GOSPEL MEDITATION #177

Mark 2:13-17 Jesus Calls Levi

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. Crowds are hearing Jesus teaching, here by the Sea of Galilee, likely near to Capernaum.
8. Levi, otherwise known as Matthew which is likely a nickname and means “gift of Yahweh”.
9. “Son of Alphaeus” – his father’s name is Alphaeus –James, another disciple, also had a father named Alphaeus. (see Matthew 10:3) Matthew and James not brothers though, or so it is thought by most scholars.
10. Tax booth, at Capernaum, which was one of 3 main tax collecting stations set up by the Romans to tax traders heading to and from Egypt. The others being at Jericho and Caesarea. Levi would be a sub-contractor and would have employees present to act as security.
11. “Follow me” – a command and Levi obeyed, instantly.
12. Levi threw a big party and his friends and associates

showed up – a bunch of sinners despised by Pharisees.

13. The blaming question, “why” is on the lips of the legalists.

After the healing of the paralytic, the religious authorities

would be looking for ammunition to show that Jesus is not

reputable.

14. Note that Jesus had no problem with being in, and eating

with, the very lowest of the low.

15. Jesus’ response was that He was in fact doing what He

came to do – to call sinners to Himself.

16. Jesus only calls sinners to Himself. They alone will seek

forgiveness. Those, clothed in their own righteousness, will

never seek Jesus.

17. A sinner – the first spiritual truth we learn.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #176

The Gospel of Mark

Jesus heals a Paralytic — Mark 2:1-12

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. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Jesus at home, question is, His or Peter’s.
8. Whenever healing is reported, crowds gather.
9. Jesus was preaching, not healing however.
10. Four guys had a dear friend they wanted to bring to Jesus.
11. With great boldness they did something unusual, they took apart a roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus.
12. Jesus’ response: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Let it be noted that the Greek simply has teknon meaning child.
13. Scribes, doctors of the Law, saw Jesus’ statement as blasphemy as they knew only God can forgive sin, this only by means of a proper sacrifice.
14. Jesus knew what was in their hearts, possibly by means of the charismatic gift of knowledge. (see 1 Cor. 12:8)
15. Jesus wanted the scribes to know that what He said was true by healing the paralytic completely.
16. To bring the point home, He asked which was easier – to forgive or heal. Of course, the idea is, well it is fine to forgive sins but that was an empty gesture at minimum.
17. The man who could not walk did and also lugged his mattress home with him — no other proof needed.
18. For sure, no one had ever seen anything like it. The point, the lesson, Jesus had in mind was that He was far more than a healer, He had authority, there and then, to forgive sin.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 174

Mark 1:21-34

Jesus heals a man with an unclean spirit &

Jesus heals many

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 passages of Scripture.
6. Reread them. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Jesus teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum, may indicated that Jesus was somewhat known. It has been suggested that Jesus had relocated to that city.
8. Jesus’ presence stirred up a demon in a man who was ‘demonized’. The demon(s) knew Jesus was the “Holy One of God” in startling contrast to anyone else present.
9. Jesus told “them” to be silent and come out of the demonized man.
10. It was not neat and clean; there was a commotion and loud screaming from the man as the demons fought their exit.
11. This ‘exorcism’ was far different than anything the observers had experienced before. Here was someone with authority. And Jesus’s fame spread.
12. Leaving the synagogue He entered the home of the brothers Peter and Andrew, which must have been less than a Sabbath’s walk away from the synagogue. James and John were also present, and the four constituted all of Jesus’ disciples at that point.
13. Peter’s mother was ill, she had a fever, and the family told Jesus about it. He took her by the hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her – she was healed. She was strong enough, immediately, that she commenced to serve them.
14. The word spread, about both the expelling of demons and the healing, so that people needing help descended upon Jesus at Peter’s family home.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 173

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

Mark 1:16-20

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. Baptized by John, tempted by Satan, arriving back in Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus begins to call disciples.
8. No one of the Twelve volunteered; they all were called or chosen by Jesus directly.
9. Jesus had met Andrew and Simon (Peter), and likely James and John, at the time of the baptism by John.
10. Perhaps Jesus had asked about where they lived and worked. He sought them out. First Andrews and Peter.
11. “Follow Me” Jesus said, and this served as an invitation to join Him as a disciple. Generally students applied directly to rabbis in order to join their rabbinical school.
12. “Fishers of men” – a metaphor, not to be taken literally. Now people, whom the Father seeks and loves, will be the focus of the rest of their lives.
13. Immediately they followed Jesus. Likely they returned home to say goodbye and pack a bag. Not told this though.
14. Then James and John – two sets of brothers, all fisherman, and who probably knew each other.

15. It is an adventure of the highest order to follow Jesus, one

from which we never retire. And Jesus is always walking

just ahead of us, encouraging us along the way.

GOSPEL MEDITATION #172

Mark 1:9-15

The Baptism, Temptation and Beginning of Jesus’s Ministry

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 submits to John’s baptism, and no one is sure exactly why. He did not need cleansing from sin.
8. John at first refused to baptize Jesus, but then Jesus responded that it was “to fulfill all righteousness.” (see Matthew 3:15) It remains a mystery.
9. The voice from heaven, the Father, affirms the Son, and not only to those present but also to and for Jesus, the Son.
10. Verse 11 is a sharp reminder that Jesus is completely human as well as deity, the paradox of the God-man.
11. Here again we see the humanity of the Messiah, being tempted, and by the devil in fact. Was it possible for Jesus to fall into the temptation: the answer must be yes. If not, Jesus would be a ‘fake’ man like the Gnostics reasoned.
12. “Forty days” – may be taken symbolically as forty for a symbol for that which was dreadful.
13. Angels ministered to Jesus, and in what manner we do not know and it is not helpful to attempt to fill in the gaps.
14. John is arrested soon after the baptism, perhaps the plan of God since John’s ministry was completed.
15. Jesus begins now with the declaration that the kingdom of God is at hand, or begun. Where Jesus is, there is the kingdom.
16. Repent and believe in the gospel – nothing has changed.

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 #2

Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist’s Ministry

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. Mark has no genealogy or birth narrative, rather he begins right in with the ministry of John the Baptist.
8. The prophet Isaiah, here the first part is from Malachi 3:1;

the second part is from Isaiah 40:3. The major prophet is

generally quoted before the minor prophet.

9. In that era, prior to the arrival of a king or military chief,

the way would be prepared, and the coming announced.

10. Baptism, a common practice among devout Jews, focused

on repenting of sin, and the people then would have

understood that a new day was coming.

11. The longed for Messiah of God was about to appear – this

was John’s message. The prophets had long spoken of this

day and now it was here.

12. John was the proto-typical prophet, like Elijah (see 2 Kings

1:8), and looked the part as well.

13. John made it as clear as he could that he was not the

Messiah himself; the Messiah was so much greater that even

John was not worthy to perform the most menial or lowly

tasks for this one sent from God.

14. The baptism was one of placing the whole body into and not

     with water. Greek grammar makes this clear.

15. Allowing oneself to be baptized meant repenting of sin and

declaring a longing to see the Messiah.

16. The One Coming would baptize in the Holy Spirit.