Mark 9:1 — Till They See the Kingdom

Photo by Marcus Dall Col on Unsplash

Mark 9:1

And He said to them, "Assuredly, 

I say to you that there are some standing here

who will not taste death till they see 

the kingdom of God present with power."

Comments:

To put this verse in context, Jesus had been teaching about his own imminent death as well as the death to oneself required by discipleship. Here in the first verse of chapter nine, it appears that Jesus took a moment to speak an encouraging word to the people and his disciples. Some would not die until they had seen the kingdom come in power. They had confessed him as the Messiah and they thought that he would be a conquering hero, but he had told them that he would suffer, die, and rise again. Peter had rebuked him and Jesus sternly rebuked Peter for having the mind of man rather than setting his thoughts on the things and the way of God.

Jesus' word here is that while he would die as the suffering servant Messiah (see Isaiah 53), they would still witness the power of the presence of the kingdom of God within their lifetime!

Jesus, the Son of David's reassuring statement echoed the imagery of David's prayer in 1 Chron. 29:10-13,

Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

Was Jesus telling them that everything was all in God's hands and that he would bring it to pass? Was he suggesting that those who have faith will always see the power of the kingdom from that time on? Perhaps.

The question we struggle to answer is what was the time when this was this fulfilled? There are a number of possibilities that have been suggested. Was it...

·         Six days later on the Mount of Transfiguration? 

·         At the Resurrection?

·         At the Ascension?

·         Or on the Day of Pentecost?

Any of these moments would probably fit just fine. The point is that Jesus' promise was fulfilled. Maybe in more ways than one! Lord, give us eyes to see you at work!

Not only that, but the Kingdom of God is still present with power. Hallelujah!

But will we partner with him in extending the kingdom of God in the midst of a world filled with violence, racism, hatred, selfishness, abuse of power, and countless ways that fallen people continue to do hurtful things to others who were made in the image of God? 

In times like this, we need hope that we can help make a difference. In the 1st Century, as the Apostle Paul neared the end of his letter to the church at Rome, he prayed, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Rom. 15:13) A prayer that still turns our hearts back towards trusting God and pays dividends in joy and peace!

Even so, Lord, come quickly!

Mark 8:34-38 — Whoever Desires

Mark 8:34-38 “Whoever desires…”

When He had called the people to Himself,

                    with His disciples also, He said to them,               

      "Whoever desires to come after Me,

                          let him deny himself, and take up his cross,

                                        and follow Me.

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,

 but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.

               For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world,

                                                           and loses          his own soul?

                Or what will             a man give in exchange for his soul?

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words

                                               in this adulterous and sinful generation,

                                        of him the Son of Man also

             will be ashamed when He comes

                                               in the glory of His Father with the holy angels

Comments:

“Whoever desires…”, used twice in this passage, is an interesting phrase for we all have desires and we all follow our desires sooner or later. The question is, “What, or who, do we desire?” Do we really desire to follow Jesus or are we more oriented toward saving our own lives and dreams? We see the ironic interplay of “saving” and “losing” that we do well to heed. Losing your life for Christ’s sake has in many times and places been referred to martyrdom, but in our culture, this would rarely if ever take place. So what about us? Is there something more being said? Why is it so common for western Christians to compromise their convictions in the face of peer pressure? Is it because we love the approval of men more than the approval of God; because we love ourselves more than we love Christ? How different would our lives and culture be if we lost sight of any self-fulfillment in our wholehearted love for Jesus?

C.S.Lewis in chapter 14 of The Screwtape Letters has the senior tempter, Screwtape instructing his nephew Wormwood, about the Enemy's [God's] desire for humanity,

“Remember, always, that He really likes the little vermin (mankind), and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them. When He talks of their losing their selves, He means only abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.” (p. 56)

Why would we not desire to respond to such love?

“Take up your cross and follow me.” How terrible that phrase must have seemed to the first disciples! Certainly it meant that you were going to die… they had no positive concept of the cross as the source of their salvation at that time. It didn’t mean putting on a nice gold cross necklace or getting a Celtic cross tattooed on your arm. For Jesus’ audience that day, “taking up your cross” meant only that you had been sentenced to die by the Romans and were carrying the instrument of your death to the place of execution.  At the time Mark recorded these words, they were ironically directed to Roman Christians who were facing the horrors of Nero's persecution. They literally were facing death for their beliefs each and every day.

Discipleship means that we willingly follow Jesus’ lead, even unto death. We no longer try to preserve our own lives (by denying our faith in Christ) for ourselves, but we give them up like Isaac on the altar of Abraham. The results will be the same…for God himself has provided the sacrifice. We are not to be ashamed of our suffering Messiah or the challenging way that he calls us to walk that may involve suffering…because we are not alone on the journey (2 Corinthians 1). And (since I am always looking for any excuse to bring Psalms back in), let me close by saying that Jesus truly is our good shepherd.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So it doesn’t all end in death, for in Jesus Christ that is just the beginning of an amazing journey! 

Tie your shoes, grab your backpack, and a loaf of bread for the journey and follow along. He has invited us to come.

Mark 8:31-33 — The Painful Path

Mark 8:31-33

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Comments:

Why was Jesus teaching about his coming death? Because Peter had just confessed that he (Jesus) was the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. Jesus was simply teaching what the Messiah was going to suffer in order to redeem his people. It appears that Peter had bought into the popular belief that the Messiah was to come like a conquering hero-king, rather than as a suffering servant. Peter began to rebuke Jesus for such a plan, but Jesus rebuked Peter. We cannot rebuke God and come out ahead. Peter did not understand at what price the Messiah’s work would be accomplished. One day he would not only understand, but many years later would choose to follow his Lord and Christ in death (upside down) on a Roman cross.

Jesus was teaching what they should have already understood from the Old Testament scriptures. "He spoke this word openly." His normal approach was to present spiritual issues using metaphorical theology, but here we see he didn't use parables or figurative language. He was simple and direct so that there would be no misunderstanding (or later misinterpretation) that he was going to suffer, die, and rise again. But Peter, in his knee-jerk reaction to the first and second steps, didn't seem to listen to the last part about rising again.

Are there things that God has communicated to us very clearly that we just don’t want to hear? Does his greater plan for our good require a path that we don’t want to walk? I am so thankful that Jesus had no such hesitation in doing what needed to be done for me.

In this post-Easter season, as we celebrate the ascension, we should not forget about the incarnation, God come in the flesh—Jesus’ birth—it is appropriate to consider that this great plan of God was so much greater than Peter’s objections.

 ^“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:14-18)

The cradle and the cross are not separate stories but integral parts of one comprehensive plan to save us and re-bind the broken cosmos! 
God's love will not be deterred. 
His dying swallows up our death in life! 

What a gift purchased for us at an unimaginable price one Black Friday long ago. I am so glad that Jesus could not be turned away from this ultimate act of sacrificial love.

Mark 8:27-30 — Who do you say that I am?

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. (Mark 8:27-30)

Pools at Caesarea Philippi

Comments:

This is a question that we all, whether men or women, rich or poor, powerful or weak, Jew or Gentile, must answer.

Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life. Others thought that he was Elijah (many of Jesus' ministry activities were similar to the miracles of Elijah and Elisha) or another prophet. But it really doesn't matter who other people say that Jesus is. The really important question for us is, “Who do we say that he is?” It is a question that will affect eternity. Peter said that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah of God. We need to come to the same conclusion in our own life. Jesus asks all of us the same question.

People are quick to admit that Jesus was a good person, or perhaps that he was a prophet, but they don't want to admit that he was, and is, God the Son. However, as I have had the opportunity to explain to people from time to time, Jesus cannot be just a good person or just another prophet. Either Jesus is the Son of God, and God the Son, or he is not and that would make him either a liar or a madman, or even both. He claimed to be God and if he isn't then he cannot be a good person or a prophet.

The issue really is, will we allow him to be the Lord of our lives—God in our lives, or do we want to keep him and his words at a distance?

Who do we say that he is?

For more information on this pericope as presented in Luke's gospel, the post with a video on the church's "Jesus 4 Everyone" blog is still up.

Mark 8:22-26 — Look Up!

Mark 8:22-26 
Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking." Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”

Comments:

A road leading out of the ruins of Bethsaida

This miracle was a private one. The people begged Jesus to heal the blind man and he did, but first he took him by the hand and walked him out of the village. Perhaps they walked out of town on this very road leading NE from the main gate at Bethsaida. Jesus seems to have been more interested in healing the man than in putting on a show for the people. In fact, his parting instruction to the formerly blind man was for him to not even enter the town. I think Jesus was helping the man to see things clearly in other ways as well.

I can appreciate that.

Another interesting fact about this miracle is that Jesus did it in two parts. Do you read with a mind open to ask questions when you encounter something out of the ordinary? I make a practice of it, for it can be a great help to my study. So why did the Lord do this miracle in a unique two-part way? Why did he apparently use a process to heal this blind man? I wonder...

·       Perhaps Jesus used it to show us that healing sometimes happens in stages.  

·       Perhaps Jesus didn't do it as part of the process. He might have healed the man's eyes the first time and then healed his understanding (his ability to interpret the data) the second time.

·       Perhaps Jesus healed the man exactly as the man was believing in him to heal. Maybe it was the best that the man could hope for. Yet note that though the man didn't ask for further healing, Jesus didn’t leave it there, somehow content with a partial healing. He healed the man's eyes completely. Would it be a spiritualizing stretch to realize that Jesus desires for us to be able to see clearly? That he will not stop short of finishing the good work that he has begun in us? (Philippians 1:6)

I personally don't want to miss the fact that Jesus had the man "look up" and then the man was restored. It is when we look up, to the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) instead of down at the earth and our problems that we are able to see things clearly. 

The Apostle Paul faced such tremendous pressure and persecution that it forced him to rely on God who raises the dead,

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

It is when we stop trusting in our own efforts that we begin to trust in the Living God…who raises not only our eyes to look but the dead to live in the clear light of the presence of God! What will it take to bring us to that place?

Until the Lord touches us and we shift our focus to look upward we are either blind or we see men like trees walking.

#keeplookingup

Mark 8:13-21 — Spiritual Yeast Infections

Mark 8:13-21

And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying,
“Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them,
“Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?”
They said to him, “Twelve.”
“And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?”
And they said to him, “Seven.”
And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Comments:

In v. 15 when Jesus warned them saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” he wasn't talking about the ingredients of physical bread, but about a realistic view of who they (the disciples) were and who he (Jesus) was.

Leaven in Scripture is almost always a negative image. Leaven was not like the commercial yeast we use today but was actually raw dough that was saved from the previous baking day and mixed in with the new dough to help it rise. It was possible to still have some of the raw dough for up to a year in that lump. So it was somewhat like our sourdough starter…passing on the corruption from batch to batch. Each year, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a time of cleaning & purification, which was both hygienically practical and spiritually necessary. Leaven indicated the presence of bacterial waste products and it caused something to appear to be more than it really was. Jesus always spoke harshly of judging by appearances and of falling into the error of hypocrisy. Here, Jesus warned the disciples about the leaven of both the Pharisees and the Herodians. What did he mean? Why is this in the Bible?

To encourage a realistic view of ourselves:

When Jesus warned his disciples to beware of “the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” he was speaking of their corrupting influences. The Pharisees were filled with hypocrisy and the Herodian rulers were sold out in their support of the Romans and were devoid of godly convictions. Everything was about staying in power and enjoying the fruits of such privilege.

·       The leaven of the Pharisees = religious self-righteousness and hypocrisy that causes us to appear greater than we are. It also can cause us to think more highly of ourselves in relation to others. It leads to a spiritual superiority complex that looks down on the "less holy."

·       The leaven of Herod = These were the people who were overtly wicked, who exercised ungodly authority, position, and the kind of pleasures that tend to make us think we are more important and valuable than we are. Sin makes us think that we are "somebody" when really we are a miserable nobody.

Both leavens puff us up. Remember, the bread dough is puffed up by the waste product of the bacteria. Corrupt ideas and values work the same way. So what are the ideas, values, and behaviors that pervade and corrupt our own culture? Are we suffering from a spiritual yeast infection? We need the unleavened bread of confession and true faith in Christ—

the Living Bread come down from Heaven! He cleanses us from the inside out!

To encourage a realistic view of Christ:

The disciples were worried that they had only brought one loaf of bread with them (and that would have been for Jesus) so they probably thought that there would be nothing for themselves. Ironically they worried about bread while in the very presence of the Bread of Life. They were worried about procuring their next meal while in the company of the One who had just fed 5000 and 4000 people with nothing more than a couple of barley bagels and a sardine or two.

The Pharisees and the Herodians thought too much of themselves and not enough of God. They saw the temporal more clearly than the eternal. The disciples were doing the same thing—thus, Jesus warned them of their danger.

They thought he was talking about bread—He said, "You're missing the point again!" Jesus is not dependent upon us for his next meal. Instead he provides us with our daily bread!

And for that meal I am truly and abidingly thankful!

Mark 8:11-12 — Can I See Some Photo ID?

Mark 8:11-12

Real Warning Sign in Australia. Take it or leave it.

v.11-12 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

Comments:

I hear the Pharisees crying for a sign like the voices of the greedy seagulls from Finding Nemo fighting over potential food, “Mine! Mine! Mine!”. Can you hear them?

To use another cultural reference, Jesus wasn’t being a “soup Nazi” to the Pharisees with his answer, “No sign for you!” For later we see him weeping over Jerusalem. We need to ask how many signs someone is entitled to receive. How many signs had already been given and would still be given during the ministry of Jesus? Perhaps we need to ask what a “sign” actually is. Sign (semeion) as the Pharisees used the term “meant a great spectacular display of heavenly power such as they expected the Messiah to give and such that the devil suggested to Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple.” (Robertson, WPNT 2/161) A sign was not just another miracle. St. John structures his gospel account around seven signs (miracles that had a meaning that pointed beyond themselves to the truth about Jesus) revealing Jesus as the Messiah and then capped off with one more sign…that of Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead. Pharisee didn't want a sign so that they could believe, they wanted a sign so that they could argue against its validity.

There was an exception, to the "no sign" clause, mentioned in both the longer parallel passages in Matthew 12:38-40 and Luke 11:29-30, the sign of Jonah. Jonah went to Nineveh, arguable the most violent and wicked city on the planet at that time, to warn them of the coming judgment and shockingly they repented. Jesus speaks of “this generation,” the generation of his hardened religious hearers. Why did he do this? Because though they had great advantages they did not repent. The religious leaders didn’t repent of their sins and didn’t put their trust in Jesus as their Messiah. So maybe the problem is with the phrase, "shall be given to"...if receptivity is required for the act of giving to be completed.

So what was “the Sign of Jonah” mentioned in this current context in Matthew and Luke? Jonah was the Old Testament prophet who spent an extended time (three days and nights) in the whale (great fish) that was a type of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. How would the Pharisees, and the nation as a whole, respond to this sign? But wait there’s more…the other shoe that drops in Jesus' invoking the legacy of Jonah, is that Jonah’s ministry was to the Gentiles. Jesus was giving an example of Gentiles who repented at the words of a bleached-out prophet with no promise of mercy to cling to. Would they not respond to the words and miraculous ministry of the good news of the arrival of God's Kingdom in the person of Jesus of Nazareth? Kent Hughes captures the heart of this idea,

“The great and grand sign that Jesus gives to all, and especially those who think they need miraculous signs in order to believe, is the miracle of his atoning death, burial, and triumphant resurrection…the ultimate sign is ‘the sign of Jonah,’ because it makes Christ everything. Jesus was not interested in giving signs abstracted from his person. He is the sign. He is the gospel.” [R. Kent Hughes, Luke, Vol. 2, Crossway, 15]

No powerful sign from Heaven could be given— deep sigh (v.12)— to the generation of those who had hardened their hearts because they wouldn't receive it when it did come. Like Hughes points out, Jesus himself was the sign.

Take it or leave it. It has been given, will we receive it?

Mark 8:1-10 — Who's Staying for Dinner?

Mark 8:1-10

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,

“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.”

And his disciples answered him,

“How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

And he asked them,

“How many loaves do you have?”

They said,

“Seven.”

And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground.
And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.
And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.
And they ate and were satisfied.
And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
And there were about four thousand people.
And he sent them away.
And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Comments:

The people came and camped out for three days to see and celebrate with those whom Jesus had healed and also to listen to Jesus' teaching. Matthew makes it clear that the deaf and mute man was not the only one who was healed there next to the Sea of Galilee. As it is written,

“And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matt 15:30-31)

But as they stayed for this extended period they were soon without food for anything they had to eat was probably consumed on the first day. This was now day three and they had nothing to eat. Jesus shows his compassion for them. He doesn’t want to send them home and have them pass out from hunger on the way. Although Jesus had already miraculously fed people the disciples don't seem to expect that he will feed this crowd. Why? The feeding of the 5,000 presented Jesus as a new Moses feeding the people of Israel with bread from heaven. This situation in Mark 8 was different as the hungry crowd was most likely Gentilesfrom Decapolis (note their outsider name for God "the God of Israel") and certainly, in the minds of the disciples, they had no right to expect the new manna, or the children’s bread (Jesus’ saying to the Syrophoenician woman 7:27) do they? No. No one has a right to expect it, however, Jesus gives it anyway out of his compassion for them.

Jesus not only healed them in the same way that the Jews were healed, but he fed them in the same way as well. Jesus is for everyone! No more "Us" and "Them" divisions are to be tolerated in the Kingdom of God! I am reminded of Isaiah 49:6,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

    to raise up the tribes of Jacob

    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Geographical note: Dalmanutha is usually thought of as referring to the area of Magdalla on the NW side of the Sea of Galilee. That is the location where after a time of drought they uncovered the wooden fishing boat dating back to the time of Christ featured in a previous post.

Mark 7:31-37 — Ephphatha...Be Opened

Mark 7:31-37

Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” (NKJV)

Jesus continued his trek through Gentile territory, going north along the coast through Tyre and Sidon and then circling east and south through Decapolis before looping back west to the Sea of Galilee.

The last time Jesus had been here was when he had delivered the Gadarene demoniac and sent the demons into a herd of pigs. The people had been so afraid of Jesus that they asked him to leave. This time they brought a man who was deaf and couldn’t speak to Jesus and instead of begging Jesus to leave they begged him to heal the man.

Map:  Baker Bible Atlas.

As far as we can tell from the Gospel accounts, Jesus healed everyone that was ever brought to him. This man was no exception, though the way Jesus healed him is unusual. We can see in Jesus' actions an echo of the creation story in Genesis. He spoke “Be opened!” and it happened. The people of Decapolis, formerly closed-minded to Jesus’ ministry are now open to it, probably due to the testimony of the formerly demonized man who he had sent back to his family “to tell them the good things that God has done.” In this case, as usual, though Jesus wanted no publicity he got it anyway. He was concerned for the afflicted man and was not objectifying or using him to advance his cause. If anything it is Jesus who was often objectified by the crowd.

Some time ago, I heard a story of a small church in Nigeria that began to experience healings and about a thousand people came and wouldn’t leave. They began camping out around the church with services every day. This healing turned into something similar as we will see in the next post.

On a final note, I love how this passage ends in v.37,

And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

I only hope that our eyes and ears and hearts are opened to see that Jesus does all things well! And may our tongues be loosed to speak his praise!

Mark 7:24-30 — Breadcrumbs for Bowser

Mark 7:24-30

And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 

But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Comments:

On this particular occasion, Jesus left Jewish territory for a little walk-about trip up north. During this time, Jesus was approached by a Gentile woman whose daughter was demon-possessed. She begged Jesus to deliver her daughter but he gave a seemingly harsh answer. However, I don't think that it was really communicated that way.

The dialogue between Jesus and the woman cuts through many of our questions. More of the details of the dialogue are contained in the parallel account in Matthew 15:21-28. So why this seeming insensitivity to her great need on the part of Jesus? Perhaps He was dealing with her motives for seeking help and the way in which she assumed she could even receive help.

• Was it because she was a Syrophoenician, the upper crust of worldly knowledge and philosophy? No, she was just a person in need.
• Was she demanding? No, she was begging, “Lord, help me.”
• Was she asking Jesus to step outside of His calling and the priorities that God had established? No, she was simply asking for whatever might be leftover or discarded and seeking a mere crumb from the floor in humble faith.

Think of what it was that she wanted—for her daughter to be delivered—no small request, but she was calling such a work of grace a mere crumb compared to what Jesus could do for people. It seems that she had eyes of faith that were able to see things that the Jews could not. Indeed, she had addressed him by his messianic title “Son of David.” She had the opportunity to go away but apparently didn’t believe that he really meant what he said. 

I believe that Jesus was teaching his disciples a lesson, by honoring the faith of this woman with a serious test. 

There is another reason that this passage seems so strange on the lips of Jesus. These words seem so out of keeping with the rest of Jesus' encounters with people from all walks of life. Doesn't it seem decidedly un-Jesus-like? I contend that Jesus was actually speaking out loud the faulty culturally biased worldview of the disciples. His speaking their position makes it sound so strange. The woman, perhaps catching the ironic tone in his voice rolls plays along admirably. In this scenario, Jesus does what he always does, the woman's daughter was delivered, the woman was held up as an example of great faith, and the wrong thinking of the disciples was corrected. 

Kenneth E. Bailey covers this pericope in chapter 16 of his masterful book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels and he brings out several of these points in the helpful comments below...

Jesus had compassion upon the caregiver:

Ibn al-Tayyib was one of the most distinguished medical doctors of the eleventh century in the Middle East. In his thoughtful thousand-year-old commentary he notes that the woman does not cry out, "'0 Lord, have mercy on my daughter,' but rather, `Have mercy on me.' This was because her daughter was not able to feel what the mother was enduring. The mother was in pain!  Ibn al-Tayyib then notes that at the end of the story "Jesus does not say, `O woman your daughter is healed,' but rather he says, `let it be to you as you desire.'" It is the theologian /physician who notices that the caregiver is at the end of her rope and that she also needs healing.[1]

A “teaching moment” for his disciples:

"Send her away; for she is crying after us," [Matt. 15:23] they demand. But this outburst merely begins the three-scene dialogue. The text can be understood as follows: Jesus is irritated by the disciples' attitudes regarding women and Gentiles. The woman's love for her daughter and her confidence in him impress Jesus. He decides to use the occasion to help her and challenge the deeply rooted prejudices in the hearts of his disciples. In the process he gives the woman a chance to expose the depth of her courage and faith.[2]

Who was Jesus talking to? Both the woman and his own disciples. We should not forget the ever-present community!

Jesus was voicing, and thereby exposing, deeply held prejudices buried in the minds of his disciples. In the process, he was speaking to both audiences. To the disciples, he was saying, "Of course I want to get rid of her! We have no time for such female Gentile trash." But to the woman, Jesus was initially communicating, "You are a Canaanite and a woman. I am a son of David. You are not part of my divine mandate. Why should I serve Gentiles like you?" …Was her concern for her child so deep and her confidence in the universal compassion and healing power of Jesus so profound that she would proceed with her request in spite of this apparent slamming of the door in her face?[3]

How might the disciples have felt?

It is acutely embarrassing to hear and see one's deepest prejudices verbalized and demonstrated. As that happens one is obliged to face those biases, often for the first time.[4]

What about the term “dogs”?

The Jews considered the Gentiles to be dogs at that time. Not pet dogs but nasty, unclean, mangy street dogs. The argument about the meaning of the particular word used for “dogs,” while of some value seems to be beside the point. Bailey gets this,

The reference to dogs is primarily for the disciples' education. Jesus is saying to them, "I know you think Gentiles are dogs and you want me to treat them as such! But-pay attention-this is where your biases lead. Are you comfortable with this scene?"^[5]

Jesus is the Savior for the Gentiles as well the Jews, women as well as men. Even the breadcrumbs that fall from the table are sufficient for our needs. Those who live according to cultural prejudices will be challenged by Jesus' words and deeds while he honors humble faith.

---

[1] Kenneth E. Bailey. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (Kindle Locations 2595-2599). Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2625-2628).

[3] Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2633-2639).

[4] Ibid, (Kindle Location 2649).

[5] Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2654-2656).

Mark 7:14-23 — What's In Your Heart?

Photo by Yosh Ginsu on Unsplash

Mark 7:14-23 

And he called the people to him again and said to them,

“Hear me, all of you, and understand:

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”

And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them,

“Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that

whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 

since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”

(Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “

What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 

All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Comments:

I would like to focus on verse 15, "There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him..." We see that Jesus continued his teaching against the S&Ps hypocrisy by further illustrating that impurity comes not from the outside, but from the inside. The practical result of this is the declaration of all foods clean as Mark indicates in his editorial note. Food is merely physical and passes through the body sooner or later and is expelled after the good (nutrition) has been removed. Yet, in my mind, the most profound thing about this statement is that Jesus doesn't give us any room for blaming our actions, attitudes, and words upon anyone else, for our defilement doesn't come from the outside—it comes from the inside. It is out of our own heart that we become irritable, immoral, irresponsible, and defiled. It is when we choose to indulge the evil desires of the fleshly part of our heart that we defile ourselves and those we represent.

The Defiling 13

v. 21-23 "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

I think that as Christians we can all too often blame the devil (or his demons) for our failure or the failures of others. The things found in this list are specifically said to come from within us, not from some outside source. We need to be a little more forthright in accepting responsibility for our own sinful nature! It is desiring evil that got the Israelites into trouble in the wilderness. They were not lovers of God.

The question for us is what, or who is in our hearts. We will always follow what we love. Jesus desires to cleanse us on the inside, how will we respond to his purifying love?

“…God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:5b-10)

USGS Photograph taken May 18, 1980,
by Austin Post.

Spiritual disciplines are designed to try to control the unruliness of the heart through will-oriented behavioral restrictions. But they don't work over the long haul. At some point, the heart will overrule the will. In Galatians 5, Paul refers to these defiling eruptions as "the works of the flesh" (Gal. 5:19-21). As I write this, it is the 40th Anniversary of Mt. St. Helens' catastrophic eruption that took 61 lives in the state of Washington. What we need to do is fall in love with Jesus, in response to his love for us. Once that happens, our heart is transformed, and our values and desires are realigned in response. Sure, this transformation will be expressed in spiritual practices such as prayer, praise, Bible reading, serving others, etc. But these will no longer be "disciplines" imposed from the outside but an abundant joyful overflow from the inside... against which there is no law (Gal. 5:23).