Day 294: Mark 7-9

(The previous post covered Jesus' rise in fame.)

Mark 7
¹ And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,
² and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands.
³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders;
⁴ and when they come from the market-place, except they bathe themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels.)
⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?

(The scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus why His Disciples did not walk according to the "tradition of the elders." Notice, the scribes and Pharisees initiated this exchange.)

⁶ And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, But their heart is far from me.
⁷ But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.

(Jesus referenced Isaiah 29:13 and called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites: their say (lips) did not correspond with their do (heart). Jesus said that people who teach man-made doctrine worship God in vain.)

⁸ Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

(They put aside God's commandments and held the tradition of men in its place.)

⁹ And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.

(They were rejecting God so they could keep their own tradition. Jesus gave a specific example...)

¹⁰ For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death:
¹¹ but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God;
¹² ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother;
¹³ making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do.

(Man-made tradition in place of God's Word makes the Word of God void (to deprive of force and authority, vain, unprofitable). These people even had a name for their man-made doctrine in this area: Corban.)

¹⁴ And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me all of you, and understand:
¹⁵ there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.
¹⁶ If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.
¹⁷ And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.
¹⁸ And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him;
¹⁹ because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.
²⁰ And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man.
²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
²² covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:
²³ all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.

(What comes out of man is what defiles him and it comes out through his heart. The heart does not lie. What is planted in (comes through) the heart will result in an effect through Justice, which includes judgment. The cause of our wickedness does not come from outside ourselves, it comes from within ourselves.)

²⁴ And from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it; and he could not be hid.
²⁵ But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.
²⁶ Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter.
²⁷ And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.
²⁸ But she answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
²⁹ And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the demon is gone out of thy daughter.
³⁰ And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out.

(A Gentile woman asked for her daughter to be healed, Jesus said that "the children (Israel) first be filled," but the woman had great faith and Jesus healed her daughter. In Matthew's account of this story (Matthew 15:22-28), the woman confessed Jesus as the Messiah three times.)

³¹ And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.

(Verses 32-37: Jesus healed a deaf and dumb man.)

³² And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to lay his hand upon him.
³³ And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue;
³⁴ and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
³⁶ And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it.
³⁷ And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

(Jesus made a statement where the object of the healing was the subject of the statement. The people were astonished by the works of Christ.)




Mark 8

(Verses 1-9: the supernatural feeding of the 4000.)

¹ In those days, when there was again a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them,
² I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat:

(Jesus had compassion on the people.)

³ and if I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way; and some of them are come from far.
⁴ And his disciples answered him, Whence shall one be able to fill these men with bread here in a desert place?
⁵ And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.
⁶ And he commandeth the multitude to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he brake, and gave to his disciples, to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.
⁷ And they had a few small fishes: and having blessed them, he commanded to set these also before them.
⁸ And they ate, and were filled: and they took up, of broken pieces that remained over, seven baskets.
⁹ And they were about four thousand: and he sent them away.

(Again, Jesus fed the multitudes through order and giving.)

¹⁰ And straightway he entered into the boat with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.
¹¹ And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, trying him.

(The Pharisees sought a sign from Jesus, tempting/testing Him. This would have been a sign as a cause, whereas Jesus did all of His miracles as an effect, in response to a need that was presented to Him.)

¹² And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.

(Jesus gave no sign. Jesus knew their intention. Hebrews 11:1 stated faith is "belief without seeing." Without a need, their faith wouldn't be necessary. Faith would be required first for a sign to manifest in response to the need.)

¹³ And he left them, and again entering into the boat departed to the other side.
¹⁴ And they forgot to take bread; and they had not in the boat with them more than one loaf.
¹⁵ And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

(Jesus warned the Disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod: the man-made religion and the government.)

¹⁶ And they reasoned one with another, saying, We have no bread.
¹⁷ And Jesus perceiving it saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened?
¹⁸ Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
¹⁹ When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
²⁰ And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces took ye up? And they say unto him, Seven.
²¹ And he said unto them, Do ye not yet understand?

(The Disciples continued to focus on the physical when they reasoned about the bread even though they had two experiences where Jesus was able to feed thousands.)

²² And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him.
²³ And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught?

(This healing was very unique in many ways. There are two ways to look at this story. We will present both through questions and let you decide what happened. Jesus took this man by the hand and walked him out of the village. Jesus put spit in a blind man's eyes to heal him. Of all the people that Jesus healed, this man had the most contact with Jesus: physical touch for minutes as they walked out of the village and Jesus' bodily fluids in his eyes. Jesus asked if he saw ought. This was the only healing where Jesus questioned the results.)

²⁴ And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking.

(The man said he saw men "as trees, walking." Did Jesus not heal him enough? or did Jesus heal him too much? Was he not seeing the physical well enough or too well? Did this man see into the supernatural? Our brains are made up of dendrites which was the Greek word for trees. Did this man see peoples' thoughts and not realize it?...he did have Jesus' bodily fluids in his eyes and we've seen that Jesus could see peoples' thought process: Mark 2:8.)

²⁵ Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly.

(Jesus made it so the man saw clearly. The Greek word for clearly meant "from a distance." The man was restored: brought back to the original condition being able to see men from a distance. Was this restored up to being able to see the physical clearly or restored back to only being able to see the physical clearly? Notice, the ability to get healed would have been dependent on the man's faith because Jesus would not fail in a healing because if He did it would be His fault. Did the man have an extremely high amount of faith because of the personal contact with Jesus? Did the man's faith lessen when the healing did not restore him the first time or did the man's faith increase when he was able to see something, even a blurry image?)

²⁶ And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.

(Jesus did not want this man to go home by going into the village. Jesus did not want this man immediately interacting with other people. Was this because Jesus did not want a multitude to pursue Him or was it because Jesus did not want this man explaining to others that he saw supernaturally? or continue to practice looking at people and seeing their thought processes?)

²⁷ And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am?
²⁸ And they told him, saying, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets.
²⁹ And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

(Jesus asked who people said He was. Then, Jesus was able to specifically ask the Disciples who they thought He was. Peter made his confession that Jesus was the Christ. This was the confession that the church is built on.)

³⁰ And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
³¹ And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

(Jesus told them not to tell anyone and then began teaching about His suffering, death, and resurrection.)

³² And he spake the saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

(Peter rebuked Jesus. Peter told Jesus He was wrong, to His face, after declaring Jesus was the Son of God.)

³³ But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and saith, Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.

(Jesus called Peter Satan. Could there be any name worse to call Peter, especially when the source of this name calling was the embodiment of Right and Just?)

³⁴ And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples, and said unto them, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
³⁵ For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it.
³⁶ For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
³⁷ For what should a man give in exchange for his life?

(We gain through loss. People always become better by going through worse. God will prune us back so we grow more: John 15. Jesus consistently spoke of the spiritual realm by using physical examples.)

³⁸ For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.




Mark 9
¹ And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There are some here of them that stand by, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.
² And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them;

(The Kingdom of God is the eternal kingdom that will be established after Final Judgment. The kingdom of heaven is now and includes good and evil. The Kingdom of God will only have good. Jesus stated some would see the Kingdom of God come with power, and then Peter, James, and John saw Jesus' transfigured. These three were the Disciples Jesus was in agreement with the most. In the Bible, the Glory of God manifested only when everyone present was in agreement.)

³ and his garments became glistering, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them.
⁴ And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

(Jesus' spiritual Nature and Power became physically manifested as exceeding white light. Next, Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah. There was no value to Jesus teaching Moses and Elijah anything. The reason for this discussion was for Jesus to get "final instructions" as to the Law and prophecy before He made His final visit to Jerusalem to fulfill the Law and prophecy.)

⁵ And Peter answereth and saith to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
⁶ For he knew not what to answer; for they became sore afraid.
⁷ And there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son: hear ye him.

(God the Father testified that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus did not say these words Himself.)

⁸ And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
⁹ And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of man should have risen again from the dead.

(Jesus charged Peter, James, and John to tell no man of these events until He rose again from the dead.)

¹⁰ And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean.
¹¹ And they asked him, saying, How is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come?
¹² And he said unto them, Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things: and how is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be set at nought?
¹³ But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and they have also done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him.

(Jesus said Elijah must come first but that he had already come. John the Baptist was the spiritual Elijah that came before Jesus' first time on earth. Elijah will physically come for the Jews as one of the Two Witnesses (Revelation 7) prior to Jesus' second physical coming to earth.)

¹⁴ And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great multitude about them, and scribes questioning with them.
¹⁵ And straightway all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
¹⁶ And he asked them, What question ye with them?
¹⁷ And one of the multitude answered him, Teacher, I brought unto thee my son, who hath a dumb spirit;
¹⁸ and wheresoever it taketh him, it dasheth him down: and he foameth, and grindeth his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast it out; and they were not able.

(The Disciples failed at casting out an evil spirit.)

¹⁹ And he answereth them and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him unto me.

(Jesus called them faithless. Faith is proven by actions. The Disciples did not get the actions (healing) that would result from having faith.)

²⁰ And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him grievously; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
²¹ And he asked his father, How long time is it since this hath come unto him? And he said, From a child.
²² And oft-times it hath cast him both into the fire and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.
²³ And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.

(The father asked Jesus to have compassion. Jesus responded by putting the responsibility back on the father's faith.)

²⁴ Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
²⁵ And when Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
²⁶ And having cried out, and torn him much, he came out: and the boy became as one dead; insomuch that the more part said, He is dead.
²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose.
²⁸ And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, How is it that we could not cast it out?
²⁹ And he said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer.

(This was a special case of spiritual warfare where the demon(s) would be cast out by prayer, not only faith and making a statement where the object of the healing was the subject of the statement.)

³⁰ And they went forth from thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.
³¹ For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again.
³² But they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

(Jesus taught more about His suffering, death, and resurrection. The Disciples did not understand and they were afraid to ask.)

³³ And they came to Capernaum: and when he was in the house he asked them, What were ye reasoning on the way?
³⁴ But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who was the greatest.
³⁵ And he sat down, and called the twelve; and he saith unto them, If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.

(Jesus taught about His death and the Disciples did not understand and did not ask. Then Jesus heard them talking. Was it about His death? No. The Disciples argued over who was the greatest. This sounded like teenage boys: more focused on competing with each other than understanding Jesus. Jesus explained those who serve the most were the greatest.)

³⁶ And he took a little child, and set him in the midst of them: and taking him in his arms, he said unto them,
³⁷ Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever receiveth me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
³⁸ John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followed not us.

(The Disciples forbade a man to cast out devils in Jesus' Name because the man did not follow them.)

³⁹ But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

(Jesus told them not to forbid the man. Anyone who does a miracle in Jesus' Name will not quickly speak evil of Jesus. This meant that man would think before he spoke evil of Jesus.)

⁴⁰ For he that is not against us is for us.

(The man, although not physically following Jesus, must be with Jesus because whoever is not against Jesus is for Jesus. This meant that if you are not for Jesus, you must be against Jesus.)

⁴¹ For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
⁴² And whosoever shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
⁴³ And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
⁴⁴ where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
⁴⁵ And if thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life halt, rather than having thy two feet to be cast into hell.
⁴⁶ where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
⁴⁷ And if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out: it is good for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell;
⁴⁸ where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

(Notice, Jesus said that people who end up in the lake of fire exist eternally. They do not eventually end up in heaven. They do not eventually cease to exist.)

⁴⁹ For every one shall be salted with fire.
⁵⁰ Salt is good: but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.

(Salt masks bitterness. If we got rid of bitterness, it would cause us to "be at peace one with another.")

(This post covered the beginning of the resistance Jesus experienced from people and the religious leaders.)

Day 295