GOSPEL MEDITATION # 184

Mark 4:21-29

A Lamp Under a Basket & The Parable of the Growing Seed

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. The first parable, “a lamp under a basket” continues the theme of the sower of seed. Now instead of sowing, the metaphor is letting the light shine for all to see.
8. The metaphor of fire is used by Jesus. Fire was light and heat, vital to the people in that day and this.
9. Clearly, a lamp was put on a stand not under a basket or a bed.
10. The Light is Jesus and His Word, His Gospel. The Gospel was not held by the disciples as a mystery or a secret – the opposite of much religion of that day. Not for the elite, but for all.
11. Those who broadcast, those doing the work, will be given more and more opportunity to do so; and sadly there is the opposite.
12. This principle is evident in most every endeavor people undertake.
13. Our second parable, the parable of the growing seed, again it plays off the parable of the sower.
14. It is assumed that the sower, the farmer, the evangelist is busy scattering the seed on the ground. We already know that there are any number of places, four really, the seed could fall upon.
15. Patiently the farmer waits for the seed to do its work, which it always does when the seed is good and healthy.
16. The sower does not understand how it all works, indeed, he does not have to. Time and again the sower spreads the seed and time and again he watches the miracle take place. With an actual farmer the miracle is built into the process. With the witness the harvest is purely miraculous.
17. The Holy Spirit does the work from beginning to end. First a person sees their own sinful nature as well as their hopeless efforts to relieve themselves of their sin. Only then will they see their need of the Savior’s sacrifice on the cross.
18. The farmer knows the harvest will come and that there will be rejoicing.

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.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 182

Mark 3:23-35

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit & Jesus’ Mother & Brothers

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. Blasphemy—slanderous words spoken against a deity or religion.
8. In our passage Jesus properly reacted against a form of blasphemy. His miracles could not be covered up so a more stringent tack was required by Jesus’ enemies, in this case, attributing the miracles and casting out of demons to the power of Satan.
9. Jesus relies on common logic to counter the charge—the reality of it is indisputable.
10. There is a problem of another, more dreadful consequence of attributing the works of Jesus to Satan or Beelzebub, meaning the lord of the flies, a Canaanite evil demon. This blasphemy is the committing of an unforgiveable sin.
11. Most Biblical commentators think it means that believing and confessing that Jesus has an unclean or evil spirit means an utter and complete rejection of Jesus and thus His work on the cross.
12. We would all like to know more about this but the passage does not make a clear answer possible.
13. Jesus’ family, mother, brothers (4 of them) and many old manuscripts have “sisters” as well, are still without understanding of the mission of Jesus and only see that He is acting strangely and not caring for His physical needs. They literally think He has lost His mind.
14. When informed that His family would like to see them, He apparently ignores them. At least we are not told that He went out to them or even that on some other occasion, He spoke with them and calmed their fears.
15. Jesus uses the incident to teach something that is nothing less than incredible: His family consists of those who follow Him.
16. These people would be His immediate disciples whom He had just recently called to be with Him.
17. To believe in and follow Jesus is be become a member of His family.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #180

Mark 3:1-12

A Man with a Withered Hand and

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

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. A Sabbath, which for pious Jews meant no work on that day. Even healing would have been considered work.
8. Was the man a ‘plant’? There were enemies of Jesus

there who wanted to accuse Him.

9. Jesus was angry, and grieved, at the hard heartedness of

those who would accuse Him. A righteous anger?

10. The healing produced a deadly, unrighteous anger in

Jesus’ enemies and they, the Pharisees and Herodians,

who would ordinarily have been at odds with each other,

now unite against Jesus and want to destroy (kill) Him.

11. In sharp contrast, large crowds are attracted to Jesus.

These came from all over that part of the world save

Samaria, where there was a rival religious system.

12. Jesus, perhaps sensing the danger from the large throng,

had a small boat ready for Him. Likely He pushed off a

little from the shore and taught from there.

13. There were healings and demons cast out. The demons

were the ones who knew who Jesus was, incredibly, and

He refuse their testimony. What a turn of events.

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 # 179

Mark 2: 23-28

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

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. Sabbath, the 7^th day, God rested or ceased His creating work. Rules abounded around it and created impossible situation for common people.
8. The legalists must have been tracking Jesus and accused Him of breaking Sabbath law when He and His disciples ‘gleaned’ food from the fields that were purposefully left for the poor.
9. The Pharisees did not care if the people went hungry; their concern was breaking the Sabbath law and gleaning of the wheat was considered work.
10. Religious people love law keeping; makes us feel good while ignoring heart felt worship and love for God and others.
11. And we are all tending to this; faith and love are so much more intangible. Rules and more rules is the way of the world.
12. Jesus was not promoting lawlessness; rather His intent was to teach mercy and human kindness.
13. David and his followers were desperately hungry when they came across the old Tabernacle and there on the table was the Bread of the Presence. 2 rows, each loaves per row, directed in the Torah to be baked each Sabbath, new replacing the old.
14. The old six would be thrown out and David and his men seized 6 loaves and ate them. The story in 1 Samuel 21 was know to all. Sabbath laws were heartless and damaging to humans.
15. Jesus used the historical example as if it were intended to be prophetic and dramatized the fact that He was in fact Lord of the Sabbath.