🙏 Heavenly Father, we return to Your Word again today to see Your Son and Our Savior, Jesus, revealed through the Mark’s Gospel. Open our hearts, our eyes, and our minds to see Him afresh today – for in this way we can grow to be more like Him and less like us. We pray this in His mighty name, Amen.
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
3 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Points to Ponder: Jesus confronts the Pharisees, again, about how The Kingdom operates differently from their dogmatic ideas of how ‘religious law’ should be interpreted. He simplifies the interpretation of God’s law, given to the Israelites in the Torah by asking two simple questions… is it lawful to do good or to do evil? To save life or to kill?
When someone is so stubbornly fixed on their own perspective that they cannot even answer those questions, something has truly gone wrong. Jesus helps us discern the Father’s will by asking whether our actions will bring life and goodness? This is one of those times where Jesus doesn’t give them a ‘middle ground’ or compromise option. (He does not give them the option to ‘wait until tomorrow’ then take the right action. Nope, He calls them, and us, to do good… to save life… with every opportunity we’ve been given.)
Crowds Follow Jesus
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.
Points to Ponder: Large crowds of people come from everywhere. The Good News of Jesus and His Kingdom is awesome!
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Points to Ponder: Out of the crowds that followed Jesus, He chooses these twelve unlikely disciples that would learn from Him, so that they too could be sent out to preach His Kingdom message. They are ‘deputized’ with the power to deal with the demonic spirits that Jesus had been using throughout His ministry. I find this part fascinating – worthy of further meditations, just not now.
Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Points to Ponder: There are three sets of people here. Jesus’ natural family, the Jewish cultural leaders, and Jesus’ growing family of believers and followers. The more Jesus does the unexpected, the more people are compelled to either saving faith in who He says He is… or disbelief. His natural family, at this time, wants to reign Him in and take charge. (Although we know His brothers Jude and James wrote books in the New Testament, so they obviously came to faith in Jesus, as their savior. But, they didn’t start that way.) The Jewish leadership wants to dismiss Jesus’ and His demonstrated authority but they can’t deny His miracles! Instead, they credit His abilities as proof of some partnership with Satan. THIS IS REALLY BAD.
As Christians, we learn to humble ourselves and accept that every good thing we do is a credit to the Holy Spirit that strengthens and empowers us. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable – and giving credit for the miraculous to anything other than God, the Holy Spirit, is blasphemy – whether it’s giving credit to Satan… or to yourself… the universe… Mother Nature… medical professionals… politicians… spiritual leaders… organic food… crystals… horoscopes… the alignment of the stars… fate… luck… coincidence… etc.
No one sums it up better than C.S. Lewis:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
–C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity
The Parable of the Sower
4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Points to Ponder: One of the few times that Jesus’ parables is explained to the disciples and to us as Gospel readers. This one is worth lots of meditation – especially v12 when Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10. The call of Jesus in v9 to those with ears to hear… let them hear… seems to support the theological doctrine of predestination and that only God can work a saving faith in a person’s heart.
Many people struggle with this. 🖐 Me too! At least I used to. But then I remember, Isaiah 55:8-9. And I remember it’s His universe, not mine… His rules, not mine… I remember He saved me when my rules were leading me to destruction. Then I remember to trust Him.
I can read this parable and remember different points of my own life where His Word fell on the path and was blown away… where it grew briefly in shallow, rocky soil… where His Word was constantly competing against the deceptions of money, career, self-promotion, and the opinions of others. Then, in His wisdom and timing and according to His providence, I was replanted here in Florida. I suddenly had ‘ears to hear’ and when I read this parable I knew that I had some major soil issues!
If other Christians had met me along the way, they could have easily ignored me as one who was not predestined for salvation. They would be wrong. Because… God 💖 and John 10:28-30. Reflecting on our own salvation stories should give us the strength and courage to keep speaking the truth of the gospel and praying for those He places in front of us. They may be on a rocky part of the path – our interactions with them should reflect the love and the power of Jesus, always. John 16:33
A Lamp on a Stand
21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Points to Ponder: The placement of another ‘ears to hear’ teaching, makes us slow down and consider what we just read in the last section, with the parable of the Sower and how we are to treat the ‘seed’, i.e., the Word of God. Consider two other great scriptures on ‘light’. From Genesis 1:3-5, God said… Let there be light and it was good and it was separated from the darkness and we got ‘time’ introduced. And then in John 1: 4-5, Jesus is called the source of life and that life is the light of all mankind, shining in the darkness.
We know we are to be more like Jesus and less like our sinful natures. We are to be born-again… into new abundant life, as children of God… submitting to our King Jesus, not because we have to, but because we want to! We understand what He’s done and how much He loves us, we can’t help ourselves. We just want more of Him.
In the Gospels, we see Jesus coming into a dark world to shine the light of God’s good redemption plan for mankind. Jesus shines that light boldly and reaches out to people that thought they were too unworthy to be loved by God. But they are wrong – He does love them. And then we see that He loves us, too! He died for them, He died for us, too. What was hidden in the Old Testament is revealed plainly in the words and actions of Jesus.
After carefully considering what Jesus is telling us, we are commanded to treat others with the same level of love that we understand Jesus has for us. (Actually, He tells us that however we treat others… that is how we will be treated. Nothing is hidden from Our Lord.) Use what He’s given you to bring this new life to others and you will be rewarded with more.
V25 sounds harsh… Whoever does not have. Even what they have will be taken from them. This could mean (1) we all die and can take nothing with us or (2) choosing to use our gifts selfishly may result in losing them. Or I think it can be both. And sometimes it’s the dark reality of option 2, losing something you took for granted, that humbles a person to cry out to Jesus, in repentance, for the gift of salvation.
Pride has a tricky way of masking the need to repent when everything seems to be going just fine, thank you!
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Points to Ponder: Small parables that pack a punch! Such is the ‘seed’ principle in Scripture. When the ‘seed’ is the Word of God, then ‘all by itself’ there will be fruit. And at the end of time, there will be a harvest. Between Jesus’ resurrection and His return, Christians do everything to the glory of God. We speak to others about repentance and placing our trust in Jesus. We put off our old, sinful habits with the power He gives us. We look for ways to show love to people, the way Jesus loved us. We stay in close community with other believers. We allow them into our lives as iron sharpening iron… we encourage others and we promote peace. All these behaviors are fruit of the Spirit. All these behaviors contain seeds that go out into a sinful and dark world. Those seeds will grow whether we are aware of the growth or not.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Points to Ponder: We do not need to have Jesus explain these parables like the disciples did. We are blessed to live in the age of The Holy Spirit and we have the New Testament addition to the law, the psalms, and the prophets of the Old Testament.
We know that the Kingdom of God begins with King Jesus, at the cross. A seed planted in the garden, defeating death. Death begins to work backwards through time inviting everyone into eternal life. First the seed grows with the resurrection and Jesus’ ascension – then the spreading of the Gospel, the growth of the Church – i.e., fellowship of believers, not buildings… growing and growing until finally, His return. His Kingdom becomes the largest of all garden plants. 🤗 We flash back to Eden and the Tree of Life. Nice!
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Points to Ponder: This chapter finishes off with the disciples, including four former fishermen, fearful in a furious storm. They are afraid enough to wake a sleeping Jesus. And the One that could speak light into darkness and order into chaos, demonstrates that He is also the one that can rebuke the wind and speak the waves into obedience.
The disciples needed this reminder of just who their King is and the Kingdom power that cannot remain hidden. It is a story like this that reminds us to examine ourselves… Jesus asks His disciples, and us, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ Interesting that Jesus doesn’t tell them they have ‘little’ faith here, but instead, ‘no’ faith! Ouch! 🙏 Lord, increase our faith? Give us saving faith!
Summary: Crowds will gather to hear the Gospel – the Good News of God’s Kingdom. As followers of Jesus, we are to tell others this same good news that we believe. We do not need to make it attractive, we do not need to compromise the message, just share the truth. Be consistent and faithful to share the love of Jesus with others.
Never be discouraged by those who mock Jesus or scoff at the gospel message. We don’t write them off as the ‘unsaved’, we consider that only God can open their eyes to see and their ears to hear. They may be on the beginning of their journey and are still walking on a rocky path. Pray that He send them more Christians to shower them with the truth and the love of Jesus.
We take every opportunity He gives us to plant seeds; we don’t have to be there to watch them grow.
🙏 Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your Word that brings us abundant life. We thank You for the body of believers who teach and preach and encourage and write and sing and support… those that do so now and those that have done so in the past. If we are unsure of how we are to support Your Kingdom, make it known to us. Help us to see the opportunities to love others as Jesus loved us. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Great Bible study lesson. A lot of gems revealed in this writing. Thanks for breaking down the study by using different colors and adding the additional scripture verses that I just need to move my mouse over to read. As a visual learner writing your study this way helps me retain more of what is written.