GOSPEL MEDITATION #197

The Pharisees Demand a Sign & The Leaven of the Pharisees Mark 8:11-21

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. “Show us a miracle and we will be satisfied.” Then one more would be requested, and then another. Heal someone, cast out a demon – then we will believe. But they did not.
7. Seems like a miracle would be enough but it never is. Faith is always a gift, blind eyes must be opened, deaf ears must be made to hear.
8. Jesus had feed 5000 then 4000 and yet the apostles were worried about the apparent lack of bread. Did they want to see another miracle?
9. The guys somehow had forgotten the two most incredible miracles ever, one which showed up the fundamental law of nature – new energy or matter cannot be created. We live in a closed system.
10. Right in front of them, as it had been for the religious leaders, they beheld the miraculous. It was not enough.
11. As yet there was no inner working of the Holy Spirit, who alone confirms forgiveness and salvation. It is a miracle unseen, which is far superior to even a resurrection from the dead.
12. There would be the resurrection of Lazarus, which was like casting pearls before swine; then Jesus’ own resurrection was denied.
13. The Pharisees are like all those who trust in doing good works. Theirs is despair and a longing for proof undeniable.
14. Good deeds are observed while real faith cannot be.

GOSPEL MEDITATION

What Happened Following Jesus’ Birth

Luke 2:22-35

1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the Temple

according to the Law of Moses. (See Ex. 13:2 & Lev.

12:8). They offered 2 pigeons meaning the family was

poor.

8. The obedience of Mary and Joseph indicates also that

they were observant Jews and would be Jesus as he

grew up.

9. Here now they meet Simeon, Holy Spirit inspired     prophet who is awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.
10. The remarkable statement about Jesus being the cause of the “fall and rising of many,” among other things, is a preparation for Mary about what was to become of her baby. The Child would be loved and hated, both at once, and so it has remained to this day.
11. This extreme reaction reveals both God’s holiness and our unholiness, and that Jesus has an enemy.
12. The sword that will pierce Mary, the trauma that only a mother could experience, likely was meant to be comforting to Mary, in taking away any surprise or false expectation.
13. Then Anna, another witness to Mary and Joseph, two witnesses thus meeting Biblical requirements (see Dt. 17:6). Mary and Joseph would be comforted by this.
14. Some 33 years before the cross, God brings two people to the temple to announce that great event that was to come.

GOSPEL MEDITATION

The Birth of Jesus Christ

Luke 2:1-7

1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Only Matthew and Luke give us the story of the birth of Jesus.
8. Matthew’s account is steeped in Jewish thinking; Luke has an historical rendering that is written for the Graeco-Roman world.
9. For Matthew, the birth of Jesus took place to fulfill the statements made by the prophets concerning the Messiah. Luke places the story in actual time and space.
10. The Savior of the world is actually and miraculously born of a woman in a real place.
11. Caesar Augustus (ruled 31BC to AD14) was emperor in Rome and Quirinius was governor of Syria. In 5 or 6 BC, Mary & Joseph arrive in Bethlehem to obey Roman law.
12. Mary, nine months pregnant, made the arduous journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth.
13. She gives birth to her first child. The birth place was perfect for them: it was private, warm, dry, away from disturbances, and safe. Jesus has a good start in life and Mary and Joseph can enjoy the great moment. The Father has seen to everything.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #183

Sower Parable, purpose of Parables, and Interpretation

Mark 4:1-20

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. From memory, determine the central points.
7. 20 verses, 3 sections, The Sower Parable perhaps the most vital of all parables to be understood by followers of Jesus. The hearers are the Twelve but also a larger group of serious disciples.
8. Farming context, the sower’s seed would fall into 4 different circumstances: some on the path, some on rocky ground, some among weeds, but other seed sown on good soil.
9. In verse 8 a great promise is given – there will be fruit and this to be understood as a growing of the Kingdom of God.
10. The reason for parables may look back to Isaiah 6:9-10. For reasons that are most difficult to understand, hearers of the parables containing the truth of God yet do not experience forgiveness. There is no satisfactory resolution to this conundrum.
11. The interpretation of the parable now, and Jesus interprets only 3 of His parables., this one, the sower, but also the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:36-43, and, as it is thought, the Parable of the Net (Matthew 13:47-50). All of these have to do with evangelism.
12. The path: of necessity seed, the Word, will fall on ears only momentarily and Satan rushes in (and in ways unexplained here) and takes away the message of the Gospel.
13. Rocky ground: at first there is joy but it is short lived since a genuine conversion, an inner working of the Holy Spirit, has not taken place. It does not take much for the Word to be rejected. Very common experience.
14. Thorny ground: This is more difficult and it is not clear whether a real conversion has taken place; commentators are divided. Bottom line – no fruit is borne and to me indicates no real conversion.
15. Good soil: Here is the promise to the Christian – there will be fruit, the Kingdom will grow, and the fruit varies from person to person.