Mark 9:14-32

“Notice what you notice.” WOW! A number of good items to report on today, including, for every one of us, our favorite Bible verse: Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (v. 24) “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.” How often have I cried out like that in difficult times!! You, too…??

I’m having to find time in between sessions at this conference! So now I’ve tapped out some introductory thoughts and it’s 10:30 pm as I finish those thoughts. I hope they make sense!!

Mark’s introductory description is fascinating: And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Him, were greatly amazed and ran up to Him and greeted Him. (vv. 14-15) I am sympathetic for the disciples. Jesus had Peter, James, and John with Him. The other 9+/- disciples were somewhere else, presumably nearby, unable to cast out this particular demon, even though they had had successes before when Jesus had sent them out. So now they are arguing with the scribes, presumably about Jesus and His power to heal and about their own relationship with Jesus. Then Jesus comes by and the crowd instantly moves to Him, deflating the disciples even more. Yes, disappointing for the disciples, but consider for a moment the level to which the crowd has elevated Jesus. Later, on Palm Sunday, they are almost ready to make Him king. These outsiders in Galilee might have felt that way, but at a lower level of emotion than the Jerusalem crowd. These Galilean expectations of a King were probably at a lower level than in Jerusalem. Still, they knew Jesus and loved to be near and with Him!!

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. (v. 25) Here we see something that we have not seen before. Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit and orders it to “never enter him again”. What a wonderful thought!! To have been burdened with this unclean spirit for all these years, and then to know that you have (or your son has) been healed of this affliction FOREVER! Never again!!! Awesome!! What a glorious God we serve! NEVER AGAIN! Folks, I know that we have some “never again” afflictions that can be healed. So, go back to the first paragraph: “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.” GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 17:14-23

“Notice what you notice.” Is Jesus as exasperated as it might seem in this reading? We have Him twice asking, …how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? (v. 17) It seems fully out of character for Him. Yet, even if He is exasperated, He relents and heals the boy. It’s a simple lesson for us to learn.

Slava Bohu!

Luke 9:28-36

“Notice what you notice.” Luke’s account of the Transfiguration…

Posting from the plane – you’ll get it Tuesday morning. I’m always intrigued by what’s different in the Synoptic Gospel writers’ accounts. Two items come out in Luke’s account. First, Luke tells us that Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. The other writers simply have Jesus and His disciples going up to the mountain “by themselves”.

Second, Luke writes that the three disciples actually entered the cloud: As He was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. (v. 34) I was once at a conference on a high plateau at Petit Jean Mountain in northwest Arkansas. As we sat in a glass-enclosed conference room we watched a cloud coming in from the valley below, a huge cloud that completely enveloped the building in which we were sitting. It was a spectacular sight, to go from bright sunlight to zero visibility in seconds! Naturally, with our 20^th century knowledge we had no fear as to what was happening. But I can imagine the fear the disciples had as they entered the cloud – and then that their fear was magnified (according to Matthew’s account) when the Father’s voice came from the cloud. The Father’s words were reassuring – they may have heard the same words at Jesus’ baptism, and finding Jesus alone certainly settled their souls. But for a few moments there…!!

Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him, the same three disciples that He took with Him when He went to Gethsemane – also to pray. And again, the three disciples were “heavy with sleep”. Strange that there are these parallels between Jesus’ Transfiguration, a major high point of Jesus’ life on earth and Gethsemane, a major low point… Intriguing.

Slava Bohu!

Mark 9:2-13

“Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of the Transfiguration…

Carol and I are on the road to Maryland (thank you, Mobile HotSpot!), then tomorrow on a plane to Prague and more. We’ll be 16 days in CZ, SK, and Ireland, then back to MD for an undetermined number of days. Suffice to say that it’ll probably be July before you see us again! We will have Internet and e-mail/text service most of our trip, but it’ll often be difficult for me to post in the morning as I prefer to do. Hopefully I can at least post every day. We’ll see…

And as they were coming down the mountain, He charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. (vv. 9-10) I believe that if I were one of the disciples back then that I would have also kept my mouth shut and not wondered openly what this “rising from the dead” might mean! To the disciples this was an entirely new concept – something that had never been done before. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, but even then He had told the crowd that the girl was not dead, but only sleeping. Even after Jesus had risen from the dead there was doubt about what had actually happened (see the “Doubting Thomas” story — John 20:24-29).

More to the point for us, however, is the fact that too many of our dear friends and relatives are also dismissive of Jesus rising from the dead, in spite of the substantial amount of evidence available. I feel like it is often the case that those who doubt Jesus’ resurrection refuse to take the time to study the facts. I think that deep down they don’t want to face the reality of what the truth of His resurrection might mean in their lives. Years ago I spent a good deal of time looking at the evidence for His resurrection and was absolutely convinced of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. I cannot cite all that evidence “on command” these days, but the truth of the matter has stuck with me. For Dickie’s sake (my younger brother) I think I need to look at that evidence anew. How about you?

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 17:1-13

“Notice what you notice.” The transfiguration. The first thing that I noticed was the disciples’ fear. But the fear came, not at the bright light or Moses and Elijah or the cloud, but only when the Father spoke, when He spoke the same words that He had spoken at Jesus’ baptism. I’m trying to imagine words that strike fear. If I was in trouble when I was younger and my father spoke, yes, I was afraid of what was to come. But the disciples were not in trouble. Then I’m trying to imagine the Father’s voice, a voice “out of the blue” that would strike fear. The closest that I can come is a thunder crack that is very close. It is deafeningly loud and it strikes fear, but only for a second. The Father’s words were a full sentence, maybe five seconds or longer.

The most God-like voice that I can imagine is James Earl Jones, especially his soliloquy in A Field of Dreams. That deep, bass voice: “Baseball…”! But fear on hearing the Father’s voice? Hard to imagine. Jesus’ gentle touch brought the apostles back. This whole story is GLORY!!

So what about Andrew, our namesake? This is the second occasion where we’ve seen Peter, James, and John set apart. The first was the raising of Jairus’ daughter. The next will be Jesus’ praying in Gethsemane. So this transfiguration is the most glorious of the three. But why Peter, James, and John? I’ve always wondered about that. What about Andrew? He’s the one who first brought Peter to Jesus. How did these three ascend to “the top” while leaving Andrew behind? Not a big item. Just wondering…

We have two more days of the transfiguration. It’ll be a glorious three days that will take Carol and me to Maryland, then on a plane to Prague and more. All GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 9:18-27

“Notice what you notice.” Verse 24: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Today it is worth quoting an entire footnote from my Study Bible regarding this verse, that this saying of Jesus “…is found in all four Gospels and in two Gospels more than once (in a slightly different form in John). No other saying of Jesus is given such emphasis.” The Gospel sources are Mt. 10:38-39, 16:24-25; Mark 8:34-35; Luke 9:24, 14:26-27, 17:33; and John 12:25. Interesting…!

“Daily.” If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (v. 23) In one of my Bibles I already had this word underlined. Only Luke has us taking up our crosses daily. But what a good thought that is! Taking up your cross could be a one-time thing – a conversion prayer or a Holy Spirit renewal. But taking up your cross daily…! Taking up your cross as Jesus did on the way to Golgotha, remembering and identifying with Him in His suffering…, daily. Our hearts could be so much more pure if we would take up our crosses, daily.

Slava Bohu!

Mark 8:27-9:1

“Notice what you notice.” I have often imagined / presumed that whatever Jesus said to His disciples, He was also saying to us today. For example, He could easily be asking us, Who do people say that I am? (v. 27) Or He could be asking us, But who do you say that I am? (v. 29) We need to constantly ask ourselves, for His teachings to His disciples or to the crowds, what He might be saying to us today.

Those thoughts are fully relevant in today’s reading, as the passage closes with Jesus saying, 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 when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38) I ask myself whether the Jewish world in Jesus’ time was in fact so “adulterous”? We could easily believe that of the Gentile world, with its temple prostitutes and its subjugation of women. But were the Jews themselves so “adulterous”? I wonder.

HOWEVER, when I bring Jesus’ verse 38 line into today’s world, the word “adulterous” is wholly applicable. We are truly in the midst of an “adulterous and sinful generation”. Adultery today is seemingly more prominent than faithful Christian marriage. Men and women having affairs while married is the classic adultery. But unmarried people living together also falls outside our traditional understanding of acceptable male-female relationships – to say nothing of same-sex issues!! We’ve long been a “sinful generation”, going back centuries and millennia, but I feel like our 20^th and 21^st century USA behavior has taken adultery to a new level. We are living in the midst of this “…generation”; let’s be bold for Jesus and His words so that He will be bold for us when He returns.

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 16:13-28

“Notice what you notice.” My Study Bible notes that verse 21 begins a new phase, a turning point in Jesus’ ministry: From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. This Study Bible comment hinges on the word “began”, that Jesus “began to show His disciples…”. The Study Bible argued that up to this point Jesus had been ministering to the crowds. Now He is turning His attention to the twelve.

I began to think about this claim and came up with at least four items that support that claim. First, Jesus and His disciples were in the district of Caesarea Philippi, which (I believe) was as far north as Jesus traveled. From this point on Jesus is heading south, back into and through Galilee and on to Jerusalem.

Second, Jesus establishes Peter as the leader of the Twelve, and later as leader of the Church. This decision is based on the Father’s revelation to Peter as to Jesus’ true identity: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven…” (v. 17). As Jesus is moving in a direction of ministering to His disciples, He now has a “second-in-command”. He then further elevates Peter by bringing him to the mountain for His Transfiguration (the very next event in Matthew’s Gospel).

Third, Jesus is very straightforward about His cross and resurrection. To this point He has had difficulties with the Jewish leaders, but I don’t recall that He has said that He must die.

Finally, the next event in Matthew is His Transfiguration. In His Transfiguration He is revealing Himself to Peter, James, and John in a very different manner than He has ever shown before.

So now, we watch to see if the focus changes, if there is less crowd activity and more interaction between Jesus and His disciples.

Slava Bohu!

Mark 8:11-26

“Notice what you notice.” Three small items today… I had never noticed that this “leaven” conversation between Jesus and His disciples took place in the boat as they were traveling from the west side of the Sea of Galilee, headed to Bethsaida. The only other occasion that I can recall Jesus speaking with His disciples from a boat was when He calmed the storm at sea. Also, He spoke to Peter when He was walking on the water and Peter was in the boat. Finally, on at least one occasion Jesus preached from a boat (Luke 5:1-11). One item with which I have become more clearly aware this time through Scripture is how often Jesus traveled by boat and how often he crossed the Sea of Galilee by boat. Interesting.

And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” (v.15) I have often noted and thought of the “leaven of the Pharisees”, but only this time through do I see the “leaven of Herod”. And what a chastisement it is toward the Pharisees that their speech should be so linked to that of Herod, who was an adulterer and a murderer. For the Pharisees, their behavior was always their defining characteristic. Jesus took issue with them over the incongruity between their traditions (their behavior) and the actual words in Scripture. So to be mentioned in the same vein as Herod was truly an indictment!

Finally as friends bring the blind man to Jesus in Bethsaida, Jesus takes him out of town to heal him. Further, after He heals the man, He tells him not to go back into the town. It’s quite common in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus asks His disciples or someone He healed to remain quiet about what had transpired (see Mark 1:44, 5:19, 5:43, 8:30). Much has been written about Jesus’ commands to keep quiet, mostly that Jesus wanted people to hear and understand His words so much more than to be impressed with His miracles. And over time this message has gotten through to us. We read about and appreciate Jesus’ miracles, but it’s His words that truly move us. We are blessed to be on this side of history.

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 16:1-12

“Notice what you notice.” I probably noticed it before – Jesus mentioned the color of the sky; in both cases the sky is red, but in the evening the red sky calls for good weather while in the morning the red sky calls for stormy weather. Small point, but interesting…

And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” (v. 7) “Among themselves…”!! Can you imagine the plight of the disciples? They were headed across the Sea and they forgot to bring bread. Only when Jesus brought the issue of leaven to their attention, did they remember that they had no bread. But rather than “confessing” their forgetfulness to Jesus, they began discussing it among themselves. I can hear them talking: “We have no bread. What should we do? Jesus fed 5,000 and 4,000 recently with very little bread. Should we ask Him? But I hate to bother Him. I’d be embarrassed to be the one to ask.”

So I made up this little vignette, but it raises a point. How often are we embarrassed and unwilling to admit our failings to God? He already knows, just like Jesus already knew that the disciples had no bread. When we confess our sins, we are simply acknowledging to Him what He already knows. But confession can be so hard! So hard, yet so good for our souls…!!

So, force yourself to “forget” breakfast tomorrow morning. Then when you find yourself really hungry, talk to our Lord about what else is missing in your life.

Slava Bohu!