moved Scriptural interpretation in a particular direction. Not the least of that direction were certain political agendas, and the view of God s kingdom that called for revolution against Rome. Believe or it not the purity laws were all a part of that mentality that desperately wanted to distinguish the Jews from everyone around them, highlighting the belief that the pagans were the unclean ones and the Jews were the only true, clean children of God. Jesus says that in doing what they were doing, they were joining the not-sofine tradition of Jews that Isaiah had described as claiming to honor God in their words, but doing so in vain. In creating a form of worship and honor to God that was comfortable for them, they had really created a situation in which they were not honoring God at all. The reason that Mark includes this passage then becomes clear. Jesus wasn t entering into an abstract argument about one set of Scriptural interpretations over another; he was challenging the entire foundation upon which they had built their worldview, and their belief in how the kingdom of God would come about and what it was like. Jesus vision of the kingdom was feasting, celebrating, and including all. If he was correct, then the Pharisee s whole vision of the kingdom was wrong from the very beginning.

28 Day 27 - Mark 7: Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' " 17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") 20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' " Jeremiah 17:1-8 Leviticus 11 Imagine the reaction of most Americans today if someone came along teaching that everything that we held dear about being an American had missed the mark of what God wanted. All of our ideals had gone terribly wrong and we were careening into a head-on disaster with God if we didn t radically re-think everything about our collective worldview. What would this mean for everything that most Americans hold dear? Would it mean that our concept of what a good citizen is, was completely wrongheaded? Would it mean that our place in the world was not nearly as pleasing to God as we might have thought? Would it mean that all of our heroes that have sacrificed their lives for God, country, and the American way have died in the wrong ditch for the wrong cause? That would be a truly radical message that would be hard to swallow. Yet, this is basically what Jesus was telling the Jews. The ancient world is full of stories of Jewish martyrs being tortured to death for their refusal to eat pork or defile themselves. The Jews were proud of their beliefs and their heritage. To come right out and say that the things that someone holds most dear are the very things that are the most wrong in their way of thinking doesn t display courage, it often displays folly. This is a large part of the reason that Jesus spoke in parables. Had he been straightforward from the very beginning he would have been killed. Jesus spoke in parables so that he could be heard by those who wanted to hear. He wanted to address the wrong teachings of his time, including that of the Pharisees, but he did it in a subtle and far more effective (in the long run) way. Jesus was not about to say something straight out before people were ready to hear it. He was not about to hand the Pharisees a propaganda victory. Jesus had, however, hoped that his disciples would get the point of what he was saying. (This is the beginning, really, of a series of passages where Mark will use the metaphor see to relate to the level of understanding of Jesus message. They were as confused as everyone else., was this some sort of bad bathroom humor? 1. What, according to Jesus, makes a man unclean? 2. What does Jesus feel, then, is the cause of uncleanness? 3. Of the examples that Jesus lists in verses 21-22, which ones do you tend to struggle with the most? Do you feel that the Church today has lessons that it should learn from the way Jesus spoke in symbols when dealing with touchy subjects? Are there any areas of our culture have we been so quick to condemn in the name of the Bible, that we have done more harm than good? How can we find that fine line between speaking the truth but doing so in a way so that people will hear us and not just immediately tune us out? Jesus wasn t talking about the physical aspects of what goes in and out of a person. Thinking that was to miss the point entirely. What he was saying was that purity laws weren t the point and they never were. The food laws, along with all of the other laws, pointed to what was happening now. They were like the college guy that has a picture of his girlfriend back home in his dorm room. Would he stay in his dorm room for the holidays, staring at the picture, or go home and be with his girlfriend? The answer is obvious. The food laws had become the point for many Jews rather than what they were pointing to. They were intended to teach God s people about the need for purity before God, and awaken an awareness for the need of real purity of heart and motives. By focusing on outward things, they were avoiding the real work that needed to be done, the inward purity. One point of caution must be made here. The Greek philosopher Plato taught that the spiritual realm was what really mattered, while the physical realm was inferior and to be despised. Over the years, a lot of Christians have fallen into that same type of thinking, and passages like this, at first glance, may appear to bolster that belief. Jesus is saying quite the opposite from that line of thinking. He is not saying that what we really need to do is to simply get in touch with our hearts and feelings and then will discover what life is really about. He is saying that good and bad external and physical actions come from internal, spiritual sources. The real problem is the human heart that causes sinful actions, that s what all the purity laws were pointing towards. So why were the Jews so attached to the purity laws? Because in a world that was out of their control in almost every other way, they could control this. It set them apart as clean and everyone else as unclean. In challenging their concept of what it means to be a Jew, Jesus is throwing the doors to the kingdom wide open to anyone who would repent, be baptized, and believe. Now what happens to the symbols? Mark answers that in his little side note in v. 19, all food is clean. The purity laws are fine as far as they go, but they are not necessary. You don t need the picture when the real thing has arrived. The fact that the signs aren t necessary anymore doesn t mean that they were worthless, they aren t needed anymore because they were correct. They pointed to what was to come and it s here. The laws didn t touch the real human problem; this is precisely what the kingdom of God addresses.

29 Day 28 - Mark 7: Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. 26The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 28"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." 30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Matthew 10:5-6 Matthew 11:20-24 Matthew 15: What do you think it was that enabled this woman to approach Jesus with such humility? 2. Why did Jesus heal this woman s daughter? 3. What can we learn from this passage concerning our own mission and vocation in Christ? Why do you think that Jesus vocation was to come to the children of Israel rather than to the whole world? If his message was for all nations, why did Jesus focus on only the sheep of Israel? How does the answer to that question provide direction and insight for the Church today? One thing that sets apart truly great athletes from the rest of the pack is their incredible ability to focus. It makes no matter the pressure of the situation, the amount of time left on the clock, or the crowd screaming and pulsing around them. The great athlete can block all of that out, leave all that behind and concentrate on what needs to be done. Lesser players will often get distracted by all the other incredible things going on at the moment, and lose the focus on the primary task at hand. Understanding this type of concept, will help us to see this story in its proper context. After several particularly intense exchanges and incidents which were significant enough to be remembered and recorded by Mark, Jesus retreats to a decidedly Gentile town to try to lay low for a little while. As has become typical for Jesus, he was trying to keep his, yet was unable to do that. The Greek woman approaches Jesus in an urgent, but apparently a somewhat teasing manner. In other words, this exchange was probably a bit more good-natured than when we might think at first. In any case, she clearly approaches Jesus with humility. She begs Jesus to heal her daughter of the that has her. Jesus responds with an apparent insult. She accepts that insult and even turns it to her own advantage. The point of this story is really more political than just another healing story. Jesus had a particular vocation during his ministry. He was well aware of it throughout his time before the Cross. In the twenty-first century we often forget that truth but Jesus never did. He stayed focused on the task at hand. His vocation was to spread the news of the coming kingdom to the Jews, it was not to spread the gospel to the Gentile world. Although Jesus did occasionally have contact with Gentiles, that was not his mission. He believed (a typical Jewish belief at the time) that when Israel was redeemed, that would be the time to carry the saving rule of God to the rest of the world. It is not that Jesus was denying the saving love of God to the Gentiles. Rather, Jesus was careful about sticking with the reason he came. He came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God, and did not want to be drawn away from his work into other areas. This would be to divert his attention from the difficult and dangerous work that was his focus. This is also a reminder that Jesus mission was not to just go around and heal the sick and help everyone he could. Jesus had specific, dangerous, and controversial things to do. Jesus wasn t a universal problem-solver, he was the Messiah that had come for a specific task. If Jesus wouldn t be distracted from his messianic vocation, then we too, should not be distracted. It is up to us to recognize Jesus main task and focus on that both when we learn about him, and when we carry his message to the world of our day. We also shouldn t miss another purpose that Mark probably had in mind for including this passage into his gospel. Mark has just described some intense discussions about cleanness and uncleanness. The old barriers, the old way of doing things were being swept away. Mark is now giving a living, breathing example of that. This woman, is one of those that is on the outside in the mind of the Jews. She is one the dogs under the table, one of the unclean. Was this, then, a matter of Jesus doing exactly what I just said he didn t do, losing focus. Not at all. This is not part of Jesus vocation, and he will not be distracted ultimately, but he does have a purpose in this act that is related to his vocation. Jesus performs this miracle, as he does so many other times, for the purpose of what it points to rather than the mere healing itself. He heals this woman s daughter because of the message that it will send to the Jews. In healing this woman s daughter, Jesus (and Mark by including this account) is pointing to a time that he has been warning the Jews about. The dogs under the table are already beginning to share in the children s food. There is a time when they will no longer be dogs, when they will have free and full access to the kingdom. If the Jews do not repent, then not only will the dogs be part of the meal as children, the children will be cast out and be like the dogs. We must understand Jesus mission and words here then, as a short-term, urgent message. A message that Israel needed to hear and heed before it was too late. This incident was yet another symbolic act by Jesus meant to point to the new order that was being instituted by God.

30 Day 29 - Mark 7: Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. 33After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. 34He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!" ). 35At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. 36Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." Isaiah If Jesus vocation was to go the people of Israel, why would he go to a distinctly Gentile area? 2. Why did Jesus take the man away from the rest of the crowd? 3. What impact would the people spreading around what had happened have on Jesus and his ministry? When we follow Jesus, it is not a boring and mundane life, but rather, astonishing things happen. It is not a life of rote religion, but a lifelong adventure. How is your life when it comes to following Jesus? Is it more like an astonishing adventure, or has it become boring and predictable. What can you do to unleash the power of God throughout your life? I taught in a high school in my town for nearly ten years. A year or so before I left teaching, I felt that God had called me into the ministry. In following that path, I knew that God wanted me to go back to school and to leave my teaching job. I realized that this would have an impact on the school at which I taught, and I knew that the time was not right for that news to become public right away. I told only a very few people and asked them not to tell any students or the administration just yet. I would inform the right people at the right time, but not too soon. Despite my best efforts, the word got out pretty quickly. This created a few difficulties and a few long weeks of my students not understanding why I was leaving them. This is kind of the situation going on here. Jesus takes a man who was deaf and tongue tied (apparently he wasn t mute but had a serious speech impediment of some sort) away from the crowd to work a miracle privately. This doesn t work as the crowds soon learn what has happened. Then he tells the crowd to keep quiet about what they have seen, but that doesn t work either. Neither the healed man or the crowd can keep a secret. This raises the question: Why would Jesus want to keep secret a message that he came to proclaim? The answer is, of course, that his message was a difficult and dangerous one. There was all sorts of room for misconceptions, rumors, and danger for Jesus if word of his kingdom movement got to the wrong people too soon. This was, after all, a world where rumor spread fast and prophets didn t fair very well (think of what happened to John). Despite all the potential dangers, however, the mission must move forward. Mark describes several times when Jesus makes an effort to get away from the crowds and slow things down, but it never quite works that way. We can speculate that perhaps Jesus wished for a bit slower pace with his ministry; perhaps he hoped for more time to spread the news of the coming of the kingdom to his beloved, but obstinate Jews. Jesus had to realize that a few more miraculous acts would push the rumor mill to critical mass; news of his works would take on a life of its own and go beyond his ability to control it. If things were to keep going like this, the authorities would close in on him pretty quickly. Jesus must keep on with his work that pointed to and ushered in the kingdom of God, but he could not he keep people from talking about. It appears that Jesus must have come to the realization at some point, that his work must carry on but it must become a much more urgent mission than he at first desired. Mark is laying the ground work for the next chapter in which things come to a head rather quickly. If Jesus hand is going to be forced and his time cut short, then the mission is about to get dangerous and his disciples need to know that. Mark also stresses the significance, in the minds of the people, of the healing Jesus has just performed. The people are and announce that. The crowd, no doubt, had in mind, Isaiah 35:5-6, a passage that describes the time when Israel would be renewed through the work of the Messiah, after long years of exile. This healing was a matter of God s love for his people breaking through into the present world, pointing ahead to a time when that healing would fix the entire world. That was the time when the present age would be turned fully into the age to come.

31 Day 30 - Mark 8:1-10 1During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2"I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance." 4His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" 5"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied. 6He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. 7They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, 10he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. Genesis 1:26-31 Genesis 3:17-19 Matthew 15: What are the differences between this feeding story and the first? Are there any that weren t mentioned in the section? 2. Why would Mark include two accounts of feeding into the short space of his gospel? Whom do you find yourself working for most of the time? Do you worry about your own affairs, where you will work, what you will eat, or what you will wear? Or do you take Jesus words to heart and seek first the kingdom of God? When we are in a restored relationship with God we will take part in his work of compassion and not worry so much about our own affairs. Anyone who watches sports very often will know that upsets can happen. A seemingly lesser team that is fully expected to lose, will somehow find a way to beat the supposedly better team. A strange thing happens, though, after an upset win. The team that wins the upset, is still not usually considered the better team. It is supposed that any fluke can happen once. An unheralded team must generally pull off another shocking win to demonstrate that they are for real. Once they have done it twice, then it can be believed that they are really capable of such a thing. Perhaps this is something of the effect going on here, the reason that Mark chose to include a second, and similar, account of Jesus feeding a hungry crowd. Does doing it a second time prove that it was no fluke? Perhaps Mark wants us to see that Jesus did, indeed, have power over the physical realm. We have to wonder what the reason would be for including such similar accounts. So similar, in fact, that some critics of the Bible have claimed that they are two mythical accounts of the same supposed incident. A careful look, however, will demonstrate that these are two separate and reliable accounts of two separate incidents. There are some significant differences in this account. Mark draws attention to the fact that the people had been with him for three days already. They were not near any towns or villages as they were in the first incident. They were in a remote place, so the situation was much more dire than it was in the first instance. Of course, the most obvious differences in this story from the first is the fact that we have four thousand men present rather than five thousand, and that there were seven basketfuls of bread mentioned rather than twelve. So, why did Mark include this mirror-account of Jesus miraculous feeding? Was is simply to demonstrate that it was no fluke? Certainly that s part of it, but apparently Mark also wanted to set the theme for the next section when Jesus confronts the disciples about their lack of understanding. Jesus seemed to find specific purpose in the amount of bread that was left over each time (we ll discuss that more in the next section). Mark does seem to be emphasizing that Jesus was demonstrating that the feedings, the exorcisms, and the healing, are ways in which the true Messiah was being unveiled to the world. We cannot be too harsh on the disciples for not getting all of this on the first, or even second take (and Mark is certainly not, although he does demonstrate their lack of understanding). No Jew in the first century expected this kind of Messiah, one that was more concerned with multiplying fish and bread than with creating an army that would defeat Rome. This was all very difficult to compute. It is also quite possible that the inclusion of this second account has to do with the point Mark is trying to make about the need for people around him to take a second look in order to clearly see (or understand) who he really is and what he is really doing. Mark will do more of this quite clearly later in this chapter. There are perhaps a couple of practical lessons that we can take from this account. The first thing is that Jesus continues to have compassion on those who follow him. He provides for them. He is demonstrating in living color, his words recorded in Matthew 6:33. If people will seek God s kingdom above all else, God will provide for them, even if it is in very unlikely ways. This is how it is with God s people going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When we are in a pure relationship with God we will be able to follow him and work for him. In turn, he promises to provide all of the things in life that we really need that we might otherwise be tempted to spend our time going after and worrying about. When we find ourselves focusing on providing for ourselves, that is a sure sign that we are working for ourselves rather than God. Seeking to provide our needs first is a sure sign of rebellion against God. The second point of interest is that Jesus didn t just feed the crowds by himself. He had his disciples help in the work of distributing and collecting the food (of course Jesus had done the difficult and miraculous work but expected the disciples to do what they could). Jesus wants to bring his followers into the work in which he is engaged. The closer we are to him, the more assuredly we will be called to share in his work of compassion.

32 Day 31 - Mark 8: The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." 13Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. 14The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15"Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod." 16They discussed this with one another and said, "It is because we have no bread." 17Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. 20"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." 21He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" Jeremiah 5 1. Why would the Pharisees reject the signs that Jesus had performed and demand miraculous signs of a different sort? 2. Why do you think that Jesus let his disciples take so long in discovering who he was rather than just telling them immediately? 3. What are ways in our society that we tend to create our own version of God and his kingdom? Many Jews made the mistake of limiting God and his kingdom to the perceptions that they had of what it was and how it would work. As a result most of them missed out on the kingdom altogether. God wasn t working outside of the Scriptures, they had simply missed the point of the Scriptures due to preconceived notions. Is it possible that we, too, tend to limit God and put his kingdom in a box with our preconceived notions? Make a determination today to approach the Scriptures and to approach God, with a fresh and humble approach and see if you have been limiting his power and how he desires to work in your life. Mark clearly includes this brief exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees in order to set up the following passage which contains a pivotal conversation between him and his apostles. Things were beginning to move quickly now, and were getting serious. The Pharisees demand that Jesus give them a sign of his authority, as if he hadn t been doing that all along. That s the real point of their question. It wasn t that Jesus hadn t been performing signs that would demonstrate that he was the true Messiah, it was that they weren t the type of signs that they wanted the Messiah to perform. Jesus responds to their request for a sign as a sign, of sorts, in itself. It is representative of the Jews of that generation. They were determined not to hear the message of the kingdom that Jesus was announcing. They didn t want his version of the kingdom; they were still clinging to the vision that they had of what it would be and how it would come. Jesus was operating in the belief that his vocation was to announce the kingdom through the signs that he was performing. They were refusing that kind of kingdom, and thus, were in reality, refusing God s kingdom itself. Picking up from there, Mark brings us into one of those great, very human moments that help make the gospels so authentic and personal. The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and evidently, this fact reminds Jesus of the Pharisees and their yeast that is oozing through the whole society. They think that Jesus is upset about the bread, but that s not his point at all. Jesus wants them to. In other words, he wants them to be careful that they don t buy into the kingdom vision that the Pharisees preferred, or the one that Herod is trying to pass off. This is the kingdom that is brought about by getting rid of the sinners in their society, in holding harshly to the law; the one that will exalt Israel and the Temple above all nations, and get rid of Israel s enemies, namely Rome. In warning his disciples about this, Jesus implies (and of course Mark wants us to see) that they have not fully grasped what his kingdom message is all about. If they did, there would be no need for his warning. It is becoming increasingly urgent that they understand what they are a part of, yet it is still of such a nature that it is something they must discover on their own, with the help of the Holy Spirit (every good teacher knows that a student must discover truths for themselves in order to really grasp the material). Word is clearly leaking out about what Jesus is doing, which means the situation is about to get more dangerous. The more the authorities know about his mission, the more dangerous it becomes. The time is drawing near, when they will they will accompany him to Jerusalem with a mission, not of feeding and healing, but of challenging the very system itself. They will only be willing and able to come if they can understand that he is more than a healer or prophet, but that he is much more than that. The time of intense confrontation between Jesus and his rivals is coming fast and the disciples need to be ready. Jesus then quotes from Jeremiah 5:21. His point is not that he is frustrated at how blind they are, the point is that they do not understand (again, Mark draws a parallel between seeing and understanding) and are in danger of going down the same path that the Jews in Jeremiah s day did. They were so distracted with their own concerns that they forgot about injustice and evil in their society. God had little alternative but to abandon them to their fate in the hands of pagan nations. They had worshiped things other than God, and gave those things the power in their lives. In the same way, most Jews had come to put their own version of God and his kingdom in place of the real God, and so it had become a stumbling block. Jesus then asks them about the significance of the fact that there was twelve and then seven baskets of bread left over after his miraculous feedings. He seems to have expected that they should have known what those signs meant. Some scholars have put forth the idea that perhaps the 12 baskets represent Jesus ministry to the Jewish world (with its 12 tribes), while the seven baskets left over represent his promise to the Gentile world (according to Jewish idioms, the rest of the world contained 70 nations). Perhaps this is it, or one of the other viable theories that have been put forth. What we ultimately are left with, however, is the need for humility and to admit that, like the disciples, we might not fully understand the meaning of the left over bread either.

33 Day 32 - Mark 8: They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" 24He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." 25Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village." 27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 28They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Isaiah 2:1-5 Micah 4 1. Why did it take Jesus two touches to heal the blind man? 2. What is the point Mark is making by including this story here? 3. What is Peter really saying when he refers to Jesus as the Messiah? What is it about Jesus or his kingdom that you don t yet understand? What area of your life have you not turned over to him? You will find, just as this blind man, and the disciples for that matter, found that if you allow him, Jesus will touch you again and help you to understand things fully. If we put together the scene from yesterday s reading along with these two passages, we find another Mark sandwich of sorts, in which he puts one scene inside of another one. The only difference here is that verses and are not really one story, but for Mark they are closely related, and really continue the same thought. The question is then: why would Mark include this somewhat odd story of Jesus healing a blind man in between two passages that speak to the ability or inability of the disciples to understand who Jesus is? When he arrives at, to. They are begging Jesus to heal this man, so he takes him outside of the village. Jesus then spits on his eyes, places his and seemingly heals him. But we find that something is wrong. The man says that he can see, but not in the right way. He says that. After putting his hands on the man for a second time, he can see. What just happened here? Did Jesus have a small power outage? Was he unable to completely heal the man the first time? This is the only miracle recorded in any of the gospels in which Jesus must perform an act twice to complete one miracle. So, we go back to the original question: Why does Mark include this strange story here in the middle of a discussion of who Jesus is? As we said earlier, in Mark s thinking, seeing is a related concept to understanding. With that in mind, this story begins to become clearer. This blind man had some contact with Jesus, yet he still couldn t fully see. He needs to re-engage with Jesus. Once he does that he finally receives his full sight. And this is the point that Mark doesn t want us to miss. The previous passage described the disciples inability to understand who Jesus was and what he was doing. Jesus is demonstrating for his disciples, and Mark is telling us that they needed to re-engage with Jesus, to be touched again by the Master, in order to truly see who he is. The crowds, the disciples, they haven t really been able to see who Jesus is. They think that he s just a prophet. But now the disciples are touched by revelation from God; some things begin to come clear. He is not a prophet, he s not John the Baptist; he s not Elijah; he is the Christ. They finally are beginning to see clearly (Mark will continue to show us that they still don t have everything figured out, but at least now they are on their way.) This understanding that Jesus is the Messiah is not the disciples comprehending that Jesus is divine or the second person of the Trinity. This is more about them understanding the politically dangerous and theologically risky claim that Jesus is the true King of Israel. In claiming him the Messiah, they are naming Herod Antipas, and others like him, as imposters. No one was expecting a divine redeemer of mankind. They were looking for a king, and the disciples think that they have finally found him. To this point his behavior has been strange and un-king like, so this revelation was probably a bit of a relief for them. Now they think they understand who he is. Jesus is not just announcing the kingdom, he believes he is the king. We shouldn t miss Mark s point, however. I believe in one sense he is letting us know that this is the second touch and the disciples finally get it. But his main thrust is that this is, in many ways, the first touch. They didn t really see at all before; now they can see, but not yet as clearly as they will. The understanding that he is the Messiah changes things. A Messiah that was announcing God s kingdom was a direct challenge to and slap in the face of the Jewish leadership and of Rome. Things were about to change for Jesus and his disciples, as we shall see in the next passage. But first, let s review a few things about this idea of Messiah. The disciples now see that the miracles and things that Jesus has been doing have been pointing to the fact that he is, indeed, the Messiah that is announcing the kingdom of God. Not all Jews wanted or were really expecting a Messiah, but those who were, expected him to do three things. The Messiah would rebuild the Temple, defeat the enemy of God s people, and he would bring God s justice to Israel and then the world around Israel. In other words, the Messiah would restore the kingdom of God through the kingdom of Israel. Jesus had bee going around completely redefining those tasks. He wasn t assembling an army, nor was he announcing an agenda that would take down the Jewish leadership. Jesus has been doing the things that people thought the Messiah would, but in a radically different way. Now, Mark tells us that the disciples have grasped the first point, at least, they realize he is the Messiah, with a new way of doing things. Just how new that way is, is yet to fully emerge.

34 Day 33 - Mark 8:31-9:1 31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." 34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." 1And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Zechariah 1: Why did the disciples have such a hard time understanding Jesus words about his death and suffering (and their own)? 2. Why do you think Peter rebuked Jesus? What does this tell us about their relationship? 3. What are the clear indicators in this passage that Jesus words were intended directly for those listening to him that day? Mark s concept of being a Christian is that of following Jesus. In order to do that though, Jesus, said his disciples must abandon their own agenda in life and pick up his. Have you truly done that? In what areas of your life do you still cling to your own agenda? What will it take for you to truly sacrifice every area of your life to Jesus and his kingdom? Danger and death were a fairly regular part of life in first-century Palestine. The people were pretty used to harsh leaders, rebellions, and executions. Anytime a new leader popped up with a new message, death was always the possible end of things. If Jesus wasn t already sure of that, the death of John the Baptist would have confirmed it for him. Although that was always a possibility, this is seemingly something different beyond the usual danger. Following his disciples realization that Jesus is the Messiah, things quickly change in the mind of Jesus. It is only once they begin to grasp who he is and what he is truly doing that he can begin to teach them some of the things that he is about to reveal. The new lesson seems to be not that there may be danger ahead, but that they will be walking straight into it. There are, of course, lessons from this point that Mark wants us to pick up on. Once we begin to understand who Jesus is and what he wants from us, the stakes are raised and things begin to change drastically. Jesus calls us, just as he called his disciples, to go on the mission with him, and true discipleship always involves walking right into the middle of difficult situations. This cannot be what the disciples had in mind from Jesus, though. Maybe they had already put together that he wasn t going to be a military leader, but they had no conception of him marching straight towards his death. He seemed to be saying that he was going to fail and that they were going to fail with him. There also seems to be a degree to which they were totally confused. Jesus had been speaking rather cryptically to this point, and it appears that although, they understood that he was predicting failure at some level, they didn t understand the references to him being killed. Perhaps he is speaking in parables again? Whatever he was saying, though, it had to be wrong. A Messiah doesn t get killed by the authorities. There was no conception of the Messiah predicted by the prophets and sent by God experiencing failure. A Messiah who did that was no Messiah at all, he was a false Messiah. So what was he saying? Mark will answer that more fully later, but he does give a hint in verse 38. Dying and rising again is the way that Jesus will come into his. This is clearly the way that Jesus saw his vocation. This was his destiny as Israel s representative (which is what the Messiah was), and his disciples would have to be prepared to follow in his footsteps. Any opposition to that plan, as vital as it is, must be seen as satanically inspired, even if it comes from one of his closest disciples, Peter. Peter, no doubt, challenged him on his dismal view of his mission. Perhaps, in his own mind, Peter was even trying to challenge and encourage Jesus. It is always a challenge for those who would follow Jesus to view the world from heaven s standpoint rather than an earthly one. This is what Peter failed to do. He had the wrong worldview. Jesus then clears things up for those who would follow him on this mission. Following him would mean denying themselves and picking up their cross. This was not just a metaphor for a first-century Jew. They all knew he was saying that they might die on this mission. Yet, he reminds them that those who hold on to what they have and reject discipleship, will forfeit their place in the kingdom. Those who accept the kingdom will get it, and the life of the age to come to boot. Jesus makes it clear by verse 38, that this was a particular message for those sitting there that day contemplating whether they would follow him or not. Jesus continues to demonstrate that he thinks all this is going to happen soon, in the lifetime of many of those listening to him on the day he uttered these words. He is not talking about some misplaced hope of a future existence. What Jesus is saying is that he believes that the kingdom of God will come with power through his own death and suffering. Again, there are lessons from all of this that Mark wants us to learn. Although the mission that we are called on is not identical and does not usually involve the same kind of immanent danger, following Jesus still involves denying our own agenda and picking up Jesus. It means that we commit ourselves to following him no matter what that might mean. In the end, this is what being a Christian is all about; this is how we too can enter into the kingdom of God.

35 Day 34 - Mark 9:2-9:13 2After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant. 11And they asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" 12Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him." Exodus 34 Revelation 1:9-20 Leviticus 23: Why would Peter offer to build tents? 2. What would this event tell the disciples about Jesus identity? 3. How does this account tie into Mark s theme of seeing and understanding? None of us will probably ever experience anything like what Peter, James, and John did here, but there are times when God reveals things to us. When Jesus speaks to us about our own life, we are called to listen to God s words just as the disciples were. This is God s Son, in whom he is pleased. Listen to him; Follow him. This event, known as the transfiguration, was such an intense and overwhelming experience that it seems that even those who were there had difficulty in fully comprehending or describing what happened. We can be sure of one thing, this was not a case of hallucination as some critics have claimed. How can we be sure? For the simple fact that there were three witnesses. Three people simply cannot have the same hallucination any more than they can share a dream. The three disciples are no doubt frightened, and Peter, as we are coming to see as a pattern, blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind. From our perspective his offer to build tents for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses, is a bit amusing. He probably had two motivations for doing so. First, was his desire to prolong the moment and keep Moses and Elijah with them for as long as possible. Second, was the fact that this was most likely at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, where Jews would build a tent called the, to remember when God brought them out of Egypt. It s hard to imagine that Peter s response is a later invention by Mark. No one inventing this story would include such a funny response, and risk lowering the magnitude of the moment. No, we are left to conclude, reasonably, that this incident really happened. Let s look at this account from the perspective of the gospel as a whole. Jesus has led his disciples up the mountain of viewing God s kingdom from a whole new perspective. He has unveiled God s work in new, shocking, and profound ways. Those on the outside can look, but they don t really see. The disciples, though, had their eyes opened for the first time. They are seeing the reality of God s kingdom, and the truth that even though it was not at all what they expected, this is the Messiah. Once again, Mark is telling us a story about their eyes being opened. Mark is, again, brilliantly telling the larger story through one incident. Now Jesus takes his disciples up this mountain and opens their eyes, on a whole other level. Our Western minds tend to view heaven as a separate entity from our reality, but that was not the way the Jews of Jesus time viewed it. For them, it was more that heaven was another dimension, that would break into ours at certain times and places. There were literally, in their worldview, times when heaven and earth overlapped. This is what they believed was happening when Moses saw the burning bush or when God s presence descended in the glory cloud. Here, the disciples were being allowed to see one of those times when heaven broke into our realm. This did not, however, necessarily demonstrate in Mark s mind (or the disciples that were present) that Jesus was divine. Mark is yet to explain to us why they believed that. If this incident, in itself, demonstrated Jesus divinity then it would also be demonstrating the divinity of Moses and Elijah. No, this incident was demonstrating God s approval of the inner reality of Jesus work. He was continuing and completing the work of the two great prophets of the Old Testament. Theologian N.T. Wright says, this is a sign of Jesus being entirely caught up with, bathed in, the love, power, and kingdom of God, so that it transforms his whole being, in the way that music transforms words that are sung. This is the sign that Jesus is not just indulging in fantasies about God s kingdom, but that he is speaking and doing the truth. It s the sign that he is indeed the true prophet, the true Messiah. This is why God says that Jesus is his beloved Son. Jesus is the full revelation for which Moses and Elijah paved the way. God has always wanted to reveal himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and Moses and Elijah were simply forerunners to make that possible. Again, we must understand that these words of God would have confirmed that Jesus was the Messiah, yet the disciples still haven t grasped his divinity. Jesus words concerning keeping quiet about this incident until he was risen from the dead were very confusing for a first-century Jew. The expectation was that the resurrection would happen when God transformed the whole world and raised all the righteous from the dead. They simply had no concept of one person being resurrected ahead of and pointing to the resurrection of everyone else. Like many things that Jesus said, they really didn t understand the significance of what Jesus was saying until after his death. The disciples are still trying to figure things out when they ask about Elijah having to come before the Messiah. Was this the event? Had Elijah come in fulfillment of Scripture? Jesus response indicates that Elijah has already come in the work of John the Baptist; that job is done. Now the only thing left is the messianic vocation, which Jesus has already announced will involve his suffering and death.

36 Day 35 - Mark 9: When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16"What are you arguing with them about?" he asked. 17A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." 19"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." 20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he answered. 22"It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." 23" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." 24Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" 25When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." 26The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. 28After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 29He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer. Matthew 17:14-23 Luke 9:37-45 When situations get really intense and difficult what do you do? This is where the words of the father, I do believe, help me with my unbelief, can be helpful. The words are a mixture of faith and despair. The next time things are seemingly more challenging than you can handle, turn to God and pray faithfully not for him to deliver you, but for him to increase your faith. By this time, Mark has made it clear that the disciples have understood at least part of the point. They have begun to grasp that Jesus is the promised Messiah. They also comprehend that he is announcing a very different type of kingdom than anyone expected. For that matter, he is a very different type of Messiah than anyone expected. As Jesus comes down from the mountain, he encounters the remainder of his disciples engaged in an argument. Apparently, the father of a demonpossessed boy has brought his son to see Jesus. With him unavailable, the disciples took a shot at it, and why not? They had cast out demons before. The problem is, they find, that they are unable to cast this demon out. When the man comes to Jesus to ask him to drive the demon out, Jesus is a bit frustrated. After answering a few questions from Jesus, the father says. Jesus response is priceless:? He seems to be saying that he can do anything. The issue is not his ability, it is the faith of this man. The man s response shows that faith is difficult for him, but he is trying. After healing the boy, the disciples ask Jesus in private why they couldn t drive this demon out. Jesus responds with a somewhat enigmatic response: This kind can come out only by prayer. What could this possibly mean? Does he mean to imply that the disciples have been slacking on their quiet times, and thus were unable to perform? They had cast out demons before and hadn t realized that some are more powerful, more difficult to deal with than others (Paul said as much in Ephesians 6:12). We can assume that the disciples have, of course, been praying, and so that Jesus is referring to a special level of prayer. We are, perhaps, meant to assume that the time on the mountain was a particularly intense time of prayer (the type of prayer in which heaven and earth overlap) which allowed him to face a challenge of this magnitude. Let s go back a bit, though, and look at this from another perspective. When Jesus comes down from the mountain, things have changed. Mark has told us that the disciples have finally figured out that Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus has begun a new level of teaching. Now he goes up into the glory cloud, in the very presence of God, the place where heaven and earth have overlapped. When he comes down he finds many things, but strong faith is not one of them. This seems to cause some consternation on Jesus part. He wonders how much longer he will be with them. A powerful demon that wouldn t come out, disciples that weren t up to the challenge, a confused crowd; what is Mark trying to tell us? Up to this point, the faith required has been pretty easy. People come to Jesus or the disciples and they are healed. Now, though, things are getting difficult. Mark is emphasizing the point that the mission is serious now. Things are going to get more difficult, and Jesus knows it. Now that the disciples have begun to understand who he is and what the mission is, things are going to get much more difficult. This is quite the opposite, perhaps, from what we (and his disciples for that matter), would have expected. It s the same for us, really. Things can seem pretty easy while we are coming to understand who Jesus is, and what his kingdom is really about. Once we have begun to comprehend it, though, we often expect things to get easier as we coast into heaven. We have all, at some point, however, discovered the very point Mark is making: When we really understand what Jesus is calling us to and take up his mission, it gets much harder, and the forces of evil become far more challenging. 1. Why does Jesus answer that this demon could only come out by prayer? What did he mean by that? 2. What do you think Jesus meant with his words, everything is possible for him who believes? 3. What situations are you facing that make you feel like you can identify with the disciples in this narrative?

37 Day 36 - Mark 9: They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. 33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." 36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Jonah 1:17-3:10 Matthew 12:38-42 Luke 11: Jesus was speaking rather plainly in verse 31. Why did the disciples not understand him? 2. What is your response when you are presented with a situation, teaching, or Scripture that you do not understand? 3. What is Jesus saying in using a child as an example for the disciples? Many people seem to think that becoming a Christian somehow means that all of their needs will be met. Jesus made it very clear, however, to his first disciples that this should not be the focus of being a disciple. He wanted his disciples to realize that their needs would be met but not at all in the way that they had imagined. What are the areas in your life in which you tend to focus on yourself and your needs rather than being a servant? Shortly after graduating from college with a degree in secondary education, I was asked if, as a favor, I could come in and substitute teach at an elementary school for a day of summer school. I agreed and showed up the next day for my one-day as the third-grade teacher of the class. To this point, I had never worked with children of that age, and had no idea of what I was in for. Two particular incidents that I will highlight that day both involved unfortunate choices of language on my part. In one instance, an especially rowdy student asked if he could move his desk. I responded that he could take it wherever he wanted. On another occasion, a student asked me if they could get a pencil, to which I said, sure, knock yourself out. On both occasions, the rambunctious little souls found it amusing to take my words quite literally. A great deal of confusion and frustration can result if there is a misunderstanding between speaker and listener as to whether the message is to be received as literally or figuratively. This is the problem here as Jesus again tells his disciples that he will be killed and then raised from the dead. He has been speaking so often to them in parables, that when he does finally speak plainly, they are trying to figure out what he means. The assumption is that he is giving them another parable, but they don t want to risk looking foolish and asking yet another question. They are quite possibly assuming that the three days is a reference to the story of Jonah, to which Jesus has alluded in his teaching (Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; Luke 11:29). Perhaps Jesus is saying that he will be swallowed up by the authorities in Jerusalem for three days, before bursting out into his glorious kingdom and preaching repentance the way Jonah did with the Ninevevites. The idea of one person experiencing the resurrection before God came fully in his kingdom just would not have been on the radar screen for a Jew in the first century. So, if they did think he was talking about literal death, they would have likely taken the phrase,, to be a code that they didn t understand. We can, of course, sympathize with the disciple here. Taking in the radical new message of Jesus, and deciphering between his literal and figurative language was no easy task. In our own lives, think of how often we see something new in Scripture, or hear it in a sermon and we just aren t prepared to have our old way of understanding something taken apart so that a new way of understanding can be opened up? A sure sign that the disciples still weren t completely seeing and understanding the new concepts Jesus was announcing with his kingdom is shown by the disciples on the way to Capernaum (pay special attention here because it is often this same kind of response in us that demonstrates that we haven t grasped the new way of understanding what God wants from us). The disciples have a disagreement about who is the greatest among them. This is a clear indicator that they understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the king, but they still haven t grasped what his kingdom is about. They think they have won the lottery, and the only thing to be decided is how to split up the power and glory of Jesus kingdom. When Jesus confronts them about what they were talking about, they realize that there is no honest response that they can to give Jesus, so they simply don t say anything. Jesus must have been disappointed that all they were thinking about was themselves. That s usually the problem when we only understand half of the message; it s usually the half that benefits and concerns us. At this point, however, they think that they are going to be the inner circle of the true king of the world. It will be awhile yet before the truth dawns on them. Jesus tries to shake them out of their backward thinking here, by using a child as an example. Children were seen quite differently in the first century than they are now, which often leads 21st century readers to misunderstand Jesus words. Children had no real status or social rank in the ancient world; they were not highly thought of, nor were servants. So when Jesus says that they must become like a servant or like a child, his point is not that hey need to hear the teaching of the kingdom with great innocence. His point is that being associated with Jesus means that they will not be thought highly of in the world. They need to get visions of glory and grandeur out of their head and realize that being kingdom bearers in this new type of kingdom means being the and accepting people into the kingdom that are not the sharpest, best, and brightest by the world s standards.

38 Day 37 - Mark 9: "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." 39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. 42"And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where " 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' 49Everyone will be salted with fire. 50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other." Leviticus 2:13 Numbers 18:19 2 Chronicles 13:4-7 Matthew 5: Jesus old his disciples not to worry about the man driving out demons. Can we learn anything from this concerning our own attitudes about people? 2. Why would Jesus refer to people like this man as a little ones? 3. What do you think Jesus meant by saying that they should have salt in themselves? Are there any good things in your life that are, in reality, leading you away from a full commitment to the kingdom of God? What do Jesus words in this passage mean for you when it comes to things like that? This is one of the few passages in Mark in which he takes a series of sayings from Jesus and puts them together in one section without giving much context to most of them. That doesn t make them less important. It simply means that Mark has most likely taken them from their original contexts to make a more complete point. This point is not exactly clear at first, but when we realize that these all have to do with the idea of a battle being joined and the serious consequences that might follow, this string of three short sayings makes more sense. In the first account, John sees a man that has been in Jesus. Jesus tells John to leave the man alone. Someone who drives out a demon in Jesus name in one moment, will certainly not be speaking against Jesus in the next. Jesus seems to assume that all of Israel is taking sides as to whether his mission is from God or not. John wants the mission of Jesus to be limited to only those who are part of the official group of followers. This isn t so much a disagreement between an inclusive or exclusive view of Jesus mission, as it is difference in seeing Jesus work as a private and privileged operation or a war that is quickly moving toward a showdown. This is a warning, for us, however, to never think that we own the kingdom of God. It is far too easy to come to think of the way that we worship or do things as the only way to do it. There are probably many Christians out there that Jesus would include in the category of little ones and woe to those of us who might exclude them because we think we have things all figured out. This gives us the proper focus for what comes next. The immediate point of Jesus is for his disciples. If their desire to be exalted and honored gets in the way of them being disciples, they should be careful lest they find themselves not being disciples of Jesus at all. Whatever might get in the way needs to be eradicated. The wider issue, though, is what does this saying about cutting off feet and hands have to say to us? It has become quite popular these days to present Christianity as a feel-good philosophy, one that is all about developing a way of living that promotes health, wealth, and comfort. If you are at all unhappy, they say, then you don t have enough faith, because God wants you to have a life that is all peace and prosperity. Yet, this is not the version of God s kingdom that Jesus presents here (or anywhere else for that matter). His is a mission that is real and dangerous. A way of life where evil and sin are real and dangerous. A war is on and there is no room for philosophies that shirk any hint of personal cost, and argue that all desires are God-given, and so, must be realized. The second lesson we can learn is that what they are asked to cut off are not sinful or bad things, in and of themselves. Rejecting sin is an obvious task for most of us, but Jesus tells us that there is more to it than just that. We must also be prepared to cut out things that might be good in another context, but which steer us down the wrong path. This is the only wise way of behaving when you are in the middle of a war. Those who can t or won t grasp the danger of sin will be in danger of being thrown in (translated here). Gehenna was a valley that served as a garbage dump for ancient Jerusalem. It was perpetually smoldering and had, by Jesus time, become a metaphor for the lake of fire that was prepared for Satan and his angels (Matthew 25:41), but to where all who reject God will eventually go. At the end of this passage, Jesus returns to speak directly to his disciples, which implies that the primary meaning of the rest of these sayings was also for them. They were being called to be the salt of the earth. This had been Israel s job but they had failed. Now it was up to the disciples. If they lose their flavor like the rest of Israel had, they are in danger of becoming worthless to God in the same fashion that Israel had.

39 Day 38 - Mark 10:1-16 1Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3"What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." 13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Genesis 2:18-15 Deuteronomy 24:1-4 Matthew 19: What can we learn from the difference in the way Jesus responds to the public question on divorce, and to the way he answers it in private? 2. What does Jesus believe is the reason that Moses offered exceptions to marriage? 3. What is Jesus point in saying that only those who receive the kingdom of God like a child, will enter it? Jesus had a great deal of wisdom in realizing that it was not always the time and place to say everything that he believed. What can we learn from this? Has there ever been a time when you shared your feelings on a subject, but in retrospect realized that it was not the best time to say it? What can you learn from Jesus actions here to apply your life? Recently, I was watching a television show in which a major evangelical TV evangelist was being interviewed. He was asked a question concerning whether he thought that George W. Bush had been chosen by God to be the President of the United States. He quickly answered in the affirmative, he did believe that to be the case. This was not the real point of the question from the talk show host, however. He was carefully laying a trap. He followed up this question with another. Was Bill Clinton also God s choice to be president or is God not powerful enough to choose every president? Sufficiently caught in the trap, in the mind of the commentator, the evangelist nervously joked that God wanted to drive the nation to their knees, but the trap had been sprung, and the commentator proceeded to hammer the pastor s shaky logic. This is something of the sort of question asked here by the Pharisees. They are asking Jesus about divorce, but that is really not their primary agenda. This question seems innocent enough, though. So why does Mark say that this was a test (the word can also be translated as trap )? Why does Jesus not give the same stinging answer in public that he gives to his disciples in private? The key to understanding all of this is in the location of this incident. This account takes place near the Jordan river in the Judean wilderness. This is where John the Baptist used to teach and baptize. Why was John imprisoned and beheaded? Because he had the nerve to criticize Herod Antipas for marrying his brother s wife. Now the shadows of the trap begin to come into focus. This doesn t mean that Jesus words about divorce aren t still insightful and true, it s just that understanding the situation brings everything into better focus. It was obvious, however, to John the Baptist, and many other faithful Jews that Herod s behavior had made it obvious that he was not the true king of the Jews. Plus, any kingdom announcement like the one that Jesus was making was already an affront to Antipas. There was no point in falling into the trap of the Pharisees here and making some sort of treasonous statement. Jesus can see the trap from a mile away and loses no integrity in his answer. He answers their question in public, but in private gives a stinging rebuke against divorce. He also, seemingly, specifically addresses Antipas wife Herodias, who divorced Antipas brother. It is important to understand that ordinary Jewish women would not have been able to get a divorce. This likely means that Jesus only point in saying anything about a woman divorcing her husband was as a specific commentary on Herodias. Jesus public discussion on divorce is quite interesting. The question from the Pharisees is whether divorce is lawful. Jesus asks them a question which they don t really answer: They respond by citing the exceptions to divorce that were contained in the law, but that is not what Jesus asked them about. Jesus then answers his own question by quoting for them what had been commanded about marriage in the law. This was Moses command concerning marriage and it speaks for God on the subject:. This isn t to imply that Moses was wrong in his exception, but that one needs to go back to the account of creation itself to see what God s will for marriage is. Marriage creates not a new partnership but a new human being that should never be separated. In Jesus mind, what Moses wrote in Genesis (Jesus assumes that Moses was the author) spoke for God on the subject of marriage and divorce. Moses gave exceptions because of the hardheartedness of the Israelites. They were unwilling and unable to hold to God s intentions. This has implications for Jesus own ministry. In Moses day, Israel was unable to fulfill God s intentions and needed laws that represented the second best reality. In the same way, Israel was to have been God s light to the world, but hardheartedness had foiled that ideal as well. In suggesting a return to the strict ideal standards of Genesis, Jesus is either hopelessly idealistic or believes that his work of inaugurating the kingdom will somehow offer a cure to this hardheartedness of human beings. Jesus final words in this section, concerning children make more sense when we keep in mind the low first-century views of children. The key words here are. He is not talking specifically about children (although he certainly loved and was concerned about children), he is saying that the kingdom of God is not about personal status, it is about humility.

40 Day 39 - Mark 10: As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" 20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." 21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" 24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?" 27Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." 28Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!" 29"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Exodus 20:1-21 Isaiah 2 1. Why would this man ask Jesus about having life in the age to come? 2. Why does Jesus ask him to sell everything he has? What is Jesus ultimate point in doing that? 3. What does Jesus mean by saying that those who had given up possessions and family would receive a hundred times as much? The rich man had tightly held beliefs and traditions that were coming in direct conflict with Jesus vision of the kingdom. What are some of the most prevalent beliefs and traditions that people in our culture have that keep them from truly seeing the kingdom for what it is? How can you tailor a message that will challenge their beliefs and show them that what we often hold so dear is actually the very thing keeping us from God s kingdom? Most Jews in the first-century believed that the history of the world could be split into two ages. The one they were living in was the present age. This was characterized by sin, hate, violence, rebellion against God, and the fact that Israel was still in exile. They believed that Israel was in exile because, although they had returned to their homeland, God had not yet returned. The ancient promises of the prophets of old had not been fulfilled, their sin had not yet been forgiven. So, most Jews waited anxiously for the next reality, the age to come. This is when righteousness would be restored. God would set things to right. Israel would be restored as God s people and the righteous would be raised to this new life. This great event in history would bring justice, peace, ultimate freedom for Israel, and punishment for all evildoers, be they Jew or Gentile. All the lying, anger, and hatred of the present age would pass away and be gone forever once the age to come had burst forth into history. This all meant that there was one main question on the mind of every Jew who believed in all this: How can I know that I will be one of the righteous that will inherit the age to come? Talking about the kingdom of God was another way of referring to the age to come in the mind of most first-century Jews. This is the very question that the young man asks Jesus in this scene. Most people tend to think that the man is asking Jesus about how he can go to heaven. This is not the case, however. There was no thought of an existence in heaven somewhere apart from one s body and the physical world. The age to come would be here on a restored earth. No Jew would want to be in a disembodied heaven when God brought the new earth to fruition. The phrase that is translated here, literally means belonging to the age. Another potentially confusing situation here is Jesus response to being called. What Jesus is not doing is somehow denying that he is divine. He has taken the man where he is at, and tried to challenge his thinking at that point. If Jesus is just a teacher, then he should not be called good. Only God is good. The question this man asked, then, was a fairly common question at that time. If anyone asked a Pharisee or a member of one of the other sects, they most likely would have first received a detailed interpretation of the law, and second, been encouraged to join their particular group so that you could be assured of gaining life in the age to come. Jesus response was no doubt a bit confusing to this man. All he did was recite commandments 6 through 9, adds, and then goes back to number 5. He makes no mention of 1 through 4 and number 10. What Jesus does masterfully is bring the rest of the conversation back around to the commandments that he has left out (with the exception of the Sabbath), which concern honoring God, not having idols, not misusing God s name, and not coveting. Jesus is not calling for a stricter observance to the law, he is calling for this man to radically rethink what putting God first, having idols, misusing his name, and coveting might really mean. He is drastically redefining what it means to be the people of God, to follow the law of Moses. Because the Messiah is here, the age to come is not just some future hope. It is a present reality that is breaking through now. The man leaves, saddened and disappointed by Jesus response. In fact his own disciples seem shocked by his words. This is because in the Jewish mind, wealth was a sign of God s blessing in upholding the Covenant. Jesus challenged one of the very things that they held dear as a sign that they were God s people. Jesus is clear, wealth can t come into the age to come anymore than a camel can go through the eye of a needle (which is use of a typical Jewish hyperbole to make a point). Everything will be upside down in Jesus new kingdom. The first will be last, the last will be first. Those who have given up all the old identifiers as the people of God (family, wealth, etc.) will not only inherit the age to come, they will find that they have come into an ever-enlarging family of fellow disciples with homes that will be open to them wherever they go (and persecutions, Mark is careful to point out, lest they think that everything will be rosy in God s kingdom). The belief of the early church was that with Jesus death and resurrection, the age to come had broken into the present age, pointing to the time when it would be fully consummated at his Second Coming.

41 Day 40 - Mark 10: They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33"We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise." 35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." 41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Isaiah 51:17-23 Jeremiah 25: Why was Jesus so determined to go to Jerusalem? 2. How did James and John demonstrate a crucial flaw in their thinking about what the kingdom was, by the question they asked Jesus? 3. What would be your reaction if Jesus personally promised you that you would drink from the cup he drank and take part in the baptism that he did? Following Jesus means turning all the world s concepts of power and glory on their head. It means being a servant in the kingdom of God. Have you let go of the world s values or do yo still cling to them? Is your life about serving others for God s glory or about lifting yourself up and being comfortable whenever possible? This is the third time now that Jesus has warned his disciples of his coming fate in Jerusalem. Whatever else his vocation may include, it is clear that Jesus fully realizes that his own death is part of it. In repeating Jesus warnings about his death, warnings that the disciples still don t grasp because they think Jesus is speaking in code, Mark is doing at least three things that will become more and more clear as his gospel unfolds. The first is Jesus firm belief that he is to become the suffering servant of Isaiah His mission as Messiah will involve dying at the hands of his enemies in the city of Jerusalem, the very city that should be embracing him as king. The second thing is that Jesus was determined to speak plainly and openly about his death, and continue to march straight towards it. This might shock us, but it is no more shocking than it was for his disciples. They were frightened and confused by what he was doing. A proper understanding of all this, however, should end the ministries of those who attempt to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ without making the Cross the central aspect of his mission. The point of Jesus ministry was not about healing, happiness, or fulfillment. The point was about the kingdom of God bursting into the present age, an event that could only happen because of Jesus brutal death, the very thing that many today would like to forget or ignore. The third thing that Mark wants us to begin to see is the far-reaching implications of Jesus vocation. Many that do acknowledge the Cross, want to relegate it to a personal level, where it has deep meaning, but has virtually no effect on the rest of life. This is precisely the point that the next passage will address. James and John clearly see this trip to Jerusalem as a march to glory. All of this talk about death and suffering, they assume, must mean that things will be tough but they will come out on top. The Cross, though, is not a difficult thing that must be gotten through so that the happy ending can come. It is the point. It is precisely the way that God is dealing with the world s power and authority and standing it on its head, turning it inside out. One of Mark s primary statements about the Cross is a political statement. It is isn t just about God forgiving sins, although that is central to the Cross. This is the way that God is putting his fallen world to rights, and that means that it is a direct challenge to all rulers, authorities, and powers throughout the world. It challenges and undermines all human systems and governments that make claims to be able to set things to rights. The point that James and John missed is the same point that so many today still miss: The Cross and the kingdom repudiate all attempts at human pride and glory. They turn it upside down in a way that carries dangerous political meanings for those who would embrace them. James and John have other visions of the kingdom in mind. When Jesus asks them,, (a phrase that will be stressed in the next passage) they want to be glorified in his kingdom. When Jesus asks them about the cup, he is referring to the cup of God s wrath that is about to be poured out on him God s wrath was what happened when he poured out his judgment on the wicked; Jesus would take the full brunt of that judgment. His reference to baptism here, probably refers to his coming death; going beneath the waters of death, but soon to be raised up. This is precisely how the early church saw their own baptism (Romans 6:1-4). James and John wanted to sit at Jesus left and right when he came into his glory. What they didn t understand was that those places had already been determined. Following Jesus didn t mean glory, it meant that they would eventually drink from the cup and participate in the same baptism of death that Jesus did, but now right now. But what about his right and left? Was he referring to places in heaven? Absolutely not; the answer to the question lies in realizing when Jesus came into his glory. He did it on the cross and the places to his right and left had already been prepared for two other men. He was not going to come into glory in a manner that they had imagined. Again, Jesus tries to stress to them that they need to change their thinking about the kingdom. It is not about status and glory. It is about turning all of those ideas upside down.

42 Day 41 - Mark 10: Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." 50Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." 52"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Matthew 20:29-34 Mark 10:35-45 Isaiah Why was it so dangerous that this man was yelling out Son of David? 2. What is the significance of the detail that Bartimaeus threw his cloak aside? 3. What previous passages from his Gospel do you think Mark most has in mind when relating this scene? Take some time to meditate on this passage; imagine that you were one of the people in the crowd that day. What would you have thought? What would you have done? Now imagine the story from the perspective of Bartimaeus. What would that have been like? What would you have been feeling before, during and after this incident? Although Mark wants us to identify with Bartimaeus, that is not his ultimate goal. The place Mark wants to ultimately take us, takes a great deal of courage: He wants us to live out this story on a daily basis from the perspective of Jesus. What would it look like if you began to spread the Kingdom of God in your own way, just as Jesus spread it in his way? As we have seen previously, one of the major themes that Mark has stressed throughout his book is the topic of sight. In particular, he has raised questions about seeing and understanding who Jesus is. His disciples have had difficulty in understanding who he is, and what his kingdom movement is about. When Jesus asked James and John what He could do for them, their response was to ask for favors. They were only thinking about themselves and did not yet understand what it meant to give up everything and take on a Kingdom way of thinking and viewing the world. Now, Mark will bring all of those themes and threads together in this one, brief story about a blind man named Bartimaeus. Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho. It is important to note that Jericho is a usually very warm city. On their way out, they see Bartimaeus by the side of the road, begging. When he sees Jesus he begins to shout:. The crowds react negatively to his pleading, but the question is why. Son of David means that this man was calling Jesus the rightful king of Israel. This is the kind of thing that could get you killed in a province that was controlled by the fearsome Roman empire. There was also a danger that they might kill several people in the crowd, thinking that this was some sort of revolutionary movement beginning. They don t want Bartimaeus drawing any unnecessary attention to them. Bartimaeus, however, doesn t seem to care. He realizes that this Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Mark s point in conveying this story to us is that this man has the kind of faith and understanding of who Jesus is, that took his disciples so long to understand. Jesus eventually has the man called over to him, and then Mark draws our attention to a small but remarkable detail. He says,. Why would a man need a cloak in such a warm town? It is because he was using it to spread on the ground to collect donations. In understanding who Jesus is, Bartimaeus has demonstrated a tremendous amount of faith. He has cast aside everything he has to come to Jesus. There is no hint of clinging to his past life for security. He s not worried about what might happen to him without his cloak, his faith has been put in Jesus. Thus, rather than picking up his cloak and bringing it with him, he has very intentionally cast it aside. He seems to know that he will no longer need it. In Mark s eyes, Bartimaeus is showing us the kind of faith that Jesus has said is necessary to be a part of his Kingdom. Bartimaeus has truly laid aside everything he has to follow Jesus. When he comes to Jesus, Jesus asks him a familiar question: Does this question sound familiar? It is the same question that Jesus asked James and John. Their response was to ask to be honored by Jesus when he came into his glory. Mark draws a clear distinction between these men and Bartimaeus by recording his response. He does not ask to be given any position of glory, He just says,. Mark has made such a point to tie in the concept of sight to understanding the nature of Jesus as Messiah and the purpose of his Kingdom, that we can hardly miss his point. Bartimaeus is displaying the kind of faith and understanding that followers of Jesus need to. In asking Jesus for his sight, he has demonstrated that he understands more than most people who can physically see. In the end of this passage, Jesus tells him to. The text here, though, says that Bartimaeus follows him down the road. Did this man that just demonstrated so much faith, turn around and disobey the Messiah? I don t believe so. The original language actually says that he followed Jesus in the way. In trying to make the text understandable, the NIV has actually obscured Mark s meaning. The Way was the term used by the early Christians to refer to Christianity. Mark s point is that Bartimaeus went and followed Jesus in his new Kingdom way of life. He does not mean to imply that he simply followed Jesus down the road. The meaning is much more significant and profound.

43 Day 42 - Mark 11:1-11 1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' " 4They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" 10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. Psalm 118 Zechariah 9:9-17 Matthew 21:1-11 Luke 19: Do you think that there is any significance to the detail that no one had ever ridden this young donkey? 2. Why did the crowds receive Jesus in such a royal manner? 3. What ways have you made Jesus King in your life? What ways have you not? Have you truly made Jesus the King of your life, willing to offer your property, resources, and talents to however he would use them? Or have you reduced and trivialized your commitment to him to the point that you simply see Jesus as a force that will help you get through and be more successful in doing the things you really wanted to do anyway? Is Jesus your King or a comforting religious experience? When I was a teenager my parents took me on a trip to Washington D.C. Getting there was a long trip, so when we finally arrived at the city I was already filled with a great deal of anticipation. This was the place where so many incredible things had happened. It was the place where so many of America s great men had lived, worked, and were now memorialized. To be there induced excited feelings of hope and enthusiasm for me. Take these same feeling that I felt as a young man and increase that exponentially. Now you re beginning to understand the feeling that most Jews would feel as they entered into Jerusalem. This was the site of God s holy Temple. It was the place where God had assured his people that His presence would dwell with them. It was the place where daily sacrifices were done to invoke God s promised forgiveness and to renew the hope of a renewed future. When Jews came to Jerusalem for the festivals, they were coming, full of excitement, to celebrate and remember the great things that God had done in the past. These were the stories of hope and freedom, two concepts that first-century Jews were clinging to. Jesus followers must have been feeling all of those same feelings of celebration, hope, and freedom, plus one additional very exciting item. For them it was time for the kingdom to finally come. Jesus has completed his long, intentional, and highly symbolic march towards Jerusalem. (The gospel of Luke particularly stresses this theme of Jesus marching towards Jerusalem, a new Exodus of sorts, that is a fulfillment of God s promised return that most Jews were expecting). Mark stresses all those excited feelings in this story of Jesus reception upon his arrival in Jerusalem. Everything in this scene speaks of royalty. People in the first century didn t throw their cloaks on the ground and wave palm branches for just anybody, even if it was an important somebody. Mark s point is clear: the people were receiving the man that they thought was going to be the true king. Two hundred years earlier, Judas Maccabeus had defeated the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes, restored Jerusalem, and rebuilt the Temple. The people at that time, waived palm branches and ivy and sang hymns of praise as they ushered in a new royal dynasty that lasted a hundred years. We can t miss what Mark is telling us. From chapter 8 on, the disciples have understood Jesus to be the Messiah, the true king. This is his royal reception. The shouts of the crowd further stresses the point that this is a royal reception. Theologian N.T. Wright says, Hosanna is a Hebrew word which mixes exuberant praise to God with the prayer that God will save his people, and do so right away. The chant,, comes from Psalm 118, a Psalm that is about going up to Jerusalem and the Temple. The next line in their chant is a rather dangerous one:. This is exactly what they believe they are welcoming into the city; the crowds are now confirming what Bartimaeus had already been shouting. For Herod Antipas and the other authorities in Jerusalem these were indeed fighting words, words which would get Jesus killed. The scene ends rather anti-climactically with Jesus entering the Temple, taking a look around, and then returning back to Bethany for the night. Nothing happens for the moment. What Mark will do in the remaining chapters is show us exactly what Jesus was trying to tell his disciples in the previous chapters. Jesus is going to radically redefine the Jews concept of kingship and Messiahship; he was going to turn all that on its head.

44 Day 43 - Mark 11: The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. 15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: " 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'" 18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19When evening came, they went out of the city. 20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 22"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Isaiah 56:5-7 Jeremiah What is the meaning of the fig tree in this passage? 2. Why would Jesus take such an action rather than merely saying what he meant? 3. What did Jesus mean in saying that his disciples could tell mountains to throw themselves into the sea? Jesus often used deeply symbolic ways to get his points across, in ways that were far more meaningful and memorable than words could ever be. How can you do that in your life, school, or place of work? Think about the areas of culture and life in your social circles that have become deeply unpleasing to God. How can you symbolically demonstrate that God has a new and better way of doing things? Once again Mark has given us two stories in sandwich form. The outer story has to do with a fig tree, while the inner story concerns the Temple, with each part of the story helping us to understand the other part. This passage is central, in many ways, to this gospel and to what Jesus was trying to do, but unless we can begin to appreciate the situation Jesus was in, we will easily misunderstand what is going on here. The first incident with the fig tree has been cited by some critics of the Bible as proof that Jesus was mentally imbalanced. How could he get upset at a fig tree for producing leaves and not fruit during the time of year when all fig trees produced leaves and not fruit? That s what fig trees do. The fact is, Jesus was not being unreasonable with the tree, he was acting out a parable. He was in fact, acting out Jeremiah s prophecy against Israel. It was Jesus way of announcing the coming judgment on the Temple and all that it had become for the Old Covenant people. Many have supposed that Jesus actions in the Temple were a rampage against commercialization in the Temple, that he wanted to simply clean up the Temple and stop all the non-religious activity. The story of the fig tree that surrounds his actions, though, make it clear that this was not the case. This was an act of symbolic judgment on the Temple. Jesus uses quotes here from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah which give another clue to what Jesus was doing. The Temple was supposed to be a but had always been more a (a word which would be much better translated as revolutionary or brigand ). His point was that the Temple had always been an ambiguous thing. Even when it was dedicated, Solomon stressed that it could never be God s final dwelling place (1 Kings 8:27). God had promised to bless his people through the Temple, but if they began to abuse and take for granted that blessing, then the Temple itself would and could be judged. This is what the early chapters (including chpts. 7-8) are all about. How had it become a brigand s or revolutionary s cave? Because Israel had a vocation to be the light of the world, but they had abused that calling and used it to become narrowly nationalistic to the extent that the rest of the world was not seen as needing to be enlightened but condemned. Rather than symbolizing God s welcome to the nations of the world, it had, for the Jews, become a symbol of his exclusion of them. The Temple had become the very sort of place that it was meant to subvert. So, like the fig tree, the only thing Jesus had in store for it was judgment. The Temple would be taken from the people who had abused it. The next question to ask is how did Jesus actions mean that he was pronouncing judgment on it? The purpose of the Temple was as a place of sacrifice. Money was exchanged as people bought animals to sacrifice. Thus, the sacrificial system depended on the exchange of money and the purchasing of animals. Jesus stopped that process, if only for a few minutes, and enacted a deeply symbolic moment. He was saying more clearly than perhaps even words could, that the Temple was under God s judgment. The very reason for it existing was being taken away. The sacrificial system had not only come to signify that for which it was not intended, it was also going to be unnecessary. Jesus had already, in using sacrificial language, said that he had come to be the ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The Temple was meant to be something that pointed to what was to come, and now it was here: the work of Jesus on the Cross. The message for the Church today is more far-reaching and far more terrifying than just being a comment on commercialization. It is a warning for us to take our vocation as the new light of the word seriously. It means remembering that the Church must always be seen as a place to enlighten the nations not merely condemn them. This is seen even in Jesus words about telling the to. The mountain was a long-standing symbol for the Temple, so this is clearly what Jesus was referring to here. Yet, even in encouraging his disciples to pray for the destruction of the Temple and everything it stood for (including the enemies of God) he reminded them to forgive. It is only when we learn to forgive that we can act with Jesus authority against the wickedness and corruption of our day.

45 Day 44 - Mark 11: They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28"By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do this?" 29Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30John's baptism was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!" 31They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 32But if we say, 'From men'..." (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." 1 Kings 6:11-13; 8:22-66 Many years ago I was the commissioner of a high school athletic conference for about six years. I stepped down from that position after six years and handed the reigns over to someone else. At the end of his first year, he had run into some problems organizing everything, so he resigned. The next year someone else had taken over and they were also having problems. They asked me to come back in and help organize and run the playoffs for the conference. During one of the games, the fans were a bit out of control, so I went down on the floor to clear things up. I sent a few people out of the gym, asked others to move, and began to restore order. Because of my absence, though, most of the fans had no idea who I was. The main question on their minds was, who did I think I was to order people around? This is kind of what is happening here. For years, things had been running according to normal tradition under the authority of. Into that, comes this young man who has taken charge of the entire Temple system, and the people are listening to him. Who does this guy think he is? By what authority does he think he has the right do this? As Mark s readers, we already know the answer that the chief priests do not. Since David planned the Temple and Solomon built it, the monarchy and the Temple had been closely related in Israel. It was the king who had ultimate authority over the Temple. This is what Jesus is doing here. Mark has already demonstrated that Jesus is the real king of Israel, and now Jesus is doing what true kings do, he is exercising authority over the Temple. Jesus, of course, won t say that outright. But what he won t say in words, he will act out. The authorities get the point of what he is doing, but they don t understand why he thinks he should be doing that. Jesus, in a very Jewish style, turns their question around on them into another question. He s not, however, simply firing a tougher question back at them in order to get them to shut up. He is, in a rather coded way, answering the question that they are asking. 1. Why were the authorities questioning Jesus about the source of his authority? 2. By asking them a question, how was Jesus really answering their original question? 3. Why do you think that Jesus would not answer the question outright? Jesus gave his followers the authority to complete his mission, and the Spirit to carry it out. Are you being like Jesus in this area of your life? Are you intentionally going straight to the heart of the place or institution in your world that symbolizes people s separation from God? What are the Temples that need to be challenged and warned? Are you prepared to question and answer the people like Jesus did? In asking them about John s baptism, he is not only putting them in a difficult situation, he is answering their question about his authority and from where it comes. John had proclaimed Jesus as the One about whom he spoke, the One that would act with power, the One that he then baptized. At his baptism, Jesus was anointed by the Spirit, and the voice had confirmed that he was the true king, God s beloved Son. He was the long-awaited Messiah for whom Israel had been waiting for over a thousand years. If they had really understood John s vocation and what had happened at Jesus baptism, they would have the answer to their question. Mark makes it clear, though, that the chief priests were not truly interested in the real answer to his question. They were angry, and they wanted to expose Jesus and save political face. But Jesus does something brilliant here. He not only answers their question in code, he also exposes their faulty logic and unwillingness to take a stand. His question puts them in an untenable situation, one which they finally answer,. In doing so, they have let Jesus off the hook for the moment. He has managed to do the very thing they were questioning him about. He has once again demonstrated his authority in the situation, and so he walks away. They would have their day with him, but it would be in Jesus way, in Jesus time. The question of Jesus authority was really the issue during his entire career. There was never a question over whether he was really doing the things he was doing, the controversy was over who he thought he was. The people had always been impressed by the amount of authority with which he taught (Mark 1:22, 27; 2:10; 3:15). Now he was turning that theoretical authority into realized authority over the highest institution in the land of Israel. This will all come to a head in chapter 14, but this scene in the Temple is the key to this unfolding drama.

46 Day 45 - Mark 12:1-12 1He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6"He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7"But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9"What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Haven't you read this scripture: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" 12Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. Isaiah 5 Psalm Why would Jesus speak of his death in parable to the crowds after he has already said that he would be killed straight out? 2. What is significant to you about the fact that Jesus knew that he would suffer the same fate as the son in this parable? 3. Why did the chief priests not have Jesus arrested at that point? Are you truthfully more motivated by God s call to your vocation to spread his kingdom or the potential rejection of the world? Do you embrace your calling to share the gospel regardless of the fact that people around you may not like, accept, or understand what you are saying? Mark doesn t record many of Jesus parables in his gospel, at least not as many as Luke and Matthew. Most of Jesus parables are what could be classified as comedies, that is they work out to some degree in the end. With the parables of the seeds that Mark described in chapter 4, one grouping of seed after another goes to waste, until finally the last batch described takes root and produces fruit. Many of Jesus other parables recorded in other gospels also work out in the end. They have to do with something lost being found in the end, a victim being finally helped, or a wayward son coming home. Up until verse 6, this parable seems like it s going bad, but will turn out well in the end. Then things go terribly awry. Rather than welcoming and respecting the son, the tenants and throw. Jesus final words of the story are rather ominous:. Notice that the disciples don t need to pull Jesus aside and ask him the true meaning of this parable. It would have been pretty obvious, in part, due to the fact that everyone would have been familiar with Isaiah 5. In this poem, Isaiah describes God carefully and lovingly planting Israel like a vineyard, hoping for a crop of grapes, but instead, finds bad grapes throughout the vineyard. Despite all of God s hopes, the vineyard has gone bad, and the only thing left is judgment. The vineyard will be left as a wasteland. Jesus takes this metaphor and adds to it with details that the people would have readily understood. God is the man who planted the vineyard who has gone away for a time. From time to time he sends the prophets, his servants, but they had all been treated shamefully and rejected. Now he was at last, sending one who was doing the job of a servant, but was more than just a servant, it was his son. By this point in Mark, the readers should know exactly what Jesus is saying. Jesus is the beloved son of God. He is the one that was set apart at his baptism and confirmed at the transfiguration as the one and only son of God. What Jesus has already said straight out three times, he now confirms through parable. The story is not going to turn out well for him (not from the human standpoint at least). The tenants believe that the inheritance will either go to the heir or them, it s a him or us mentality. So they take his life. What they don t realize is that it is this action of self preservation that will seal their fate. In this parable, Jesus not only hints at his own death, he also hints at the judgment that will befall Israel for their rejection of God s son. Jesus actions in the Temple were meant, like the prophets that preceded him, to be a grave warning to Israel, but Jesus knows that they will not listen to him. Jesus caps this all off by quoting for the crowd from the very Psalm 118 that the crowds had quoted from when they welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem. In the Psalm, the stone that the builders rejected for the Temple because it wouldn t fit any other part of the Temple, is the only stone that will fit for the capstone, which is the stone at the summit of a corner or arch. That s exactly what Jesus is saying about his own work. His vocation cannot be fit into the pre-existing categories and expectations that they have. They are more worried about their own interests in mind, as they are trying to hold onto their power, their inheritance, so to speak. They want to arrest Jesus then and there, because the point of his story has not escaped them one bit. There is much in this story for us to learn as Jesus followers. He has passed on part of his vocation to us. The kingdom that he announced and brought into the world is ours to spread and advance. That s our vocation. We are often called to speak in ways that those around us won t understand and won t like, and it is not ours to shrink back from that vocation.

47 Day 46 - Mark 12: Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." 16They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him. Genesis 20:4-6 Psalm 105 Luke 20: Why would they complement Jesus on the fact that he wasn t swayed by men and them ask him such a question? 2. Why were they really asking him about the tax? 3. What might be a situation in your life that demands a similar choice? In other words, what makes you feel like you must choose between honoring God and doing something that does not? How does Jesus answer here help you to think about that issue differently? What does giving to God what is His mean to you? What in your life belongs to God? What would your life look like if you gave everything to God that was His? On of the most infamous and reviled days in the United States of America has come to be April 15th. We all know what that day is, although you won t find it marked on many calendars. It is, of course, tax day. Most people hate taxes. The Jews were no different, only they had a lot to hate. They had to pay taxes to the Romans, local taxes, the Temple tax, and if they lived in Galilee, taxes to Herod Antipas. It was, however, the taxes to Rome that were particularly troublesome. The regular tax to the Romans was called the, although extra taxes, called the could also be raised. The Jews reveled in and rejoiced over the fact that they were God s free people, only there was one problem: It wasn t a reality. Over 500 years before the time of Jesus they had been taken into exile by the Babylonians. Even though they had returned, in large part, to their homeland, they were still in exile for two reasons. One was that the presence of God had not returned to the Temple. The second and more tangible reason was that for nearly all of the last half millennia they had been under the rule of other nations; they were not free. Paying taxes to Rome, then, was a reminder of that fact, and so, Rome was hated. On top of all that, the coins themselves were like adding insult to injury. They contained the image of Tiberius Caesar, and for the Jews, images of people were a clear violation of the commandment that forbade graven images. On the outside of the coins was the inscription Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus. On the other side it referred to Tiberius as the High Priest. Put that all together: graven images; son of god; high priest. The Romans couldn t have been more insulting and offensive if they had tried. We shouldn t miss the irony here either, as Mark has already let us know that Jesus, the man fielding these questions, is the true king and the real high priest. Many Jews were so offended by this that wouldn t even touch these coins, and would make every effort to only use Jewish coins. In asking them to produce a coin, Jesus is giving them a mild goosing. Once again, we see two groups, the Pharisees and the Herodians, that were normally opposed to one another, working together to try to trap Jesus. If he says that they should not pay taxes, he offends Rome, a dangerous thing to do. If he made a statement like that, he could immediately be taken to Pilate and charged with a capital crime. If he says that they should pay, then he alienates the crowds. Two hundred years before this incident, the Maccabeans had led a revolt against the Syrians with the slogan pay back the Gentiles what they deserve, and obey the commands of the law. In other words, if the Gentiles act with violence and vengeance, then give it right back to them. This is clearly not what Jesus is saying, but what is he saying? One thing that he is definitely not doing is laying down a timeless principle for the relationship between church and state. The first thing that he is saying here is, in essence, for them to pay the tax but in doing so they were only giving Caesar his property back, they weren t submitting to the Romans as their masters. It s like saying, send this garbage back to the dump. Yet, he has said, basically, to pay the tax, so he couldn t be accused of offending Rome overtly. To discover the second point Jesus is making we must consider what he meant by saying to give to God what is his. Does he mean that men are made in God s image and should give themselves to him? Is he referring to the idea that the sacrificial system of the Temple needed to be replaced by a more complete system of worship? Did he mean that truly giving oneself to God would reveal that the normal revolutionary tactics of violence and aggression won t work? He probably meant all of that.