How Blurry is Your Vision?
He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Mark 8:24 Time and again throughout the Gospel of…
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Struggling with Unbelief
In Mark 8:11, the Pharisees began questioning Jesus: “To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.” Even though Jesus had been doing plenty of miracles, apparently he had not satisfied the Pharisaic demand for a true sign from God.
Later, when he was with his disciples in a boat on the lake, Jesus said to them, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod” (8:15). By now, we’re not surprised to discover that the disciples didn’t get Jesus’ point. They began to argue about real bread or the lack of it.
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Why I’m Encouraged by the Fact that the Disciples of Jesus Just Didn’t Get It
Given the fact that Jesus had already fed over 5,000 people through a miraculous multiplication of food (Mark 6:32-44), the disciples’ question appears foolish, even faithless. Shouldn’t they have known how this story would turn out? Shouldn’t they have had more confidence in Jesus and the power of God at work through him? Yes, this is surely true. But, to be honest, I am encouraged by the reaction of the disciples.
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Why Did Jesus Do Such Strange Things?
Mark 7:32-35 is a short healing story in which Jesus healed a man who was deaf and who also had a speech impediment (which often happens with people who lose their hearing at a early age). The fact that Jesus healed a deaf man is not especially surprising given what he had already accomplished in the Gospel of Mark, including the raising of a girl who had died (5:35-43). But the manner of Jesus’s healing in this story is unusual, even perplexing. Rather than simply telling the man to be healed or touching him, Jesus took him away from the crowd, put his fingers in the man’s ears, and then, strangest of all, spit on his fingers and touched the man’s tongue. Why did Jesus do that?
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Do You Let Yourself Off the Hook When It Comes to the State of Your Heart?
Today’s devotion continues the conversation we began yesterday. Jesus was clashing with the Pharisees about what defiles a person. Is someone defiled by what he or she takes in (through eating)? Or is someone defiled by what comes out of a person (from the heart)?
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What is the State of Your Heart?
In the first century A.D., the Pharisees were among the most zealous of Jews when it came to keeping the Law of God. Yet they found it easy to focus on externals and neglect matters of the heart. This was true, for example, when it came to the question of what foods to eat and what to avoid. The Pharisees had elaborate measures by which to determine what was kosher and what was not. But they were often filled with pride concerning their own holiness, looking down upon average Jews who were not able to live up to Pharisaic standards.
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Jesus and “I Am”
After the crowd received nourishment from Jesus (6:35-44), both literal bread and the truth of the kingdom of God, they finally departed. Meanwhile, Jesus’s disciples had taken a boat and were trying to cruise on the Sea of Galilee. But they were “straining at the oars, because the wind was against them” (6:48). Finally, Jesus, who had taken time alone for prayer, saw that his disciples were in distress, so he walked out to them on the water. When they saw him, the disciples cried out in terror because they “thought he was a ghost” (6:49). But Jesus reassured them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (6:50).
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The Deeper Significance of Jesus’ Miraculous Feeding
For most of my life, I saw this story as an illustration of Jesus’ compassion and his divine power. Because he cared for the multitudes, he fed them with food produced by God’s amazing strength. These conclusions, however true, miss much of what those who actually experienced this miracle would have discerned.
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Jesus, the Good Shepherd
After the disciples of Jesus returned from their mission trip, in which they proclaimed and demonstrated the kingdom of God, Jesus perceived that they needed time for rest and reflection. “So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place” (6:32). But when people recognized Jesus, they ran ahead to meet him when he got off the boat. We might expect that Jesus was a bit miffed, given his hopes for a retreat with his disciples, but, in fact, when he saw the crowd waiting for him, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6:34).
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Our Need to Retreat
Earlier in Mark 6, Jesus sent his disciples out two-by-two, giving them authority to engage in the ministry of the kingdom of God (6:7). They did as Jesus had said, calling people to repentance and healing the sick (6:13). Later, they returned to Jesus to report on their mission trip (6:30). Though Mark does not give us the details of this conversation, we do read one thing Jesus said to his disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (6:31)…
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Hearing God’s Word with Puzzlement and Pleasure
The story of Herod and John the Baptist is a curious one with a sad ending…
Strangely enough, Herod listened to God’s truth proclaimed by John with both perplexity and pleasure.
Further Reflections on the “Two-by-Two” Example of Jesus
In yesterday’s devotion, I began reflecting on the curious fact that Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs. They were to proclaim and enact the kingdom of God “two by two.”
The example of Jesus got me thinking about ways we live out a similar commitment in today’s world.
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Why Did Jesus Send Out His Disciples Two by Two?
As Jesus moved about in Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and demonstrating the presence of the kingdom through works of power, he sent out his disciples to share in his mission. Jesus gave them authority over demons, as well as the power to heal the sick (6:7,13). In this way, they were able to carry the message of the kingdom, with its call to repentance, just as Jesus did. According to Mark, Jesus sent his disciples out “two by two” (6:7).
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Would Your Lack of Faith Amaze Jesus?
For a considerable time, Jesus had been proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God in the eastern parts of Galilee. Finally, he returned to his hometown of Nazareth and began teaching in the synagogue. At first the townsfolk were amazed by his wisdom. But their wonder turned to offense when they considered that Jesus lacked special training or impressive credentials.
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Truly Amazing!
This story reminds us of the extraordinary power of God that was operating through Jesus. It also reminds that Jesus surprises us with his grace. He still does unexpected things, even in us. Moreover, in this story of a girl raised from the dead we see a picture of our own fate in the hands of Jesus. Though we will one day die, we too will be raised to new life, the eternal life of the age to come.
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