Gospel-Centered Living: Gaining through Losing - Mark 8:32b-9:1

Gospel-Centered Living: Gaining through Losing

Mark 8:32b-9:1

Introduction: Most humans, it seems by nature, have an instinct for self-preservation. Like the story of a New Yorker who was driving through Texas and…

…collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. "How can you now claim to have all these injuries?" asked the insurance company's lawyer. "According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt." "Look," replied the New Yorker. "I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, 'Are you okay?'"

Just fine officer! I don’t think that’s the way it happened, but point taken!  In this passage Jesus makes some paradoxical statements. I’m the messiah, but I am going to suffer and be killed. If you want to follow me, you need to be willing to be condemned by the world. If you want to experience TRUE Life, you need to be willing, if necessary, to lose everything! That sounds like a great recruitment plan!

       Jesus has been training the disciples, leading them deeper in their understanding, laying a foundation for their illumination after the resurrection when He would open their minds to understand the Scriptures (Lk 24:44,45). By the way, that pattern should encourage us that we should never grow complacent in our faith, satisfied to rest on our superficial understanding of the Gospel. We are called to radical discipleship. Peter makes a key, correct declaration in answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” In response to that declaration, Jesus begins to plainly teach the disciples what the Messiah had come to do.  The question is posed: In view of the Cross, what does it mean to follow Him?

Context (31-32a): After Peter confesses Jesus as the messiah, the Lord immediately tells the disciples not to tell anyone… and then He begins to teach them plainly God’s plan as it was about to unfold…

³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  ³² And he said this plainly.

Jesus began to plainly teach His disciples about his coming passion, death, and resurrection. It is one thing to recognize who He is, but they still needed to grow in their understanding of what He came to do. They were not alone by the way. Contemporary Judaism had largely lost the biblical idea of a suffering Messiah. As He teaches about His suffering, He also cautions his hearers to count the cost of following Him. That brings us to…

The Maine* Idea: We must love Jesus more than life, knowing that in Him alone can we have true life.

I. Trust: A Follower of Jesus must believe God, and embrace His way as revealed in the Gospel (32b-33).

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." ³⁴And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 

       Peter had just made his clear statement, recognizing that Jesus is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. For Peter, and perhaps for all of the disciples, this may have been the high point of their faith journey up until this point in the story. But his response to Jesus’ clarifying teaching about what HAD to happen, the sovereign plan of God, makes it painfully clear that His understanding of who Jesus is still fell short. “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him…”  In other words, “You are the messiah Jesus! There is no way you are going to suffer and die, I won’t stand for it!” Jesus’ response? “Get behind me Satan!”

       That severe rebuke no doubt shook Peter to his core. From the mountain top, when he declared that Jesus is messiah, to the deepest hole in ground, “Get behind me Satan!” Just as Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, inviting Him to avoid the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Suffering, Peter dared to rebuke the Lord himself, he could not fathom a suffering, dying, Messiah. Mark only gives a summary statement about the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. We get the details of the three specific temptations from Luke and Matthew.  Remember the Tempter in Matthew 4:8-9,

 ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  ⁹ And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."

From Luke’s Gospel we know that when the devil had finished all his temptations He left him until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). The devil had tried to tempt Jesus to avoid the Cross: “I’ll make you king of the world right now—just admit that you are not God, I am!” Peter likewise wanted Jesus to avoid the Cross! The Lord knew that it was necessary. Peter, having recognized and confessed that Jesus is the promised Messiah, could not fathom the Way of the Cross. It did not seem reasonable, it was not something he was ready to accept. Basically, though he had just confessed Jesus as Messiah, He was not ready to believe Jesus, to trust Him, to take Him at His word, at least not when the teaching got this difficult!  He did not yet understand that God’s ways are not our ways, and that His way is always best. His way is the only way. We must love Jesus more than life, knowing that in Him alone can we have true life. So we must TRUST Him, and secondly we must…

II. Obey: A Follower of Jesus must walk in the Master’s steps, choosing obedience over honor, acceptance, comfort, and security (34).

“…let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me…”

       Self-denial is a concept that is not popular in hardly any context, unless it is a means to an end. Someone might give up sweets to get their weight to a healthier level—denying themselves something they enjoy for their own long-term greater good. We are currently in the period of Lent which is followed by some traditions. It started this year on February 14^th, and will continue to Good Friday. Typically, during this period people in those traditions will give up something: eating sweets, watching TV, logging onto Facebook…  They do this as a reminder of Christ being tempted in the wilderness, and in the hope is that their “self-denial” will lead them into a time of reflection and preparation for the celebration of Good Friday and Easter. The irony we saw during our time in Brazil was that for most Brazilians, before lent starts, they have Carnival, an uncontrolled hedonistic celebration that seemingly aims to sin as much as possible before Lent begins and they need to repent! 

       Jesus here calls the crowd together with His disciples and He gives a shocking statement about what it means to follow Him: “…let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” For listeners in Roman controlled Palestine in the first century, there was no doubt what Jesus was saying. The Cross was not a piece of jewelry or a wall hanging. It was a humiliating, tortuous, means of execution. It meant death. Prisoners were required to carry the cross-beam to their own execution. They were then stripped, fastened to the cross member, and lifted up, suspended off the ground. Each breath would be difficult and painful. Typically, the prisoners would die of asphyxiation.  It was a symbol of opposition by the authorities, of shame as they hung there naked and condemned, of suffering, as it was a slow, torturous punishment. And of death, as that was the inevitable result. It is the exact opposite of what we would naturally long for: not opposition, we want approval, not shame, we want honor, not suffering, we want comfort, not death, we want security! 

       We were all shocked to hear that there was an armed deputy on duty at the school in Florida where the shooting happened, but rather than moving toward the threat and potentially saving lives (albeit at the risk of his own) he chose to take up a position outside and wait for backup to arrive.  This example is heart-breaking because he was armed, and unarmed children and teachers were killed during the four minutes he chose not to engage. We know that every day, men and women put on the uniform knowing that if something happens they will be asked to move toward the threat, whatever it might be, seeking to save others, and they do it.  If you take a job like that, you need to count the cost. We need to be thankful for those who would put themselves at risk to keep us safe every day.

       Jesus was telling the crowd they needed to count the cost if they wanted to follow Him. It seems like a contradiction, but it is true that salvation costs us nothing, because the price was paid for us—that is grace. On the other-hand discipleship costs us everything—we are not our own, we have been bought with a price. There is the famous story of the 19^th century missionary

…James Calvert [who] went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”

They knew what the cost might be, but they were compelled to follow Jesus, and take up the call. Some of those early missionaries packed their belongings in a coffin, knowing it was likely that they would not return. Many didn’t. The apostle Paul made a similar statement in His letter to the Galatians,

“…I have been crucified with Christ.  ²⁰ It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me…” (Gal 2:20).

Taking up your cross to follow Jesus means choosing Him over the acceptance, honor, comfort, and security that we can find in world. We must love Jesus more than life, knowing that in Him alone can we have true life. So we must TRUST Him, we must OBEY Him, and thirdly, we must…

III. Love: A Follower of Jesus will choose to love Jesus more than life in this fallen world (35-38).

³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.  ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul?  ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed…

       V.35 presents a paradoxical statement, that it seems to me is a play on words. The term translated “life” by the ESV in v.35, and “soul” in verse 36 and 37 [yuch] can either mean “life” or “soul” depending on the context. An earlier version of the ESV (2001) translated “life” all four times in this context. This translation better reflects the idea that the Lord is talking about more than our physical life in this fallen world. Jesus made a similar statement in John 12:24-26 when He said,

²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  ²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  ²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

I think that is the point in Mark as well: Life, true life, comes not through self-preservation, or maintaining our comfort and security. It comes from loving God more than we love life in this fallen world, and pursuing intimacy with Him above acceptance, honor, comfort, and security that the world would offer. We must love Jesus more than life, knowing that in Him alone can we have true life. So, we’ll trust Him, we’ll choose to obey Him, we’ll love Him more than we love the world, and we’ll be motivated by a sure…

IV. Hope: A Follower of Jesus has hope in the sure promise of His return (8:38c-9:1). When will our victory be realized?

…when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."  ^{Mark 9:1}And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."

       I wanted to include at least a mention of this point because it gives some perspective to the teaching in this passage. It invites us to consider the bigger picture and to remember that we were created for eternity—and that God has a plan, a good plan, that by His grace includes us. All of human history up to the time of Christ was pointing to the coming of the promised Rescuer, the Messiah who would come to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Or, as someone said, “He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.” That happened when God showed his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8; I John 4:9). Since the Cross / Resurrection / Ascension, all of history has been moving toward the promise of His return. Jesus is coming again. That is a promise. He will establish His rule, and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

      It is maybe a little strange, that if we believe God is real and that eternity is at stake, that we can get so comfortable here and now. What do we really “love”? John said this in his first letter,

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  ¹⁶ For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions- is not from the Father but is from the world.  ¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever… (I Jn 2:1­5-17).

What are our priorities? Choose Jesus, and choose True Life! I like the story told by preacher and evangelist D.L. Moody…

…about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building. A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman -- a person of great wealth. Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward. When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, "What a dark and filthy place!" Her friend replied, "It's better higher up." When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, "Things look even worse here." Again the reply, "It's better higher up." The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God. A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart. Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived. She blurted out, "It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!" Without a moment's hesitation the shut-in responded, "It's better higher up." She was not looking at temporal things. With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true satisfaction and contentment.

What is God saying to me in this passage? We must love Jesus more than life, knowing that in Him alone can we have true life.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? It is relatively easy to talk “theory” in terms of loving Jesus more than life. In much of the world dominated by Islam it is a very stark choice to be a Christ follower. Are we willing to die for our faith in Christ? For believers in Syria who had swords put to their throats (or the throats of their children) they had to decide. Do we love Jesus more than life? Do we really believe that the suffering of this present age is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18)?

       Mark is writing, it seems, to Christians who are experiencing major “push back” from the world. Nero is on the throne in Rome. The believers throughout the Roman world knew too well what the Cross meant. This is not the health and wealth gospel that is preached on some television programs and in other venues throughout the world. It isn’t the feel-good, “easy believe-ism” that is so popular in our country.  Mark’s Gospel is inviting us to consider the big picture, to think about what God has done for us in Christ, and then to believe Him, trust Him, obey Him, follow Him.  Eternity is at stake! We are here on assignment. Let’s take a little riskimHm  , and tell our neighbors about Him!   AMEN.

The “Who” and the “Why” of the Gospel - Mark 8:27-32a

The “Who” and the “Why” of the Gospel

Mark 8:27-32a

Introduction: There may be no “bad questions,” but there are some really good questions and there are other questions that are… not so good. A friend once asked Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel prize winner in physics, how he became a scientist.

Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but she always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?" "Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist."

On the other hand, one prominent pastor reflected on his experience as a student in the class of Dr. Charles Feinberg at DTS. He said the first day of class a student asked a question. Dr. Feinberg looked at him sternly and said, “Young man, if you don’t have a more intelligent question to ask please remain quiet and don’t waste the class’s time!” He said after that no one dared ask another question all semester! (At least at WTS, questions were welcome!). In this section of Mark, Jesus, once again, uses questions to teach His disciples. They will also bring into focus for us the message Mark has been presenting in His Gospel: the person and the work of Jesus – who He is, and why He came, and also, as we’ll see next week, what it means to follow Him.

Context (27a): “He went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi…” teaching them on the way. His ministry was now primarily private, preparing the disciples for what was coming in Jerusalem, and for their ministry to follow.

The Maine* Idea: Jesus is God, the Son. He came as God had promised, to give His life to save those who will believe. Have you put your trust in Him? Is He your Lord?

I. A Follower of Jesus must recognize who He is (27b-29).

… He went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"  ²⁸ And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."  ²⁹ And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ."

       As He typically did, Jesus led into a time of teaching His disciples by asking a couple of questions. First, He asks, “Who do people say that I am?” He is asking them about public opinion, the word on the street so to speak, “popular theology.”  There were many popular ideas about who Jesus was (27b-28). The first theory was that Jesus was John the Baptist (raised from the dead). Remember back in Mark 6, after Jesus had sent out the twelve to preach the message of the kingdom, we read that

¹⁴ King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him."  ¹⁵ But others said, "He is Elijah." And others said, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."  ¹⁶ But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised…" (Mark 6:14-16).

John was a unique character, himself viewed by many as a prophet akin to the prophets of the Old Testament. Some, apparently like Herod, thought Jesus was John, raised from the dead. Others understood that Elijah was coming, heralding the dawn of the messianic age. Could this preacher and miracle worker be none other than Elijah? Others imagined that if He wasn’t Elijah, He surely must be a prophet, maybe even the Prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15).

       There were a lot of ideas about who Jesus was during the time of His earthly ministry. Some of course, especially among the leaders, branded Him a messianic pretender, a blasphemer worthy of death (cf. Luke 22:67-71).  Today as well there are many ideas about Jesus. Most commonly, people will acknowledge Jesus as a great moral teacher, by deny any ideas that He is the Son of God. I like the famous response of C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity to that suggestion…

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.

I think his argument is sound. If Jesus was not speaking the truth in the claims that He made about His deity, He cannot be considered a great moral teacher! Either He was a liar, a lunatic, or Lord! He claimed to be the Son of God—He said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Either his claims are true or they are not. I would add that the works that He did, and in particular His resurrection from the dead, leave no doubt: Jesus is much more than a great teacher, He is the Son of God!

       Each person must personally respond the question (29)! There were (and are!) a lot of ideas about Jesus, the question from Jesus is, “But who do you say that I am?” Do you believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God?  The first verse of the Gospel of Mark was a kind of thesis statement regarding the identity of the protagonist in the Story: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” To believe in Jesus is to recognize the full intent of those words. This book is a “gospel,” that is, “good news,” because it tells the story of God sending the Son into the world to provide redemption and reconciliation. He came to be our substitute, our sin-bearer, to make it possible for fallen humans to be reconciled to our Holy God. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One predicted in the Scriptures. Prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed in the Old Testament, and only Jesus fulfilled all three of those offices. Jesus is the Son of God, He came, just as God promised, to give His life to save those who will believe. Have you put your trust in Him? Is He your Lord?

II. A Follower of Jesus must trust in what He did for us (30-32a).

³⁰ And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.  ³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  ³² And he said this plainly.

       For the moment, the disciples were to be silent, they were to tell no one. God’s plan must unfold in God’s way and at God’s time!  They were told to be silent… and quite the contrary, we are told, “Go and tell!” What was the difference? The next verse explains it. The story that Jesus came to carry out was reaching the climax. He presented himself to the people through His public ministry, and though many were attracted and fascinated by the miracles He did, in the end most found His teaching too hard to accept. The rulers had long since made up their minds – we will not have this man to be our king!  They were looking for a reason to accuse him, and an opportunity to do away with Him. For now, the disciples were to dedicate themselves to trying to understand more fully who He is, and to trying to grasp, somehow, what it was that He came to do.

       “He began to teach them…”  plainly about his coming rejection, His passion, the Cross, and the resurrection. He taught them from the Scriptures and He taught them by His own authority.  Clearly, based on the next scene (Peter tries to rebuke Jesus!) they didn’t yet grasp what Jesus was saying. They saw the Mighty One, like a Great Oak Tree, moving, yet they couldn’t see clearly who He really was, nor could they understand what He had come to do. So, in preparation for what was coming, in giving them a foundation to fall back on as the events unfolded, He began to teach them. It seems likely, during this last leg of ministry as the time in Galilee comes to a conclusion and they turn south toward Judea and Jerusalem, Jesus’ teaching probably focused on what is outlined here in Mark 8:31 (see 9:30-32; 10:23-34). Still, they couldn’t see! Before we are too hard on the disciples, think about how shocking this must have been—a suffering, rejected, dead messiah? After Jesus said that, did they even hear what He said about the resurrection on the third day? Jesus was here with them, teaching them, doing works of power. Surely, He would soon usher in the kingdom… wouldn’t He? If we jump ahead for a moment to Luke 24:13-27, after the resurrection, we get a sense of how confusing all of this was for those who were hearing it…

¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,  ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  ¹⁷ And he said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad.  ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"  ¹⁹ And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,  ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.  ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.  ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning,  ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.  ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."  ²⁵ And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"  ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

       Was it not necessary?—Here He said, “…it is necessary…” Divine necessity – God’s plan must be fulfilled. It was necessary because God planned it in eternity past, and revealed it through the ages in the Scriptures. It had to happen because this was the only way for Holy God to pardon sinful humans. As someone said, “He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.” R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on Mark, said,

Why did Jesus use this language of necessity? …because, from the foundation of the world, the Father had determined that the Son would suffer, be rejected, and ultimately be killed to redeem His people from God’s righteous wrath against their sin. The punishment for sin before almighty God was death, and if Jesus was to save His people, it would be necessary for Him to make full payment for their sin.

       “…the Son of Man…” This was Jesus’ favorite title to use to describe himself, and always, as here, in the third person. I believe the title is only used once as a messianic, eschatological title in the Old Testament Scriptures, in Daniel 7:13-14,

¹³ I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  ¹⁴ And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

This One of whom Daniel spoke comes in the clouds, is presented before the Father’s throne, and would have an eternal reign over the nations. This is the sense in which Jesus appropriates the title. He is coming Messiah, the Promised One, the Rescuer and King for which the world was waiting. But in using this title, and speaking in the third person, Jesus maintained some ambiguity. It was not a common, often used title of the Promised Messiah. There was room for interpretation. We see that in this exchange with the leaders of the Jews in Luke 22:67-71,

⁶⁷ "If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe,  ⁶⁸ and if I ask you, you will not answer.  ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God."  ⁷⁰ So they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am."  ⁷¹ Then they said, "What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips."

Notice He used the title “Son of Man” in v.70 in response to the leaders’ question as to whether He was the Messiah. But His answer was sufficiently ambiguous, uncertain as to what He was claiming, they ask a follow-up: “Are you the Son of God then?” His answer to that question was all they needed—they had enough to condemn Him! Ironically, in their rejection and condemnation of Jesus, they were fulfilling their own Scriptures and confirming His messianic identity!

       The exaltation and glory of the Son of Man pictured by the prophet Daniel must be preceded by His suffering as the Servant predicted by Isaiah:

³He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  ⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isa 53:3-5).

The gospel writers, including Mark, all address the questions, “How could it be that Jesus is the Messiah if he was rejected by his own people?” And, “Why would God allow His anointed one to suffer and die?” These questions were a stumbling block to the Jews, and also a challenge to gentiles looking in and considering the claims of Christ. The answer: The cross wasn’t a defeat or a failure, it was the plan of God, His appointed means to justify those who believe. As I noted earlier, “He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.” 

      “…He said this plainly…” (32). There were no parables or figurative language in this teaching!  Jesus told them plainly what was going to happen, but they did not yet have eyes to see and ears to hear. They would certainly ponder these things in their hearts, but only after Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection and opened their minds, could they understand. If you have any doubt that the disciples could not grasp what Jesus was saying, look ahead to the following verses. Peter’s first reaction was to take Jesus aside and rebuke Him!  Imagine that, Peter, the disciple, was rebuking the Son of God, the living Word, about the correct interpretation of the Scriptures and the details of God’s unfolding plan in the world! Jesus would sternly rebuke Peter, but graciously, after the Cross and the Resurrection, He would give the disciples “20/20 hindsight,” opening their minds to understand the Scriptures (Lk 24:44-46). He told them,

"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,  ⁴⁶ and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead…”    

The events of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ were at the heart of the plan of God, and after Pentecost, they were at the heart of the message the apostles preached. On that day Peter said in Acts 2:22-24 (cf. Paul’s teaching in I Cor 15:3-4),

²² “…Jesus… a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know- ²³ this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  ²⁴ God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it…”

That was God’s plan… and it unfolded exactly as it was written. He did that for us.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus is God, the Son. He came, just as was promised, to give His life to save those who will believe. Have you put your trust in Him? Is He your Lord? Have you made it your mission to tell others about Him?

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? If you have not yet recognized your need, that you are a sinner, and that your sin separates you from God, I would invite you to look to the One who showed His love by taking the punishment that you and I deserved, making it possible for us to be reconciled to God. It is not a plan that I would have come up with! The disciples heard it from the Master himself, and they lived it, as the story unfolded according to God’s plan, and they didn’t get it at first either! At least not yet did they understand, not at this point in the gospel. They couldn’t yet grasp that God’s love and God’s justice intersected at the Cross. For God so loved the world—He so loved you and me—that He gave His only Son—He sent Him into this fallen world to bear our sins in His body on the cross—so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life! Amen.

Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord! Mark 8:22-26

Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord!

Mark 8:22-26

Introduction: This short account of a miraculous healing of a blind man in Bethsaida is unique to Mark’s gospel, and some see it as one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament. We’ll mention some of the challenges it poses as we get into the study. The setting is in Bethsaida, a town near the border of Galilee, north of the lake, just on the east bank of the Jordan. This would be the last miracle Jesus does in this region. It leads into a climactic and transitional scene of the gospel, marking the shift from Mark’s focus on the question, “Who is Jesus?” in the first half of Mark. The central questions in the second half of the gospel will be “Why did He come?” and “What does it mean to follow Him?” The next two paragraphs in Mark 8 (Peter’s confession, and the call to discipleship) will explicitly shift the focus to those two questions.  This miracle, like the healing of the deaf man in Mark 7, is done in private. It is done for the benefit of the person who is healed, and also as a revelation to bolster the faith of the disciples. Unlike any other healing that Jesus does this one comes in two steps, first a partial healing, and then a second touch, and the man sees “…everything clearly...”

       Immediately before this scene, with the disciples in the boat discussing leaven and bread (and just before that the Pharisees, questioning Jesus and despite all they had seen and heard, asking for “a sign from heaven”) and then the climactic confession by Peter that follows (Mark 8:29), it seems certain that Mark intends us to read this account as a kind of “historical parable.” First of all, it is historical. There is no question that this is a real time and space event. Like the other miracles we have seen in Mark, this is a miracle that reveals Jesus’ identity and anticipates the coming Kingdom. The prophet Isaiah was given a glimpse of the future when He wrote, “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see…” (Isaiah 29:18). We’ve already looked in an earlier study at Isaiah 35:5-6,

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;  ⁶ then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…”

Jesus’ works revealed that the future was already breaking into the present because He, the King and Savior, was present. I also think that this scene, sandwiched as it is between the revelation of the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees, and the spiritual dullness of the disciples before it, and Peter’s confession of faith after, is a story that teaches, an illustration, something like a parable that goes beyond the event itself, to a spiritual point behind it. It draws attention to the fact that there is gradual development of faith and understanding in the followers of Jesus.

The Maine* Idea: Amazingly, God works through us, but divine intervention is necessary for a person to see the truth about Jesus. Like the disciples, many gradually come to see and understand the Truth.

Context: This miracle comes after Jesus exposed the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees (10-13) and the dullness of the disciples (14-21); and before Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus (27-30).

I. The Oikos Principle: Friends brought the blindman to Jesus and pleaded with the Lord to help him (22).

²² And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.

      As we have been going through the gospel of Mark, have you been surprised at how frequently the oikos principle has come up?  This isn’t something I and someone else simply “invented.” We have to mention it again because it is right here in the Bible. Mark doesn’t emphasize the details, but as we saw with the Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus, and who fell down before Him to pled for her daughter to be set free from a demon, as we saw with the deaf-mute who was taken by some unnamed friends to Jesus, and the friends begged Jesus to heal the man, these people brought the man to Jesus, and begged Jesus to touch him. There is a pattern here that I believe the writer wants us to see. The same verbs in the same forms appear again, they brought the man to Him, they begged Jesus to heal, interceding on behalf of the needy man. Once again, Mark draws as little attention as possible to the people who brought the blind man. There isn’t even a pronoun stated [“they” is implicit in verb] much less a description of these people. Men or women? How many? Family or friends? We don’t know. How do you like that? Don’t we like to get a little credit, at least a mention, when we do something for the Lord? Maybe there is a lesson here: It is not about us! God is the one who heals, and He is the one who saves. These unnamed friends brought the man to Jesus, and they interceded, begging Jesus to touch him. They cared about this guy enough to do all that they could to bring Him to Jesus, and they interceded fervently, effectively, on his behalf.

        If you have been following this series you know where I am going with this! Of course we care about the people that God has sovereignly and strategically placed in our lives! We are His ambassadors, His representatives, His spokesman among our friends, relatives, co-workers, and neighbors.  That is our platform for being His witnesses. Most of us did not like the outcome of the Super Bowl (we do live in New England after all!). But you had to appreciate the head coach of the Eagles, their quarterback (their backup, and MVP), and another player, the first three that the interviewer spoke to after the game, express faith in the Lord, giving God the glory. They expressed in other interviews that, before and after the game, that they saw their success as a platform, an opportunity to lift up the name of Jesus. Most of us are not going to get a platform where we can give testimony to the Lord with millions of people all around the world listening!  But we too have a platform: our oikos, our extended family and friends, the people who know us and who we rub shoulders with on a regular basis. We can tell them God is real, that sin is a problem, that God addressed our problem by sending Jesus, making a way through His substitutionary death to reconcile sinners to himself. We can say that He defeated death itself in the resurrection and that that event leaves no doubt that Jesus is who He claimed to be. And even before all of this, we can be pleading with the God of the universe on behalf of our friends, relatives, and neighbors.

       You might think I am going a little too far reading this into this story. But remember the message of Mark, and remember the context here in the heart of the gospel.  Later in v.26 Jesus tells the healed man not to go in the village right? But where is he to go? Where was he sent? Jesus “sent him to his oikos.” After the healing, Jesus tells the man to go to his oikos, his “home” (26a). There a few different Greek words that can express the idea of “sending” someone. This is the verb apostello, the same root from which we get the term “apostle.” It has the idea of sending someone on a mission, with a task to do, often, as the representative on the one who sent them. This man wasn’t to go to the village. Bethsaida had had ample opportunities to hear Jesus and to see the miracles that bore witness to His messianic identity. Don’t go to the village, Jesus said, go home, go to your own people, you have a mission right there!

       You don’t have to wait to go on a mission trip to some far away country. You live on the mission field. The people right around you are not there by chance. You are called to be God’s spokesperson, His ambassador, right where you are. Amazingly, God works through us, but divine intervention is necessary for a person to see the truth about Jesus. Like the disciples, some will gradually come to see and understand the Truth.

II. The Lord works according to His will: Here, Jesus used means to partially restore sight to the blind man (23,24). Could it be that as He takes his hand, He is also leading the man on a path toward faith?

²³ And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"  ²⁴ And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." 

       As Jesus had taken the deaf man aside, He seemingly goes further here and takes the blindman by the hand, and led him out of the village. This healing would be a sign to just a few.  The man and his friends, and also the disciples. There is tenderness in this scene: Jesus takes the man by the hand and leads him out of the village. He didn’t simply say “Follow me!” He didn’t ask the friends or the disciples, “Bring him this way, over here!” He personally took him by the hand and led him. Already He is communicating to this needy person His care, His interest in Him, His compassion for him.

       As he had in healing the deaf/mute, He uses saliva in healing this man. Why? Was it necessary? Obviously not. On other occasions He healed people with just a word, or with just a touch. The woman who touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment when Jesus was on the way to the house of Jairus was healed instantly. Jesus healed the son of an official at the end of John 4 without even going to the house-He said, "Go; your son will live."—the man went, and found that the child was healed at that very hour. Jesus healed in many different ways. He is Lord, He can do whatever He chooses! We don’t know why Jesus used saliva here. It certainly wasn’t magical, but perhaps He was showing the man that He was doing something for him, maybe He was giving the man an opportunity to believe, to hope, to trust that something was about to happen. Maybe Jesus was also talking to the disciples. Here He asks the man, “Do you see anything?”  Just a few verses back in Mark 8:18 Jesus was rebuking the unbelief of the disciples and asked, “Having eyes do you not see…?” (cf. 7:18). Coincidence? Just before that Jesus had rebuked the Pharisees who asked to see a “sign from heaven.” They were, once again, revealing that they were spiritually blind. In another context, after Jesus healed a man born blind and then leads him to believe that He is the Messiah, we read,

“Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.’ ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’  ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.” (John 9:39-41).

        Here in Mark, the man was healed, but at first only partially. He could see men, like trees walking.  Why this two-stage process? Could it be Jesus was also asking the disciples, “Do you see anything?” Like the phone company commercial, “Do you hear me now?” They were a work in progress! What was your experience of coming to faith in Christ? Do you remember a clear moment when your eyes were opened? Was it like the hymn writer, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see!”? That is the experience of some people but not all. Some hear the truth over time, and can’t point to the exact moment they passed from darkness to light. Even so, they know that they clearly have their trust in Jesus! Don’t feel bad about that, God works differently in different lives. One writer mentioned that Billy Graham and his wife Ruth had very different experiences…

[Billy] …was a rebellious 16-year-old in North Carolina. He accepted a friend’s invitation to attend a tent crusade where the Baptist Evangelist Mordecai Ham was preaching. On the second night of the crusade, Billy Graham and his friend Grady Wilson came to the altar and gave their lives to Christ. Billy would later say that until that night his hero had been Babe Ruth, but that night Jesus Christ became his hero. He knew the exact place and date. And yet, Billy’s wife, Ruth Belle Graham, didn’t know the exact point of her conversion…

Regeneration is a work of God in us, bringing life where there was none. Some know the exact moment they first believed, for others they know that they believe but can’t honestly say the exact moment it happened. The main thing is that we are sure we believe… that our trust is in Christ alone for salvation.  The disciples were in a different moment in history than we are, before the Cross, resurrection, and Pentecost. Jesus was preparing them for what would soon happen, and laying the foundation for the faith that would allow them to lead His mission in the world after His departure. They were a work in progress, and so are we. He is growing us, teaching us, conforming us to the image of His Son.  For a purpose. Amazingly, God works through us. He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. But we don’t save anyone. Yes, He uses us to bring the message, but divine intervention is necessary for a person to see the truth about Jesus. Like the disciples, many gradually come to see and understand the Truth.

III. He will bring to completion His good work in us: With a second touch, Jesus restored the man’s sight fully (25,26).

²⁵ Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  ²⁶ And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

       Again, why did Jesus do this healing in stages? I take comfort in the fact the R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on Mark, says, he too couldn’t dogmatically say why Jesus healed in two steps! He does venture a “sanctified guess” based on the context, that Jesus was drawing a parallel between the spiritual understanding of the disciples, and the healing of the blind man…

It is as if, through this two-stage healing, Jesus was saying that the disciples had begun to see dimly. They were not in total darkness as the pagans were. Their eyes had beheld many of the marvelous things of Christ. They had some understanding. But they had not yet seen clearly. If they had been asked to describe Jesus, they might have said, in effect, “I see a mighty oak walking around, but I do not really understand the full measure of who He is.”

Jesus, apart from the crowd, outside the village, healed the man. Perhaps He did it in exactly the best way to evoke faith in the now seeing man, he could now see spiritually as well. He used this miracle to also to build the faith of the disciples who still only saw in part. He would soon as them, “Who do you say that I am?” (8:27). Jesus tells the man not to go back to the village – Bethsaida had had ample testimony that the Messiah had come. They had already seen many miracles. After the work of the Messiah had reached its climax in the Cross and the Resurrection, the gospel would be preached there once again. But for now, the man was to go to his home, to his oikos, sharing the story of God’s grace with his own people.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Amazingly, God works through us, but divine intervention is necessary for a person to see the truth about Jesus. Like the disciples, we may gradually come to see and understand the Truth.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Who are the 8 to 15 people that you rub shoulders with on a regular basis? Almost certainly some of them don’t go to church, a few of them don’t know the Lord. You have a platform, not a microphone after a Super Bowl game, but the hearing that you have earned by sharing your life with them. One of the Christian players before the game said, “We know that this is a platform. Football isn’t our purpose—Jesus is.” You have a platform—you have a purpose. Eternity is at stake, so let’s embrace His call to make disciples—starting right where we are!

       Let’s also consider the point that this healing was different than others we have seen in Mark. In fact, we’ll see another blind man, Bartimaeus, healed at the end of Mark 10. In that case Jesus doesn’t touch him at all, He just pronounced him healed! Then there is another case in John 9 where He spits and makes mud and puts it in the man’s eyes, and tells him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash… The man does and he is healed! Each case was different, in each situation the Lord was revealing His sovereignty and His power.  We are a somewhat diverse group, we come from different backgrounds, we’ve had different experiences. Don’t judge someone who didn’t have exactly the same experience as you. God is in control. He has a plan for each of us. Let’s commit to His Word as our authority, and let’s seek the truth together as we carry out His mission in the world. And let’s start with the platform He has given each of us!   AMEN.

Stop, Look, and Listen! Mark 8:13-21

Stop, Look, and Listen!

Mark 8:13-21

Introduction: The horrendous collision in Virginia last week between a train that was carrying a group of congressmen to a retreat, and a garbage truck that apparently was stopped on the tracks, resulted in the death of the truck driver and severely injured another man. When we hear of accidents like that, it reminds us of the importance of the sign, “Stop, look, listen” at some railroad crossings. I don’t know the details of that crash, but at least sometimes accidents happen because vehicles on the road don’t heed the warning signs right in front of them. Stop, look, and listen: It is not just a suggestion, it can be life or death.  What is true of railroad crossings is also true of living the Christian Life. We need to be sure that we slow down enough in life to listen to what God has revealed, to hear the voice of the Master. God is real… and He has spoken! That truth should be enough to cause us to “stop, look, and listen.”

       As we see history unfolding around us, in the world, in our nation, and in our individual lives, we also need to stop and listen to His word, and watch, to look for the hand of God. He is the Lord of history! In a real sense all of history is HIS STORY. As we continue our study of the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus revealing himself through His works and His words. Some, like the Pharisees and the scribes, for the most part had long ago made up their minds about Jesus. For the multitudes, for some individuals that He will yet meet in Galilee or on that final trip to Jerusalem, and for the disciples, the revelation of truth continues. Jesus was calling the people to repent and believe the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom. As Mark tells the story of Jesus he is asking his readers to consider who Jesus is, to think about why He came, and to ponder what it really means to follow Him. For the moment there will be another “private class” (that we get to listen in on) as Jesus gets in the boat with His disciples. That brings us to…

The Maine* Idea: We must beware of the subtle influences that can disrupt our spiritual life, and seek diligently God’s truth and direction.

Context (13,14): Jesus “left them” [the Pharisees] in their unbelief and moved on, continuing the training of the disciples…

¹³ And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.  ¹⁴ Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

Mark gives us two important details to set the context for the exchange that follows. First, Jesus leaves the unbelieving Pharisees and gets in the boat with the disciples. He knew the hearts of the leaders and understood their motivation in asking of a sign. He knew their motives and He would not be manipulated. He also knew that He had more work to do with the disciples before His departure. They needed to be prepared for the ministry that would be entrusted to them, including learning to avoid the subtle “shifts” in our attention and vision that can lead us astray, and to stay focused on the Truth that leads to life. We’ll see that we need to 1) Beware of False doctrine; 2) Be aware of our spiritual sensibility; and 3) Be patient… the Christian life is a walk, a process, and God isn’t finished with us yet!

I. Beware of False Doctrine: The Leaven of the Pharisees and the Leaven of Herod (15).

¹⁵ And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 

       In a class at a Christian school down south the teacher asked, “What is false doctrine?” One little boy’s hand shot up to answer. “False doctorin’ is when the doctor gives the wrong stuff to people who are sick.” Although he confused doctrine with doctorin’ he arrived at the correct definition! Jesus came to heal the lost souls of fallen humans – by his stripes we are healed. People need the truth, sound doctrine, “the right stuff,” to heal their sin sick souls!

        Here Jesus calls his disciples to be on guard for something. He uses two verbs connected to the idea of “watching”: “Look! Watch!” That repetition gives the idea of keeping diligent, careful watch. Like in Gethsemane, in Mark 14:34, “…he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.’" How did that go? What did they do? Fell asleep! Let’s take seriously the call to stay alert. But stay alert for what?

       Jesus repeats the word “leaven.” He doesn’t say “the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod,” but rather “the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” We know that usually (but not always) “leaven” is used as a symbol of sin, and that seems to be the case here. Just as a little leaven works through a lump of dough and “infects” the whole thing, a little sin, willful compromise, can permeate our whole life as an individual believer, or even our church. We know the Pharisees were very religious. But they held up their tradition even above Scripture. Jesus confronted them more harshly than any other group. For example in Matthew 23:27-28 he says,

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.  ²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Here in Mark, just in the previous chapter, Jesus sternly rebuked the Pharisees and taught the disciples that God was not concerned with what we eat or drink, it is not what goes in our mouth that defiles, but what comes from our hearts (Mk 7:1-23). Then, after miracles of healing and miraculously feeding a gentile multitude, they came across the lake and the Pharisees where there, waiting to “test” Him. Jesus would not be manipulated. So, having just left the Pharisees and gotten back in the boat with the disciples, He is warning them not to let the hypocrisy and legalism and pride of the Pharisees begin to seep into their hearts. They needed to beware, to watch diligently. Like the proverb says, “Above all else, guard your heart, your whole life depends on it…” (Prov 4:23). He told them to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod…

       We know from earlier in this gospel that Herod was worldly, carnal, focused on his power and the comforts in his position. He too was prideful and wanted to look good to the people around him. In fact, to save face, he would even take a life. Just a couple chapters back we saw that sad scene in Mark 6 when Herodias’ daughter danced before him and his friends, pleasing them. Seemingly trying to impress, Herod made a foolish oath that resulted in him ordering the death of John the Baptist! Jesus is warning his disciples, and us, not to let pride, self-centeredness, worldliness, the leaven of Herod, to start creeping into our lives! There is an old Arab proverb, “Do not let the Camel’s nose in the tent, his body will soon follow!” We must beware of the subtle influences that can disrupt our spiritual life, and seek diligently God’s truth and direction.

II. Be aware of your spiritual sensibility: “I see” said the blind man! Jesus corrects his followers (16-18).

¹⁶ And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.  ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?  ¹⁸ Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 

       The disciples, like us, were a work in progress. More than once in this gospel he has asked them, “Don’t you yet understand?” So be encouraged! They had the Master of all teachers. They had been walking with Jesus for maybe a couple of years at this point and they were still not always getting what He said!  All of us, no matter how long we’ve been believers, are also a work in progress. Someone said, “The church is not a gallery where we exhibit the finest of Christians. No, it is a school where we educate and encourage imperfect Christians.” So, the disciples missed what Jesus was saying, but He asks some rhetorical questions to “jar” their minds, and maybe, to convict their hearts.

        Seek to understand His words.  Excursus: One of the striking things about the teaching of Jesus was how extensively He used figurative language. From simple metaphors to extended parables, the things that Jesus taught were not superficial, they required thought and consideration.  He wanted to provoke the minds of His hearers and draw them in. He engaged their minds in the word pictures He used as they pondered the meaning of His words. An OT example of this was when the prophet Nathan came to David and told him a story, in 2 Samuel 12:1-9,  

"There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.  ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.  ⁴ Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."  ⁵ Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,  ⁶ and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."  ⁷ Nathan said to David, "You are the man! ...  ⁹Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Nathan was not talking about lambs, rather he was using that story to paint a picture that drew David in, and in this case, exposed his sin and condemned him by his own words! He was convicted! Consequently, David repented and turned to God for mercy. Word pictures are powerful, they have a way of drawing us in as we put ourselves in the story and consider how we would respond. And they were something that Jesus used extensively. He is doing so right here in our passage in Mark 8.

       The disciples forgot “bread” and they immediately were fixated on that. They heard Jesus’ warning about “leaven” and thought, “Leaven? Bread! It’s because we forgot bread!” He wasn’t giving the disciples a baking tip!  They were completely focused on the literal, superficial meaning of His words. It is almost like Nicodemus in John 3:4, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” BORN AGAIN Nick… spiritually! And this scene in Mark was not a cooking class on the water, nor was he talking about the fact that they didn’t bring enough bread for lunch!  He had just fed 4000 men with seven loaves of bread, what were they worried about? They should have been focused on what these miracles revealed about Jesus!

       The questions Jesus asks are pointed ones, they were intended as a serious call to self-examination for the disciples. He had asked these questions before (4:9,23; 7:16). Here He asks the disciples, 1. Having eyes do you not see…? 2. …and having ears do you not hear? 3. And do you not remember?  Jesus had just confronted the unbelief of the Pharisees, and now He was dealing with the “baby faith” of His disciples! Is it coincidental that immediately before this scene Jesus opens the ears of a deaf man, and immediately after, He gives sight to a blind man? Don’t you hear? Don’t you see? We need to listen, and we also need to…

      Seek to discern His actions, as He providentially guides us through life. We see in the Gospel of Mark the patience of Jesus as He guides His disciples, teaching them and preparing them for the mission that lay ahead. He continues to guide His followers, that is us, through His Word, through the inward conviction of the Spirit, and through the circumstances of life. God is not only interested in our future, but He is present and active in our lives here and now, preparing us for the future we will have with Him in eternity. Yes, God has a destination in mind for us, but He is also interested in the journey! Stop, Look, Listen. We must beware of the subtle influences that can disrupt our spiritual life, and seek diligently God’s truth and direction.

III. Be Patient: God isn’t finished with you yet! “…do you not yet understand…”? Do you find hope in that question? I do, as Jesus reminds them of what He has done, what they should have already learned, he implies that one day they will see more clearly (18c-21).

And do you not remember?   ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve."  ²⁰ "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven."  ²¹ And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

       Back in v.17 Jesus asked, “Do you not yet perceive and understand…?” In verse 21 He asks again, “Do you not yet understand?” Jesus referred back to the two miraculous feedings, and to impossible amount of leftovers that were collected in both cases. They had carried the baskets full of the fragments that added up to many times more than they had started with! Moses, David, and Elijah had known God’s miraculous provision of sustenance in times past, and now He, one greater than Moses, was here! They experienced God’s presence and power, and now, after leaving behind the unbelieving Pharisees, they hear Jesus talk about the “leaven of the Pharisees,” and they can’t get past the superficial, the transitory, “we forgot to bring bread!” They did “not yet” understand, but that phrase seems to hold out hope that one day their eyes would be opened, and they would understand! Someone said, “There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.” We see Paul in his letters frequently expressing hope in his readers. Of the Philippians he said, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ…” (Phil 1:6). Though he was surely concerned about spiritual immaturity in some of his churches (see I Corinthians 1-3)! God is able to use ordinary, struggling, imperfect people (like us!), as He carries out His plan in the world.

What is God saying to me in this passage? For our part, let’s guard our hearts… We must beware of the subtle influences that can disrupt our spiritual life, and seek diligently God’s truth and direction.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  The Pharisees’ legalism seemed to keep them from accepting the possibility that Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited Rescuer spoken of in the Scriptures. How could He be the Messiah, if He doesn’t follow our traditions?  Herod was prideful, self-centered, and focused on maintaining the status quo. His father had tried to kill the infant Jesus, and he was more concerned that Jesus might be the incarnation of John the Baptist than anything else. Like the Pharisees, He was unwilling to humble himself, recognize his need, and turn to God in repentance and faith. They thought they could see, but they were blind to the Living Word, the Light of the World, who stood right in front of them. Before we judge them, or the disciples, we should be careful to ask “what are the subtle influences from the world that so easily creep into my life, and disrupt the fellowship with God that I long for?” Is that convicting? Today, as we prepare to share the Lord’s Table, let’s take a few minutes to bow quietly before Him, inviting Him to convict, and to heal, to change us from within. The psalmist said “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”  (Psalm 139:23,24).  AMEN.