Monthly Archives: July 2020

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – DWELLING AND RESTING

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DWELLING AND RESTING

They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. Mark 6:49-52

Men in need! Terrified of their circumstances! Not expecting Jesus to come to them on the water, they saw a “ghost” walking towards them. Whatever lesson Jesus was teaching them would have been lost to them at that moment. Fear cancelled out everything else. Jesus’ compassion took over, and He was quick to identify Himself and to comfort them. They had a long way to go before they could take on the world.

Although they were beginning to be convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, the disciples had not yet made the connection between themselves and Him as personally involved in their lives. Were they still treating Him as a religious figure to be worshipped but not yet one they could trust with their entire lives? It took a long time to make that transition and to realise that His coming from the Father was for them and for everyone who will entrust their lives to Him completely.

Anna (Mr God, This Is Anna – Fynn) said that the greatest thing God created was the seventh day. When He started His creative work, the earth was in darkness and chaos. He took six days to sort out the muddle and bring order to the planet. When He had completed His work, He rested – implying that He had brought perfection out of chaos and everything was in order.

The fact that the disciples reacted in this way to Jesus and their circumstances meant that they were not yet part of God’s seventh day rest. Every time we embrace God’s way in another part of our lives – in our believing the truth, renewing our minds and expressing God’s peace, we take a step nearer to God’s Sabbath.

Psalm 91:1 tells us how to do it – dwelling and resting. It takes our choices, actions and reactions to let go of our way in Adam and to remain “in Christ”. He has made this possible by reconciling us to the Father by His atoning sacrifice, but God will not do our part for us – practising and growing our awareness that we are in Christ, He is in us and living our lives in and out of Him.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – ABOUT TO PASS BY…

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ABOUT TO PASS BY…

47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, Mark 6:47-49

“…To pass by them…” (NIV) has greater meaning than simply walking past the boat, which one would understand at face value. Why would Jesus want to “pass by them” if they were struggling to row against the wind? What deeper significance is in these words? Where else do they appear in Scripture? Exodus 33:19; 34:6 – God “passed in front of Moses”.

Moses had requested a revelation of God’s glory and God capitulated by promising to “pass in front of Him.” God revealed His glory to Moses by proclaiming His name – compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Since Moses was alert to God and looking for something, God’s revelation of His name was not lost on Him.

The disciples, on the other hand, were too preoccupied with their predicament to be anticipating a revelation of Jesus in these circumstances. They completely missed His identity and His intention. Instead of recognising Him, they lapsed into terror and screamed out in fear. Their spontaneous interpretation of the situation was a premonition of doom. They were going to drown – hence the ghost!

Is there a very big lesson for us in this story? What is our first reaction to a life-threatening situation – say a deathly illness or some grave physical danger? Do we see ghosts or do we see Jesus? He wants it to be a revelation of Himself, but what we see will depend on what rises up in us – fear or faith.

If, in a crisis, we are afraid of perishing, the core of our being contains a lie which opens the door to fear and panic but, if we are at peace in our hearts, the core of our lives is anchored in God’s faithfulness to His Word. We will not know what we believe until the crisis brings it to the surface. The disciples were continually finding themselves in situations which exposed their hearts. Ghosts or Jesus? What do we see?

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – SOLITUDE…AT LAST!

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SOLITUDE…AT LAST!

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. Mark 6:45-46

A day that was meant to be quiet and restful turned out to be quite eventful! A crowd of more than 5,000 people saw to that! Jesus had accepted their intrusion without irritation. He recognised their desperate spiritual need and ministered to them all day, topping it all with a miraculous meal that was a perfect, practical demonstration of the Father’s compassion for them.

But He had to break up the party and send them home. They could not stay with Him there forever. He sent them home by foot and He sent His disciples back to civilization by boat. At last He could enjoy a time of solitude with His Father in a quiet, remote place. It would have been no use insisting that His disciples pray at that point. They were not yet ready to be quiet in God’s presence and open their souls to Him.

How Jesus must have revelled in these hours of fellowship with the Father, under a starry sky with the wind blowing in His face and the fragrant earth beneath Him. What did He say? What was the heart of His fellowship with God? Do we know Him well enough to speculate about His prayer?

He would have affirmed His ECHAD with the Father. Perhaps He would have gone over the day’s events, reviewing the way He had handled everything that had happened in the light of His submission to the Father, His compassion for the people and His purpose to reveal the Father to them. He would have listened to the Spirit whispering His Father’s approval and affirmation.

Perhaps He was aware of the temptations surrounding another successful day; the pull towards self-satisfaction, independence, pride, self-awareness, and prayed to be kept from the sins that dragged Adam and Eve into rebellion against God. Perhaps He would have humbled Himself before God and reaffirmed His purpose to give Himself up as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. perhaps He simply enjoyed the peace of the Father’s presence and the warmth of His love.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – FAITH IGNITES THE FUSE

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FAITH IGNITES THE FUSE

. 41 Taking the five loaves and the 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. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Mark 6:35-44

What is there in this statement that has so much potential and power in it? “He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted His face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke and gave the bread to the disciples and the disciples in turn gave it to the people.” Is this one of the most powerful keys to answered prayer?

  1. Jesus knew the heart of the Father. There was no doubt in His heart that it was in the disposition of the Father to care that the people were hungry.
  2. Jesus communicated His confidence in the Father verbally and audibly. He publicly expressed His confidence in His source by giving thanks.
  3. Jesus used available and appropriate resources. He didn’t expect God to do magic by turning something that was not bread into bread. He trusted God to work within the boundaries of the natural.
  4. Jesus partnered with His disciples in exercising faith and administering what was in His hands. He didn’t sit around waiting for bread to fall from the sky. He used what he had, gave it to His disciples and they gave it to the people. As long as the need remained, they kept going and the resources never ran out.

This entire process began with knowing God and having confidence in Him to meet the people’s need because of His compassion. If this was the way it worked for Jesus on this specific occasion, it will work on any occasion for anyone who has the same confidence in the Father’s disposition of mercy.

How does this apply in the spiritual dimension? Jesus equated Himself with bread – “I am the bread of life.” Just as that small supply of food fed a vast crowd of people as it passed through the hands of Jesus so, when He is shared with people, He satisfies their soul’s hunger and thirst as He is faithfully administered by His people through their lives and their words. But the operative words are “confidence in the disposition of the Father.” Faith ignites the fuse that produces the power.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – SEND THEM HOME?

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SEND THEM HOME?

35 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. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “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?”

38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the 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. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Mark 6:35-44

How many times have we read this story and yet there is always something new to learn from it? This incident is another window into the heart of Jesus. This story illustrates Jesus’ concern for the whole person. These people were so eager to hear Him that most of them had made no provision for their physical needs that day. When they heard where He was going, they outran Him to be there when He arrived. Forgotten were the picnic baskets and the snacks for the day.

Surely the disciples had made provision for themselves but it was never enough to feed a crowd like this. Their best solution was, “Send them home.” Let someone else take care of their needs. We don’t have the resources.

Jesus thought differently. If He sent them away, He would be saying, “You will have to find another source because God isn’t big enough to supply your need this time.” To do that would be going against everything He was and everything He stood for. He and His Father were one. That meant that His Father would do what He asked because it was the Father’s desire to be God to all these people. Jesus didn’t even ask God what to do or to multiply the bread. All He did was express His confidence in His Father by saying thank you. He was so ECHAD with God that He instinctively knew that God would back up whatever He did.

Does that mean that God will bypass the normal avenues of getting food when they are available, just to do a miracle? I don’t think so. I think it means that God is so passionate about meeting His people’s needs that He will use whatever resources are available and multiply them if necessary so that He can be God to those who put their trust in Him.

Once again this is a revelation of Jesus’ compassion, His selflessness and His oneness with the Father. He came to show us the true God. He brushed aside all the petty trivia of people’s interpretations of the law to expose the heart of a merciful and loving Father.