Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 10-11.

The other day I wrote about how people came and listened to Jesus teach for hours on end.  I think that today’s passage gives us an insight into how Jesus taught, and why people were willing to sit and listen to Him teach for hours on end.  In today’s passage we have three separate incidents described which I want to cite.  First, while Jesus is teaching some Pharisees asked Him a question about divorce.  Second, some parents brought their children to Jesus for Him to lay His hands on them.  The timing on this incident is less clear, but it appears to also occur while Jesus is teaching.  The third incident occurs as Jesus has finished teaching and is about to go on His way.  At that point a man runs up and asks what he must do in order to receive eternal life.  So, what do these three incidents tell us about how Jesus taught?  Well, the first and last incidents involved people coming up to Jesus and asking Him questions about how they should live their lives.  The middle incident involved parents bringing their children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them.  In each incident, people felt welcome to approach Jesus.  He would then speak to what was most on their hearts at the moment.  Yes, we know, and those watching probably knew, the Pharisees were merely asking Jesus their question as a test, but it could have been a man(and in that society, it would have had to be a man) in a bad marriage struggling with what he should do.  The only one of these incidents where Jesus gave the people the answer they were looking for was when the parents brought their children to Him.  I think there is more we can learn about how Jesus taught from the story about the children.  But I want to point out that all three of these incidents involved Jesus teaching about a subject which someone in His audience brought up.  Even the answers He gave to the questions asked of Him were approachable, were phrased in ways which those listening could easily understand.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.