A Short Break!

hello!

it has been a wonderful blessing to do these QT’s and read people’s responses!  for those of you who faithfully did the QT’s over the last three months, congratulations!  it is not easy to find time in our schedules for the Word, and you should be happy with yourselves.

however, it’s time for a short break.  there won’t be any postings until 2009, and i think this is a great chance to try to venture out and do your devotionals on your own.  but don’t worry, we’ll be back in january, doing our QT’s as a group again!

blessings,

peter

12.12.08, Mark 6:30-44

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” 
      They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” 
      When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Start Where You Are

We have been focusing on the revelation of Jesus’ identity, and here we see he is a miracle worker.  But some modern theologians actually debunk this miracle, saying that Jesus didn’t multiply the loaves and fish, but instead, got everyone to share the meals they had brought with them – in this way, Jesus was not a miracle worker, but more of a socialist teacher…like Lenin, or Chairman Mao, I suppose.  But this clearly is not the intent of this account, because it says that Jesus divided up the two fish, not the many fish that the crowd had brought.  Surely Jesus was a teacher in a way, but it is important to remember all the other revelations of his identity as well, and not to get fixated upon one.

What strikes me most about the passage is the brief exchange between Jesus and the disciples, which runs in the same vein as many of their conversations: they say something obvious, Jesus says something spiritual, and they completely misunderstand, and Jesus explains.  Here, the disciples are fixated on how much food they will need, and how much it will cost, but Jesus’ is focused on something else.  He doesn’t want to know how much it will take, but instead, how much they currently have.  And he uses the little they have, the two fish and five loaves, and feeds the 5000 men.

This may seem trivial, but I don’t think it is because it is actually a great reminder to us.  When we are asked or feel called to do something, we typically imitate the disciples – we assess whether we have enough skill or money or time, and if we don’t, we refuse; if we do, then we go ahead.  But the critical problem with this mentality is that God is nowhere to be found.  We take only human considerations into account.

Instead, Jesus seems to be teaching us that if we are called into service, not to focus on how much it will take to get something done, but making sure that you bring whatever you have with you, no matter how small, and offer it up for Christ to use.  And we do this knowing that we serve a God who can multiply our small skills and offerings, and make them into so much more.  So in short, don’t focus on how much you have – instead, think about how much God can make it into!

Questions:

1. Has there ever been a time where you knew your resources, skills, or experience was not enough but God still used you?

2. Is there a situation that you feel God is calling you to serve somewhere or someone, but you feel like you do not have enough fish and loaves?

3. What do you think your personal fish and loaves are?  In other words, no matter how small, what are the gifts that you have that can be used by God?

12.10.08, Mark 6:14-29

John the Baptist Beheaded

14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ”John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

15 Others said, “He is Elijah.” 
      And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” 
      ”The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Long Life vs Full Life

We finally return to the character of John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was a pivotal figure in biblical history, of whom Jesus says there is no one born of woman greater than he.  He is a prophet in the spirit of Elijah, proclaiming the coming Kingdom and the coming Messiah.  And yet…this is only the second, and final, reference to John the Baptist in the book of Mark.  He is mentioned in chapter 1, and again here, with an ignoble death at the hands of a spiteful wife.  A exceedingly short ministry, dwarfed by the coming of Christ, and cut brutally short…and yet, “no one greater”?

We have some very deep-seated conceptions of what we want our life to look like.  We typically want to be financially comfortable.  We want a long life, to enjoy all the various flavors of each stage of life.  We want rich relationships, lots of friends and beautiful spouses.  We want enriching careers that bring us personal esteem from our peers.  These are the elements of a successful, enviable life.

It is very difficult to comprehend, but this is not a biblical idea.  

When we look at the lives of Christ and John the Baptist, we do not see long lives, but short ones.  We do not see lives that were filled with honors and awards and esteem, but judgment, scorn…and eternal worth.  We do not see lives of comfort and excess, but lives of difficulty and suffering…and divine providence.  We do not see lives lived for personal enrichment and fulfillment, but to glorify, magnify, and obey God.  How starkly different this is from everything we have learned, from every way in which we are taught to live by this world!  One devotional would never be enough to dismantle these conceptions in our mind, but hopefully can serve as a wake-up call, that as Christians, we live not for ourselves and for our glory, but for God and for his.

“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” – Jim Elliot, Martyr

Questions:

1. What is your concept of a good, rich, full life?  How does that concept compare to the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus?

2. What is the part of your life that you have the hardest time surrendering to God and his glory and purposes?  Why do you think this is?

3. This is a long and difficult process, but what do you think is a good first step in coming closer to the model of Christ and John the Baptist?

12.8.09, Mark 6:6-13

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.

8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”

12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Just The Two of Us

This is a great passage where we finally see the disciples released to do ministry on their own, and actually DO great ministry: casting out demons and healing sick people!  Jesus instructs them to bring just the bare essentials with them: their staff and sandals.  Besides that, they are told not to carry anything extra or in duplicate, no bread, no bag, no money, no extra tunic.  The lesson seems to be “bring only one of each, and even none of some”.  But there is one extra thing that Jesus commands the disciples to bring with them as they minister:

“He sent them out two by two.”

The only extra asset the disciples bring with them as they travel to proclaim the Kingdom is another disciple.  It’s as if Jesus is saying, “You don’t need money.  You don’t need a bag.  You don’t even need food!  But you need to someone to travel alongside of you on the journey.”  In ministry, more important than your clothes or resources or money are your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Sometimes we reverse this order of priority, focusing instead on having resources and money and a good organization…and having a good partners in ministry if it’s possible.  But we need to have these healthy partnerships first because they are indispensible to how we proclaim the Kingdom.

Questions:

1. Why do you think it is so important to serve with others?  Can’t we do a lot on our own?

2. In the ministries you serve, do you have a partner(s) to travel with?  If so, what has been the benefits for your ministry?  If not, what have been the effects on your ministry?

3. Sometimes, we have partners we don’t want!  But this is how it was with the disciples as well, as many of them did not get along.  What do we need to do to have healthier relationships with those whom we serve (but don’t get along!) with?

12.5.08, Mark 6:1-6

A Prophet Without Honor

1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Two Sides 

A couple of important notes before we delve into the description.  Again, looking at the revelation of Jesus’ identity, we see Jesus here as a prophet in the Old Testament sense.  In the OT, prophets were often persecuted and reviled, especially in their hometowns, and it is no different with Jesus.  Also, the end of the passage can be a little misleading if not read carefully.  The passage is not saying that Jesus could not do miracles because of their lack of faith, as if it was impossible for him – after all, he does do a few miracles there.  The focus instead is on the people, that because of their contemptuous attitude towards Jesus, they would not come to him for miracles!  After all, Jesus can’t perform miracles on people who don’t come.

But let’s focus on the attitudes of the people in this passage.  Their thoughts are verbalized for us, and they start off well: “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!”  We hear this kind of mentality often in the gospels from people who have witnessed Jesus’ power and authority.  But then, the attitude takes a dramatic and negative shift: “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.  Why does their attitude take this more contemptuous path?

Three possible reasons: first, they were only focused on status, and the superficial.  When they saw Jesus, all they saw was a carpenter and a carpenter’s son, just one boy in this middle class family, nothing more, definitely not the Son of God.  And when you focus on the status or externals of a person, it becomes nearly impossible to see God because God loves to work through the lowly, and the despised.

Second, they were jealous of him.  You may have already discovered that when you leave home for school or work, and later return, we get into the habit of comparison.  This is especially obvious during class reunions, where people are trying to prove to one another how much they’ve changed, and how much more successful they are than their enemies.  The people in this passage grew up with Jesus, and he returns a prophet of wisdom and miracles?…you can see their jealousy gets the better of them.  Jealousy destroys our ability to see God’s presence because it fixates us on other people, rather than on God.

Third, familiarity breeds contempt.  When something (or someone) gets too familiar, we have a hard time seeing anything awe-inspiring or wonderful about it – after all, it’s just commonplace for us.  We have to hang on to the significance of the things that we do and the people that we know as Christians – we may praise all the time, we may pray all the time, we may have had Christian friends all our lives, but this should not make worship or prayer or fellowship any less incredible than they are.

Superficiality, jealousy, and familiarity can all prevent us from seeing God’s presence right in front of us.

Questions:

1. Have you ever focused on the superficials of a person, and been embarrassed to discover they were so much more underneath?

2. Do you ever feel jealousy in your Christian life – perhaps of other people’s relationship with God, or their relationship with others?  What have the effects of that jealous been on your spiritual welfare?

3. What part of your Christian life has become too familiar, and has lost its significance?  What can you do to re-remember how significant that part of your life is?

12.3.08, Mark 5:35-43

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”

36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. 

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Just Believe

Again, a well-known passage that many of us have read, and been blessed by.  Thematically, here we see a continuing revelation of Jesus’ identity, this time, his Lordship over death itself.  This is important not to minimize, as raising from the dead was not a common miracle.  But for me, something minor stands out from the passage – Jairus.  As a father, I place myself in Jairus’ shoes/sandals and try to imagine how he must have felt when he approached Jesus about healing his dying daughter.  

I would have felt anxious to find Jesus, and then hopeful that Jesus could save her.  But I would feel incredulous when Jesus turned around to ask a crowd of people “Who touched me?” – my daughter is dying, and you ask a question like that?  Anger at Jesus’ delay, and wild desperation as I know my daughter is getting closer to death.  And then, shock at hearing that my child has died, and that others are already mourning her.  A grief that I hope I never have to experience, ever, and finally, a deep discouragement as my “friends” tell me to leave Jesus alone.

After all of this, Imagine what Jairus’ faith looked like at this point – battered and traumatized.  But Jesus says simply, “Don’t be afraid – just believe”.  And so Jairus summons up whatever faith he has left, his tiny, beat-up, grieving faith, and follows Jesus through the door…and sees a miracle, a rare one even by biblical standards.  Jairus’ faith was not strong, it was not perfect, but clearly it was enough.

I think this passage brings us back to the idea of faith.  We have this concept that our faith in God must be unassailable and flawless if we are to see God at work, that we can never have any doubt in the least.  But this passage reminds us that our faith need not be perfect.  We don’t need all the answers.  We don’t have to feel emotionally fine and dandy.  Our faith may be worn thin, small, even dying, but whatever state it is in, bring it through the door and let God do what he does.  After all, even a mustard seed can become a great tree.

Questions:

1. Take some time to describe the state of your faith.

2. Have you ever had an experience where you know your faith was not perfect, but you still experienced God’s blessings?

3. Is there a situation in your life where you feel your faith is not adequate?  How does this passage change your perspective on that situation?

4. What’s important about faith is not that it is perfect, but that we put it to use.  In the situation from question 3, what ways can you take a step out in faith?

12.1.08, Mark 5:21-34

A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ “

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

From Mundane to Miraculous

Oh man, too bad this is only a devotional website, because this passage definitely deserves a sermon.  Out of the many insights of this passage, one stands out for me – how the bleeding woman touches Jesus’ cloak.  A lot of people were pressing up against Jesus, and surely must have been brushing up against his cloak, but something about how this woman does it is special, and set apart.  And whatever she does, it works, because she is freed from her suffering.

That “how” is faith.

Many people may have touched his cloak, but she was the only one there that believed that Jesus’ authority and power was so great that even a touch from his cloak was more than sufficient to heal what decades of medicine could not.  And so, even though she is doing exactly the same action as everyone else in the crowd, her action resulted in healing – because her faith was a transformative catalyst, that transformed a mundane and commonplace action into something supernatural and extraordinary.

Now, how could this possibly apply to us?  In more ways than you think: as Christians, we do many things that seem commonplace, or even silly, to others.  Our high regard for these things seem laughable to those who don’t believe – “You’re just reading an old book, just like the Iliad – why do you actually believe it’s true?”  “You’re just talking to the air – nothing results out of ‘prayer’!”  “You’re just singing rock songs in church – how is that different from going to a concert!”  And we can buy into this mentality as well, and start looking down upon these actions because they seem so silly, and meaningless when seen from that perspective.  And so we stop reading Scripture.  We stop praying.  We stop worshiping.

But don’t forget faith.  When you read the Bible without faith, it is a dusty tome with archaic moral values, but with faith, it leaps into your heart like the very Words of God (many of you have testified to this recently).  Singing without faith is very similar to going to a rock concert, but with faith, you realize that there is an audience of ONE very intently listening to your heart.  Even from our experience at our fall retreat, many of you will remember how I asked us to do something incredibly silly – to pray for one another and share any thoughts or even pictures that came to mind or heart.  Without faith, that is a silly and random request, but you remember the actual results – insights into people’s lives, encouragements, walls being pulled down instantaneously.

This week, whatever you do, no matter how great or how mundane, do it with faith, believing that God is real, powerful and actively involved in every second of your life.  And watch the mundane turn into the miraculous.

Questions:

1. What are some practical ways in which we can have more faith when it comes to reading Scripture?  Participating in worship?  Praying?

2. What activity or ritual of Christian life has become mundane or has lost its importance for you?

3. In looking at the above, how does faith transform that activity into something more meaningful?