A Further Look

Let's take a quick look at the discussion we had on the questions from last week's study. Mark 1:14 - 3:6 was our text, and in the last post I put the questions we were talking about.

Jesus started his ministry with 4 key aspects: teaching and working with his disciples, preaching to the people, miracles of healing and driving out demons, and coming into conflict with authorities who felt threatened by him.

Jesus entered Galilee and said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15). There were probably some mixed feelings about this statement. Some maybe thought to themselves, "here comes another one!" Or, maybe they saw Jesus as different right away. At any rate, the Jewish leaders were not seeing what they thought they would in a King. A local man, who was born in a barn, not paraded into town in royal robes. Some of the Jewish people had a hard time accepting Jesus for who he was because he had no intention of overthrowing the Romans, but rather, he came to save people from their sins and tell of the Kingdom of God.

A little bit later in the chapters, Jesus called his first disciples. He called Simon and Andrew, and then James and his brother John. Fishermen. Hard workers, but not glamorous positions. Why did Jesus choose them? Why did they follow him? Well, perhaps he wanted to get his point across that he really doesn't care what you do, or what you have done in the past, he can use you if you are willing. Also, these guys probably saw a great man standing in front of them on the seashore, and they wanted to follow him. Whether they fully understood who he was or not, I don't know. But, as was the custom of the day, a Rabbi would call students to study under him. If you didn't get chosen for this, then you would fall into your family's occupation. For these 4 guys, it was fishing. But to be called now, they got a second chance to learn something new. Obviously they wanted this, because the Bible says they left their boats, father, hired men, etc, and got up and followed Jesus. Wow! Would we do that today? If Jesus walked up to you and said, "leave your life as you know it and follow me..." would we? The commitment of a disciple had to be total commitment.

Often when Jesus healed someone, he would tell them to go to the priest, or to their families, but "don't tell anyone, keep quiet about what has happened to you." There are some different thoughts on why this might be:
1) Jesus wanted his identity to be kept silent because he didn't want to cause a misunderstanding about what his work would be.
2) He didn't want to only be seen as a miracle worker.
3) He didn't want a lot of publicity to hinder his work.
4) He didn't want to cause his death to come about too soon... he wanted to finish his ministry work.
5) People had to be pronounced clean by a priest, if it was made known that Jesus had healed the leper then the priest's decision may have been prejudiced.

But, as Mark reports in his gospel, the leper went and shouted about his healing anyway. How could he not? Being a social outcast for the entire time of his affliction, and then to be healed in an instant... who wouldn't want to shout their praises?!

Conflict between Jesus and the Jewish Religious Leaders was starting to heat up. Mark chapter 2 deals with a couple reasons why... The people were contiuously amazed by Jesus' miracles, and this caused the religious leaders to take notice of this man Jesus. The leaders were shocked when Jesus told people their sins were forgiven, and thus proclaiming that he was God, because everyone knew that only God had the power to forgive, even though he gave people the power to heal through Him. The leaders perhaps felt like they were going to be dethroned by Jesus as his popularity grew. Also, Jesus ate with "sinners." When Jesus called Levi to be a disciple(whose name was changed to Matthew) the Pharisees questioned what Jesus was doing. Jesus said, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Mark 2:17.

Another conflict came when the Pharisees saw Jesus and his disciples not fasting on the Sabbath. Major offense! Jesus said his disciples couldn't fast while the bridegroom was with them. He said, "the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away form them and on that day they will fast." Mark 2:20.

Jesus also challenged their view of what was right and wrong on the Sabbath. Jesus said, "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27). If Jesus healed people, ate grain from the field, and told the story of David and his men eating temple bread on the Sabbath, then it shows that it is more important to obey the Spirit than the letter of the law.

At the end of this Bible text, we read that the Pharisees went out and started plotting to kill Jesus, along with the Herodians. They had had enough of Jesus' teaching, and wanted to end it. Why is it that even today, Christianity is the one belief that people find the most threatening? I believe it is because it is the only one that is completely true. Why is the name of our Lord and God usually the choice for taking in vain? I never hear people cursing with the name of Buddah or other gods.

Hide His word in your heart.... one thought I had while watching Survivor China this week was that if we are ever in a spot without our Bibles, it is so important that we know how to recite verses from the Bible. There is a Christian on Survivor right now, and I hope she goes far. She has already had her faith tested a couple times, one instant was on the first day when she got up and fled a Buddist temple because she said she would not put her face on the ground for anyone but Jesus Christ. Then this last week, she was just wishing for her Bible. She said through tears, "If I just had my Bible, then I could spend time reading it and praying for God's strength." Don't wait for Survivor!! Read it now. I am being challenged this year, both by this Bible study, and by the group of ladies at BSF on Thursday mornings. There is a difference between reading the Bible and studying the Bible. Studying it involves thinking and praying, and writing down your thoughts. This is when it comes alive and we remember it.

"Grace be with you all." Hebrews 13:25