Mark 13:20-31 - False Prophets and Messiahs

Now verse 20 is very strange in some ways. Jesus has told His disciples to pray that the events will not take place in winter, now He says that God has already decided to shorten the days of the trouble. This again should make us beware of any simplistic understandings of predestination and the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign and we should pray and work for good results. Both these things are true.

Jesus warns the disciples to be on their guard against false prophets and messiahs. In times of trouble we are tempted to turn to any one seeming to offer a solution. Some of these false prophets and messiahs will even do signs and wonders and will be very deceptive. Sings and wonders were part of the marks of an apostle and were a feature of the early church. They should still be a part of the life of the church today, but we also need a sound knowledge of the Scriptures and to personally know the Lord Jesus. This is the only thing that is guaranteed to guard us against false teachings and deception.

After the time of trouble and deception the Lord Himself will return. This will be unmistakable, you will not need a degree in theology to discern it, you will not need any special knowledge or wisdom to see it. Christ will return with great power and glory. And He will send His angels to gather up the elect. Now see all the warnings and instructions given already, and that will be given. Being part of the elect is in no way a ground for complacency. It is an encouragement to us that whatever opposition or trials we may face, we can get through them and Christ will come and rescue us.

Verse 30 is another problematic one. I take it as follows. The events of AD66-70 would happen, showing the truth of all this talk, and this is "proof" that Jesus words regarding the final end times and His return are equally reliable. His words will never pass away.

Mark 13:14-19 - The Abomination that Causes Desolation

This part most definitely does refer to events surrounding AD66-70. The "abomination that causes desolation" is a reference to Daniel (Dan 9:27, 11:31, 12:11). The original application was to Antiochus Epiphanes erecting a pagan altar to Zeus in the temple in 168 BC. It then applied to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD66-70, something that Luke makes explicit (Luke 23:29). There is also practical instruction here to flee to the mountains. Many observed this instruction an so their lives were saved.

There are several things to note here. One is that there would be an emotional attachment to Jerusalem, and one that had a seeming justification in Scripture. For Jerusalem is clearly special, and it would be tempting to think "God will never let Jerusalem be destroyed, especially His temple". Jesus tells them that this is wrong and dangerous thinking. They must flee without delay. Secondly, the prophecy has at least two fulfilments, and quite possibly has a third applying to the very last times. This is a common pattern in Biblical prophecy, with many of them having a historical practical fulfilment, and also referring either to Christ's first or second coming. The immediate historical fulfilment shows that the "complete" fulfilment will be real and that the prophecy is trustworthy. Note also the very practical application given to the prophecy.

Jesus also tells them to pray that it will not happen in winter. Now this could be taken as simply a way of saying that you had better hope it does not happen at a difficult time. Or it could be taken as an instruction to actually pray this. We are mistaken when we take pronouncements in Scripture as meaning there is no point doing anything. Jesus clearly implies here that God's actions will be influenced by our prayers. When God speaks He does so with the hope and intention that we will respond to His word and act upon it.

Mark 13:3-13 - Beginning of birth pains

When is it going to happen? This was the question the disciples had, and how will they know when it is about to happen. 

Jesus' answer is first that they should not be deceived. Many would come claiming to be the messiah. This has happened many times in history, and, of course, there are numerous predictions of when the end of the world will come. All have proved wrong so far! 

Jesus says that wars and rumours wars will happen, as will earthquakes and famines. We really do need to beware of people who cite a supposed increase in earthquakes or political events as signs that the end of the age is about to happen. These things will and must happen. They are the beginning of birth pains, but the end is still to come.

So the first lesson is not to be alarmed. The second is to be on our guard, for we will be handed over to councils. Persecution will happen. Again, there have been many times in history when this has occurred. It happened to the early church, it has happened periodically in the West, and happens today in many places in the world. In Britain today there is an increasingly anti-Christian attitude in society. In these times we stand as witnesses for Jesus before men. At such times the Holy Spirit will give us inspiration.

There will be a breakdown in society and even family life. In such times we must stand firm, then we will be saved.

Mark 13:1,2 - Nothing is Permanent

We now come to the Olivet discourse, where Jesus speaks specifically about the end times. Naturally this causes us lots of difficulties and disagreements about how to interpret what He says. One of the root causes of these problems is that we like to interpret things in linear time. Ie one event follows another, and we try and view this as Jesus telling us how one thing will happen after another in a complete sequential fashion. Doing this we inevitably end up in a muddle. It is better to view it as Jesus teaching about the event of the "end times". Ie He is telling us about various things that will happen that are associated with the end times. We should also remember that we have been in the "last days" for two thousand years now, so any attempt to get a nice neat "plot synopsis" of the last days is frankly silly. Also if this chapter does just apply to the very last days then it is irrelevant for the early disciples and for most of the church age since then. Conversely, there are those who seem to think it was completely fulfilled in AD66-70. This is an equally stupid notion. Many of the features of the last days did occur in AD66-70 with the destruction of the temple, but other things clearly did not. It would also mean that while it was relevant for the early church (which it certainly was), it is irrelevant for all time afterwards.

The first thing that Jesus addresses is the apparent permanency of things in the world. The temple looked marvellous and imposing. However, within about forty years it would be completely destroyed. We see many physical, social, financial and political edifices today, but none of them are permanent, no matter how powerful they may seem to be. Hitler's 1000 year Reich lasted 12 years, communism that seemed so threatening collapsed in the late eighties. 

The only thing that is permanent is the word of God.

Mark 12:38-44 - Authority to serve, wealth and poverty

These two incidents illustrate what and who is really valuable in the kingdom. The teachers of the Law were the ones who thought they were important. They should have lived as servants of God and servants of the people, instead they used their position to gain wealth for themselves and for self acclaim. Instead of serving the people they exploited them. This has always been a human trait. It happened in Israel, it happened in the early church, and it happens in the church today. We need to be on our guard against such people. We also need to take great care of ourselves if we have any positions of authority, whether it be in the church or in the world. The only authority God gives us is the authority to serve, and we will all be called to give an account. We should live our lives in reverent fear of the Lord.

Then Jesus shows them what true giving means.There is nothing wrong with being wealthy, nor of giving out of wealth, but it is wrong if we start taking pride in it. In monetary terms the widow gave hardly anything, but it was all that she had, and she gave out of a heart devoted to God. God looks at the heart, and the condition of our heart is more important than the condition of our bank account.

Mark 12:35-37 - Greater than you think!

Having fielded many questions, Jesus now turns to the crowds and teaches them, particularly about who the Messiah would be. Psalm 110, the one Jesus quotes from, was widely acknowledged as a messianic Psalm. The Messiah was also known to be a "son of David". Now this was true, for instance in Romans 1:3 Paul says that Jesus was a descendant of David, but it did not far enough.

Now look at how Jesus uses the Psalm. First He states that David was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Then He gets them to think more carefully about what it says. If the Messiah is Lord, then how can He be David's son. Now we have just seen that humanly speaking the Messiah was indeed a descendant of David. So when Jesus says "how can he be David's son", He means the messiah is much more than a descendant of David. 

In assessing all the things that Jesus was saying and doing the religious leaders were looking at Him as merely a descendant of David, and so judged that He was blaspheming (for He was doing and claiming things that only God had the right to do and claim). They were right, unless of course Jesus was more than a descendant of David. And Jesus is showing them that the Scriptures themselves teach that the Messiah was more than a "son of David", He was the "Son of God".

The crowd were delighted, and so should we be. We too can learn from this, even though we know He is God. No matter how much we know about Him, or how well we know Him, Jesus is greater than our present conception of Him. Likewise, no matter how many times we have read the Bible, there is a wealth of riches in there that we have yet to realise. Jesus is greater than you think!

Mark 12:28-34 - Questions and Answers

Yet another questioner arrives. This time it is not clear if the questioner is hostile or not. I suspect he isn't, but that this is an example of someone being neutral about Jesus, trying to be neither for nor against. Much as today we get people who respect or admire Jesus' teachings. This isn't good enough, we need to be fully committed to Him.

The man asks Jesus which is the most important commandment. It is not clear why he asked this, perhaps there was some theological debate he was involved in.

Jesus' answer is entirely conventional, and would cause no controversy at all. The first is to love God with all that we have, and the second is to love our neighbour as ourself. Loving God and loving others go together If we say we love God but hate our brother, then we are a liar, as John says in his first epistle. Conversely, we cannot truly love our fellow man without loving God.

The man then congratulates Jesus, so it seems that the man was just trying to puff himself up.

Jesus, however, does not rebuke him, but seems pleased with the man's response, and tells him that he is not far from the kingdom.

Mark 12:18-27 - Marriage at the Resurrection

Now it is the turn of the Sadducees. Mark is showing that none of the various groupings (religious leaders, political groups, ultra-orthodox, liberal/rationalist types) could trap Jesus. We face opposition today from various intellectual groups. We need have no fear for God is wiser than them all.

The Sadducees were "rationalists", they didn't believe in angels or miracles, the first five books of the Old Testament were all that really mattered. Most importantly in the immediate context, they did not believe in the resurrection.

So based on their "cleverness" they posed a question to Jesus, based on the Law, that they thought "proved" the resurrection was a logical impossibility. They considered a situation where a woman has legitimately had a whole series of husbands following repeated widowhood. Who would be her husband after the resurrection?

Jesus answered this by going to the root of the matter. There was a basic error in their thinking. They assumed that resurrection was just a continuation of this life. This is an error that many today make as well. In arguments of atheists there is usually a basic error in their thinking. People often talk about "seeing their loved ones" when we are raised from the dead. This is OK as far as it goes, but we need to realise that things will be radically different after the resurrection. Marriage, as we know it, will no longer exist. This does not mean your relationship will no longer matter, but that things will be infinitely greater.

Jesus then goes on to expand their thinking even further. He quotes from the Law, where it repeatedly talks of God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So the Law that the Sadducees claimed to respect showed that there must be a resurrection, for God is the God of the living not the dead. Similarly science, far from disproving God, actually supports theism.

Mark 12:13-17 - Unto Caesar

The attempt to trap Jesus continued. Having failed themselves, the religious leaders sent some Pharisees and Herodians. Perhaps they thought the combination of the theological and political would be more successful. 

They started off by flattering Jesus, perhaps trying to lull Him into a false sense of security. The fact that they thought this might work shows how little they understood.

After the flattery comes the question, should we pay taxes to Caesar? This is why the Pharisees and Herodians were there. From a religious perspective an answer of yes would upset the Pharisees, from a political perspective an answer of no would anger the Herodians. The Jews hated the Roman occupation, but the Herodians had come to an accommodation with the Romans and did not want to upset them.

So once again Jesus outwits them. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's". 

Mark 12:1-12 - Parable of the Tenants

This follows on immediately from the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law questioning Jesus' authority. Now Jesus tells a parable that teaches the truth of the way things had gone, the parable of the tenants.

The tenants had only rented the vineyard and were due money to the owner. In the same way the  leaders in Israel were only stewards. They were supposed to run things on God's behalf. This is true of all of us. All of us are servants. We have a responsibility towards God and will have to answer to Him.

The owner sent various servants to collect his due, but the tenants killed them all. These servants represent the prophets. The prophets' warnings were consistently ignored

Then the owner sent his own son. This, of course, was Jesus. Instead of finally paying attention, the tenants thought if they kill the son then they can claim the land for good. In reality they are only storing up more trouble for themselves. This is the story of everyman. We are under such a delusion that we think we can get round the basic truth the God is God and we are utterly dependent upon Him for every moment of our being.

The religious leaders know Jesus is talking about them, but they fail to repent, instead they want to arrest Jesus, but again fear gets in the way.

Mark 11:27-33 - Authority

The key question was one of authority. By what authority did Jesus do and say the things He did and said? I remember in my days as an atheist that sometimes I would shout at God "why should I obey you?" (atheists are rarely as logical as they make out to be!). It is the root of sin, rebellion against God, a refusal to acknowledge His authority. Conversely, the first step to freedom is to acknowledge Christ as Lord.

God is the ultimate authority from which all other authority derives its authority. So to ask God to "prove" His authority is actually illogical. It is like the old school-boy chestnut of "who created God?". God is not a created being, so the question actually makes no sense. Similarly, the question of who gives God His authority makes no sense.

So Jesus does not answer their question directly, but asks them who gave John the Baptist his authority. This put them in a bind, for they actually were not really interested in authority, only in protecting their own position. So Jesus exposed the truth of where they really stood, and they refused to answer.

Mark 11:1-26 - Entries and Clearings

The final third of Mark's gospel is concerned with the last week or so of Jesus' time on earth. Everything had been prepared long ago for this crucial week, and this is illustrated here. Momentous events were about to happen, but even the mundane details like getting a donkey and rooms being ready were taken care of. God has all things in hand.

Jesus then makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the cries of Hosanna. We see the crazy mixed up nature of us human beings. Here we are praising Jesus, then a few days later we will be shouting "crucify Him".

The entrance is followed by two events, the cursing of the fig tree and the clearing of the temple.

The fig tree incident could be taken as a parable about Israel or Israel's fruitless religion, but Jesus uses it as an illustration of the power of faith and prayer. Jesus brings out two key aspects of faith. We are to believe and we must not harbour unforgiveness against anyone.

Jesus also cleared the temple. The House of God is meant to be a place where the purposes of God are fulfilled, not the purposes of men. Notice also that Jesus refers to it being a house of prayer for all nations. It was always God's plan that all nations would be blessed through Abraham (Gen 12:3).

Mark 10:46-52 - How much can you see?

Following the spiritual blindness of James and John, we see Bartimaeus receiving his physical sight. Jericho is, of course, famous for the incident with Joshua shortly after entering the Promised Land. Herod the Great had built a new city a little south of the original one. The old city was very much just ruins.

Bartimaeus was sitting by the road begging. When he heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing by he called on Jesus to have mercy upon him.

The crowds rebuked him. When someone calls upon the Lord there will always be those who say we are wasting our time, or rebuke us for some reason or other. Fortunately God is far more willing to hear our cries, as was Jesus here who called Bartimaeus to Himself.

So the crowds now change their attitude! The man threw his cloak aside and went to Jesus. The cloak was essential to his begging activities. So his throwing this aside may be symbolic of him entering into a new life.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Jesus. "I want to see" answered the man, and immediately he was healed. Notice that in this incident there is no commanding, no spitting or laying on of hands. It is faith that is the key ingredient. Notice also how simple it was. There are times when we need to come to God with the same simplicity.

The faith we have affects what God will do in our lives.

Mark 10:32-45 - How wrong can you be?

While the disciples failed to understand the purpose of Jesus' mission, especially the cross and resurrection, they knew that Jerusalem was an extremely dangerous place for Jesus to be. Yet He was resolutely going there. Jesus had no fear, but those who followed Him did. There are times when we can be afraid of where Jesus is leading us. We can be assured that He knows exactly what He is doing and can handle any and every situation. 

Jesus took His disciples aside and told them exactly what would happen. He told them about the events that would happen immediately before the cross, and what would happen afterwards.

Yet again the disciples, this time James and John, demonstrate a complete failure to understand and appreciate what Jesus was saying and what the implications were. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah, and so wanted the "best seats in heaven". See that this is based on an element of truth, Jesus was going to be crowned King of Kings, just as some false or misguided teaching today is based on an element of truth. But it totally failed to appreciate the totality of what Jesus is about.

James and John did not realise that is asking to be at the right and left of Him in His glory they were really asking to be on the crosses either side of Him! Jesus knew they had no idea what they were talking about. But He also knew that one day they would indeed be able to share in His suffering. James would soon be martyred, and John would suffer on Patmos.

Jesus then teaches all the disciples that His kingdom runs on very different principles to the kingdoms of the world. The only authority we have in the kingdom is the authority to serve others.

Mark 10:17-31 - "prosperity" gospel?

As well as power and a misplaced sense of self-importance, one of the greatest obstacles to entering the kingdom is money. 

A rich young (or ruler as he is called elsewhere) came to Jesus. He called Jesus a "good teacher" and asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life. He recognised there was something special about Jesus. He maybe also recognised that despite his wealth he was still lacking something. Or maybe he was just looking for assurance. Or maybe he was flattering Jesus, being proud because of his wealth and seeing what Jesus had to say.

As usual Jesus responds with His own question. First He asks why the man calls Him good. Only God is truly good. Then He effectively asks why the man is asking the question, for the man knows the commandments.

And the man confirms that he has kept all these. Jesus does not question this, but then tells him to sell all he has and give it to the poor. Now as an aside, this does not mean that all of us have to sell absolutely everything and give it to the poor. We need to take Scripture as a whole when drawing general rather than specific applications. The general application is that we are all to be generous and not hold on to money.

The man was distraught and went away. Those who preach a greed gospel would do well to consider this incident. And all of us need to look at ourselves. Jesus demands our all. Our wealth, our talents, everything we have belongs to Him.

Jesus then declared how hard it was for the rich to enter the kingdom. This shocked the disciples, for wealth was seen as a sign of God's blessing. 

Jesus then makes matters even worse by making it seem virtually impossible to enter the kingdom. And so it is if we rely on our own merits. All of us need to come to Christ, depending only on Him.

Peter then speaks for all the disciples in pointing out that they had left everything. Jesus replies that they will certainly not lose out.

So we see here the tension and balance between prosperity and denial. The so-called prosperity gospel is unbiblical rubbish, but so is a poverty gospel! The wisest and most sensible thing I can ever do is give everything to Christ, and this is the thing that will benefit my life most. As Jesus said, if we lose our lives for His sake we will truly find them. We will even benefit in this life, but there may also be times in this life when the cost is enormous.

Mark 10:13-16 - Like a child

This is one of the most well-known incidents in Jesus' life. The people were bringing little children to Jesus to be blessed, but the disciples tried to stop them. We need to beware of trying to stop Jesus blessing people, something the church has been all to good at sometimes.

The kingdom of God is not complicated. The simple fact is that God loves us and if only we will come to Him with a simple openness and willingness to trust and receive, then we will discover the depths and truth of this. But when we complicate things, when we try to exalt our own importance we exclude ourselves from the kingdom. 

Mark 10:1-12 - Divorce

Again crowds followed Jesus, and again He taught them. Teaching was central to Jesus' ministry.

Pharisees came and tested Jesus. They were not interested in learning the truth, only in trying to trap Him in some way. This time they did this by asking Him about divorce. They maybe hoped that Jesus would come out strongly against divorce (which in fact He did) and thus incur the wrath of Herod and suffer the same fate as John the Baptist.

As He often did, Jesus responded by asking them what Moses said. Now the Pharisees prided themselves on their adherence to the Law, so Jesus is playing on this fact. The Pharisees responded by quoting from Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Now the debate at the time was such that divorce was accepted, the argument was over what constituted sufficient grounds for divorce.

Jesus pointed them back to the original purpose of marriage. Some were looking for an excuse to divorce. The emphasis should have been on how to make marriage work. 

Jesus final words here may seem as though they are virtually ruling out divorce altogether.However, I do not think that this is the case. There was a practice of a man divorcing his wife for almost any reason. So if he was fed up with his wife, or just fancied another woman, he would declare that he had divorced his wife, marry the other woman, and think he was still a good Jew. Jesus is declaring that this is nonsense. In God's eyes the man was still committing adultery.

Mark 9:42-50 - Hell - a place to be avoided

The "whoever is not against us is for us" injunction is not a licence for an easy going approach. We need to be careful that we do not cause anyone who belongs to Jesus to fall away, for this will bring severe judgement upon us. This is also a counter to anyone who thinks it is all "gentle Jesus meek and mild". Jesus spoke an awful lot about judgment, and in the harshest terms.

Lest we then start judging others or blaming others for our own sins ("he made me do it"), Jesus immediately warns us to make sure that we deal with sin in our own life in the firmest terms. If something causes us to stumble we are to take action to stop it. The bits about cutting off feet and gouging out eyes is hyperbole, but it does mean that we are not to mess about with temptation. It is wise not to stay in the same house or flat alone with your girlfriend. If something causes financial temptation, avoid it.

There is a severe judgment coming. Hell is real. There are all sorts of silly arguments about the nature of hell. The truth is that no one knows exactly what hell will be like, but there is no way that we want to go there. It is to be avoided at all costs.

More positively, we have a function in this world, to be salt to the world, bringing Godly flavour. We need to ensure that we maintain our godliness.

Mark 9:38-41 - For and against

John raised the question of someone who was not one of the disciples, but was casting out demons in Jesus' name. The disciples had told him to stop. It is not clear why John asked this question. He may have thought they had done the right thing and was looking for confirmation, or in the light of what Jesus had just said he may have been reconsidering the wisdom of their action.

Jesus corrects John. If someone does a miracle in Jesus' name then they are "for us". Moreover, anyone who  does anything to help the disciples will be rewarded. We are not to have an exclusive attitude, but an inclusive one. The name of Jesus is a "measuring line" not whether someone belongs to our particular group or denomination. How much trouble could we have saved ourselves if as the church we had only observed this instruction?

Mark 9:30-37 - Not understood

Jesus continued to seek to find time alone with the disciples so that He could teach them. We need to spend time alone with God, praying, studying and meditating. For the way that we are meant to live is that we are directed, inspired and fed by God through His word, and then this dictates how we interact with the world. Instead, all too often our lives are dictated by circumstances. This the difference between living by the Spirit and living by the flesh.

Now what Jesus had to teach them about was not music to their ears, for He continued to tell them about the fact that He would be killed and then rise again.  However, the disciples continued to fail to understand. So why did Jesus continue to try and teach them, given their failings? Maybe because it would all become clear after the resurrection and Pentecost. The lessons God teaches us are not always immediately learnt.

In fact, not satisfied with failing to understand what Jesus was on about, they were arguing about who was the greatest, even though they knew they really should not be doing this. Jesus then instructs them that the kingdom of God operates on very different principles to the kingdom of the world.

Mark 9:14-29 - Only by prayer

They came down the mountain and were immediately confronted with the reality of life. There was a crowd and they ran to Jesus. 

A boy kept having fits, possibly epileptic, possibly demonic. The crowd thought they were demon related, and the disciples who had not gone up the mountain were unable to deal with the problem.

Jesus' reaction is one of almost despair, despair at the lack of faith of the people. Notice the implication that Jesus wants us to have faith to deal with issues like this. The implication is that if we believed and obeyed Jesus properly we would not need Him here in order to sort out the problems.

The boy was brought to Jesus and the evil spirit threw the boy into a fit. Notice that Jesus' remains calm, there is no "added drama". Exorcism is simple exercise of Godly authority, it does not need a big show. The boy's father asks Jesus to have pity on them "if He can do anything". Jesus tells him to believe. Like most of us, the father is in a state somewhere between belief and unbelief. 

Jesus commanded the spirit to leave the boy for good.

Later the disciples asked why they failed to get anywhere. Jesus replies that this sort only comes out by prayer. In Matthew it says prayer and fasting. Now what does Jesus mean here? For Jesus did not pray on the spot, He simply told the evil spirit where to go! I think the lesson is that we need to have a lifestyle of prayer if we are to increase our effectiveness.

Mark 9:2-13 - Go transfigure

We can look at this passage in two ways (at least). One is to look at the theological significance, the other is to view it from the perspective of the three disciples.

Looking at it theologically it is highly significant in what it tells us about who Jesus is, His relationship to the Father, and His relationship to the Old Testament scriptures  (and no doubt much more besides). 

First, He is transformed, or transfigured, and took on a brilliant white appearance, showing that something special is happening. Then Elijah and Moses appear with Him, and they are talking to Jesus. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets from the OT. This shows that Jesus is indeed the messiah spoken of in the OT, and that who He is and all that He does is consistent with the OT revelation.

Next a cloud appears and a voice from heaven affirms that Jesus is God's Son, and that we should listen to Him. This affirms the deity of Christ, and His relationship to the Father.

Now consider how the disciples were feeling. Probably pretty confused by what Jesus had said to them, the issues we considered in the last day or two. They needed some encouragement, some affirmation that Jesus really was the messiah. So Jesus takes the three closest disciples with Him up the mountain. Note also that the revelation takes things further. We all go through times when we are confused about what God is doing in our lives, or about how or where our lives are going. When we go through these times we will often find that afterwards we will have an increased revelation of who Christ is.

Peter, as always, opens his big mouth. Later, when Jesus spoke about rising from the dead it continues to go right over their heads. So they ask Jesus a question that they knew something about, namely that Elijah was supposed to come. Jesus' answer indicates that John the Baptist was the Elijah figure.

Mark 9:1 - True Power

Verse 1 causes some problem because it is assumed that Jesus is referring to His return. Clearly this cannot be the case. Others see it as referring to the transfiguration. Given that we immediately get an account of the transfiguration there is something to be said for this.

So let's look at what has just happened. The disciples have just realised that Jesus is the Messiah, they have then had the shock of Jesus saying He would be killed (the bit about the resurrection seems to have washed over their heads). Then, as if to make matters worse, He has gone on to say that anyone who follows Him (ie the disciples) must be prepared to endure a similar fate. And let us remember that while for most of us "carrying our cross" is a metaphorical term, most of the apostles dies for their faith.

On the surface this messiah business is not as attractive as it once seemed! Yet they would realise that there was true power in the cross, that the cross was the most powerful act of any man in history.

Romans 9-11 - Israel and the wisdom of God

A sermon on Romans 9-11 can be found here. Naturally there is an awful lot of Romans 9-11 that is not covered! It looks as at how Israel fits in to God's plan of salvation.

Mark 8:34-8:38 - The way of the cross

Notice that Jesus rebuked Peter in private, then He called the crowds and began to teach them. The supreme purpose of the cross was to win our salvation, to pay the price of our salvation and to conquer death. However, the cross is also an example. The life of Jesus is an example. Just as Jesus went the way of the cross to see God's purposes fulfilled, so we too must go the way of the cross if we want to see God's purposes fulfilled in our lives.

The root of sin is rebellion against God, of putting ourselves in the place of God, instead of giving Him His rightful place. When we turn to God we must deny ourselves, ie we put God first, we seek first the kingdom and His righteousness.

When we rebel against God we think we are gaining freedom, we think we are getting what we want, but nothing could be further from the truth. The paradox is that when we deny ourselves, when we lose our life, we actually gain it.

Making ourselves gods is based on a lie. Atheism, humanism, secularism, all ism's which put man at the centre are based on a lie. A moments thought should show that we are not gods. We had no say in whether or not we were born, we had no say in what sort of person we would be, we had no control over when we would be born. We did not create the universe. We have precious little control over when we will die, and we certainly cannot avoid death altogether. We rebel again and again against God being Lord, but it is actually the only thing that makes sense, and our lives only start to make sense when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord of all.

And in this life we must acknowledge Christ as Lord before men. 

Mark 8:31-33 - And not seeing

Receiving revelation is not the end of the matter but only the beginning. How do you know if some so-called "revelation" is really from God? One sign is that it will challenge you. If all it does is challenge everyone else except you, then it is probably not from God.

So the disciples, and Peter in particular, had just realised that Jesus was the Messiah. Now Jesus begins to tell them what that really means.

Jesus uses the term "Son of Man", a term used of no-one else in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it is sometimes used just to mean someone is a human being, but in Daniel (Dan 7:13) it is a messianic title. There are several messianic passages in various parts of the Old Testament. However, Jesus focuses on aspects the messiah that probably got overlooked! Namely the fact that Isaiah said that the Messiah would have to suffer. (Similarly some so-called prosperity teachers overlook rather a lot of the New Testament teaching.) 

In particular Jesus tells them that the Son of Man must be killed, and then will rise again. He spoke plainly, but Peter rebuked Him. Jesus then rebuked Peter  with the famous words "Get behind me Satan". Peter had in mind the things of men, not of God.

There is much to learn here. One is that revelation most certainly does not mean we now know it all. Peter's understanding was still very much lacking. Moreover, our mind's are very easily focused on the things of men, not the things of God. We need to let our minds be led by the Spirit, not by the flesh.

Mark 8:28-30 - Seeing (2)

It is perhaps no coincidence that this section comes after the blind man being healed. For first we have an instance of physical blindness being healed, then we have an example of someone receiving spiritual sight, shortly followed by a further example of spiritual blindness!

The disciples had seen many things happen, and Jesus was wary of the crowds who wanted to make Him king. It was vital that the disciples understood who He really was. So Jesus asks them "who do people say I am?" The people had various answers, all of them wrong, but being inspired by some aspects of who Jesus really was. Essentially they all thought he was a prophet of some sort. Malachi talks of an Elijah figure coming in the last days.

Jesus then addresses the question to His disciples, "Who do you say I am?" This is the key question that all of us have to answer. Peter replied "you are the Messiah". Matthew's account tells us that Jesus commended Peter and informed him that it was God who had revealed this to him.

Jesus warns them not to tell anyone about Him, for this would hinder Jesus' ministry.

Mark 8:22-27 - Seeing (1)

Here we have another spitting healing. Funny that you don't see too many people these days with "healing ministries" who make spitting part of their ministry!

Again we see the need for the person to be touched by Jesus. We also see Jesus taking the man outside the village. Sometimes Jesus healed someone in full view of a crowd, in particular when the Pharisees or some similar group were trying to trap Him. But at others Jesus took them away from the crowd. In Israel's history there were many times when God led them into the wilderness in order to deal with them.

I think this is the only incident in the gospels where someone is initially healed partially, and then completely healed. Jesus tells him not to tell anyone, not even to go into the village.

Jesus' instructions to people who get healed is very different from the one we have today. If someone is healed we would want them to broadcast the event in order to get people interested in knowing more about Jesus. So are we wrong to do this? Perhaps not, but there are things we can learn from Jesus' approach (surprise, surprise!). Jesus also told demons not to declare who He was, now clearly we are absolutely right to declare who Jesus is, and our failing is not doing this enough. However, we should remember that Jesus' emphasis, as we have seen, was on teaching. The healings etc backed up the teaching. The focus should always be on the truth of who Jesus is.

Mark 8:14-21 - Worry about the right things

The disciples forgot to take bread with them when they crossed the lake. Jesus made a comment about yeast. This bore no relation to the lack of bread, but was a reference to the teaching and attitudes of the Pharisees and Saducees. However, the disciples were convinced that Jesus was angry with them for not bringing any bread.

This reveals a lot about human psychology. If we feel guilty about something then we are very sensitive to anything that might possibly be construed as being related to that area. The disciples assumed Jesus was annoyed with them.

It also contains teaching on daily needs. The feeding of the 4000 and the 5000 (and, by the way, this comment by Jesus confirms that they were two separate incidents) shows that immediate lack of food is not a problem. We very easily let concerns  about daily needs distract us from what really matters. They can consume our minds, making it impossible for us to think straight.

The disciples then did understand what Jesus was really talking about.

As an aside, just because you feel guilty about something, does not mean that God is getting at you on that matter. He may be concerned about something altogether different.
[These comments can also be found on my post on the parallel passage in Matthew].