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

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

Today’s passage starts out with Mark’s account of the woman who anointed Jesus.  Each Gospel contains such an account, but there are differences between them.  Perhaps there were two such events, or perhaps people remembered the details differently (and if there were two such events, people may have mixed up details between the two events).  However, the fact that all four Gospels contain such a story with a similar emphasis in what Jesus says about it tells is that this story contains an important message.  It seems to me that Jesus tells us here that there is a place for spending our resources on luxuries.  While we should make strong efforts to help those in greater need than ourselves, it is not only not wrong to spend some of our resources on making others feel better, we should do so from time to time.

There other part of this passage that I want to write about today is Peter’s denial of Jesus.  When Jesus predicted that all of His disciples would desert Him, Peter vehemently denied that he would ever do such a thing.  Peter insisted that he would stand by Jesus’ side even if everyone else abandoned Him.  Despite his best intentions, when push came to shove, Peter was unable to keep his promise.  One important lesson here is that we can never know how we will hold up under pressure until we experience that pressure.  However, even though Peter failed to hold up this time, we also know that later he did stand up for Jesus in the face of persecution.  I want to note also that Peter did not deny Jesus just once or twice.  He had three opportunities to stand by Jesus’ side in Jesus’ darkest hour and could not do so.  We will also sometimes fail Christ when the chips are down, but we need to repent of our failure and accept God’s forgiveness.  Our failures to stand up for God do not mean that we are forever damned.

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

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

I am not sure where I am going to go with this today. There are several things I want to write which do not currently have any connection to each other in my mind.  First, When asked about taxation, Jesus’ answer was not just about taxation.  The coin which His questioners showed Him had Caesar’s image upon it.  This led Jesus to tell them to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and to God what was God.  Jesus’ listeners would have realized that He was referencing Genesis 1:27 when He said this.  We are made in God’s image.  Money bears the image of the government which issued it, so that government has claim to that money.  But we bear the image of God, so God has claim to our very being.

And now I see a connection to the next thing on which I want to comment.  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He answered, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”  Then followed that up by saying that the second most important commandment was equally important, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and that all other commandments derive from these two.  Really, the second commandment derives from the first, but we need that second commandment because without it it would be all too easy for us to pretend that we can love God without loving our neighbor.  Each of us has been made in God’s image.  Therefor, if we truly love God we will love those whom He made in His image.  In fact, loving our neighbor is part of giving to God what belongs to God.

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

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

In response to the question about divorce, Jesus responded that from the beginning of creation God had made people male and female.  There is so much there about many of the social issues facing our society today.  Further, He said that Moses only gave a commandment allowing divorce as a concession to humanity’s hard hearts.  So, as I read this, many of the problems we have in our society today can be directly traced to our society, and even our Churches, deciding that sometimes divorce is a good thing.  Divorce is never a good thing, but that does not mean that those who have divorced cannot be forgiven.  Divorce is never OK, but sometimes the other options seem worse.  I have two more things to say about divorce.  First, while I believe that those who are married should always seek another option other than divorce, I will not tell others what price they should pay to avoid divorce.  Second, those who are divorced cannot go back and make it so that they did not get divorced, they can only move on from where they are now in the knowledge that God will forgive us our sins.  Certainly, I have failed to be faithful to God to at least as great a degree as anyone else and have no place to consider myself better than those who have gotten divorced.

I really did not intend to spend so much time on Jesus’ comment about human sexuality.  What I really wanted to focus on today was Jesus’ reaction to annoying people.  We have two stories about people who annoyed those around Jesus, the parents who brought their children to see Him, and blind Bartimaeus.  When the parents brought their children to Jesus, the disciples considered the children to be an annoyance and scolded the parents.  When blind Bartimaeus called out to Jesus for healing, the others around Jesus considered him an annoyance and told him to be quiet.  In both cases, the “gatekeepers” thought that Jesus was too important to spend time on those seeking His attention.  Also, in both cases, Jesus was willing to make time for them.  Both of these instances provide an illustration on Jesus’ teaching about leadership.  Neither the children nor Bartimaeus were of “value” to Jesus.  They could bring nothing to Him which made His life better.  Nevertheless, He was willing to make time for them because, by doing so, He could make their life better.

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

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

When we read about Jesus telling His disciples about the suffering He would soon suffer and Peter taking Him aside to talk to Him, we don’t often really think about what Peter was thinking.  It seems to me that Peter took Jesus aside for one of two reasons, both of which were noble.  First, Peter may have thought that Jesus was becoming too negative.  Perhaps, Peter thought that Jesus was becoming depressed over the opposition which He was facing.  Second, Peter may have thought that Jesus’ statements about the suffering He would soon experience would unnecessarily discourage others.   In either case, Peter misunderstood what Jesus was saying.  Jesus was not being a “Debbie downer” when He spoke of his coming suffering and death.  He was preparing His disciples for what was coming.  Peter saw Jesus’ predictions of His coming suffering and death as a sign that Jesus thought He was failing.  Jesus saw His coming suffering and death as signs of His success.

Jesus uses Peter’s attempt to “buck him up” as a teaching moment.  He tells us that if we strive to avoid pain and suffering, we will fail.  And not only will we fail to avoid pain and suffering, we will fail to serve God.  A Science Fiction writer whose work I love has her main character say something similar to what Jesus says here.  The character has been desperately seeking something, then at one point, when he seems close to getting it, he walks away from making any further effort to get it.  When asked why, he responds that he realized that it does you no good to obtain your heart’s desire if you give up your heart to get it.  Spoiler alert, he gets what he was seeking anyway.  In fact, he gets it because he refused to compromise his ethics to get it.  That is similar to Jesus’ point here.  If you are not willing to face suffering and death to do what is right, you will still face death and suffering with the knowledge that you did not do the right thing.  On the other hand, if you do the right thing in the face of suffering and death, any suffering you experience will bring you joy.

I am using 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 did not write much about Jesus’ comments on hand washing and purity when I read it in Matthew, but I want to spend some time on it today.  It would be easy to think that Jesus was unaware of the health benefits of hand washing, and of washing eating utensils.  However, that misses the point.  Jesus does not say that washing serves no good purpose, or even that we should not wash our hands before eating.  Rather, He tells us that we should be more concerned with our spiritual health than with our physical health.  Contaminated food can only harm our physical bodies, we should be more concerned with that which can harm our spirits and our souls.  Further, Jesus tells us that what we say and do defiles our souls in much the same way that eating contaminated food can make our bodies sick.  It is what comes from within which controls our spiritual health and well-being.  Say and do that which is wholesome and our spirits will become healthier and stronger.  If, instead, we say and do those things which are vile, our spirits will become corrupt and weak.

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

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

There are two powerful statements in today’s passage.  The first is Jesus’ response to the storm: “Peace, be still.”  What makes that so interesting and powerful is that He said it after the Apostles woke Him in a panic about the storm.  Having said that and calmed the storm He asked them why they were afraid.  Jesus was able to sleep during the storm because He had faith.  He knew that God was in charge of everything in the world, including the storm, and that God’s plans would be fulfilled.  There was no need, and nothing to gain, from staying awake and worrying about the storm.  When life’s storms beat at us we should try to live as Jesus lived, calmly and without fear.  Sometimes those storms will overwhelm even those among us with the strongest faith, when that happens we can call on God and He will provide us with the calm needed to face our lives.   However, sometimes we need to do for others what Jesus did for His Apostles and calm the storms which are overwhelming their faith.  Do you have the faith, do I have the faith, to call out to life’s storms, “Peace, be still” with the confidence that God will still those storms?  And remember, sometimes all it takes to calm life’s storms is for someone to calmly respond to them.

The other one is that of the woman seeking healing: “If I can just touch His robe…”  That is another statement of faith.  The woman knew, she just knew, that if she could get close to Jesus and touch His robe she would be healed.  Do we share her desire to get close to Jesus?  Do we share her faith that just being near Him will bring us healing?

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

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

I like the way the Gospel of Mark quick hits on the stories it tells. It is a quick and concise account of Jesus’ life.  Today I want to start by looking at the faith of the man with leprosy in this passage.   In a way it resembles what Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego told Nebuchadnezzar before they were thrown into the fiery furnace.  The leper told Jesus that he knew that Jesus could heal him, if Jesus was willing to do so.  We should approach God with our requests with the same attitude:  God is capable of doing whatever we ask of Him, the only question is whether or not He is willing.

The other point I want to touch on is Jesus’ response to the Pharisees challenging Him about His disciples plucking grain while they walked.  He makes a point about the Sabbath which applies to all of God’s commands.  God gave us rules about keeping the Sabbath for our benefit.  He did not create us for us to keep the Sabbath rules.  The same is true of the other things which God commands.  God did not create us in order to have someone to who He could give commands.  He gave us His commands so that we would know how to live life to its fullest.

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

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

I am sure I have written this in the past.  When I was younger, Jesus’ instructions to the two disciples He sent ahead to prepare for the Passover meal were related to me as an example of Jesus’ ability to see the future.  It was suggested that He prophetically knew the man would be where he would be and would be willing to allow them to use his room for their Passover meal.  However, as I read it now it seems clear to me that Jesus had made previous arrangements to eat the Passover meal in this man’s room with His disciples.  On the other hand, Jesus’ prediction that one of the Twelve would betray Him is indeed a prophetic pronouncement.  Every time I read that I wonder what went through Judas’ mind at that moment.  

When I read the various accounts of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane I have two separate reactions.  First is the desire and wish to pray as Jesus did when difficulty and struggling confront me: “Please take this suffering from me, but Your will be done, not mine.”  I want to ask God to take the suffering away from me, but I want to submit to that suffering if it is necessary to accomplish His will.  Second is an empathy with the disciples inability to stay awake.  All too often when I attempt to pray in the ways I think that I should I find myself falling asleep.  As with so many other passages on prayer, this passage reminds me that my prayer life comes nowhere close to where it should.

I am using 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 accounts of three different approaches people take to those who proclaim the truth.  First the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus in the conflict between government authority and popular opinion.  Then the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus in what they thought was a logic conflict in His belief system.  Finally an unnamed teacher of the law asked a probing question aimed at discovering the core of Jesus’ teachings.

The Pharisees thought that Jesus’ appeal to the masses came from telling them what they wanted to hear.  The premise of their question was that if Jesus gave the crowds the answer they wanted to hear, they could have the Romans arrest Him for inciting rebellion.  On the other hand, they thought that if Jesus gave an answer on taxation which did not support it the crowds would turn on Him.  The Pharisees did not ask this question in order to learn Jesus’ answer.  They thought they had come up with a question where they could use whatever answer Jesus gave against Him.   There are many nuances to Jesus’ answer.  However, Jesus makes the central point that only those involved in trade with the Romans were significantly impacted by the Roman taxes.  

The Sadduccess thought that resurrection from the dead was illogical.  Their question was intended to highlight the logical inconsistencies of what Jesus taught.  Again, they were not seeking to understand what Jesus’ taught.  They sought an answer they could use against Him.  Jesus showed that their question only seems like it presents a quandary because they lacked faith in God’s power over the Universe.

Finally, the unnamed teacher of the law asked a question which actually explored what Jesus taught.  This last question truly got at whether or not Jesus was a teacher to whom we should listen.  This man asked Jesus a question to which he genuinely wanted to know the answer.  Unlike the Pharisees who thought they would be able to use Jesus’ answer against Him, no matter how He answered and unlike the Sadduccess who thought their question had no answer.  This unnamed teacher genuinely wanted to know what Jesus thought.  He wanted to see if Jesus’ answer added up.  When people question us about our faith, they will fall into one of these categories.  Some people will be seeking an answer that they can use against us or our faith.  Others will be seeking to show that only foolish people would actually believe what we say we believe.  But a few people will ask questions because they genuinely seek to learn the truth.