Monthly Archives: June 2020

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – POWER AND AUTHORITY

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POWER AND AUTHORITY

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Mark 6:6-13

For some reason and, at least for a little while, the disciples “got it”. Jesus sent them out in pairs so that they had each other for support. I wonder who Peter paired with; Judas Iscariot? James or John, “sons of thunder”? It was a joyful and exciting time for them. Equipped with Jesus’ power, “dunamis”, and authority, “exousia”, they went out to confront the enemy wherever he was lurking – disease, disabilities, deformities, death and even demon-possession gave way to the kingdom of God.

Jesus’ instructions were in line with His disposition and His yoke. “Keep it simple. Keep calm. This is not about you.” And the disciples discovered that, when they did it His way, there was a release of power and joy. According to Luke, they were ecstatic because even the demons bowed to Jesus’ authority in them.

Jesus’ yoke had a two-fold effect on those who were in partnership with Him. It strikes me that His invitation is not to put on His yoke as a single entity, but to wear it with Him. His yoke is an alternative for people who are tired of religious rigmarole. He offers an answer to the hard labour of self-effort. His is a partnership.  No-one has to wear it alone. His yoke brings a person into soul rest – no more fear, anxiety, guilt or shame – all those things are removed, not increased when we wear His yoke.

His yoke restores the image of God. It shares His disposition of gentleness and humility, exposes the false power of the enemy and releases one into the freedom of making right choices. His yoke empowers a person to overcome selfishness and greed and to express the righteousness of God by doing the right thing when confronted with alternatives – Jesus or me.

What was the one ingredient that made all this possible?  Confidence in Jesus, expressed in boldness. The spark had to jump the gap to ignite the fuel and get the engine going. Is this what is missing in us? Moving from confidence that Jesus can do it to Jesus will do it – through you and me!

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – JUST MARY’S BOY?

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JUST MARY’S BOY?

​1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Mark 6:1-6

Once again, in their foolishness and ignorance, people thought they knew better than Jesus. “He’s just a carpenter – Mary’s boy.”  They thought they knew Him: they thought they had His origin and His family line all buttoned up. They weighed His wisdom and His works against their human experience of Him, and they failed to make any connection with the truth. They looked at His siblings and they thought they knew Him.

Jesus lamented their ignorance. Their false conclusion had forfeited an opportunity to believe in and to receive their Messiah and to participate in all the benefits of His presence among them. A few minor miracles were all He could do there, and then He left. There was no point in wasting time with stubborn, unbelieving people when there were many more in the surrounding towns and villages who would listen, believe, receive and experience the first fruits of God’s kingdom in their lives.

There were some things that amazed Jesus – at opposite ends of the scale: the great faith of a Gentile centurion who understood authority and recognised His authority over disease, and the unbelief of His own home town, people who refused to acknowledge His authority and experience the deliverance and healing He was able to give them.

Jesus must have walked away from Nazareth saddened by the lost potential because they had shut Him out and closed their hearts to the new wine of the kingdom of God. The very same people who had loved Him as a boy and admired such an unusual child, good, kind, wise, gentle, caring and obedient, now tried to kill Him (Luke 4) for the very same qualities that revealed to them who He was.

This points us to the lesson that we must be careful never to dismiss someone because his background or environment is ordinary. Lilies grow out of the swamp. Every individual has the right to be assessed by his fruit and not by his family or friends.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

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CHAPTER 6

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

​1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Mark 6:1-6

Where was Jesus’ hometown? I assume it was Nazareth where He was raised from childhood. He was a familiar figure to the people, a young child, a teenager, a young adult. There was nothing unusual about that. However, He was an unusual boy, gentle, loving, well-mannered, a good student, hard-working and responsible. People must have envied Joseph and Mary for the son they had, in so many ways different from the other village children but…they thought no more about it.

At the age of 30 He laid down His tools and left home. He had brothers who could take care of His mother. He had a calling to fulfill. He was an educated man, a rabbi with authority. It was time for Him to become an itinerant teacher, moving around the country to instruct the common people in the Law of God. There was nothing unusual about that. The Beth Talmud was constantly turning out young rabbis, few with authority, but many disciples of those whose authority had been authenticated by at least two witnesses.

He did not often preach and teach in His home town but, on this occasion, He visited the synagogue on the Sabbath and was naturally invited to teach. The people were astonished. He spoke with such wisdom that they were overawed. His reputation for doing miracles together with His inspired teaching took their breath away. Where did He get all this knowledge?

Their familiarity with His growing-up years, His family, His belonging to this community dulled their amazement at His teaching and they took offense at Him. How true that “familiarity breeds contempt”! The entire community shut their hearts to Him and threw away the most amazing opportunity to embrace their Messiah.

Once again, this same capacity of human beings to be so bogged down in the present that they cannot take the long look lost them the chance to be written into God’s big story.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – NEVER TOO LATE

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NEVER TOO LATE

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. Mark 5:21-43

And what of Jairus, the synagogue ruler? What a jumble of emotions must have surged through him in one day! His was such an urgent mission and yet Jesus was in no hurry. Jesus was willing to be interrupted to meet a woman’s chronic need. Impatience, frustration, indignation, annoyance, anguish, anxiety, fears; all these emotions together created a knot in Jairus’ stomach. He was terrified of hearing the news that his little girl was gone. When it came, he must have felt anger, despair, hopelessness, blaming the wretched woman for the delay that cost the child’s life.

Once again Jesus was gentle, reassuring, calm, unfazed by the crisis, applying His yoke of compassion and hope in a desperate situation. Always in control, He moved purposefully towards Jairus’ home, knowing exactly what He would do. He wore the talith, the symbol of the presence of God; the same talith that the sick woman had touched and received her healing.

It was always Jesus in the centre of the need and source of the supply. And today it is no different. It is the same Jesus and the same Holy Spirit who is the source of all the grace and mercy we cry for in our need.

Jairus learned that day that Jesus is never too late. He always has time for everyone. He gives His personal attention to everyone who calls out to Him. He is the talith – God’s name, God’s nature, God’s word, God’s power and God’s presence, and we are honoured to “wear” Him. We are clothed with Christ and enveloped in everything that He is. No situation is out of the reach of His power and goodness.

Did Jairus learn his lesson well? Did he ever forget what Jesus did that day? Scripture does not record the outcome of his encounter with Jesus but, like the restored woman, perhaps he finally came to realise who this miracle worker really was. Every time he looked at his child, growing up to womanhood instead of decaying in a grave, because of Jesus, he believed, he rejoiced and he worshipped with gratitude and love.

These events are the culmination of a story that began twelve years before, bringing together two unconnected people in a drama that was designed to reveal the glory of God’s Messiah.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – DAUGHTER …WHOLE

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DAUGHTER …WHOLE

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. Mark 5:21-43

As Jesus moved from the lakeside towards the town, He was shoved and pushed by many kinds of people, curious people, sensation-seeking people, expectant people, hostile people, critical people, sick people, disabled people, desperate people – all wanting to get near Him, all clamouring for attention or shooting taunting comments at Him.

It amazes me how He seemed oblivious to the general hubbub but always caught the sound of a heart cry. His spirit could detect the touch of faith from a dying woman that drew healing energy from Him, and He responded immediately. It was not enough that she received her physical healing in response to her touch of faith. She needed the reassurance of a personal encounter with Him that connected her spirit with His forever.

Jesus ignored the sarcasm that His question drew from His disciples. They were ignorant and without understanding. He was vibrantly alive in the spirit to what was transpiring in the unseen realm. He wanted to move this incident to its completed end. He continued to ask and wait until the healed woman owned up. She was afraid, thinking that she was in for a severe reprimand and perhaps humiliation in front of the crowd. She had broken the law and was in for big trouble!

Instead, she felt the gentleness of the Rabbi’s yoke, reassurance, commendation, shalom; mental, spiritual and physical wholeness. He called her, ‘Daughter!’ Relief, joy, gratitude, excitement must have flooded her heart. She felt reconnected to God. She was no longer unclean. She could love and be loved again. How good it must have felt to have the great load of guilt, shame and fear lifted off her.

Did she have a husband, children, perhaps even grandchildren who have never touched her? After twelve long years she was free to be an active and loving member of her family again. Would she ever forget Jesus? Would she somehow realise who He was?