GOSPEL MEDITATION #198

Mark 8:22-30

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida &

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

(also read Matthew 16:13-20 & Luke 9:18-22)

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. People brought a blind man to Jesus. They thought Jesus could heal the man. Our work is to bring people to Jesus.
8. Being blind, Jesus spoke to and touched the man. Interesting that the healing was not completed at once and when it was the man saw clearly. Jesus did not want the healing to be widely known; Jesus did not need the publicity or further interruptions since now the priority was to teach the apostles..
9. Some distance north of Bethsaida was Caesarea Philippi, a Greek city, a place were Jesus’ enemies would not travel.
10. Now about half-way in Jesus’ earthly work, He enquires about what His followers, and others, were saying as to who He was.
11. The disciples gave three replies: John the Baptist; Elijah, or one of the other prophets, like, maybe, Isaiah or Jeremiah.
12. Though Herod had beheaded John, in his paranoia he supposed Jesus was John come back to life. Elijah, was known to come before and herald the Messiah, and others, for no sound reason, thought Jesus was one of Israel’s noted prophets coming at an auspicious time.
13. But the disciples, as announced by Peter, had a clearer understanding, one revealed only by God Himself. (see Matthew 16:17)
14. Characteristically, Jesus does not want this announced.

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 # 196

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

Mark 8:1-10

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. Matthew’s account, 15:32-39, reads almost identical to Mark’s. 4000 this time, 5000 last, and this crowd without food for 3 days. They had bread but of a different kind. When this is available, nothing else matters much.
8. Jesus, not the disciples, see the need. He has compassion but the disciples do not have. Do we?
9. 7 loaves only, and these are seed cakes, flat bread. Also a few fish. Jesus maintains order, has the people sit down on the ground, not green grass as before.
10. Jesus gives thanks, twice, once for the loaves and then for the fish. Possible the fish were presented later on. The prayer was one of thanksgiving not a “blessing” on the food.
11. The miracle, as in the 5000 feeding, must have occurred in the hands of Jesus as He broke the bread cakes and fish. Imagine the strength and patience it must have required.
12. Everyone was satisfied, content, as it always is when Jesus feeds us.
13. 7 baskets were needed to collect the leftovers. But the word for baskets is different from that used in the 5000 feeding. There the word means small baskets, the kind most travellers carried with them. Here it means a hamper, a large basket, the kind used in Acts 9:25 to describe the basket Paul was lowered down in.
14. Jesus then flees with his disciples via the boat again.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 195

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

Mark 7:31-37

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 retreats to the Decapolis (ten cities) on the eastern side of the Jordan River. He encounters another Gentile.

8. To be deaf and have trouble speaking makes sense.
9. Those who brought the man to Jesus are not identified. This has become a pattern for us; this is what we do too.
10. They “begged Jesus” to heal him. This reminds us of what happened in Mark 7:26. The idea is that, for whatever reason, Jesus did not respond immediately.
11. Jesus shows courtesy to the man by taking him aside. However, might Jesus have wanted this encounter to remain quiet?
12. We must ask then, if the healing was private how do we know of it now?
13. Jesus often spoke a word to heal, now a touch. Would not a spoken word have achieved the desired healing?
14. Jesus must have touched the man’s ears, then a second action, He spit and touched the man’s tongue with a wet finger. Might this have looked differently?
15. In Aramaic, “Be opened.” Here now was the word.
16. The man spoke plainly (incredible, a multifaceted healing), and Jesus wants the man to be quiet.
17. The man simply could not obey.
18. Jesus does do all things well.

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 193

Traditions and Commandments &

What Defiles a Person

Mark 7:1-23

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. We tend to be legalists, yes even evangelicals who preach grace. It is common to the human condition. In the Judaism of Jesus’ day many sought to honor God by being observant of a myriad of rules and regulations.
8. The Oral Law, on top of the 613 laws found in Scripture, 248 permitted acts, 365 prohibited acts, many of them had to do with food and personal hygiene.
9. Jesus, an observant Jew, nevertheless rejected much of the Oral Law, the traditions of the elders, and thus ran afoul of religious extremists. Little has changed.
10. Pride follows in the wake of doing works that are thought to be righteous. Jesus pointed out that it is not the external but the internal where the problem lies.
11. What was true for some of the Jewish religious leaders is true for us today.
12. It is out of the heart and mind and the will–the core of us–where sin and evil begin. And we are surrounded by it in the culture we live in.
13. We are in the world, not of it, but we are all vulnerable to the forces that would destroy us.
14. Legalism does not protect us from that which defiles, and the list Jesus gives is very comprehensive.
15. The reality is, we are all susceptible to being defiled.

Maybe adultery and murder won’t get us, but pride,

slander, envy, or coveting may.

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 # 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.