GOSPEL MEDITATION # 192

The Gospel of Mark #23

Jesus walks of the Water and

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

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. Jesus needed to create distance between Himself and the Twelve. There was a danger into being forced to declare His Messiahship following the great miracle.
8. The disciple may have wondered why they had been sent away, but then between 3 and 6am there came Jesus walking on the water.
9. In 1 Corinthians 12 4-11, we find one of Holy Spirit gifts is miracles, and the feeding and the walking fit.
10. He would have passed by except for the invitation; seems Jesus waits for the invitation with us too.
11. A ghost, a “phantasma” from the Greek; the disciples had plenty of cultural and superstitious baggage yet.
12. Not really grasping the 5000 fed, they were again astounded when the wind ceased.
13. Gennesaret, a very fertile valley 1 and ½ miles west of the sea of Galilee that stretched south 3 and ½ miles—again the crowds caught up with the Jesus and the twelve, which is understandable given the incredible miracles they had witnessed—and again, no time to rest and teach.
14. We are desperate when something touches our body; rarely are we troubled when the illness has to do with the heart. And when so, the troubling is a gift of the Holy Spirit. This must be the healing we seek from

GOSPEL MEDITATION #191

Mark 6:30-44

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

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. The apostles return from their first missionary adventure and report back to Jesus all they had done and taught. This is a precedent for today as well may well be concluded.
7. Jesus wanted a time to refresh, debrief, a time apart from the crowds. Here we see the importance of leisure time and rest.
8. Jesus no doubt was tired, but seeing the people He had “compassion” on them. This is typical of Jesus and is what we are to model as well.
9. His compassion lead to His teaching; and what He said would have more lasting value than what was to follow.
10. Jesus taught for a lengthy period of time or so it could be assumed. So wrapped up in what He was giving them, time was passing and it would be too late to care for themselves. And we know from Matthew 14:21, there were women and children present in addition to the 5000 men.
11. The apostles are aware of the situation, but Jesus tells them to “give them something to eat.” It seemed impossible, was impossible for them, yet Jesus issues the challenge.
12. Five barely loaves, two fish – maybe enough for two, but in the hands of Jesus, after the thanksgiving prayer to God for the food, a miracle occurs in His hands. The supply of food is not exhausted until everyone is satisfied.
13. The disciples give out the food, true then, true today. It is astonishing that Mark reports that everyone was content.
14. Twelve baskets left over. Twelve baskets, one for each of the apostles? Is it going too far to assume the baskets was meant for the Twelve? Perhaps.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 190

Mark 6:14-29

The Death of John the Baptist

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. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. He married the wife of his brother Philip, which ran counter to the Law of Moses – (see Lev. 18:16, 20:21). Herod both feared John, likely due to guilt, and respected him all at once. A familiar conflict.
7. We are reminded of David’s words in Psalm 51, which were occasioned by Nathan’s rebuke of David for his adultery and murder.
8. Herodias, the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip, was more offended than her new husband. She hated John and wanted revenge. The righteous John made her feel guilty.
9. At an occasion where Herod entertained powerful local politicos, he got very drunk. The daughter of Herodias, Salome, danced a flirty dance and Herod made a terrible mistake, one which he regretted right away.
10. To display his power to Salome and the rest of the partyers, he promised the young woman he would give her whatever she wanted. The request was the Baptist’s head on a platter.
11. This is a story of hate, revenge, and murder. Guilt and paranoia descended upon Herod and this lead him to think that Jesus, whom he heard was doing miracles in the regions he ruled, was actually John raised from the dead.
12. And the result would be guilt for the rest of the lives of that family, from Herod, Herodias, and Salome and those who had to execute John. Sin has a way of spreading out and destroying as it goes.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #189

JESUS SENDS OUT THE APOSTLES

MARK 6:7-13

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. Jesus, undaunted by the rejection at His hometown, begins sending out the twelve, two by two, into other parts of Galilee.
7. He does not go with them; likely He continued teaching, preaching, and making people whole as He had done before He called the Twelve to follow Him.
8. He gave the apostles “authority” exousia in the Greek and not dunamis or power over unclean spirits. Miracles accompanied the preaching, which focused on repenting, a message similar to that of John the Baptist.
9. This was certainly risky business for Jesus to commit to; Judas was also among them and none really understood who Jesus actually was.
10. The Twelve were to go out empty handed, without provision. In that part of the world it was customary for travellers to be received as they journeyed. The pairs of two would be recognized as itinerate prophets and thus invited into homes for food and shelter.
11. Jesus strictly charged them not to take advantage of customary sustenance by ‘moving up’ to better accommodations if offered. Have we lost this lesson along the way?
12. Shaking the dust off the feet – a sign that one leaves behind whatever the results of the ministry was or was not. Moving ahead is the point.
13. Miracles accompanied the apostle’s work, as is typical in times of awakening.
14. How we wish for these days.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 188

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Mark 6:1-7

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. Luke 4:16-30 has Luke’s account of Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth. The Gospel writer has this event earlier in the ministry of Jesus than does Matthew and Mark. In Luke the rejection goes to an extreme: there is an attempt to kill Jesus. Not known why Matthew and Mark are silent.
7. Jesus taught as one who had authority and it amazed his home town folk since they knew he was not educated as a rabbi. They knew Jesus all too well.
8. They knew he did miracles also, yet this did not impact them or become evidence of something more.
9. Jesus was known as a carpenter, a tekton — A worker in wood, metal, and stone.
10. His family was known to them as well. Joseph is not mentioned as he was likely dead at this point. Four brothers, two sisters, children of Mary and Joseph after Jesus’ birth. James and Judas (Jude) would become disciples of their half-brother and would write letters that are in our New Testament.
11. The whole family “took offense at him.” Shocking, but not so really as it requires the revealing of the Holy Spirit before anyone really knows who Jesus actually is.
12. The old proverb expressing a saying that prophets are not appreciated among those who know them – Jesus much to common to be specially used of God.
13. Little ministry occurred in Nazareth as a result.