Blog – Page 26 – Read Through the Bible

March 20 / Mark 6:30-56

Mark 6:30-56

Dear RTB’ers,

The feeding of the five thousand is one of only two incidents outside of Holy Week that is recorded in all four gospels, the other being Jesus’ baptism. I can imagine that the Jewish people who were there and were part of this miracle would later recall their ancestors wandering in the wilderness and the provision of manna for their food. And today we can also have a recall of this miracle: And taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves… (v. 41a) So every time we see the priest raising the host and breaking it at our communion service, we can recall Jesus doing the same at the feeding of the five thousand. Interesting.

The end of our reading today has Jesus healing the sick at Gennesaret. In Mark’s previous chapter we had the incident of Jesus being in this same region and healing a man possessed by a number of demons (Mark 5:1-20). At the end of that healing Mark reports that the people were afraid and they …began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. (Mark 5:15b, 17b) Today we see a major turnaround in these people: And when they [Jesus and the disciples] got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized Him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard He was. (Mark 6:54-55) People change. We don’t know what time period elapsed between the previous chapter’s healing of the man with a demon and today’s reading, but apparently that man had been successful in telling his story: And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. (Mark 5:20) People change. Let’s not stop telling our own stories!

Blessings!

See also:

March 19 / Mark 6:6b-30

Mark 6:6b-30

Dear RTB’ers,

We never know the exact time frame for Jesus in Mark’s gospel, or in any of the other gospels, for that matter. But it was only a few days ago (Mark 3:13, ff.) that we saw His twelve apostles named. So, one wonders how long they had been with Jesus before He sent them out (in today’s reading). What I’m getting at here is a reflection back to the “Our Witness” chapter in our Lenten book, The Narrow Path, where the author makes a major point of Jesus’ words, “You are…” Here’s the text:

His disciples have just arrived. They are at the very start of their journey, but He doesn’t say, “You will be salt and light when I’m done with you.” He doesn’t say, “You have salt and light.” He doesn’t say, “You must be salt and light.” He says, “You are salt and light.”
The Narrow Path: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls, by Rich Villodas — p. 52

So, as Jesus is sending out the twelve, I’m wondering at how long they have been with Him, how much “training” He has given them. Mark doesn’t tell us. All that we read is that He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. (v. 7) He also gave them further charges as to their trust in His Father in providing for them on their journey.

So, how much training have we received? Or, how much more do we need? Are we ready to be sent out?

Blessings!

See also:

March 18 / Mark 5:21-6:6a

Mark 5:21-6:6a

Dear RTB’ers,

I have often suggested in my posts that anyone reading our text put him/herself into the story. Today’s reading has quite a cast of characters: people in the crowd beside the sea; Jairus, the synagogue official, whose daughter is dying; the woman with the 12-year hemorrhage; one of Jesus’ skeptical disciples viewing the healing; Peter, James, and John accompanying Jesus to Jairus’ home; the mourning crowd at the house; Jesus’ family at His home in Nazareth; or attendees at the Nazareth synagogue. Almost lost in today’s reading is a minor, sub-sub-sub story, almost an aside: And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. (v. 6:5) If I’m going to put myself into today’s reading, I think I’d like to be one of those forgotten folks whom Jesus healed at Nazareth. I daresay that I’d be as happy with my encounter with Him as Jairus or any other character in today’s reading.

Blessings!

See also:

March 17 / Mark 4:35-5:20

Mark 4:35-5:20

Dear RTB’ers,

Jesus calming the storm. At Avanza for many years we used the Jesus Storybook Bible (JSB) for devotionals with the kids. An interesting line comes from the JSB in this incident of Jesus calming the storm. The book has Jesus speaking His calming words, “Peace! Be still!”, and the wind and the waves calming down. Then the JSB goes on, that the wind and the waves recognized the voice of the One who had first created them when the Earth was created. They recognize His voice and obey Him. An interesting twist to this story!

As to the healing of the man with multiple demons, some interesting items:

Jesus is now in Gentile territory, our first account of Him leaving Galilee or Judea
There is more than one demon in this possessed man
Jesus has a multiple-line conversation with at least one of the demons – Mark records four full sentences from one of the demons
The herd of pigs – pigs were unclean for the Jews; they would not have been found in Galilee or Judea
Two thousand pigs – that’s a huge herd!!
Jesus tells the man to tell his story to his friends; in previous healings He has told demons or a healed person not to speak of Him or the deliverance (Mark 1:34, 1:44, 3:12); Bible scholars often refer to Mark’s “Messianic Secret”.

We will see more demons and unclean spirits as we continue in Mark’s gospel.

Blessings!

See also:

March 16 / Mark 4:21-34

Mark 4:21-34

Dear RTB’ers,

A week ago I mentioned that there were only six items in Mark’s gospel that were not included in any of the other gospels. Today’s parable of the growing seed is one of those six items. This parable contains one precious sentence: He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. (v. 27) In our day scientists have discovered much about plants and their growth cycles. Still, most of us remain fairly ignorant as to what is going on inside the plant, yet we are fascinated, nonetheless. Today as we drove home from church, I saw new green rows of wheat sprouting up in a field just off the highway. That wheat had been planted last fall and had lain dormant the entire winter until just the past few days. What kind of Creator comes up with a process, a mystery like that? Our loving God has created millions and millions of those mysteries – beauty upon beauty for the human eye to see. Spring is a wonderful time to view these glorious mysteries – daffodils emerging from untouched soil; newborn foals dancing in the fields, with mares only a few feet away; pouring rain making rivers out of dry creek beds; red buds on limbs and branches, a prelude to green leaves. What a glorious Creation we have! What a wonderful Creator! We know not how!!

Blessings!

See also:

March 15 / Mark 4:1-20

Mark 4:1-20

Dear RTB’ers,

The sower and the seed. This one is another gospel reading that has been used for sermons, kid story time, group application activities, etc. – it’s a parable well known to all of us. So, we ask, “What’s new? What have I not seen before?” And my own answer – what if God is continually sowing seed onto each one of us and at any given point in time we are side path, rocky land, thorny ground, or good soil recipients. Going back in time, was I (were you) ever on a wrong path or living a rocky life or excessively choked by thorns – and I (you) missed the best that God had to offer? But at some point, since I am posting this item (and if you are in RTB and are reading this post), some seed must have fallen on my (your) good ground.

I am currently going through the gospels with a 20-year-old young man. Our reading for today had a quote from Luke’s gospel, Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32) The NKJV was even more pointed: It is the Father’s good pleasure… I do not spend enough time thinking about our Father’s love for us or His “good pleasure” in providing for us and our families in our earthly life, let alone His kingdom! It’s one thing to be thankful for what we have; it’s quite another to see joy in our Father’s face as He looks down upon us. Imagine His joy when His newly sown seed falls on our good soil!

Blessings!

March 14 / Mark 1-3 Review

Mark 1-3

Dear RTB’ers,

Today, reviewing Mark’s first three chapters. STS asks some good questions. I hope you all will spend some time with those.

For me, I’m struck again by how fast Mark’s gospel moves, how many different activities in which Jesus is engaged every daily section that we read. I’m also struck by how little time He seems to spend in Capernaum, how much He moves out to the rest of Galilee. Matthew and Luke have Him at Peter’s house much more often.

Enjoy some reflection time.

Blessings!

See also:

Note that in 2023, we covered a lot more ground each day, reading parallel passages in multiple Gospels. Hence, most of the above posts do not say much about the Gospel of Mark specifically. Nevertheless, those are the 2023 posts for Mark 1-3.

March 13 / Mark 3:19b-35

Mark 3:19b-35

Dear RTB’ers,

Today, a verse that’s always been confusing to me: But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. (v. 27) The verse is straightforward in itself, but its context has confused me. Why did Jesus speak this sentence? My new insight… First, the background. The scribes have accused Jesus that He is possessed by Beelzebul and that He is casting out demons by this prince of demons (v. 22b). Jesus responds with His famous “House divided” line (famously quoted by Abraham Lincoln in 1858). Then Jesus speaks that confusing sentence noted above. My understanding is that one of Satan’s demons is that “strong man” and that a demon-possessed man is his “house”. When Jesus casts out a demon, the demon is a “strong man” and Jesus is binding that strong man and is “plundering his house”; that is, Jesus is binding the demon and is freeing the man from his demon possession. He is not casting out demons by Beelzebub, but by the power of God.

Maybe…?? Your thoughts?

Blessings!

See also:

March 12 / Mark 3:7-19a

Mark 3:7-19a

Dear RTB’ers,

The naming of the twelve apostles. When we’ve read through the Bible using The Chronological Study Bible Jesus’ naming of His twelve apostles is reported sequentially in Mark and Luke (Lk. 6:13-16), then later for Matthew (Mt. 10:2-4). The three gospels agree on eleven of the names – Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (Levi), Simon the Zealot, James the son of Alphaeus, and Judas Iscariot. For the twelfth apostle Matthew and Mark have Thaddeaus, while Luke has Judas the son of James. Luke also has the same eleven names listed in Acts 1:13. Finally, John’s gospel does not list all twelve, but he has Nathaniel instead of Bartholomew (John 1:45-49) listed in Jesus’ initial calling of His disciples. Incidentally, Judas Iscariot appears to be the only apostle who is not from Galilee. According to my Study Bible, he is likely from Kerioth-hezron, a town in the hill country of Judea, south of Jerusalem.

Blessings!

March 11 / Mark 2:13-3:6

Mark 2:13-3:6

Dear RTB’ers,

So many stories today – the calling of Levi (Matthew); fasting; “violating” the Sabbath; healing a man with a withered hand – as John and I have noted in years past, we often have to choose what to comment on. Thankfully STS can guide us into further comments and questions!

A small item I noticed today: …the scribes of the Pharisees… (v. 2:16a) Both the ESV and the NASB have “of” in this phrase, although the ESV notes that “of” is translated “and” in a number of manuscripts, which is my more common understanding. (See Jesus’ use of “and” in Matthew 23, where He pronounces woes on the “scribes and pharisees” in Mt. 23:13,15,23,25,27,29.) Clearly “scribes”, often translated “teachers of the law” can be distinct from Pharisees. But it’s also the case that “of” can mean “within”, as in …the scribes within the Pharisees… That is, some Pharisees were also scribes. Nicodemus (John 3) comes to mind; therein John refers to him as a Pharisee (John 3:1) and Jesus refers to him as a teacher (John 3:10). Still, not all scribes were Pharisees and not all Pharisees were scribes, but certainly some could be both!

One other item – my Study Bible had a sentence about the Pharisees that is worth quoting: “Although some, no doubt, were godly, most of those who came into conflict with Jesus were hypocritical, envious, rigid, and formalistic.” Certainly this sentence applies to Jesus’ opponents in today’s reading who have difficulty with Jesus’ eating with tax collectors and sinners (v. 2:16); Jesus’ disciples’ plucking grain on the Sabbath (v. 2:24); and those upset with Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath (v. 3:2). Their opposition is clearly stated in 3:6, The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him. And we’re still early in Mark’s gospel!

Blessings!

See also: