Blog – Page 3 – Read Through the Bible

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:

March 10 / Mark 1:35-2:12

Mark 1:35-2:12

Dear RTB’ers,

Today’s second incident involves a paralytic being lowered through the roof into a crowded room where Jesus was preaching and healing, and Jesus’ question to the scribes and Pharisees, Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? (v. 2:9) I’ve heard many sermons on this incident; I’m sure that the rest of you have also, so I’m going to pass on comments here, but rather look at today’s first incident, the healing of a leper.

Our companion book, Search the Scriptures, has us “bouncing around” in the Bible, back and forth between the Old Testament and the New Testament. One of the benefits of that reading plan is that we see more and more connections between the OT and the NT. Jesus’ healing of a leper offers us a link back to Leviticus, a book that we just read at the beginning of this year. Here’s Jesus’ word to the leper, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” (v. 1:44b) We read in the next verse that the leper did not obey Jesus’ first command, but he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news… (v. 1:45a) So we wonder if the leper obeyed Jesus’ second command, to show himself to the priest. Leviticus 13 gives directions to the priests for examining a person for leprosy, then Leviticus 14 has 32 verses to detail the cleansing of a leper who has been healed. Jesus takes care of Leviticus 13 in one sentence, Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” (v. 1:41) Then it’s up to the leper to complete the task, showing himself to the priest. We have to wonder, since Mark does not report that result. (See also Luke 17:11-19, the story of Jesus healing ten lepers and one returning to give praise to God.)

Blessings!

See also:

March 9 / Mark 1:16-34

Mark 1:16-34

Dear RTB’ers,

Over the years John and I have worked up our own chronology of Jesus’ early ministry in Jerusalem and Galilee. One of the outcomes of working through those events is that when Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James, and John in today’s reading, it is likely that this was not the first time that any of them had seen (or even met) Jesus. So when Jesus says “Follow me…”, their immediate response is not just a sudden, instant reaction on their part, but probably something that has been brewing in their minds for some time and over many conversations.

I wonder about demon possession in that first century A.D. compared to demon possession in our own time. In today’s reading we see Jesus casting out an unclean spirit on the Sabbath in the synagogue, then casting out many demons in the city after sundown. So, what did the gospel writers know of demon possession back then? Were some of them ordinary illnesses? Today we see Jesus speaking with the unclean spirit in the synagogue, clearly one or more demons in that man. And what do we know of demon possession now? I’m sure there were many parents in the 1950’s and 60’s who thought that rock-and-roll was the work of demons. I remember a Christian conference some years ago where a missionary spoke of his children playing their music and the tribal chief asking why the children were calling forth the evil gods? And today, video games – demon-possessed? We don’t know what Satan has in store for us these days. However, we do know what Jesus has in mind for us as we seek Him and His Holy Spirit work in us. Let’s not trouble ourselves with demons and unclean spirits. Let’s seek Jesus whole-heartedly and let Him take care of everything else.

Blessings!

See also:

March 8 / Mark 1:1-15

Mark 1:1-15

Dear RTB’ers,

We leave Numbers and the Old Testament for three weeks before returning to finish the Pentateuch with Deuteronomy later this month. Our New Testament interlude is Mark’s gospel, arguably the first of the four gospels to be written. We can chat about that tomorrow at our RTB gathering.

Today Mark covers three topics – John the Baptist’s ministry, Jesus’ baptism, and Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. All this in fifteen verses, with half of these covering John the Baptist! That is, Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism and especially His time in the wilderness is quite short compared to other gospels.

I was struck by two items. First, in verse 1 Mark makes it clear to his readers that Jesus is God (the Son of God): The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is Mark’s opening statement; he will follow that up with accounts of what Jesus does and a lot less of what He says. Second, I’ve probably seen this before, but it struck me today: And when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open… (v. 10a) He saw the heavens opening. I’m picturing Jesus in the water, coming up out of the water and looking up into the sky to see His “Brother”, the Holy Spirit descending as a dove and hearing His Father speaking. He knows who He is and His Father confirms it. When we ask questions about Jesus’ deity up against (or coincident with) His humanity, it is this verse and His transfiguration that confirm to me that Jesus knows who He really is.

Spoiler alert: (Thank you, John, for that phrase!) As to Mark’s gospel being the first of the four gospels to be written, research has shown us that much of what Mark writes is also included in Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels, often word-for-word. In fact, I asked AI (Copilot) how much of Mark’s gospel was “standalone”, is material not included in any of the other gospels. AI replied with six items: Jesus as a carpenter; Jesus as “the Son of Mary”; the parable of the growing seed; the healing of a deaf and mute man; the healing of a blind man at Bethsaida (in two stages); and the young man who fled naked.

See you tomorrow, I hope!

Blessings!

March 7 / Numbers 33-35

Numbers 33-35

Dear RTB’ers,

Israel’s journeying, its geography, new leadership, and cities of refuge. A lot going on in today’s reading! Have you ever heard the phrase, “The devil’s in the details?” Today’s chapters clearly show us that God is in the details! He names some 40 places to where the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness as they left Egypt; He defines the boundaries of the Promised Land to exact detail; He specifies a dozen new leaders for the tribes; and He makes provision for cities and surrounding properties for the Levites, including cities of refuge. Of 63 verses in today’s last two chapters, there are only three verses where the Lord is not speaking! In addition, it is at His command that their journeying is listed: Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the LORD, and these are their stages according to their starting place. (v. 33:2) Yes, the Lord is in the details. That’s a comforting thought!

Blessings!

March 6 / Numbers 32

Numbers 32

Dear RTB’ers,

Another Old Testament story that I enjoy, two-and-one-half tribes inheriting the land of the Transjordan. I like it when potential controversy gets resolved by further communication. Moses’ initial reaction is harsh, imagining that the tribes of Gad and Reuben would be abdicating their responsibility of joining their brothers in conquering the Promised Land. But when the leaders explain their plan, Moses agrees: So Moses said to them, “If you will do this … and the land is subdued before the LORD; then … this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out. (vv. 20-23) What I have bolded is Moses’ bottom line, and the bottom line for all of us in everything we do – our sin will find us out!

We have already seen in Joshua 22 how this story ends, again, surprisingly, in potential controversy. After the Promised Land was subdued Joshua blessed Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and sent them home. However, on their way home they built an altar by the Jordan River. The other tribes considered this an unfaithful act and were ready to go to war against them. But again, further communication ensued as the two-and-one-half tribes explained that the altar was to be an altar of “witness” between these two-and-one-half tribes and the rest of Israel and the issue was resolved. Another good ending.

Blessings!