Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 8-9.

Whenever I read Mark’s account of Jesus healing the blind man at Bethsaida I wonder why he felt the need to include the part about Jesus having to touch the man’s eyes twice.  Today it occurred to me that while this actually happened it is also a metaphor for how so many of us come to know God.  Sometimes we are blind to God’s will for us until we ask Jesus to touch us, or, more likely, until someone asks for us.  However, sometimes we still only see blurrily, such that people look like trees walking.  In those cases, we need Jesus to touch us again, so that we might clearly see God’s will.  I was reading the passage again to see what else I wanted to write about today when I realized that Peter’s proclamation that Jesus was the Messiah immediately followed this story.  Mark’s account of that sort of reflects the above lesson.  First, Jesus asks His disciples who people say that He is, then He asks them who they say that He is.  The answers they gave to the first question reflected what those who had been touched once saw, but they, who had been touched repeatedly by Jesus, saw more clearly.  Let’s not settle for blurred vision.  Instead, let us walk with Jesus daily so that He may make our vision clear.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 6-7.

I want to start by commenting on an interesting literary trick which Mark uses here.  I have noticed it before, but nevertheless it still works on my every time.  He tells us that Jesus sent the Twelve out two by two to preach, heal the sick, and drive out demons.  Then he writes about how, some time earlier, Herod had beheaded John the Baptist before writing about how Jesus debriefed the Twelve upon their return leading into the account of feeding the five thousand.  By interjecting the account of Herod beheading John, Mark causes us to feel that a significant amount  of time passed between Jesus’ time in Nazareth and the feeding of the five thousand.  Of course the thing we also miss with this is that the Twelve had just returned from performing miracles which amazed them when they were reluctant to feed the five thousand.  They failed to make the connection between the wonders they had just performed over the course of many days by the power of the God who had given the Israelites manna in the wilderness and feeding a crowd of people.  How often do we fail to make the connection between the power God has demonstrated in our lives and His ability to address the need in front of us?

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 4-5.

I want to comment today on something Mark quoted Jesus as saying early in this passage.  He told His disciples that He taught using parables because they had been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but that those on the outside would “be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!”  Then a little later He told them that whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed.  Which He followed by telling them to consider what they hear carefully because whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have even what they have will be taken.  So, we need to listen carefully to what Jesus teaches.  Those who choose to misconstrue what He teaches will find it ever harder to understand later.  Yet, if we strive to understand His teaching, we will be able to learn it ever more clearly.  

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 1-3.

When the man with leprosy came to Jesus he said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Mark writes that Jesus was indignant when the man said that to Him.  Later, when Jesus saw the man with the withered hand in the synagogue, Mark writes that He looked around angry.  In the first case, why was Jesus indignant?  I believe He was indignant because He knew that the man was unsure if Jesus was willing to heal him because he knew many people who would have been unwilling to heal him if they were able.  In the synagogue Jesus was angry because of those who were present who were more interested in finding cause to accuse Jesus than they were in helping relieve the suffering of their fellow man.  Finally, the passage ends with Jesus telling the crowd around Him that whoever does God’s will is His brother and sister and mother, whoever does God’s will is His family.  So, those who wish to be part of Jesus’ family seek ways in which to alleviate the sufferings of others.  If those who know me do not know that I would risk myself to help others, I have either failed to understand Jesus’ message, or have failed to communicate that message.  If others who know me think I might judge them for helping others, no matter the circumstances, I have either failed to understand Jesus’ message, or failed to communicate that message.  Those things hold true for you as well.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 14-16.

Shortly after telling Jesus that even if all others abandoned Him, he, Peter, would stand with Him, Peter fell asleep while Jesus was praying in deep distress. After admonishing Peter, and the other disciples, for falling asleep, Jesus said something which should resonate with all of us.  “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  I think that this statement by Jesus about His disciples with Him there in the Garden of Gethsemane applies to us as well and shows how well He understands us.  In many ways, my spirit wishes to serve God, but my flesh is weak and I fail.

I want to highlight that the only followers of Jesus whom the writer records as being present at His crucifixion were women.  I find that significant because it paints a negative picture of His male disciples.  In addition, this account indicates that it was women to whom news of Christ’s resurrection was  first reported.  And why is either of those things important?  Because they make the idea that Jesus’ disciples made up the story of His resurrection implausible.  If the early Christians had made up the story, those who led the early Church would have been cast in a more positive light.  They would have been the ones who stood by Jesus as He went to the cross.  They would have been the ones to discover the empty tomb.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 12-13.

Today’s passage contains Jesus’ prophecy regarding the end times and His return.  Today I want to focus on two aspects of Jesus’ prophecy.  First, He warns us not to be deceived by those who falsely come in His name.  Jesus tells that many false prophets and false messiahs will come, performing signs and marvels to deceive.  We need to be on guard and compare the messages of those who claim to speak on behalf of God to that which He has already told us.  In this prophecy Jesus tells us of many signs which will tell us that the day of His return is near.  However, He also tells us that no one knows the day and hour of His return aside from the Father.  Therefore, we must remain on alert and on guard, making sure to be carrying out the tasks which God has given us.  We must not let His return find us sleeping and allowing our tasks to remain undone.

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

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

When Jesus was questioned about divorce He quoted from Genesis chapter one and chapter two.  First He states that from the beginning God created them male and female.  I try to avoid controversial topics of discussion going on about us today, but this clearly runs contrary to the idea many today have that there are multiple genders.  He then continues to say that this duality of mankind is why a man leaves his parent and gets married, with the man and woman becoming one.  This contradicts the idea that same sex marriage can be the same sort of union as traditional, heterosexual marriage.  Up until this point, Jesus merely paraphrased what Genesis said.  However, He then reaches a conclusion about what these facts about God’s design mean for us.  Jesus brought up these facts when He was asked His position on divorce.  Jesus tells us that these basic facts of Creation tell us that divorce is wrong.  Which leads me to conclude that if we want to address the issues of today we must first address an issue which the Church in America “passed” on in the 1970s: divorce and heterosexual infidelity.  God calls us to either abstain from sexual acts, or to remain faithful to the one we marry.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 8-9.

Every time I read this passage I identify with the father of the boy whom Jesus’ disciples could not heal.  I do not identify with him as a father, since I have no children.  Rather I identify with his response when Jesus tells him that everything is possible for one who believes. “I believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”  More than anything else that is my prayer every day.  I believe that when Jesus told His disciples that they would do even greater things than what they saw Him doing He was making a prophecy which applies to His followers today.  Yet I do not do such things, and my faith wavers.  Fortunately, the rest of this passage gives me some comfort in that those who walked with Jesus on this earth also suffered faith issues.  They had failed to heal the boy.  At the beginning of this passage, just a short time after witnessing Jesus feed five thousand, they could feed a crowd which turned out to be only four thousand strong.  Peter, who had just proclaimed Jesus the Messiah, had to be rebuked for not having sufficient faith to accept that Jesus would die on the cross.  So, I will join the child’s father and cry out to God, “I believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 6-7.

Today’s passage begins with Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth.  The reaction of those present contrasts poorly with that of those when He taught in the synagogue in Capernaum. Both saw similar things in His teaching, but in Capernaum they were impressed by His wisdom and understanding, while in Nazareth they were contemptuous of it.  We must be careful not to reject the message which God sends to us when He sends it through those with whom we are familiar.

I also had some thoughts about Mark’s account of the feeding of the five thousand.  First, when Jesus first told His disciples to give the people something to eat, their reply was, “Are we to go buy 200 denarii of bread and give it to them?” Today it struck me that that suggests they HAD 200 denarii which they could spend on bread, but that there was no place close by for them to do so.  However, I want to look closer at Jesus’ reaction when He saw the crowd which had gathered in advance of them at the remote place they went to get away from the crowds.  When Jesus saw the crowd, He saw them as sheep without a shepherd.  I want to write a little bit about what that means.  Sheep without a shepherd are vulnerable to predators and may have trouble finding food and/or water.  They will wander aimlessly, following each other with none of them having any idea where they should go.  We should think about those around us who may also be like sheep without a shepherd and direct them to the Shepherd.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 4-5.

I want to start by writing about Jesus saying some variation of, “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”  Related to that Jesus quotes part of Isaiah 6:9-10. I believe He is warning us against intentionally missing what God is telling us.  Are we willing to hear what God has to say to us?  Today it struck me that we often miss the main point Jesus makes here when He talks about putting a lamp on a stand.  In Matthew, Jesus used the lamp as an example about being open about our beliefs.  Here the reference to the lamp on a stand seems to suggest that His teachings are not just for those initiated into the secrets.  Rather, He tells us that as we study God’s word more we will see more.  So, if we study God’s word in little pieces, we will have little bits revealed to us, but if we invest more into it, we will understand more.  And those who have little understanding of God’s word, and make no effort to increase that understanding, will lose what little understanding that they have.

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