Monthly Archives: July 2015

Pigs Or People?

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PIGS OR PEOPLE?

When they had crossed over, they landed at Genessaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognised Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. And wherever He went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak, and all who touched it were healed (Mark 6: 53-56).

Genessaret again, but what a different reception this time! The pigs were forgotten. Sick people needed help and Jesus was there in person – the same Jesus they had chased away a short time before because He had driven a legion of demons out of a mad man; and they were terrified of Him as a result.

What a different story now! The healed man had done his job well. Jesus had instructed him to go home and tell his story to family and friends – and he had done just that. I don’t think he spared any details, not even the bits about his sordid lifestyle and the invasion of demons that took hold of him as a result. Demons don’t just take over a human being without invitation. He had certainly made enough bad decisions and done enough bad things to give them free entry into his life and his body. And he had paid a heavy price as a result.

After Jesus had driven the demons out, the people’s livelihood took a knock because the unclean spirits invaded their pigs and sent them careering down the steep embankment into the lake. These Gentiles had no idea who this was and what He was up to, so they got rid of Him as fast as they could, but they could not silence a free man. Wouldn’t you keep talking if you had been delivered from a living hell?

Slowly the mood began to change. The crazy-now-sane guy kept talking and didn’t go crazy again. He became the sanest person in the region. Gone were his lustful gaze at the girls, ogling and undressing each one with his eyes as they passed by, his suggestive comments, his promiscuous behaviour and his disgusting language. He was clean-living, respectful and considerate. Even his wife began to trust him again.

The change in him was permanent, so his neighbours began to realise. Something dramatic had happened to him – and it must have had something to do with the man they had sent packing when the pigs went over the cliff. The people were finally convinced and began to hope that the stranger would return. They would not send Him away this time. He had something to offer them and they needed His help.

Imagine their surprise and delight when news of His arrival spread around the region! They lost no time in rushing out to greet Him and bringing their ailing friends and family members to be healed. Before you could blink an eye, crowds had gathered from all over the region. Talk about a healing campaign! Jesus didn’t have to put up posters everywhere announcing His arrival. One man was witness enough to what He could do. His presence was there and they came.

From place to place Jesus and His disciples went – villages, towns and farms were all in it. And the people welcomed them. Never had this Gentile region, so alienated from God and from His people because they were hated and despised, and they knew it, been so blessed by the coming of the Son of God Himself! Did they know who He was? Probably not, but they were content to receive the blessing of healing and deliverance from their suffering and pain.

No doubt Jesus also taught them about the kingdom of God. After all, He was not just a miracle healer; He was God’s Messiah, sent by the Father to announce to both Jew and Gentile the good news that God was in charge. His miracles and His teaching were a testimony to His identity and they were inescapable.

The devil was there; demons were active, but not for long. An event was on the horizon so earth-shattering that even nature would writhe in pain as it happened. The Creator of the universe, the Son of the living God was soon to be killed by His own people for the sin of the world. Not only the stand-offish Jews but these Gentile pagans were also in on the deal. Jesus was there to tell them and to show them that God’s favour was about to be unleashed on them as well.

What a moment for helpless and hopeless people! They may have not understood when their kinsman was delivered from his torment. They may have sent Jesus away in their fear, but they were given a second chance and they grabbed it with both hands, thanks to the testimony of a freed man. That’s what Jesus came to do. This time they chose people over pigs!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

Ghost Or God?

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GHOST OR GOD?

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, He went up on a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and He was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn He want out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought He was a ghost. They cried out because they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ Then He climbed into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened (Mark 6: 45-52).

Another well-known story, so well-known in fact that we ignore a phrase in Mark’s narrative that makes it a revelation, not just a story.

It was Jesus’ purpose to reveal who He was to His disciples. Before He left them to return to the Father, these twelve men had to be convinced that He was the Son of God, so convinced in fact that they would obey His instructions implicitly and serve His loyally, even to death for the sake of the message they were to deliver and the work they were to do. These men were first-century disciples, not wishy-washy “Christians” like so many are today. That meant that they were learning to be accurate replicas of their rabbi in everything He was in His character and everything He said and did. Anything less disqualified them.

Mere intellectual faith was of no value for the Hebrew person if it did not issue in a response. For the disciples to believe in Him meant to stake everything on who He was and to become like Him. Simply telling them that He was the Son of God would not have been strong enough to convince them. He had to show them, and not just by doing supernatural things. What He was, and what He said and did was to match the Old Testament revelation of God. Jesus took every opportunity to convince them by using the circumstances to reveal His glory so that He could reflect the Father’s glory to these men.

Here was a golden opportunity to add another piece to the growing weight of evidence that He was a man but much more than a man. Since New Testament scholars tell us that Mark used Peter’s memoirs or Peter’s preaching as the basis of his gospel, Peter must have understood the significance of Jesus’ action and recorded it in words that give us the clue to Jesus’ intention.

We will miss the phrase “pass by them” if we are not familiar with its use in the Torah – the five books of Moses which form the basis of the rest of the Bible. Mark wrote, “He was about to pass by them”, the only gospel writer to use the phrase. What did he mean? It makes no sense for Jesus to walk on the lake to go to His disciples and then to walk past them as though He had missed them in the storm.

Let’s look for the use of the phrase in the Torah.

It was a significant moment for Moses. God’s people had broken the covenant. They were dancing around a golden calf and calling it “God”. Moses was up on the mountain pleading with God to forgive them and receive them back as His people. He had persuaded God not to abandon His people in the desert but to accompany them to the Promised Land. Then he asked God a favour. “Show me your glory” and God agreed. Moses was going somewhere with this request.

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the Lord. And He passed by in front of Moses, proclaiming, ’The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin . . . (Ex. 34: 5-6).

Did you get that? God “passed by” – a euphemism for revealing Himself to Moses. This was a significant action because it formed the basis of Moses’ intercession for his people. If God revealed Himself as compassionate and forgiving, Moses had grounds for asking God to forgive His people and renew the covenant.

If Jesus’ disciples were familiar with the Torah, they would have picked up the clue.  Jesus was saying by His action that He was the very same person who had revealed Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai. After all, did He not infuriate the Pharisees by declaring, “Before Abraham was, I AM”?

But they missed it. Instead of recognising Jesus’ beautiful revelation for them, they panicked. They cried out in terror. “It’s a ghost, a ghost!” What was meant to be another moment of faith for them became a moment of fear.

How like the disciples we are! When Jesus “passes by” in our crisis, we think He’s a ghost, not God – so near and so ready to reveal His presence in our problem. Where Jesus is there, everything falls into place but often, like the Twelve, we don’t recognise Him because our hearts are hardened. Fear blots out our recognition of the Saviour’s presence and we lose the joy of receiving another piece of evidence that He is God and we can trust Him, after all.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

An Impossible Problem

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AN IMPOSSIBLE PROBLEM

By this time it was late in the day, so His disciples came to Him. ‘This is a remote place,’ they said, ‘and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and buy themselves something to eat.’ But He answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to Him, ‘That would take more than half a year’s wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’ (Mark 6: 35-37).

Listen to this exchange between Jesus and His disciples.

He had a huge, hungry crowd on His hands. The people were becoming restless. It was getting late; they were far from home, and the disciples wanted to get rid of them. They had no way of providing for them so they told Jesus, “Send them away.” In other words “Get them out of our sight so that they are no longer our responsibility.” That was the only way they knew how to handle the situation. Their perspective was purely human and practical.

But the disciple’s solution was as impractical as it was impossible. Mark had already mentioned that this was a remote place – far from anywhere. Where on earth would a few thousand people find food at this time of the day? Families in far-off villages and towns had probably already eaten and the preparation of fresh food would take hours. There were no refrigerators from which they could take food to prepare on the spur of the moment.

On the other hand, Jesus had two opportunities – to feed a few thousand hungry people God’s way and to teach His disciples what happens when God is brought into the equation. Problems usually seem much bigger when God is left out. So He said to them, “Don’t send them away. You feed them.” That put them on the spot! In those three words, Jesus was saying to them, “You can’t just send needy people away to become someone else’s responsibility. As long as they are here, they are your responsibility. What are you going to do about it?”

They scratched their heads and came back with their best answer. ”Must we spend all our money to feed them?” they asked. The only solution they could think of involved money. If they had enough money, they could buy their way out of this one. Isn’t that just how we think?

‘How many loaves do you have?’ He asked. ‘Go and see.’ When they found out, they said, ‘Five – and two fish.’ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all (Mark 6: 38-41).

Where did they find the five loaves and two fish? In their own picnic basket? Some thoughtful mother packed a picnic lunch for her son. He had eaten some of it but there was a little left over – just enough to satisfy his hunger until he got home. How did he get there anyway? Did he go with a relative or friend? No one knows. All we know is that he was willing to surrender his supper to Jesus.

Five barley loaves and two fish! Enough for a child’s supper. But that didn’t faze Jesus. He was not a magician who could turn stones into bread. He was a mathematician who could multiply what He had. He didn’t turn bread and fish into roast chicken and vegetables but He did keep breaking the bread and dividing the fish and passing it on. That’s how it is with God. He takes what He is given and makes it go a long way.

The disciples’ job was easy after that. All they had to do was to pass the food around. To their utter amazement there was always more . . . and more . . . and more.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand (Mark 6: 42- 44).

Mopping up time was even more surprising. Five loaves and two fish fed five thousand men (of course the women and children didn’t count – or weren’t counted!), and there were twelve basketsful of leftovers to take home; “doggy bags” of food they could eat tomorrow! What did the disciples think of that?

Lessons learned – we hope. Number one: never turn needy people away. You may miss the opportunity to see a mighty miracle. Lesson two: don’t leave God out. He is the answer, not money. Give Him the little you have and see what He can do.

I love the third lesson, which was always so typical of Jesus. Look for every opportunity to put God’s glory on display. That’s what Jesus did, and the Father never failed Him.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Maddening Interruptions!

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MADDENING INTERRUPTIONS!

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, ‘Come with my by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place (Mark 6: 30-32).

Time out for some “me” time for the disciples. Everybody needs a little “me” time in a very busy world. Even Jesus’ disciples needed time out to catch their breath. Jesus was also a human; He understood His men’s weariness and He called them apart to get away from the crowd and relax before the next round of preaching and healing campaigns began. When there is no time to refuel spiritually as well as physically, that’s often when things begin to go wrong. How important to balance busyness and recreation to keep one’s heart and body functional!

But many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. (Mark 6: 33).

Well now, weren’t they a considerate bunch! The people thronged them and clamoured for attention from morning until night. This was something they had never experienced before – help when there was no one else to help them. There was no hospital, doctor or medical science to which to turn for their ailments and their disabilities. Then a man arrived on the scene who miraculously cured everything from blindness to the sniffles. Wouldn’t you run after Him, even if you gave not thought to His needs?

What would Jesus do in a situation like this? His disciples needed rest. They needed to have a leisurely meal without being mobbed. By the time they reached the other shore, the people were already there in their thousands. He could so easily have simply turned around and sailed off somewhere else and left them all waiting there in vain.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. (Mark 6: 34)

Imagine if Jesus had dodged the crowd and gone somewhere else with His disciples! He was the Father’s representative, remember? Whatever He said and did, He did in the name of the Father. Had He left them and sailed away, He would have given them a message, loud and clear, that the Father wasn’t to be bothered with them. Was that what He was telling them about their God? This could have been one of those irritating and annoying interruptions, but it wasn’t. He didn’t let it be. He took everything in His stride.

An interruption for Jesus was a God-opportunity to reach out to spiritually starving people with the love of God. There would be time enough for Him and His disciples to rest and eat later on, but this was a “now” moment for Jesus. The people needed Him right them. If He sent them away, there might never be another opportunity to tell some of them the truth.

One of the secrets of Jesus’ serenity and confidence was His living in the “now”. Unlike the people whom the soil in His story of the sower and the seed represented, He was not split between “now” and “then”, or “here” and “there”.

That’s how most of us live. Our “now” had less significance for us than what we are waiting for in the future, or regretting in the past. Why do we insist on living in our “tomorrows” or “yesterdays” when Jesus said that tomorrow had enough trouble of its own? He moved from one moment to the next in the calm confidence that His Father loved Him and was in control. Not even a raging storm on the lake could shake His trust in the Father to take care of His well-being. When He had not boat, He simply walked on the water! When it was time to go elsewhere, He went. When the people ran after Him, He taught them. When He needed time with the Father, He went off by Himself and sought solitude so that He could fellowship with God. He knew how to balance work and rest.

What a difference it would make to our lives if we would follow Jesus’ example? Sometimes I have to stand in a queue and wait my turn to be served. How do I handle the waiting? Impatience rises and I want to jump the queue, expect to be given preferential treatment because I am white, English-speaking, educated, affluent or whatever my condition may be, or walk away and come back some other time when there are not so many people.

The Holy Spirit whispers to me, “Live in the moment.” That’s really hard to do when I want to be somewhere else, do something else because the moment for me is irritating, frustrating or just downright intolerable. How hard it is for me to be like my Master, resting quietly in the Father’s love, knowing that He is here. If I allowed Him to orchestrate my life, I could eliminate the word “stress” from my vocabulary! And live longer too.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Herod!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEROD

Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl. ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised her with and oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ ‘The head of John the Baptist,’ she answered (Mark 6: 21-24).

Happy birthday, Herod! Why the birthday party? Was this a “big” one, like sixty or seventy? Probably not. Just an opportunity to indulge all the lusts of the flesh with his bigwigs.  Perhaps like the party Belshazzar threw in Babylon the night he lost his throne and his life. Birthday parties didn’t end well in the Bible, so it seems!

I guess Herodias’ daughter was as sensual as her mother. Her dance pleased the king and all his dinner guests. No responsible ruler in his right mind would offer a young girl a gift up to half his kingdom so, perhaps Herod wasn’t in his right mind. Perhaps he was so filled with the “spirit” that he promised what he promised, not realising that he was falling headlong into his wife’s trap.

Oh, I’m sure Herodias must have had it all planned. What an opportunity to get rid of her enemy! Get her husband drunk, send in her daughter to seduce him, and that was easy; and she had him in the bag. And it worked. Did you notice how quickly she had an answer for her child’s question? Not ‘Well . . . a-ah . . . now let’s see. What about a wardrobe of new clothes? No, perhaps a new car or a luxury mansion down by the sea? I know. That beautiful necklace and bracelet set we saw in the jeweller’s ship. Remember? The one with diamonds, emeralds and rubies . . .”  No, emphatically no! She wanted John’s dead head on a platter, nothing less.

At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’

The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother (Mark 6: 25-28).

Herod was trapped. This was definitely not what he meant. He was suddenly more sober than he had ever been. He had a decision to make. Would he refuse and look like a fool in front of his subjects? Would he give in and become a murderer? Who was boss in his house anyway? He knew very well who was behind this. Didn’t he have to listen to Herodias’ ranting and raving about John and his accusations all day long, day after day?

He could go with his conscience and put up with Herodias or he could silence his conscience, so he thought, and shut Herodias up once and for all. And what about his oath? After all, didn’t the Scriptures say you had to honour your oath, no matter what? Decision made, and the deed was done.

What did he think when the executioner brought him the bloodied head of John on a platter? What did he do when John’s sightless eyes stared back at him and his accusing mouth hung open but said nothing? He had listened to that mouth speak God’s word into his ears, even pleading with him to repent and receive the truth about the Messiah, but he had never done anything about it. Then there was Herodias. She would never tolerate a religious type for a husband.  He could not imagine the strife in his life if he did what John said.

But now it was too late. He had added murder to his list of sins and he could not escape the torment of his guilt and shame. If he thought the dinner guests would mock him for not keeping his oath, what about the voice of the accuser that mocked him now?

Happy birthday, Herod! It was a birthday he would never forget because it marked the end for him, long before he had to face Jesus (Luke 22: 8-11), or before he himself died an ignominious and agonising death because he thought he was God (Acts 12: 23). From that day on it was all downhill. He had his opportunity; he made his decision. There was no turning back.

Strange, isn’t it, how our opportunities come when we least expect them! Unannounced, Unheralded.  If we are as unprepared as Herod was, we will not notice, just as he did not, that this is a turning point and a decisive moment. Jesus warned us to be prepared.

On hearing this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb (Mark 6: 29)

Where was John’s head? Sitting on Herodias’ dressing table, a trophy for her to gaze at, a symbol of her victory, rotting and stinking like her rotting and stinking soul? Really?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com