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.

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

Today’s passage ends with Jesus telling His disciples that they should maim themselves before they allow a part of their body to cause them to sin.  I have seen some quote those verses in order to support the idea that they have no responsibility to not act in a manner which might lead others to have impure thoughts (I want to note that even though we usually mean thoughts about sexual immorality when we say “impure thoughts”, I am using it here to mean thoughts about committing any sin).  However, Jesus prefaces His words about cutting off our hand, or gouging out our eye, by saying that it would be better to have a millstone cast around our neck and be cast into the sea than to cause one of those who believe in Him to stumble.  This leads me to believe that Jesus’ words about taking extreme action to avoid stumbling were meant to warn us to be extremely cautious not to lead others to sin.    We should be careful not to dress, or act in a manner, which will lead others to lust.  We should be careful not to act in a manner which would lead an alcoholic to think about drinking, a drug addict to consider taking drugs.  To reiterate: I believe Jesus point here is that we should go to great lengths to be sure that we do not cause our fellow believers to stumble.

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.

Today’s passage contains another of Jesus’ parables which we do not often put much thought into, and, if we do, we tend to lump it in with the parable of the sower.  While the parable of the sower provides understanding for the parable of the growing seed, the latter has a different message.  As I read it today it occurred to me that when we are seeking ways to grow a congregation, this parable should speak to us.  Jesus tells us that the seed, which Jesus had just told His disciples was the word, is spread on the ground, which Jesus told His disciples was those people who heard the word.  The one who spread the seed need do nothing more.  In fact, Jesus says it doesn’t matter what else he does, the seed will grow according to its nature.  The one who sowed the seed need not know why the seed grows, and Jesus says we can’t know.  So, sow the word of God, and it will grow according to God’s plan.  As God says through the prophet Isaiah, God’s word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it.

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 I was younger, I understood the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism to indicate that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus after His baptism and everybody heard the voice speak.  Some years ago I realized that the wording here in Mark, and also in Matthew and Luke, suggests that only Jesus saw the Spirit and heard the voice.  The Gospel of John account suggests that John the Baptist heard the voice from heaven.  The wording here in Mark could indicate that only Jesus or John the Baptist, or perhaps both, heard the words.  My understanding of the accounts leads me to believe that Jesus and John saw the dove descend and heard the voice from heaven, but that the others present only saw the dove (and perhaps heard something which they dismissed as “noise”).  The voice served as a confirmation to Jesus of the things He had been coming to understand about Himself and provided Him the strength to go through His wilderness testing.

Another thing which we take for granted is that, on the Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.  I do not know this to be true, but I am pretty sure that they did not allow just anybody to come into the synagogue and teach on the Sabbath.  So, in some way, Jesus had established Himself as someone with the necessary credentials to be allowed to teach., at least at a synagogue in Capernaum.  Which leads me to discuss some things we know about Jesus, and about John the Baptist.  We know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that there were many similarities between what Jesus taught and the teachings of the Essenes (a third group of devote Jews alongside the Pharisees and Sadducees).  We also see from the Gospel accounts of John the Baptist that he was closer in approach to the Essenes than was Jesus.  So, it seems likely that both Jesus and John the Baptist were “credentialed” by their connection to the Essenes.  Which brings me to a second aspect of Jesus teaching in the synagogue: the people felt, and said, that He taught with authority.  In order to understand what was meant when they said that, we need to understand how most Rabbi’s of that time taught.  They would say things like, “as Rabbi Hillel wrote,…”  Jesus on the other hands appears to teach by saying, “as the prophet Isaiah wrote,…”   Most other Jewish teachers of the time referenced the interpretation of the prophets given by prominent Rabbis.  Jesus, on the other hand, spoke as if He, and His audience, could read the prophets for themselves and understand what they meant.  Jesus taught that we do not need someone else to tell us what God wants of us.  We can read the Scripture for ourselves and understand what God wants 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 14-16.

Every time I read the story about the woman who anointed Jesus with oil I always feel like there is more to it than I am seeing.  Perhaps someone reading this blog will be able to provide me such an insight.  So, I get one clear message from this story: we should not feel that our every thought, action, and expenditure must be to help the poor.  Further, sometimes we should do things to show our love to those around us.  Jesus made a point that wherever the Gospel is preached the story of what this woman did will be preached.  Which suggests that the message of this story is critical.  I was going to stop with that, but I had one more thought on this story.  When Jesus told those saying that she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor, He quoted from Deuteronomy 15:11.  The context of that verse tells us that we should give to the poor generously, that we should not be tightfisted towards them.  This woman was acting in a generous open-handed manner, while those rebuking her had a grudging heart.

I want to write a bit about chapter 16.  After much thought over the years I have become convinced the Mark ended his Gospel at verse 16:8.  I believe that the rest of chapter 16 is an accurate account, but was added to the Gospel from other sources.  I really think that Mark intended to end his Gospel with the cliff hanger of the women fleeing from the tomb, bewildered and afraid.  He wanted us to come away with the feeling that early that Sunday morning those who followed Jesus were bewildered and afraid, not just the women.  He wanted us to see the contrast between how they acted later and how they felt that morning.

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.

Some years back I read an article which gave some insight into the account of when Jesus was questioned on whether Moses’ Law allowed for paying tax to Caesar.  It made particular point about the fact that the coin used to pay the tax had Caesar’s image upon it (there was a lot more to the article than that, but that is the point which always brings me to my thoughts on this account).  So, when Jesus tells them to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s He makes a very profound statement.  Jesus was clearly pointing out that the coin was made by Caesar (or, at least, at Caesar’s command) in his image, making it his.  On the other hand, each and every one of us was made by God in His image.  Therefore we belong to God and should surrender ourselves to Him.

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.

I know this will come as a surprise to those who regularly read this passage, but I am not sure where I am going to go with this today.  I will start with Jesus’ commentary on marriage and divorce.  He tells us that at creation God made humans male and female and for this reason a man leaves his parents and is joined with his wife.  From that He concludes that one should not separate that which God has joined.  I think this speaks pretty clearly to several issues in our society today.  Then we have the account of parents bringing their children to Jesus, which His disciples thought was a waste of His time and attempted to block.  Jesus rebuked them for that and told them that they needed to receive the kingdom of heaven in the same way that children do.  I have seen many debates on what that means, but I have always seen it in the context of later in this passage when Jesus told His disciples that anyone who wants to be great in God’s kingdom must serve others.  So, in the same way that children generally do not think of themselves as being in charge, we too should not take the attitude that we are in charge.

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.

I want to start by Jesus’ use of yeast as a metaphor for hypocrisy.  Here He makes it clear that a little bit of hypocrisy can spread through, and transform, a group just as much as the righteous acts of a small number can transform society around those who do them.  However, the part of this passage which resonates the most with me is the account of the father who brought his son to Jesus’ disciples for healing.  The disciples were unable to heal the boy and the father was beginning to lose hope.  When Jesus told him that anything was possible for the one who believes, the father responded, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”  That has been my prayer for many years.  I know that my faith is less than it should be, but this story leads me to believe that it is enough, and my prayer is that God cause it to increase.

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 thought about writing on Jesus’ commentary on what defiles a person when it came up in Matthew, but there were other things I felt were more impactful on that day.  When confronted about His disciples not following the tradition of washing their hands before eating, Jesus went off on the Pharisees about their traditions.  He pointed out how they used traditions to nullify God’s commands.  In particular the way in which they created loopholes for themselves.  In fact, today what Jesus says about this particular loophole reminds me of the one which the very wealthy in our society use to evade estate taxes.  More importantly is what Jesus says concerning what does, and does not, defile us.  While we may be made sick by what we take into our bodies, we are not defiled by it.  According to Jesus, we are defiled by how we think about others.

Which leads me to something else important which was not part of what I intended to write today when I started.  Jesus lists sins which He says all come from evil thoughts, and He tells us that those thoughts come out of our hearts.  When we look at what all of these sins have in common we realize that they all come from thinking of others as existing for the purpose of satisfying our own needs and wants.  So, it is not enough not to take actions which harm others, we must train ourselves to not want to harm others.

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 was not sure what I was going to write about this passage because the incidents recounted here have been discussed from many different angles.  Then I came across what Jesus said to Jairus after he was told that his daughter had died: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”  This came just after the woman was healed by touching Jesus’ clothes.  She was certainly frightened, but acted on her belief nevertheless.  And earlier in today’s passage we have the story of Jesus calming the storm.  There Jesus asked His disciples why they were so afraid, suggesting that they would not be afraid if they had faith.  So, we have a recurring theme in this passage.  The more faith we have the less fear we will feel.  No, that is not quite right.  The more faith we have the less impact fear will have on our behavior.  So, as we look at the world around us, let us not be afraid but just believe.

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