This with today’s reading in Leviticus 11-12 makes for a revealing juxtaposition. The law details how touching a dead body or a bleeding woman makes one unclean. Mark shows how a touch from the holy Jesus has the reverse affect: The bleeding woman is healed and the dead girl rises again.
The demoniac who lived among the tombs of the Gerasenes must have been a startling welcome as he ran, screaming and crying, down the hill towards Jesus and his disciples as they came ashore. Having just experienced a life-threatening storm on the Galilee and witnessing Jesus command the wind and the waves to be still, I’m sure the disciples’ knees were still shaking as they climbed out of their boat. And then, to be greeted by the hair-raising screams of a wild man running straight at them must have been terrifying! Yet, Jesus responded just as He had to the storm. With the same sense of confident authority He commanded the “legion” of demons out of the man and into the pig herd on the hillside. And just as the wind and waves had obeyed, so did the unclean spirits. The tortured soul of the wild man was suddenly at peace.
Righteous hearts have generous hands. How we handle money and possessions reveals much about our hearts. The righteous not only repay their debts, but give generously to those in need. The wicked avoid even repaying what is owed, much less giving to others. You have received Christ’s generous gift of salvation in your hearts, but has it affected the generosity of your hands?
so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14 ESV).
Christ’s three-prong strategy for reaching the world with the gospel: 1) Appoint disciples, 2) Call them to “be with Him,” and 3) “Send them out” to preach the gospel. Notice that Christ’s first call is to Himself. And so, the twelve followed Him day and night for three years. And after they saw the resurrected Lord, they preached the gospel that turned the world upside down. This simple strategy worked because they had first spent time with Jesus and were filled with His Spirit. I’m glad that Jesus is still appointing disciples “that they might be with Him.” Are you spending time with Jesus? Those who follow Jesus answer both calls: To Him and to the world.
The Pharisees brought out the full range of emotion from our Lord Jesus. When He tried to show them the spirit of the Sabbath, they clung to the letter of the law, even that which they themselves had added to it. He asked them a simple question, one that begged a correct response. He asked whether the law permitted good on the Sabbath or evil? They wouldn’t reply. So, he put the man with the withered hand before the whole assembly in the synagogue and healed him. The man and his family rejoiced, but the Pharisees left angry, plotting with the Herodians, whom they normally hated, to plan the killing of Jesus. This scene caused conflicting emotions in Jesus. He was both angry and sad. Angry at the sinful pride that wouldn’t answer His question. And sad at the hard hearts that wouldn’t listen.
Leaven is a substance, typically yeast, that is added to dough to make it ferment and rise. It helps make bread light and fluffy and more tasty. So, why does God prohibit its use in the grain offering? The Bible doesn’t answer this question directly, yet it does offer several hints. Consider how Jesus used the symbol of leaven to describe the false teaching and hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt.16:6,12, Mark 8:15, Luke 12:1). He warned his disciples to “beware the leaven” of their teaching. In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he used leaven to illustrate how a little wickedness and corruption will “leaven the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6-8). So, he warned them to purge it out and become a “new lump.” If leaven is the biblical symbol for sin and death, then it would be taboo to offer it on the altar of blessing and life.
Jesus became famous in the region of Galilee for his miracles and authoritative teaching. He made Capernaum His center of operations when He first began His ministry. This was a strategic location. Located at the Northern end of the Sea of Galilee, it was a major crossroads with the Via Maris (“Way of the Sea”) passing through it and the King’s Highway intersecting just North, connecting Cairo to Damascus and beyond. Here, Jesus called His first disciples and began to teach, “Repent of your sin and believe the Good News!” Great crowds of people began to travel to the area to see and hear Jesus. This is our calling today. We want to make Jesus famous, not ourselves. We want “his fame” to spread “everywhere.”
The Great Commission. Christ’s command and call: Make disciples. Go to all the nations declaring the Good News, then be busy baptizing and teaching those that answer the call to follow Jesus. Christ’s promise: His presence. He will be with you always. So go. Don’t know where to start? Read Acts 1:8 for directions. Now get going. Time’s a wasting…
The modern separation between the sacred and the secular is not the wholistic view of faith and vocation that is seen in the Bible. Consider these two men whom Moses named in the Exodus story because of their God-given talent as craftsmen. He described Bezalel as being “called by name” (Ex.35:30) by the Lord to work as the lead craftsman in building the tabernacle. Both he and Oholiab were similarly gifted by and called by God to do this highly skilled work. Moses even described Bezalel as being “filled with the Spirit” (Ex.35:31), not only to do all kinds of specialized work as a craftsman, but also as one whom God “inspired to teach” (Ex.35:34) others his craft.
All work is sacred when it is done as “unto the Lord” (Col.3:23).
Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor over Judea, made a show of washing his hands and declaring himself “innocent” of Christ’s blood. Yet in reality, he was fully responsible as the ranking representative of Roman law. How strange that the one who condemned the Innocent One to death would declare himself innocent instead. Many of us are like Pilate in our attempts to wash our hands of Christ’s blood. We question God’s goodness and lift ourselves up as innocent. However, the truth is this: We are guilty. It was our sin that sent Jesus to the cross. And when we finally admit our guilt and accept His payment, it is that alone which actually washes away our sin.