Tag: Mark

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Seeing through eyes of mercy.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter. Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In Mark’s gospel, written from Peter’s firsthand, eyewitness accounts, he wants to show the reader the power of Christ. As Jesus reveals more and more about who he is, he also progressively shows more authority. Jesus doesn’t hoard or self consume the power and authority given him. As son of man/son of God, he freely disperses it among the broken, the outlier. And in this case, to a Syrian (Gentile) Woman and her demon possessed little girl.

Jesus breaks through racial and cultural barriers to bring mercy and freedom. Jesus, raised in a typical, but poor family, would have learned all about God’s Laws and God’s ways. But if we look at the common cultural understanding of how young Jewish men and women were instructed, it was very much a separatist mentality. Gentiles (non Jews) are not good people and they should not have any interaction with them. A Jewish male would not culturally be allowed to have any contact with a woman, let alone with one who was a long historical enemy with Assyrian heritage. So either Joseph and Mary instructed Jesus differently (which is completely possible), or Father God had been teaching His own true intentions of rescuing the entire human race – not just the Jews (Isaiah 56:6-7). Either way, Jesus continued to baffle his followers and invite hostile criticism for this kind of cultural faux pas.

If Jesus was so religiously and socially counter-cultural, why do we struggle with being like Him today? I think our heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), but we forget there is both religious (legalism) AND humanistic wickedness. The religious have always despised Jesus’ counterculture ways. And, equally the self-serving humanist despises him as well. Normal, common people, who know they are broken and have need of being saved, have always loved Jesus’ ways. Why? Because they reflect exactly how God sees us. Religion and/or humanism both make us arrogant.

Jesus explains to this Syrian woman that his first priority is to the Jews, the people of God. Jesus, not so subtlety referring to her own people as dogs, wasn’t offensive to her at all. She knew the comparison was true. Folks have tried to soft-pedal this “dog reference” as a beloved pet in the household. That’s nonsense. The enemies of the Jews knew they were like wild dogs and were possibly proud of it! The feelings were mutual between the ethnicities.

The woman, similar to the Samaritan woman at the well, had some comments in response to Jesus’ words. She said, “but even the dogs…”

She calmly kept her cool.
She was smart.
She knew who she was, but she also knew who Jesus was!

She was telling Jesus, “I know our story,” “I know God’s intention is for His own first,” “But I don’t need the full on life of blessing and favor as given to the Jews,” “I just need the scraps, the leftovers.” Her faith saw that even the scraps of mercy from God would be powerful enough to free her daughter. Jesus commented about her faith, saying “your faith is great” (Matthew 15:28). You know the gospels record Jesus being amazed just a couple of times. One, he was amazed at his hometown folk’s “lack of faith” (Mark 6:6). Two, he was amazed at the Roman centurion’s extraordinary understanding of authority and faith (Luke 7:8).

Here in this story, the woman got what she wanted. Jesus complimented her retort, “Good answer!” She received what she came asking for. Jesus told her, “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” Jesus was clearly impressed.

Do we want to know how Jesus really feels about the non-religious, even enemies of God? He shows mercy to whomever he chooses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Exodus 33:19). I believe we can be just as culturally contrarian in how we see people today. Folks can know how we feel about them simply looking at our facial expression! Following the ways of Jesus means we see with eyes of mercy. If we see with eyes of mercy our face will follow!

Prayer

​Dad,
I absolutely know this is how you saw me, and how you see me still – through eyes of mercy. I absolutely love to wake up each morning with fresh, new mercy in my account for the day! “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”(Lamentations 3:22-23). I am ever in amazement of your enduring patience and grace. Thank you. Amen.

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Ignore and substitute.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition. Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Do you ever find yourself amazed that Jesus cuts through the complicated minutiae of religion and clarifies truth? Ah, it’s so obvious after Jesus says it, yet so painful when he says it directly to you!

As we get older, it is completely normal to establish patterns and customs of the way we like to order our day and live our life. Habits and systems are ways to control the chaos that life can bring. Most religious rituals started out as earnestly simple with all intent of purity in our heart. It’s when they become rote, rigged and mindless routine that it becomes disconnected from relationship.

Earlier in this passage, the religious leaders saw that Jesus’ disciples were eating with defiled, dirty hands. It’s important to note, it’s not that they saw filthy hands and stood aghast that anyone would eat like that. No, it’s what they did NOT see that bothered them.

They did not see the disciples do the typical ritual cleansing before eating anything or using anything that would touch their mouths. The ritual cleansing was this idea that any item that came in contact with the body had to be “washed,” but the Pharisees used an odd word for cleaning their utensils, cups, and dishes. They used the Greek word, “baptizó,” to dip or sink. This wasn’t a health code, it was a religious addendum to an Old Testament purification exercise.

Following the “letter of the Law,” and missing its intent was a favorite pastime of the Pharisees. The Law of Moses did prohibit contact with many things known to be unclean; and if any one had touched them they were seen as “unclean.” This cleansing was a health code, but had a hidden spiritual code to it as well. The command was given to the people so that a person would not approach the temple until they had cleansed themselves by the washing, prescribed in the Law. The spiritual object lesson was that by means of these ceremonial and bodily washings the Jews might be awakened to the necessity of spiritual cleansing when they came before a Holy God.

The Pharisees elevated and twisted the command to be purely an outward act of looking more holy by exceeding the simplicity of cleanliness to a legalistic practice for show! They even insulted their parents and God himself by adhering to and misquoting Ezekiel 20:18, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols.” They made the simple spiritual lesson of “washing,” or preparing your heart to meet with God into an arrogant act of faking righteousness!

Now, as we often might do, we look at the religious practices of the Pharisees and say, yeah, “boo on organized religion,” or “deconstruct everything and cancel all the religious rules.” We would be missing Mark’s point of writing this story. Jesus was angry that God was misrepresented! And God’s Law was twisted and tweaked for human gain. Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

We have the fulfillment of all the Law of God in and through Jesus himself. We complicate God and do similar as the Pharisees – even today. We have to stop adding things to the gospel! We have to quit making it difficult for people to see Jesus in us. The only people that respected the Pharisees were other religious leaders! The normal folk, despised them and feared them.

Jesus summed up God’s law – love God, love people. Jesus summed up how we should treat people, “love them LIKE I have loved you!” How has Jesus loved us, accepted us, forgiven us multiple times over? How often has God been patient with us, merciful towards us? Do not ignore God’s law and substitute our ideas of holiness, righteousness or forgiveability and pass them off as godly!

Prayer

Wow! I love Your word. I love Jesus words that cut through my religiosity, my judgmental attitudes and competitive comparisons to others. But oh how it stings when I must make decisions based on truth rather than customs. Help me, Oh God, to live to represent you well! Amen.

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Desires for decompression.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The New Living Translation takes too much liberty here describing the disciples reconnecting with Jesus and with each other. Of course, it’s true, they had just returned from their assignments and I’m sure they were full of stories and a lot of questions. But Jesus did recognize their need to get away from the crowds and just be alone, together. Mark notes that there were so many people with so many needs that no one got a chance to even eat. Eating in New Testament times was very much like it is still today in the middle east. It’s a LONG process involving several courses of food, but it is clear that long conversations and long stories are the priority over the main course being served. A meal easily could last a couple of hours! I don’t think they had any concept of “fast food,” or just grabbing a bite to eat.

Even though Jesus’ intentions are given, Mark lets us know that the crowd had figured out where the group was going and were waiting on the other side of the boat ride. “So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.” Maybe there was time to talk on the boat? With the crowds gathered, Jesus just could not ignore their passion to hear the words of God. Compassion once again drove Jesus to work while there was still light!

I find that in full time ministry these kinds of dilemmas happen far too often. Pastors used to brag about zero vacations and no days off, thinking it was honoring the responsibilities of ministry. Jesus intended to get away from the crowds with his team! He would often slip away at night or before sunrise to pray and spend time with Father God, but in this instance he wanted the group to get some rest. No breaks, no rest, no quiet, no solitude is a recipe for personal disaster! The difficulty was that Jesus ministry time on earth was rather brief – just three years. Three years to establish His mission of being the living gospel – the good news that God had prepared the way to make things right with sinful humanity and repair the breech that had been created in the very beginning of creation.

The crowds, that Mark wrote about, the ones who represented sheep without a shepherd, would be the object lesson or picture of humanity searching for something more than the misery of life under the religious and political leaders of that day. That crowd has only grown larger!

Look around the current situation in our world today. With unending ability to see around the globe from our screens, we know that the United States is not the only country in religious and political crisis. So, even though it is necessary to find places of quiet to rest, it is also possible to be available when the hurt and heartaches of the crowd stir up a passion and a hunger to hear the voice of God for themselves. Will we be available to speak truth and feed them the bread of life? Is the Church ready to set aside its bickering, complaining and judging hearts to BE the gospel of life for those who are searching? I hope so.

Prayer

​Dad,
You see how tiring it is to be serving in the Church today! You see how exhausting it can be to carry the hurts, struggles and sicknesses of families. Yet, out on the horizon, I see a crowd forming. A crowd filled with despair and grief. A gathering of people who have discovered that they have been lied to and are living in that lie. Sheep who are looking for their good shepherd. The crowd is coming! Will I be ready? Will we be ready? Will we have the strength and clarity to give them the bread of life, the living water – your good news? Help us Oh God, in our time of preparation, to not lose heart, hope or strength! Amen.

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The Haunting of Truth.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles.” Others said, “He’s the prophet Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet like the other great prophets of the past.” When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead. ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Just the mere mention of the miracles that Jesus had performed spooked the Roman officials. Herod was a 1st-century ruler (tetrarch) of Galilee and Perea. His father, Herod the Great, was responsible for ordering the Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem. Herod Antipas had tremendous political, economical and social power in his day. As a Roman ruler he did whatever pleased him, like divorcing his first wife Phasa’el, and marrying Herodias, who had formerly been married to his half-brother Herod II.

Surprisingly Herod and John the Baptist had an interesting relationship. Mark comments that Herod “respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him” (6‬:‭20‬). It was in these conversations that John must have confronted Herod about his decision to marry.

We often talk about religion mixing with politics and how we should not judge non-believers in their choices, but John the Baptist did not subscribe to that AT ALL. John had extraordinary access to a top Roman official and Herod respected the relationship. John was very outspoken about the marriage and everyone knew he pointed the finger at Herod regularly pointing out his sin saying, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife (6‬:‭18‬).”

But who was offended by this “truth spoken to power?” It wasn’t Herod. It was Herod’s new, also newly empowered wife! Herod had to be tricked into killing John. Herodias was the offended one and she couldn’t stand someone being critical of the king! She wielded her own power, convincing Herod to take action, “For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias” (6‬:‭17‬). Eventually scheming and manipulating a plan to have his head on a platter!

Herod saw something similarly convicting in the news of Jesus. Herod believed that the same spirit of John the Baptist came to haunt him through this rabbi, Jesus! Does God haunt our wickedness with truth? God was after Herod, just like He pursues every other broken human being! When Jesus was arrested in the garden, twelve hours before his death, he was sent to Pilate. Remember Pilate wanted nothing to do with Jesus, knowing that he was innocent. So Pilate handed him over to Herod Antipas. But what did Herod do… he sent Jesus back to Pilate’s court. Herod was not going to put another truth whisperer to death!

God doesn’t just work on and in the least of these, He also comes to the powerful and the proud, haunting them with truth. No one escapes the love and truth of God’s pursuit. It’s the human heart that turns, ignores or denies God.

Prayer

​Dad,
I am grateful that you pursue us. You are not hidden from those who seek. You are not hidden from those who want truth, justice and peace. You come after all of us and I am so glad you came after me! I pray you help us wield the power of Your truth, not as a weapon of judgment, but as an instrument of mercy. Amen.

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With healing in his wings.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. ‭‭Mark‬ ‭5‬:‭25‬-‭29‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This story that Mark captures is one of my favorite miracles in the gospels! It certainly highlights Mark’s purpose for writing his accounts taken from Peter’s direct experiences with Jesus. Jesus has power to heal sickness and in Jairus’ daughter, power over death itself. However, there was an interruption in the story. As crowds pressed Jesus after landing on the shore, Jarius makes his desperate plea and Jesus begins making his way to the home of a very sick little girl. But there is also a desperate woman in that crowd.

Mark summarizes her situation. She had been suffering from a trifecta of hope-sucking events. She had some kind of genetic disorder that would not allow her blood to properly clot after she had her cycle. So she was constantly losing blood for twelve years. “Doctors,” tried everything they knew to try. I’m guessing their answers were a mix of wife’s tale wisdom and tips they’d shared in the ancient medical community. I’m not saying they weren’t smart, or knowledgeable, but they could not have had advanced training on the human anatomy and certainly not what they needed to know about diseases concerning the blood. She suffered because of constantly having hope deferred. And now she was broke. To top it off, she was extremely lonely. Her blood disease made her “untouchable,” no friends, no family, no community. Folks at that time were not allowed to be around an actively bleeding individual because of the possibility of spreading the cause and making one “unclean.” The priests were very involved in not allowing someone like this woman to have any contact with another human being until they could verify that she was completely healed. She had no human contact, sans doctor’s examinations for twelve years. She wasn’t just dying from anemia, she was dying of “Touch starvation” as well – it’s a real medical condition!

Here in Mark, the brave woman put herself and others at risk when she ventured into the crowd. Normally, she would be forced to announced that she was “unclean,” giving people a chance to stay clear of her. On this day, she remained silent but laser focused. Her “eye was on the prize,” as they say. What was she trying to do? She believed that Jesus was the Messiah before she ever determined to risk it all and break the law!

But there was a particular piece of Jesus she was after and it wasn’t his robe as the Bible translations try to explain. Sure the Greek word, “himation” is a garment, cloak or tunic, but that’s not what she wanted to touch. She wanted to touch Jesus prayer shawl (Tallit), one of the tassels of his prayer shawl to be more specific.

Every orthodox Jewish male had a weaved prayer shawl and at each of the four corners they had a tassel made of beautiful blue threads with knots. The prayer shawl would hang over their shoulders on the outside of their outer robes. This special prayer tassel was given to them by their mothers, as prescribed by Numbers 15:9. “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord.” The knots on the tassels were a way to remember each of the laws of God as you prayed. It was a wearable reminder to pray.

One of the more interesting things with these prayer shawls is a unique folklore about the Messiah. There was a unique prophecy out of Malachi 4:2, “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.” The people knew that the title “Sun of Righteousness” was THE MESSIAH. However, they didn’t exactly know what Malachi meant by healing in his “wings.” It came to be understood that the Messiah’s Tallit tassels would have supernatural abilities to heal those who touched it. The Jewish mothers, thinking their sons might just be the Messiah, began making the Tallit tassels more vibrant blue and actually began extending the length of these tassels over time.

Of course Mary would have given Jesus his Tallit. And, like every Jewish momma before her, she would use vibrant blue threads and extra long tassels. It is absolutely a fact that Rabbi Jesus often wore his Tallit. On this day, in the crowd, this woman would make her way to Jesus, specifically believing that he is THE Messiah and that his and only his Tallit tassels had the power to heal her of her disease.

The prayer shawl, nor its tassels actually held any power, but Jesus did and the woman’s faith – even in a misinterpreted folklore of Malachi’s prophecy held the belief that she would be healed! It was actually faith in who Jesus is that brought healing to her thin, anemic body. But Jesus also brought a complete healing of soul and spirit when he turned and spoke to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” It just gives me chills to hear the love and mercy in those tender words. Jesus indeed has healing in his wings!

Prayer

​Dad,
I am so moved by this story about Veronica. I see your compassion and mercy in Jesus’ words and behavior towards her. These stories give me hope for those who are suffering. I know that you are the God that heals! Amen.

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Was Jesus mad?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons. ‭‭Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬-‭22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

His family thought so! Mark’s gritty journal records a rare moment where Jesus’ mother and brothers may have thought he had truly lost his mind. It was commonly known at that time that ANY gathering that gained a crowd would catch the attention of the Roman authorities. I mean if Rome stood out for anything, it was law and ORDER – emphasis on order. As a culture, they weren’t known by “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace) for nothing. Peace at all cost was the way the Roman government would promise their citizens the safety, calm and quiet they paid good taxes to enjoy the “Roman Way.” Sound familiar? Yeah, riots, protests, homelessness, mayhem, violence and vigilantes do not make for a peaceful culture.

When Mark begins this confrontational passage, he does so by writing, “the crowds began to gather again.” To the casual reader, it means nothing. But to the first century reader, it means TROUBLE. Jesus’ mother, Mary, not only feared for her son’s life, she also feared for their family future as well as their community. A good Jew deeply care about the welfare of family and the community! These were not individualistic thinkers like we are today, they were group thinkers.

To further complicate things, the religious leaders were trying to figure out a very real dilemma – who is this guy and where does he get his charisma, his confidence and his authoritative demeanor? Why would demons obey this guy? Their answer: Jesus works for Satan! It just made sense to them. When the Jewish Scribes encountered Jesus, he baffled them. The Scribes worked for God. They meticulously study the Law. In their minds, the only reason a demon would obey Jesus is because he was their master. Oooh, get that. Jesus was in fact their master, but it did not mean that he was working with or for Satan, the trickster, the liar! Jesus gave them a little logic lesson about how the world works – civilization works because of unity, not division. It works because of cooperation not coercion. Jesus said, “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse.”

Back to Jesus being mad. Most likely using the guise of Jesus being “crazy,” (existémi) not behaving like yourself, beside yourself, or mad – Jesus’ family were telling the crowd, “don’t listen to him.” They were not trying to stop Jesus from preaching or healing, they were trying to get the crowd to disperse before the guards showed up! Who knows, maybe there were already Roman guards keeping an eye on the whole scene!

In verse 31, Mark tells us that Mary sent word into the house, “come out, we want to talk to you.” Mark writes, “There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” This is when Jesus famously answers the messenger’s request with an amazing moral dilemma. First, Jesus asks, “Who is my mother?” “Who are my brothers?” Where is Jesus going with this line of thinking? Then he says, “Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Whoa. Bottom line, Jesus is not mad, he’s right. Jesus is not crazy, he’s smart, he’s wise.

There are some moments, there are some decisions where obedience to God’s will overrides the apparent need for safety and security. God is NOT safe. God’s will is not safe. Security, here, in this life is NEVER guaranteed! However, God’s will, God’s way is both safe and secure in fulfilling God’s plans. “Thy will be done!” Jesus was never “safe,” as we would understand it as “beyond harm.” Jesus was on mission to the most unsafe decision he would ever make! The Apostles were never safe. Most of them were martyred for their faith. The Apostle Paul was never safe. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-27.

Jesus wasn’t mad, he was obedient. Will we choose safety or security over obedience? Also remember, obedience doesn’t look like some act of terrorism, violence or protest. Obedience is proclaiming and living the truth of the gospel – which is the gospel of peace and of love. Let God handle the judgment.

Prayer

Dad,
Let my life declare the power of your salvation. Let my words be graceful and merciful. Let my life match my words. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Amen.

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The walking drones.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was. Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

They walk among us. They are us, or they used to be. Horror stories and stereotypes have completely destroyed the truth or have severely masked it under mental euphemisms. A recent poll asked, “Do you believe demons are real?” Result, 45 percent of Americans believe demons and ghosts really exist. Ghosts? Seriously? Weirdly, they also found that Republicans are statistically more likely to believe in demons, ghosts and aliens than Democrats! 😳

The gospel journalist, Mark, has quite a few demon reality stories. How does one get possessed? Is it by invitation or infestation? Is it by brute force or sips and bits of lies believed over time? There is a whole section of theology (study of God) called demonology (study of demons). I was taught it was much better to study the ways of God, than the enemy. Sounds safer too, right?

The Bible is clearly filled with episodes where Jesus shows up and demons demonstratively show up as well. BTW: My fav demon story is the mad naked man in Mark 5. Mark’s whole purpose and presentation of demons or evil (unclean) spirits, as they are referred to, is to show the reader that Jesus has power and authority over all things! Power over demons is not considered a high level use of invoking Jesus name. It’s down there with healing the sick. Miraculously reproducing food, commanding wind and waves, and bringing the dead back to life – now that’s some power! In the very next section, Jesus appointed the apostles and gave them the authority to cast these dark, spiritual creature out of human beings! Also, Mark, the evangelist and author of this book wasn’t an apostle.

I am fascinated by a few facts:

One, Jesus wasn’t the least bit fearful nor intimidated by these hybrid human/demon encounters. I get the feeling that to Jesus, all the antics of shrieking, flopping about, and behaving like a wild animal came off about as scary as a toddler throwing a tantrum!

Two, Jesus deeply felt compassion, not for the demon, but for the human trapped inside! These humans, image bearers of God, imprisoned in their own skin, commandeered by some low level minion of satan.

Three, these creatures knew who Jesus really is! What a rip off! These puppet masters had the insight and ability to know the true identity of Jesus when thousands could only see him as a lowly carpenter’s son from Nazareth! I don’t think they were trying to “out” Jesus, I think they had to confess who He is – the Son of God!
And, for unknown reasons, Jesus did not cast them out at that time.

Bottom line; the ancient world and what we call “third world,” or countries filled with the poor and disenfranchised know all about demons and spirits. Us, on the other hand, live in a culture of denial. Like we are so enlightened and far too intelligent to believe that evil, darkness and chaos is at war with us! C.S. Lewis, in his book Screwtape Letters, reveals that “non belief” is much preferable in satan’s domain. We’ve got thousands of mental diagnoses (DSM-5) labels to cover up any possibility of demonic possession or oppression. I’m not a psychiatrist, but it seems that most of these disorders are rooted in our own rebellion to do whatever we want, or a deep seated need to find relief from someone else perpetrating on us! The Bible just defines it as sin or the wounds of someone sinning against us.

There may be hundreds of different methods on how a demon might take up residence in a human, but there’s only one way to kick them out – by the power of Christ!

Prayer

Dad,

I have no idea why we would think these things, these creatures don’t exist. And, I have no idea why we would be so blind, so full of ourselves to think that we could somehow “get along” with these spirits and that they might be helpful to get us what we want, what we crave or desire. In our denial of who You are, we seem to believe the strangest, darkest, most dangerous lies, believing it leads to freedom. It only leads to being the walking dead or evil drones for the enemy of our soul. Help us, Oh God! Reveal truth in our panmoralistic culture. Shine light in our dark hearts. We desperately need You!

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Tension between justice and mercy.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus. Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have written about the struggles with Jesus and the religious leaders before in other posts. The Jewish leaders, over centuries of silence from God, just continued to add layers of laws to God’s 10 and the additional societal/health codes God commanded the Israelites to live by to keep them safe and prosperous.

The Sabbath seemed to be one of the favorite laws to drill down on in a policy/procedure kind of way. Chabad.org list three categories: Basic Rules, Muktzeh Rules (forbidden objects to move), and Carrying Rules. There’s even a handy little chart for their 39 Melachos list – https://bit.ly/melachos. These and many others, became more than just impossible to fulfill, but they missed or drifted from God’s intent. God intended that His people rest! God still intends for us to rest.

The clash became a serious religious offense in Jesus’ day. And in the perfectionistic pursuit of the keeping their interpretation of God’s Law, they chose policy over personhood. Jesus made it abundantly clear about God’s intent – Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath serves the need for rest, but in that rest, humans were never to be held to serving that law. In the process of finding more legal minutiae, they lost the heart of God and to some degree, the heart of the Law. Namely mercy.

The religious system became so litigious, so loophole-crazy that it only served to pile on MORE work instead of relieving it! The result; harsh treatment for everyone, especially the poor, sick and needy. Isn’t that the way it goes? The deeper the detail of additional laws and the responsibility of keeping them, the more the socioeconomic/sociopolitical the whole system becomes. The rich either pay their way out or find a loophole around the law itself! The poor do not have the resources, time or ability to create their own loophole so they just continue to be lawbreakers.

Jesus cut right through all the ridiculous, add-ons of the original law – GET REST, and healed the suffering man with a withered hand! And remember, Jesus did not violate the Sabbath Law at any point! He only irritated the religious police/lawyers who were committed to bust lawbreakers with no thought to God’s intent, and no longer able to access the mercy of God. You can hear the religious leader’s defense, “I don’t make the laws, I only keep them!” Sound familiar?

As humans, we still do the same thing that the Pharisees did. We look for breaches in the law, try to fix it with policy-patches and then feel justified in arresting or fining the lawbreaker. The tragedy is that these men, who supposedly worked for God, knew nothing about their boss’s true nature and intent. And they lived a life without mercy. Justice and mercy will always be in tension and God is the only one who can truly have both!

Prayer

Dad,
Where would I be without your mercy? I would collapse under the weight of my own sin, my own deterministic decisions. I deserve the consequences of my behaviors, yet you have provided the way of forgiveness and erased my debt. How can I not, in turn, see others through eyes of mercy, and forgive them as well? Thank you for a fresh deposit of your mercy each morning. Amen.

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Picking your own perfection.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬-‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It would be interesting to have a list of the stories where Jesus tangled with the Pharisees and religious leaders specifically over breaking the Old Testament Laws of God.

Way back before God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, God instructed Moses to appoint 70 elders. God told Moses, these guys were specifically given to “bear the burden of the people,” you know, the needs, questions and constant complaints that people bring to leaders. And, God promised to take some of the Spirit on Moses and give it to these elders, kind of a Spirit-share program (‭‭Numbers‬ ‭11‬:‭16‬-‭17‬). Fast forward all the way to the New Testament, where we find those 70 elders then made up what was called the Sanhedrin. I’m not sure the promised “Spirit-shared” part came with this group throughout history. Combine this with the fact that after Israel returned from Captivity, the spiritual leadership (elders and priests) had seriously fallen apart because of years of idolatry, abuse of kingly appointed power and a general deterioration of true spiritual living. Even the Prophets would cease to exist.

Through Ezra the Scribe, a school for scribes was established. This from Chabad.org, “Ezra was born in Babylon, like many of the other great leaders, patriots and sages which the Jewish community in exile had produced. By profession he was a scribe; he used to write scrolls of the Torah, which he knew so well. Ezra was also a priest, a member of the priestly family of Aaron.” The construct of these socio-spiritual-political leaders would form the basis of the New Testament leadership that had many confrontational episodes with Jesus.

But policing the law would be more difficult than anyone would imagine. The “law” had exponentially expanded well beyond anyone’s capacity to keep it. It went from 10 Laws to 613 rules concerning the details of how to behave towards God and others. The 613 are basically rules on what to do when things go right, but also when they go wrong – 248 Positive Commandments (do’s) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not’s). But wait, there’s MORE! To make sure they followed every possible exception to the rules, they ended up with thousands of rules to legislate the original rules. There are even hundreds of “fence laws,” called “Eruv,” all dictating how to “legally” break the Sabbath!

Suffice it to say, managing these rules upon rules took up a lot of time and resources. The sad part is that by the time of Jesus, these rules had become so complicated they clouded the original intent of God’s plan. The average person just gave up trying to figure out how to please God. In fact, there was no real way to keep all the laws, therefore, no one could make God happy!

Because Jesus had a growing number of people talking about him and following him when he and his disciples came into town, the religious police/leaders felt it was their duty to confront him on his not-so-orthodox approach to their interpretation of the law. They had people watching and waiting for him, so the religious authorities could catch him in the act.

Of course there were plenty of opportunities! The Sabbath was the lightning rod of sacred confrontations. The Sabbath would be the low-hanging fruit because it would take place weekly and it was very noticeable if individuals were not keeping the expansive interpretation of the original Exodus 20:8, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” Modern orthodox Jews even consider switching on or off an electric light a violation of the Sabbath because it “kindles or extinguishes a fire.”

Jesus loved breaking the additional human traditions because it allowed him to speak to the nonsense of our constant, nonsensical need to add to God’s law, thus proving our holiness or worthiness. FYI, Jesus was technically NOT breaking the Sabbath law because there is a huge difference between “harvesting,” grain – ie: WORK and “picking” food for a snack.

I wonder how much “church hurt” has been caused by people extending and adding to God’s intent for good, healthy behaviors into something restrictive and legalistic? Just think about all the hat, hair, pants and tattoo conversations! As long as I have a solid list of “do’s and don’ts,” I can depend on them instead of the righteousness that can only come through believing and trusting in Christ’s perfection for me.

Prayer

Dad,
I don’t know how folks have time to observe or monitor everyone else’s “supposed” sins, when we have so many of our own! I can barely keep up with my own shortcomings and failures – let alone track someone else’s. Help us God! Help me to not just think more like Jesus, but behave like him towards others. I have no desire to be the religious police, shaking down other’s sins! Let your grace and mercy continue to push against my tendencies to judge others. And, thank you for your perfection when you see me through the righteousness of Jesus.

Posted on

Change Orientation.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do? Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Mark records an interesting conversation with Jesus that seemed to start with an amazing spiritual discipline, like fasting and end with a couple of object lessons about change. First of all, the NLT (New Living Translation) makes it sound like the disciples of John and of the Pharisees are using the old avoidance phrase, “some people” say. The original language is not so loose. In the Greek, it’s just “they came.” Pastor’s hate these kind of scenarios when “some people” say… who is “some people” we ask?

Jesus answers the thinly veiled question, but then goes for the motivation behind the question. Who does this? How does Jesus do this? Are there always questions behind the question? Jesus then switches to two object lessons about mixing old with new. It never works!

Jesus gives a quick, two-verse illustration, about patches and wineskins. Don’t both object lessons serve the point that old and new cannot exist in the same space? And isn’t it also clear that the old will not allow the new to coexist, but in fact will destroy both? Is this about fasting at all? It seems that Jesus is having a completely different conversation with these disciples.

They aren’t really asking about fasting and Jesus doesn’t really want to talk about fasting, in this context, either. They are both talking about change. Jesus knows that massive change is coming and he also knows that “some folks” are not comfortable with it. Jesus is, in fact, introducing a whole new way of doing everything. He knows that the fulfillment of the Law and everything under the Law will look completely different under a new freedom, and a new perspective on grace and mercy. The entire Old Testament system will go through cataclysmic change now that God has become flesh and that God will fulfill his promises to redeem humanity!

Christianity is not a patchwork, nor an old-wine way of life. Christ did not come to patch up the Law to keep it limping along, forever failing to change our hearts. He also did not come to allow a flat, fervent-less wine to try to express the exuberant joy of walking with God. The Law was a temporary stop-gap, a burden! When we grab the ethos, thinking or application of the Old Testament Law into the new and better experience of Christ’s efficacy and efficiency for our salvation, we are trying to patch God’s plan. When we keep trying to introduce the effervescent, actively expanding grace and joy of new life into the forms and confines of the Old Covenant, it will blow up!

Jesus couldn’t wait to introduce the fresh air of living by the Spirit but folks wanted to keep living in the caves of the law, breathing staleness of dead air! No wonder people would give up everything to follow Him! Jesus brings life to the fullest, no longer dimmed or dinged by our sin! Who doesn’t want that? I’ll tell you who. Folks who desire the guardrails of the Law, because a life in the Spirit feels like a lack of control. And it is. It’s a surrendering of faith to the control of the Spirit. I’ll take the new clothes of Christ and the bubbly joy of the new wine thank you!

Prayer

Dad,
I love your Law as instruction and to know you better. But I also love living by Your Spirit! The fresh, exhilarating wind of hope, mercy and grace is intoxicating. I will gladly give up control of my will to accomplish Yours. I will gladly walk in the Spirit, rather than my own flesh. Getting my way not only brings death it means crushing disappointment! It’s Your way now. Thank you for freedom to do what is right, and not just anything I want to do.