Getting a legion of help in understanding Jesus - Mark 5

“The Great One”, “The Flower”, “The Big M”, and the list goes on of nicknames given to star athletes. Our lists will differ, given our sport of choice and our era of focus, yet what remains the same is that each moniker serves as a sort of verbal shorthand denoting the the skills, size and achievements of the one so named.

As I read Mark 5, I noted that the city crowds marvelled at what Jesus had done for the demonized man (see v. 20). His affliction had been untreatable and even uncontainable. People had tried, but their best efforts and their strongest chains could not subdue the demonic legion that occupied the man. Yet when Jesus showed up, while he was still a ways off, the demons knew the game was up. The encounter was short lived; the gaggle of unclean spirits were dispatched by Jesus into a herd of unclean animals and the man was restored by Jesus to his right mind. Indeed a marvelous thing.

At the end of the chapter the setting is different, not city crowds but a small group comprised of a mother and father and a few close followers of Jesus. What they beheld in the company of Jesus left them overcome with amazement (see v. 42). The 12 year old daughter of the mother and father, who had been sick and then pronounced dead, had been restored to life and to health by Jesus. This was no circus act, no grandstanding by Jesus, just a miracle arising from his compassion. Indeed an amazing thing.

What handle fits such a one as Jesus? “Marvelous One”? “Amazing One”? “Miracle Worker”? Each nickname speaks some of the truth about Jesus…but not the whole truth. So who is Jesus? Oddly we are helped in our quest by the submissive query of demonized man, who asks, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (v. 7) Jesus is marvelous and amazing and does the miraculous because he is the Divine Son.

“So what?”, we ask. Here is my answer. When I find myself in circumstances that are beyond my best efforts to fix or contain, Jesus can deliver me from that darkness. When events unfold that are sorrowful and perplexing and common wisdom would say, “It’s all over, give up”, Jesus can enter that situation and bring hope and new life. I don’t follow one that shrinks back from evil and darkness nor from sickness or death, but rather I follow one who can enable me to overcome for the glory of God.

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Who then is this? (Mark 4)

Who is Jesus and what does that mean for me are the two questions I am focusing on as I work through the Gospel of Mark.  I say that here because there is much in chapter four that I will leave untouched.

Jesus is a teacher.  He is a teacher of God’s Kingdom.  And he uses parables as his public means of presenting Kingdom truth.  Then, and now, his parables invite people to choose to learn, to choose to submit, to choose to admit that there are things, many things about God, his reign and rule, his will and way that they don’t naturally get.  Do I have ears and am I listening?  Willingly?  Obediently?

Jesus is a teacher, but not just a teacher.  There is more to him than the transmission of knowledge.  Fearful followers awake him, the boat is sinking, they fear for their lives, and he with a word rebukes the wind and commands the sea to be still.  “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (v. 41)”, his companions ask.  The Psalmist has already answered this question.  It is the Lord God who stills the storm (see Ps 86:9, Ps 107:29).

Your turn.

Jesus is no wimp (Mark 3)

Jesus is no wimp.  Chapter three begins with an event on the Sabbath.  The ‘rules-first’ leaders were watching to see if Jesus was going to ‘break’ the religious code by doing a ‘work’ of healing.  They are out to get him, to accuse him, but Jesus does not shy away from the conflict.  He not only heals, but he confronts the hardness of the leaders.  The next scene is different but equally intense.  Here the crowds are crushing in upon him hoping to touch him and thereby be healed and when the unclean spirits of those demonized recognize Jesus they fall down declaring, “You are the Son of God”.  Imagine the scene: the mob pressing, some collapsing, demonic voices.  Jesus holds his ground and even warned the unclean spirits not to make known who he was.  The text moves on.  There is more ministry, intense ministry, no time to even eat.  His enemies malign him, suggesting he casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons.  His own family thinks he has gone mad.  Jesus is not knocked off course.  He is no wimp.

What brings it home to me is the last scene, where Jesus says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (vv. 34-35).  Jesus has been about his Father’s will.  It has been intense.  No place for the spineless.  Those who likewise will be about the Father’s business, Jesus considers his ‘family’.  I want to be numbered among them, but it is no place for wimps.  Am I ready to do good, am I ready to confront hard hearts, am I ready to be spent in serving the crowd, am I ready to be misunderstood, even maligned?

I would love to hear your comments.

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Son-of-a-gun that is some Son of Man (Mark 2)

As I read through Mark 2 (see here for text) three things about Jesus’ identity struck me.

First, he has the authority to forgive people their sins. This is not the same as me choosing to forgive someone that has wronged me. It is more than that, it is absolving another of their sin, regardless of whether their sin was against me. Only God can do that (see v. 7)!

Last post we talked about Jesus’ priority as not miraculous works but proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. I see more of that in chapter 2. The self-righteous religious leaders of the day are appalled that Jesus spends time with down-and-outers like tax collectors. Jesus responds to their criticism by saying, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). Jesus ‘call’ was an invitation to follow him, to repent and become his apprentice.

The third thing that struck me was this line, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (vv. 27-28).

The phrase ‘Son of Man’ is ambiguous. It could simply be a third-person way of Jesus referring to himself. Maybe their are some echoes of the figure in Daniel 7, who received an everlasting kingdom from God. Echo or no echo, Jesus is talking about himself and he is claiming to be the lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, a day of solemn rest, set aside for God and i

nstituted by Him, marking His rest from the work of creation. How is it that Jesus can claim to be the lord of that day? Only God can claim that! Once more I see that Jesus is not just an itinerant teacher followed by a bunch of “sinners” who don’t know that picking grain is a ‘no no’ on the Sabbath, he is claiming by works and words to be God.

What is my take away? Well I was struck with how the righteous religious ones always seem to be on the wrong side of the issue. They seemed wrapped up in preserving a rules-first status quo. I don’t want to join them in that. Jesus’ call to sinners, of which I am one, goes beyond ‘rules-first’ and instead invites us to a relationship-first apprenticeship. That is what I want to line up with!

Your thoughts?

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Coming to grips with the whole of the Holy One - mark 1:21-45

Power, compassion and priority are words that come to my mind as I re-read Mk 1:21-45.

Jesus is not like the teachers the crowds are use to, he teaches with authority. He walks into a synagogue and straight-off a demonized man is powerfully impacted; the demon within knows their game is up. Jesus isn’t some traveling rabbi, he is the “Holy One of God” (see some xref ).

The power Jesus has as God’s Holy One, does not isolate him from people and their needs. He enters Peter’s house, whose mother-in-law is ill, and he heals her…in fact he spends the whole night healing the sick and delivering the demonized. Near the end of the chapter again we see this compassion expressed as Jesus touched the untouchable leper and healed him.

Healing people and delivering the opressed is a key part of Jesus’ ministry, but it wasn’t the reason he came. He came to proclaim the gospel of God saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). It seems to me that he didn’t want either the demons or those healed to broadcast his miraculous works as if they were the headline story. No he wanted his message to be heard, even if that meant keeping his identity and power under wraps.

What I was struck with is that there is no picking and choosing with Jesus. For example, you can’t say, “Oh I like that he can heal, but I will pass on his repentance message.” I have to be open to the whole influence of the Holy One.

Let’s start that dialogue…what did you see in the passage regarding Jesus?

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Jesus, No Regular Guy - Mark 1:1-20

I sat down this morning to write the first post on my journey through the Gospel of Mark. Like I said earlier I want to primarily ask the questions: “Who is Jesus?” and “What impact does he have on my life today?” I thought that I would write one post per chapter…two posts a week for eight weeks. But as I read through Mark 1 I noticed tons of stuff, too much for one post. So I decided to do only half the chapter. I guess this week there will be at least 3 posts! Note: I will be reading the English Standard Version (Mark 1:1-20).

First off, here are some of the things that caught my attention about “Who Jesus is”. I would love to hear what caught yours. I don’t want this to become a monologue so chime in please!

Okay back to what caught my attention:

• John the Baptist says he is “not worthy to stoop down and untie” the strap of Jesus’ sandals (v. 7)
• John had been baptizing people in the water of the Jordan River, but he says about Jesus that “he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (v. 8 )
• When Jesus was baptized by John, the Spirit descended “on him like a dove” (v. 10) and a voice from heaven said “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased (v. 11)
• The Spirit “drove” Jesus into the wilderness (don’t be thinking SUV…NASB says “impelled”) where Satan tempted him, he hung out with wild beasts and angels ministered to him (vv. 13-14)
• Jesus said to some fisherman, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (v. 17)

Next, I need to ask “so what does this mean for me?” Well clearly if I want to lump Jesus in with regular folks, Mark is not going to be on my side. Jesus is not a regular guy! His connection with God is unique. Maybe some of you will want to dialogue about that some more.

Jesus baptizing people with the Holy Spirit does not seem like an option (maybe hanging out with wild beasts might be). Jesus was impelled by the Spirit, should that be my experience? Is that part of what it will take to become a fisher of men? I believe so.

Your turn!

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Who is Jesus? What does that mean to me?

Over the next eight weeks I plan to work my way through the Gospel of Mark asking two basic questions:

• Who is Jesus?
• What impact does he have on my life today?

I would love for you to join me on that journey and add your own insights and questions.

Click here to go to the next post in this series.

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Becoming a man of prayer - developing spiritual protection (ch. 9)

“We are to be conscious of the reality of spiritual warfare.  We are to be prepared and equipped to wage this war.  To this end, Jesus taught the disciples … to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one’” (Mt 6:13).

Beltz notes that there are two great enemies that we face in spiritual warfare.  Our human nature, with its bent toward self-centredness and sin, is particularly susceptible to temptation and represents our first enemy.  However, God has provided ways for us to overcome temptation.  Memorizing scripture (Ps 119:11),  resisting temptation (1Pe 5:9), and fleeing temptation (2Ti 2:22) are biblical strategies.  The author suggests that in this component of our prayer time we should ask God to guide us such that our exposure to temptation is minimized.  We pray that God would help us live obedient lives; we dress ourselves to overcome temptation (Eph 6:13-17).

The second enemy is Satan, referenced here in the Lord’s prayer as the evil one.  Prayer offers us the opportunity to request a God-powered spiritual barrier around our lives and our families against the schemes of the evil one.  In Beltz experience this is best a daily request.  The author also regularly prays that God would dispatch those angels he has appointed to minister and protect.

With this Beltz has expanded on each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer.  His book contains some additional comments but we will conclude our blog series here.

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Becoming a man of prayer - experiencing forgiveness (ch. 8)

“Many people handle guilt by repressing or internalizing it…others attempt reeducation…some seek to atone for their guilt by becoming religious…some men and women deal with guilt by punishing themselves…The problem with all of these solutions is the same, they don’t work! There is only one effective solution for true moral guilt. That solution is now accessible through prayer.”

In this chapter the author deals with the phrase ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors’ (Mt 6:12). He suggests four stages in order to receive and to offer forgiveness.

First, we need to get honest with God and ask the Holy Spirit to show us concrete sins that we need to confess. Beltz in his prayer notebook has also made a list of character flaws so that he is regularly prompted to pray about these as well. Stage two is agreeing with what the Holy Spirit has shown us and confessing that before God in prayer, giving thanks for the forgiveness that is available to us because of Jesus’ atoning work. Sometimes there is benefit is confessing our sin before another believer (see James 5:16). Thirdly, we seek the power of God to change the defects of our character and the behaviour patterns that are not pleasing to God. Finally we check our attitudes. We need to willfully decide to extend forgiveness to those that have wronged us. This needs to be an ongoing choice so that negative emotions do not embitter us. When we have wronged others we need to attempt to make things right through asking for forgiveness from the one we have wronged and seeking to restore what our sin has damaged.

I have experienced challenges in each of these phases. Sometimes I just want to accept my flaws. Other times I mistakenly try to earn my forgiveness. For sure, it was good to be reminded to persist in choosing to forgive another so that the emotional fall-out has time to heal.

Click here for this week’s assignment.

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Becoming a man of prayer - praying for provision (ch. 7)

“Even in coming to the Father for our own needs, we need to focus on God and His agenda.”

There are some principles according to Beltz regarding God’s provision that men need to understand. First, to be assured of God’s provision we need to be in proper relationship with him; authentic prayer and scripture reading fuel that relationship. The author states that if we are not in daily fellowship with the Lord, then God might withhold His provision to encourage us to restore our relationship with him. God’s provision is also linked to our obedience in the area of financial stewardship. If we rob God of what is his due then we rob ourselves of God’s blessing and provision. On the other hand, if we are faithful in our stewardship then we will know God’s blessing.

When praying for God’s provision the author focuses on two general areas. The first is his real needs of the moment which include physical and financial needs, as well as needs that arise out of what is on his agenda. The second area is his anxieties and his desires. Here Beltz prays cautiously, praying for what he wants but asking God not to give it to him if it would not be a blessing.

It seems very natural to me that as we seek God’s provision that we reflect on the blessings that we have in hand and ask for our “daily bread” from the context of gratefulness. Many of us are blessed by safety, security, freedom, shelter, clothes, food, and health. Thanking God for these puts our other needs in better perspective.

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