The Rest of the Old, Old Story

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four weeks completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Today’s Reading: Mark 14-16

I’ve been too weak to write the last couple of days, and today’s reading is primarily story. It’s a story you’re familiar with from reading Matthew as well.

As a result, I’m just going to make a few comments about the passage overall. If you have specific questions or comments of your own, use the comment section.

The New Covenant

Today’s story is above all the founding of the New Covenant. At the end, the apostles are sent into all the world, not just to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Baptism (Advanced)

In the Protestant world, baptism has became one more victim of the over-emphasis on "faith alone."

To Jesus and the apostles, it was expected that everyone who believed the Gospel would respond by being baptized. Nowadays, at least among Protestants, we generally respond with a "sinner’s prayer," and baptism is sort of an afterthought, done as a public testimony.

If you read the Scriptures on baptism in the apostles’ writings, you’ll see that it’s always the first response to the Gospel. I’ll be pointing that out as we go through Acts.

Because it’s a controversial subject, I am going to cover a couple verses now.

The apostle Paul’s conversion, when he was still called Saul, is told a couple times in the book of Acts. Once, Luke narrates Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus (9:1-22), and once Paul testifies concerning his experience before a hostile crowd in Jerusalem (22:5-16).

Paul has an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus that blinds him. He obeys Jesus and goes to Damascus to wait for Ananias to show up and tell him what to do. When he does, Ananias says:

What are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (22:16)

Paul received the Spirit at that point, too, along with his sight, when Ananias laid hands on him.

The point is that Paul’s sins weren’t forgiven until he was baptized, calling on the name of the Lord.

As I said, that is the normal New Testament response to hearing the Gospel. If you believed, then you were baptized into Christ, dying to your old life, and rising to new life in him (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27).

There is an exception in Acts. The first time the Gospel was ever brought to the Gentiles, it was Peter doing the preaching. It took visions and miracles for God to convince Peter he should be there (Acts 10:1-35), and even then he had no idea he was allowed to baptize Gentiles (10:47-48).

Therefore, God found it necessary to pour out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his household separate from baptism, showing Peter that it was acceptable to baptize Gentiles (10:36 – 11:18).

Perhaps God is just as flexible today when we have been confused into thinking that baptism is a mere public testimony rather than the proper entrance rite into the new covenant. It is not good, however, to depend on God’s flexibility, but it is good for us to walk in what God has established.

Mark 16:17-18: Signs

This list of signs are all things that have indeed followed those who have preached the Gospel. We must not forget, however, that Jesus said it is wrong to put the Lord our God to the test (Matt. 4:7).

It is wrong and foolish to drink poison on purpose or to attempt to get a snake to bite you on purpose. That is not "signs following." It is presumption and putting God to the test.

Mark 16:9-20: Textual Issues

The earliest manuscripts of Mark end at 16:8. There is no way to determine whether that’s an omission or whether verses 9-20 were added later.

There is nothing in those verses that is going to change anything we believe unless we presumptuously put God to the test by trying to be bitten by poisonous snakes or by drinking poison.

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four weeks completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark 11:1-11: The Triumphal Entry

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people lay coats and palms on the road for him, announcing that he is the son of David, coming in the name of the Lord.

He won’t get such glorious reception a few days later as he is led out of Jerusalem.

Mark 11:12-14: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

The purpose of cursing the fig tree is to illustrate that it is not enough to appear to bear fruit. A real attachment to God produces real fruit.

Mark 11:15-18: Driving the Money Changers from the Temple

Jesus was very angry with those who turned the worship of God into commerce, and he drove the money changers out of the temple with whips.

Mark 11:19-26: The Lesson of the Fig Tree

Jesus and his disciples were returning to Bethany each night after spending the day in Jerusalem at the feast. In the morning, they noticed that the fig tree that Jesus had cursed was withered up. He gives them a very large promise:

"Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." (v. 22-24, NASB)

He then adds that as we pray, we must forgive those who have sinned against us or our Father will not forgive us, either.

Even with this addition, Jesus makes it clear that remarkable things can be done by those with faith.

Faith, however, is a gift of God (1 Cor. 13:2), and it does not grow by our wishful longing to have more faith. It grows by hearing the Word of God and living obedient to it (Rom. 10:17; Luke 17:5-10).

Mark 11:27-33: The Pharisees Confront Jesus

As I’ve pointed out, Jesus’ mind is set on his death and resurrection at this point. Taking on Jesus verbally is to take on the Lion of God who is not holding anything back.

Not only does Jesus effectively answer the Pharisees’ challenge, but notice the end of Jesus’ answer. The Pharisees say they don’t know the answer to Jesus’ question, but Jesus makes it clear that they are really refusing to answer his question: "Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things" (v. 33, NASB).

Mark 12:1-12: The Kingdom of God Taken from the Jews

Once again we have the parable of the vinedressers. Not many people today realize what an important parable this is. This is Jesus statement that the kingdom of God is being taken away from the Jews and their leaders, and it is being given to a new nation, one composed of Jews and Gentiles alike, who’s one uniting factor is the faith of Abraham. Whomever believes now has access to the kingdom of God.

The idea of the Gentiles being fellow-heirs of the kingdom of God is called a great mystery (Eph. 3:3-6), but it is discussed repeatedly throughout Paul’s letters.

Before Jesus died, there was an emphasis on his ministry to the lost sheep of Israel. After he died—that is, after the vineyard workers put the Son to death—the vineyard is given to other more worthy. It is at Jesus’ death that Israel stops being the blessing to the world, and the Gospel, preached to all the world, becomes the blessing and all people are allowed to press into the kingdom of God.

Mark 12:13-27

Still not realizing whom they are up against, the Pharisees, Herodians, and scribes take him on more openly, and they are trounced openly. It’s not wise to debate the Word of God himself.

Mark 12:28-34

After the hostile scribes, a scribe shows up with an honest discussion with Jesus, and Jesus is very open with him. "You are not far from the kingdom of God," Jesus tells him.

I like to think that the only thing in the way for that scribe is that he needs to move from being an approver of Jesus’ teachings to being a learner of Jesus’ teachings.

Mark 12:35-37: David’s Son and David’s Lord Alike

This comes up in all the Gospels, and it inspires the people and silences the Pharisees. I have to admit that I don’t think I understand all of what Jesus is saying here. I do know that Jesus is the Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father before the beginning, and that he is also humanly born through Mary, thus truly being the son of David. Nonetheless, I think there’s more to be learned here.

Mark 12:38-40: Beware of the Scribes

Mark is shorter than Matthew. Matthew’s huge and scathing chapter 23 is reduced to these three verses.

Mark 12:41-44: The Widow’s Mite

Jesus takes advantage of a real situation to teach us about giving. This widow gave till it hurt, a real act of trust in God and of love toward the recipient of her gift. He calls her gift greater than anyone put into the treasury.

Mark 13:1-37

This is Mark’s equivalent of Matthew 24. Like Matthew 24, much of it can be clearly seen to have been fulfilled in A.D. 70, when the Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and tore the temple into rubble.

Other parts seem clearly to be future.

As I’ve pointed out, dual prophecy is common in Scripture.

Prophecy can serve many purposes. One purpose of this prophecy is that the Christians listened to Jesus, and when they saw Jerusalem surrounded and under attack by the Romans in A.D. 70, they fled without waiting, and all of them survived.

One other purpose is stated by Jesus himself at the end of Mark 13. We don’t know when these things are coming, so we are to be busy with our Father’s business, not becoming lazy, not mistreating our fellow servants, but doing those things which he has called us to do.

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 7-10
Thursday, Feb. 16: Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four weeks completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark 7:1-13: Jesus Takes on the Pharisees

Jesus came to the earth for a lot of reasons. He came to teach. He came to live as an example for us. But one of the main reasons he came was to die (and rise again), with all the eternal and earthly implications of that death.

There are places where Jesus dodges direct confrontation, but once the time comes for him to die, he dodges it no longer. The Pharisees are unknowingly walking into the teeth of the Lion of God.

Jesus’ basic answer to the Pharisees is, "I could not possibly care less about your silly traditions. I am here for the Word of God, and your traditions stand as enemies of the Word." He tells them their heart is far from God, and that their worship is useless.

Mark 7:14-23: Jesus Explains the Heavier Matters of the Law

Apparently Jesus scared the Pharisees off. He called everyone else back to him, and explained that nothing going into a man defiles him. It’s what comes out of him that defiles him.

He waits until later, because the crowds are still receiving things in parables, to explain to his disciples that food can’t defile a man. Only the wicked things that proceed from his heart can defile him.

This explanation was not only against the tradition of the elders, it was against a literal interpretation of the Law. Jesus is already in full new covenant mode. Food doesn’t matter. Clean people matter. Guard your heart. Meditate on the Word of God and separate from the world so that the things that come out of you are the things of God.

Jesus did, after all, "make all foods clean" (v. 19).

Mark 7:24-30

We ran into the case of the Syrophoenician woman back in Matthew. Jesus really wasn’t sent to her. He was still sent to the children of Isreal, and it is the children of Israel who were supposed to bless the world with what they received from God. This has always been God’s pattern for his people.

But this woman would not take no for an answer, and Jesus was impressed with her faith. So he heals her daughter.

Later, after the Jews reject their Messiah and the kingdom of God is turned over to the nations so that they become fellow-heirs with the Jews, Gentiles will not go through such a hassle. They will all be called by the Gospel into the full blessings of the kingdom of God.

Mark 7:31-37: An Unusual Healing

Jesus once said that he only did what he saw his Father doing. This healing is a little unusual, involving touching the man’s tongue with Jesus’ saliva.

The Father displayed his power through Jesus however he wanted to do it, and it was rarely the same twice. Either way, the power was great, and no one could stop talking about it. More and more, there was nowhere for Jesus to go without huge crowds following him.

Mark 8:1-21: The Feeding of the Four Thousand Is Missed by Everyone

Just as Jesus had fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish, here he feeds four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish.

Immediately after, the Pharisees wanted a sign from heaven from him! They hadn’t even noticed the immense sign he’d just done in front of their eyes!

Worse, on the boat afterward, Jesus’ disciples were just as blind. Frustrated with the Pharisees, he tells his disciples to beware of their leaven, as well as of the leaven of Herod.

Instead of getting his point, that the leaven is the doctrine of the Pharisees that must not be allowed to permeate the loaf that is Israel, they begin to worry about the fact that they haven’t brought bread.

Jesus has to explain to them that bread couldn’t possible be the issue to someone who can feed thousands with a few loaves. This passage doesn’t explain that they understood, but Matthew’s Gospel does (16:12).

Mark 8:22-26: A Partial Healing

Here is another unusual healing story. Jesus takes two attempts to heal this man. No explanation is given.

Mark 8:27-38: Peter’s Revelation and Carnal Thinking

Here again we have the story of Peter’s revelation that Jesus was the Christ, combined with his attempt to rebuke Jesus for planning to die.

Jesus takes the opportunity to tell all his disciples that they had all better be ready to die. It is Christ the Lord first and foremost, even over your own life, so live like someone carrying an instrument of death on his shoulder, making his final march to execution.

Mark 9:1-8: The Mount of Transfiguration

Each time this story comes up in the Gospels, it is preceded by Jesus’ statement that some of them would see the kingdom of God come with power before they die.

Immediately afterward, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, his closest three, and they get to experience Jesus revealed in full glory, talking with departed saints.

Peter in his zeal, wants to build three tabernacles, but to God, it is enough to simply listen to Jesus. Jesus needs no lesser saints to back him up. Jesus is the Word of God in and of himself, after all. He gave Elijah and Moses their message; he doesn’t need them to add to his.

Mark 9:9-13: Elijah Must Come

Jesus doesn’t specifically say in this passage, but the coming of Elijah in preparation for the Messiah was in the form of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Matt. 17:13).

Mark 9:14-29: Jesus’ Disciples Can’t Heal the Demon-Possessed boy

Jesus’ disciples had already been sent out once by themselves with power to heal and cast out demons (Mk. 6:7). This demon, however, they could not handle.

Jesus appears a little frustrated with their lack of faith, and he heals the boy, emphasizing that everything is possible to the one who believes.

Yet at the end, when the disciples ask why they failed, he does not tell them it’s because of lack of faith. He tells them that this kind only comes out by prayer.

I believe the issue is faith. Prayer, however, and fasting (the KJV and NKJV make it "prayer and fasting," not just prayer) can be real faith builders.

Even Jesus knew it was not enough just to demand that people have faith. He could give them examples and promises, but faith is like a seed. It grows when it is properly planted and watered.

Prayer and fasting are ways to water that seed, as is living out an obedient Christian life (Luke 17:5-10). So Jesus calls them to pray and fast, not just to wish for more faith.

Mark 9:30-32: Jesus To Die and Rise Again

Spending one to three years with Jesus has probably given the apostles a somewhat spiritual approach to understanding the Law. Here, however, they are trying spiritual understandings on something Jesus meant plainly, but they just couldn’t believe. He was going to go be killed, then rise from the dead … literally.

Mark 9:33-37: Who Is the Greatest?

Jesus never had regard for the question of who would be the greatest. He always had one answer. Become the most like a child. Become the greatest servant of all. Pursue lowliness, and greatness will be thrust upon you, but you will never be given the right to pursue greatness …

Unless that is, God has abandoned you in your growth and left you to your own pursuits. Beware if God begins to let you fulfill your desire for greatness. It is much more likely to be a sign of God giving up on you than of his blessing you.

Mark 9:38-50: Tolerance and Focus

I think these last 13 verses all go together. John saw someone doing what they were doing, and he wanted to stop them.

He had lost focus. God has put in front of us what we are to do. We are not to be checking on whether so-and-so is doing it right, but we are to be doing what God has given us to do.

There are those who are not perfect. They will be rewarded anyway for supporting the true work going on by true workers. But we who feel we are the true workers, who stay close to Jesus to do his will, must beware of stumbling the little ones. The threats are harsh. Don’t let any part of you lead you astray, and if it does, get rid of it. Throw out that condemning, questioning side of you, beware of stumbling others, and stick to the path that God has called you to walk.

Mark 10:1-12: Divorce and Remarriage (Mature)

Once again, this question from the Pharisees has a context. In first-century Judaism, there were two major schools with quite opposite ideas on divorce, Hillel and Shammai.

Jesus comes down on Shammai’s side, and he gives his reason for doing so.

This passage has raised questions today because Jesus made an allowance in Matthew (19:9) that he doesn’t make in Mark. In Matthew, a man could divorce his wife over the matter of unfaithfulness. Mark gives no such exception.

What do we do with this? Some modern Christians want to throw out the exception, but that is difficult to do.

The fact is, in both Judaism and in early Christianity, if one spouse was cheating on another, divorce was a mandatory response. Otherwise you were participating in your spouse’s sin.

Thus, "the exception clause," as it is sometimes called is almost certainly assumed even where it is not mentioned.

These rules, mind you, are for Christians, and Christian churches should take them seriously. Divorce and remarriage should not be happening in the church, and most churches have no idea of the power God will dispense to save a marriage that is on the rocks.

But these rules are for Christians. There is an awful movement in modern Christianity that wants to apply those rules to the world. They want to forbid any divorced and remarried person from entering the church of Jesus Christ without ripping apart their new family because it’s the product of a second or third marriage.

Jesus is not about correcting the world. Jesus is about building a new world which he calls the kingdom of heaven. Everything that happened prior to entering the kingdom is put to death and buried.

Divorce was rampant in the Roman world, but there is no record of the church ever asking about, much less breaking up families that were on third or fourth marriages.

She will not be counted a second wife who, subsequently to believing, is the first. For it is from believing that our life itself dates its origin. (Tertullian, On Monogamy 11, c. A.D. 210)

Mark 10:13-16: Little Children

Once again, Jesus makes little children the standard for entering the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 10:17-22: The Rich Young Ruler

Here we have the story of the rich, young ruler again. He starts by calling Jesus "good teacher." Jesus immediately asks him, "Why are you calling me good? Don’t you know only God is good?"

Many believe that Jesus wanted the young man to recognize Jesus as the Son of God and to see his need for a savior. I don’t think Jesus meant it that far at all. I think he meant for the young man to realize simply that only God is good. The young man was about to appeal to his goodness for eternal life, and Jesus wanted it to sink in his brain that the young man is not good. He needs divine help.

So Jesus gives him a list of commandments. The young man is sure he’s kept all those, yet something is still lacking.

A love comes upon Jesus, says the Scriptures, and he gives the young man the honest truth. Here’s what else you have to do, go sell everything you have, and give to the poor. You’ll have riches in heaven, and come follow me.

Here, we have probably the first and only case of someone turning down Jesus’ call to follow him, and it was because of wealth.

Notice that Jesus expends no effort to talk the man out of his decision. The truth has come, and the young man has rejected it. Surely Jesus, who felt love for him, was brokenhearted, but only God himself could bring that young man to repentance.

You cannot compromise the standards of God for the sake of getting a false conversion.

Mark 10:23-31: Rich Christians

After the young man walks away, Jesus tells his disciples that it will be very hard for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The disciples are stunned. They may be getting used to spiritually interpreting the Law of Moses, but they weren’t all the way there. Riches were seen as a sign of God’s blessing under the old covenant. The Jews certainly were not understanding that there was a new covenant in which real riches were spiritual and earthly riches were a danger, dragging the heart to earthly things (Matt. 6:19-21).

Apparently the apostles didn’t really get the Sermon on the Mount, either, because they were surprised that it would be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Not applying what Jesus had been teaching them about spiritual and earthly riches, they asked, "Then who can be saved?"

If even the blessed people, the rich, can’t be saved, then how will the poor be saved? Apparently they had forgotten that Jesus had said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3).

Jesus’ answer was simple. It is impossible with man, but nothing is impossible with God.

Mark 10:28-31: What About Us Who Have Left Everything

Jesus explains to Peter that he’s really left nothing at all. He’s simply left his own life for the glorious life of the kingdom of God where there are many children, many father, many brothers, and even many houses and farms because the kingdom of God is a family in which everyone shares.

If you have never gotten to experience this, pray for it. It is supposed to be normal in the family of God, so that no one is in need, no one is without family, and no one is lonely (Acts 4:32-33; 2 Cor. 8:13-15; 1 Tim. 6:17-19).

We who valued above everything else the acquisition of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and share with everyone in need. We who hated and destroyed one another, who would not live with men of a different tribe because of their different customs, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them. We pray for our enemies, and we try to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live in agreement with the good precepts of Christ, so that they may become partakes with us of the same joyful hope of a reward from God the ruler of all. (Justin Martyr, First Apology 14, c. A.D. 155)

Mark 10:32-45: Talk of Jesus’ Death Leads to More Talk of Who Is Great

Jesus is explaining to the apostles that he is going to Jerusalem to die. Apparently at least James and John are starting to get it. Somehow, Jesus is going to reign from heaven after he dies. So they want a seat on his right and on his left.

Jesus never directly answers these questions. He is always trying to get them to never think about being the greatest again.

So he explains that the apostles are not going to rule like Gentiles. They are not going to "lord over" or "exercise authority upon." They are going to be the servants of everyone.

This is kingdom authority, and its power is infinite because it comes from God. Few there are, however, who dare to trust it.

Mark 10:46-52: The Healing of Bartimaeus

Others may be upset with those who cry out and search after Jesus, but Jesus always found compassion for them … even if he made them work a while at it. In the end, he always gave them what they asked for in faith.

Mark 10:46-52: The Bible as a Spiritual Book (Advanced)

I can’t resist pointing out here that the exact same story is told without naming Bartimaeus by name in Luke 18:35-43. Only in Luke 18, Jesus is on his way into Jericho when he heals the blind man. In our passage, Mark 10:46-52, Bartimaeus is healed as Jesus is leaving Jericho.

There’s some arguments that are made to try to reconcile this apparent contradiction. It’s been pointed out that there were two Jerichos. One was ruins from Joshua’s time, while the other was the new Jericho, inhabited, but built in a different location.

Thus, some argue that in Mark, Jesus is leaving the ruins of Jericho on his way to new Jericho when he heals Bartimaeus. Luke, meanwhile, mentions only that Jesus is on his way into new Jericho.

Reading through Mark, this doesn’t seem like a very natural reading. Worse, for me, it brings up a much bigger question.

On what basis do we care whether Bartimaeus was healed as Jesus entered Jericho or as he was leaving it?

The only reason I can think that we care is because there is a modern doctrine—not an apostolic and certainly not an early Chrihstian doctrine—that inspiration means that the Bible must be accurate in every detail, historically, scientifically, mathematically, and in every other way.

I want to question that doctrine because I believe it lays us back at the feet of a religion based on letter. The New Covenant is an attempt to save us from a religion based on letter and turn us back to the Spirit of God.

Yes, the Scriptures are inspired. As Paul says, they are profitable for correction, reproof, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

None of this changes the fact that we have entered a spiritual religion, once that is based on the Spirit and not on the letter, because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).

I believe the fight for an inerrant Bible is a fight for a Pharasaical control of Christianity by trust in the letter, which can only result in new rules, new traditions of men, and the driving of the Spirit further and further from our way of doing things.

All Scripture is "God-breathed," and if we will read it spiritually and learn from it spiritually—together, correcting each other in Christ (Eph 4:13-16; Heb. 3:13)—then we will gain the results that it offers, that we would be "thoroughly equipped for every good work," rather than thoroughly equipped for an obsession with arguments (1 Tim. 6:3-6), as tends to be the case today.

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 4-6
Wednesday, Feb. 15: Mark 7-10
Thursday, Feb. 16: Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four week completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark 4:1-12

Just as we saw in Matthew, once the scribes insulted the Holy Spirit, everything begins to come in parables. The purpose is clearly given. Jesus is specifically hiding the Word of God in the parables so that only those to whom God revealed the truth would really hear.

The first of the parables, as in Matthew, so in Mark, is the parable of the sower, which Jesus goes on to explain to the disciples.

Mark 4:21-25: The Revealed Light

To me, the key sentence in this passage is the command, "Be careful what you listen to." You can be a careful student, to whom God will add wisdom, or you can be a careless student, and God will let you wind down into false doctrines and silly ideas.

Mark 4:26-29: The Growing Seed

This is a favorite parable of mine. Even farmers don’t understand all the growth process. We plant, and we prepare, but then we let nature do its work. Finally, we see the result of nature’s work, and we reap.

So are things spiritually. We can try to do God’s work for him, but we are mistaken to do so. We can speak the word, and then we must let the word work as it is prone to do. Once the results of the word working in a person are seen, then we can reap, leading them into the kingdom of God.

Mark 4:30-32: Parable of the Mustard Tree

This is a real picture of what’s happened with the Gospel over the centuries whether we like the results or not. Christianity has grown into a great tree, and all sorts of the birds of the air have nested under its branches, some good, some not so good.

There may be better interpretations of that parable, but this one has certainly proven true in history.

Mark 4:33-34: Everything in Parables

After the insulting of the Holy Spirit by the scribes, Jesus is unyielding. Everything comes by parables.

Mark 4:35-41: Jesus Stills the Waters

The apostles are still just beginning to get a taste of who Jesus is … and of what faith is.

Mark 5:1-20: Jesus Confronts Legion

This is a strange story by any modern standards.

I think it’s to be noted that Jesus initiated this. He was already telling the demons to come out of the man. The demons had not yet obeyed Jesus, instead the man ran to Jesus and confronted him. Only as Jesus continued, even demanding the demons’ names, did they obey, asking to go into the pigs.

They went into the pigs, and all the pigs died, but the man was left healthy. I’m not sure what to make of this other than that God cares about man more than he does about animals, a verification that the Laws of Moses have application for us as spiritual followers of Jesus, not as rules about animals and food.

Jesus also doesn’t let the newly saved man follow him, but he sends him to the Decapolis to proclaim how he had been delivered.

Mark 5:21-43

The story of Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood are tied together in all the Gospels.

Notice that Jesus notices when someone touched him in faith and was healed. He felt the power go out of him. So despite being in a crowd, he asked, "Who touched me?" When the lady confessed, Jesus didn’t worry about his own unclean status or the status of anyone else that woman might have touched. He simply told her that her faith had saved her and sent her home. He’s ignoring the rules about uncleanness we were reading in Leviticus last week in order to do this.

That is because Jesus, the giver of the Law, already knew the fullness of the Law. He wanted spiritual uncleanness avoided, and this woman was not spiritually unclean. In fact, she became spiritually clean when she touched Jesus.

Then Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter. He did not allow anyone to come except Peter, James, and John. I think this is because he wanted only men of faith with him.

He tells the mourning crowd that the little girl is really just asleep, which I think is an effort to keep word from spreading that he’s raising the dead. He then raises the girl and give strict orders to Jairus not to tell anyone.

Mark 6:1-6: Unbelief in Jesus’ Hometown

Jesus returns to his hometown, and they are full of unbelief. Jesus even marvels at their unbelief, and he can’t do many miracles there because of it.

This, of course hearkens back to the healing of Jairus’ daughter where Jesus allowed only Peter, James, and John to come along. Perhaps he was keeping the faithless away.

Mark 6:7-13: Sending the Twelve

Matthew spends most of a chapter on this sending (Matt. 10), while Mark spends just a few verses. The apostles are empowered to go and do the same mighty works that Jesus could do.

Mark 6:14-32: John the Baptist Beheaded

The beheading of John the Baptist is an evil story, and I don’t need to retell it. You just read it.

I think Jesus was saddened when he heard of it, and that is why he pulled away to a lonely place with his apostles.

Mark 6:33-44: Feeding the Five Thousand

Jesus attempt to get to a secluded place was a failure. Jesus, however, was not irritated. Instead he felt compassion, seeing all these sheep with no one to shepherd them. So he taught them until they were ready to faint from hunger.

You know the story from there. The apostles wanted to send him home, but Jesus found five loaves and two fish and fed the entire crowd, complete with twelve baskets of leftovers.

Mark 6:45-50: Jesus Walks on Water

After that Jesus sent the crowds away, and he had the apostles go before him to the other side of the lake. He was going to go in the mountain and pray, and then probably walk around the lake and meet them at Genneserat, which was a walk that would have been no problem for travelers like Jesus and his men.

Jesus, however, opted for the shortcut across the lake, which frightened the apostles to no end. He announced who he was, got in the boat, and the storm ended.

They were astonished, but Mark points out that their astonishment is a fault. They had just seen Jesus feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Why would they be surprised?

The answer he gives is that their hearts were hardened. Their hearts, for the most part, would stay hardened until the resurrection.

Mark 6:53-56: Ministry as Before

There’s no rest for the weary, they say. Once it was heard that Jesus was at Genneserat, crowds began to come for healing, and Jesus, continuing his compassion, healed them all.

Reading Schedule and Intro

Today’s Bible Reading is Mark 1-3
Tuesday, Feb. 14: Mark 4-6
Wednesday, Feb. 15: Mark 7-10
Thursday, Feb. 16: Mark 11-13
Friday, Feb. 17: Mark 14-16

Next week we will go back to Numbers and spend four week completing Numbers and Deuteronomy, and thus the entire Torah, or Law of Moses. Don’t bail out! You may not realize it yet, but Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of the most exciting books in the whole Bible.

The overall year’s plan is here.

My commentaries are sometimes long. The Bible is the priority. Read it first, and my commentaries are carefully sectioned so you can find the passage you may want help on. Please use the comment section of my blog if I missed something or you have something to add!

Mark Introduction

Mark was considered to be Peter’s Gospel by the early churches because Mark was Peter’s companion in Rome.

Mark will seem like Matthew sped up and shortened. They cover the same subjects, but Mark covers them much more briefly, and he focuses more on Jesus’ actions than Jesus’ words.

Some of this is because of the audience. Matthew is directed at a Hebrew audience, whereas Mark’s Gospel is directed at Gentiles.

Mark 1:1-8: John the Baptist

Matthew addressed Hebrews, so he began with a genealogy, tying Jesus historically to the great men of the Hebrew faith. Mark is addressing Gentiles, so he skips the genealogies.

He begins with John the Baptist, explains who he is briefly, and transitions directly to the baptism of Jesus.

Mark 1:9-13: Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation

Here Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness are reduced to five verses. No specifics are given about the temptation in the wilderness. Mark is ready to talk about one thing, and that one thing is Jesus Christ and who he is.

Mark 1:14-28: Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry

This still seems like Matthew on fast forward. Mark is just hitting the highlights. He called John, James, Peter, and Andrew, and he had power over the demons. Mark also notes that the demons wanted to reveal who Jesus was, and Jesus was not ready for them to do so.

Mark 1:29-39: Jesus’ Fame Spreads

Despite silencing the demons, his power over them led to his fame spreading anyway. After he went off to pray by himself for a while, he leads his disciples on an itinerant ministry, going through all the synagogues of Galilee.

Mark 1:40-45: Jesus Heals the Leper

Jesus does a couple interesting things here. We know that he could heal the leper with the power of just his word, but he touches the leper. We’ve just been reading in Leviticus that this makes Jesus ritualistically unclean.

Jesus sent the leper to show himself to the priest, but Jesus himself did not do so. Much like the laws about food, they were meaningless to Jesus. Food can’t make a man unclean. Jesus knew the spiritual meaning of the Law, and he was already revealing it even before he died to institute the new covenant.

He did try to get the leper to be quiet about what happened, but that was a failure. The result was that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city.

Mark 2:1-13: Jesus Heals the Paralytic in Capernaum

After a few days, Jesus tried to go home to Capernaum, but everyone heard about it. The place was so packed that four friends of a paralytic tore a hole in the roof and let the man down in front of Jesus.

Rather than become angry about the interruption, Jesus marveled at their faith. He also chose to provide an object lesson for the scribes of the Law.

Rather than simply heal the man, he first told him his sins were forgiven. Obviously, this was blasphemy to everyone present. No one was allowed to forgive sin but God alone!

So Jesus stages his object lesson. Which is easier, he asks, to say the man’s sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk home? He then heals the man’s paralysis as a proof of his authority to forgive sins.

Later, he would give that same authority to the apostles and thus to the church (Jn. 20:21-23). Jesus had said something similar about the church and forgiving sins already in Matthew 18:15-22.

Mark 2:14: Calling Levi the Tax Collector

In Matthew 9:9, Levi is called Matthew. Having two names like this was not unusual in the church. Keep in mind that these Gospels were not written on the spot, as they happened, but twenty or thirty years later.

Levi is a very Hebrew name, and most of the apostles did their work among Gentiles, or at least amongst Greek speakers. This Simon was also Peter, a good Greek name. Saul was Paul, also a good Greek name. So Levi was Matthew, and Mark will begin referring to him as such beginning in the next chapter.

Once again, this is an exceptional call Jesus is making. Tax collectors were despised as traitors and thieves. They were working for the conquerors of the Jews, and their income was whatever taxes they could collect above and beyond what the Romans demanded.

Levi walks away from his tax collecting immediately to follow the Rabbi Jesus.

Mark 2:15-17: Hanging out with Sinners

Since Levi/Matthew was an outcast, one can imagine that all his friends were outcasts, too. Jesus didn’t care. He comes to Matthew’s house, and he meets all of his friends.

This aroused the ire of the Pharisees, and Jesus simply explains that he came to heal the sick, not those who were well.

Mark 2:18-22: Why Don’t Your Disciples Fast?

Apparently, Jesus’ disciples were a little too free even for John’s disciples, not just for the pharisees. They seemed to be lacking in self-discipline.

Jesus takes the opportunity to introduce the new covenant. He excuses them for now because Jesus, the bridegroom, is with them, but he explains that one does not use unshrunk cloth to patch an old garment, nor fill an old wineskin with new wine. The changeable nature of the new wine and the unshrunk cloth will destroy the old garment or wineskin.

Real self-discipline would be coming to Jesus’ disciples, but first they had to be made into new creatures, new wineskins able to hold the new wine of his teaching. On that day, they would be able to do anything the new, expanded law demanded of them.

Mark 2:23-28: Jesus’ Disciples Snack on the Sabbath

Jesus had little tolerance when laws were used for condemnation.

Last week we read about the showbread, kept in the Tent of Meeting, that only the priests were allowed to eat. However, in 1 Samuel 21:1-6, the priest allows David and his men to eat the showbread because no other bread was available.

From this story Jesus makes the point that the laws of God are to benefit man; man was not made to benefit the laws of God.

Keep in mind, though, that the violation here is a violation of the elders’ interpretation of Sabbath laws. There were no Sabbath laws stating that a hungry person could not snack from a field as they passed by.

Mark 3:1-6: Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

Jesus takes one more shot at the Pharisees attempt to make the Sabbath more important than people.

Mark 3:7-12: Jesus’ Fame Forces Him to Preach from Boat

Jesus was becoming so famous it was difficult for him to travel. In this instance he makes a boat available so that he can sit in a boat and teach the people.

Mark 3:13-19: Jesus Chooses the Twelve

The twelve: Simon Peter, James and John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alpheus), Thaddeus (a surname, Lebbaeus was the first name: Matt. 10:3), Simon the zealot, and Judas.

Mark 3:20-30: People doubt his sanity, and the Scribes Accuse Him.

Perhaps those who spoke up were hoping for an easy target. Jesus is no easy target.

He rebuked them for their unthinking accusation, pointed out the problem with it, and then explaining that no one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit is going to find forgiveness, a statement I’m sure is directed at their unbelief concerning the Holy Spirit with which he was overthrowing satan’s kingdom.

Again, this passage about overthrowing the strong man was an atonement passage to the early Christians. Jesus entered death’s chambers through death, bound him, broke the power of death and marched free, leading forth all who had previously been captive to death with him (Eph. 4:7-9; Heb. 2:15).

In the beginning [satan] enticed man to transgress his Maker’s law, and he thereby got man into his power. Yet his power consists of transgression and apostasy, and with these he bound humans.
     So, on the other hand, it was necessary that it was through man that satan should, when conquered, be bound with the same chains with which he had chained humans, so that man, being set free, might return to his Lord, leaving satan with those chains by which man himself had been chained … that is, sin.
     For when satan is bound, humans are set free, since "No one can enter a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man himself" [Mark 3:27]. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies V:21:3, c. A.D. 185)

Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord: that good and kind Shepherd, voluntarily to lay his life down for his sheep. Just as hunters take wolves that devour sheep by using a sheep to snare them, even so the Chief Shepherd, offering himself as man to the spiritual wolves and those who destroy the soul, may make his prey of the destroyers by means of that Adam who was once preyed upon by them. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; God against the devil; not being obvious in his might, which cannot be looked upon, but in the weakness of the flesh, in order to bind the strong man that is against us [Mark 3:27]. (Methodius, Oration on the Palms 6, c. A.D. 300)

Mark 3:31-35: His Family Tries to Bring Him Home

With all the ruckus going on, it appears that even Mary and Jesus’ brothers thought it best to get things under control and help Jesus behave more reasonably.

Once again, Jesus is no easy target.

Who is his mother, brothers, and sisters? They are those of us who do his will and who stick with him through thick and thin.