Category: Mark

Mark 8:14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 

On the heels of yesterday’s reflection, today’s scripture, yet again, reminds me of my students, except it reminds me that sometimes *I* am just as oblivious as said students, floundering around in God’s lesson, saying, “When will I ever need this stuff again?,” completely missing His point.

Mark 8:15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

And that realization gives me a new level of compassion for those students, those immature, bumbling, students who cannot see that I am trying to do everything I can to help equip them for life beyond my classroom. Because *I* am also a bumbling, immature Christian who often misses the lessons Jesus is lovingly trying to teach me to help prepare me for life as well. Jesus, Help me.

Mark 8:16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

Precious Savior, Thank You for compassion and perspective. Thank You for the reminder that in many ways, I am just like those students plucking my last nerve because they are willfully missing what is right in front of them. I do the same thing with You so often. Forgive me. Help me to pay better attention, to listen when You speak, to look and to see Your goodness. Help me. Amen.

Mark 8:17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

Have a blessed day.

Mark 8:9-10 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

Verse 12 really stands out to me in today’s verses. Jesus, sighing deeply, refusing to give a sign to the Pharisees, refusing to prove Himself to them. That deep, weary, frustrated sigh….I get it. Not that I am equating myself with Jesus. Not that I understand anything on His level. But I know the frustration of doing everything in my power to prove that I care, that I have students’ best interests at heart, that I want them to think and to discuss, that this is *not* the same old English class.

Mark 8:11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.

And still I have that kid, those kids, who refuse to engage, who refuse to think, who say things like, “I was just talking to my friend about how we will never use anything in this poem after this class” because he hasn’t even bothered to see that the poem is about so much more than what’s on the surface. I know the weary sigh, expressing that the student is missing the very point that I am trying to get him to understand.

Mark 8:12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 

Precious Savior, Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Your ways are far beyond anything that I can imagine (Is 55:8). Thank You. Help me to be more like You in my thoughts, my words, my attitude. Help me to spend time with You and reconnect with You, especially when I deal with life’s frustrations. Help me to keep fighting the good fight, even when all I can do is sigh deeply and move on. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Mark 8:13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

Have a blessed day.

Mark 8:1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 

Yesterday I talked about Jesus’s example after example of healing. Today we see yet another example of His provision. This is the second time in fairly quick succession that almost this exact scenario has taken place–hungry people, few food provisions, Jesus’s miraculous compassion.

Mark 8:2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 

But do the disciples realize? Do they understand that Jesus will provide? Clearly not, because when Jesus points out that the multitude has had nothing to eat and needs food, His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” It seems I’m not the only one who can be rather oblivious.

Mark 8:3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

Precious Savior, Forgive me when I miss Your goodness, which is right in front of me. Forgive me when I let fear and worry take the lead. Forgive me when I forget that You are compassionate and sovereign, that You have promised never to leave me nor forsake me, that You will supply all my needs. Forgive me, Jesus. Help me. Amen.

Mark 8:4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

Have a blessed day.

Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 

I’ve got a lot going on in my noggin this morning. I’m trying not to berate myself for things I left undone for others (a simple oversight, but it’s hard for me to let go of blame), and I truly do not understand today’s verses in light of what I know of church and religion. (Driving out demons? Speaking in tongues? Picking up snakes? Drinking deadly poison without being harmed? These are not things I have seen in my religious experience.)

Mark 16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

So what can I take from these last four verses in a chapter where Jesus has risen from the grave and gone before the disciples–even though they let Him down in the last hours of His life–to continue the Kingdom Work? Keep moving forward. Don’t get stuck in the blame game. Don’t get stuck in confusion. If you don’t understand, go with what you know. God is love. Jesus is love. Love wins. Keep loving. Keep moving forward.

Mark 16:19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

Precious Savior, I am a perfectionist at heart. So when I forget things that are almost ingrained at this point, I get angry with myself. When I don’t understand Your word, I’m tempted to throw my hands up and walk away. Help me to pause, to breathe, to praise Your name, to keep moving forward in You. Amen.

Mark 16:20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Have a blessed day.

Mark 16:9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 

The version of the Bible I am reading contains the following note before today’s section of verses: [The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.] I find this note incredibly interesting. Why were verses 9-20 included in later versions but not in the original? Who first added these verses? What was their objective in doing so?

Mark 16:10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 

I’m not sure I find the content of the verses surprising at all. Those who thought Jesus was the Messiah had a very specific idea of how He would save them and from what He would save them. They are mourning the loss of that ideal. Many of them also fully grasp that He was God incarnate because of the anomalous happenings at His death. They were mourning the loss of a Savior they didn’t even know that they needed. I don’t think it’s too surprising that folks didn’t believe yet that He had risen.

Mark 16:11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

Precious Savior, Thank You for who You are and who You are to me. Thank You for having a plan that was bigger, greater, than anything we could hope or imagine. Thank You for going ahead of us as you promised, even as we are struggling with doubt and grief. Help us to cling to Your promises. Always. Amen.

Mark 16:12-13 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

Have a blessed day.

Mark 16:5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

Jesus knew before His death all the ways his disciples would fail Him. He knew of the betrayal. He knew of the denial. He knew of the lack of vigilance while he was praying. None of that was a surprise to Him. And yet…

Mark 16:6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 

Jesus could have belittled and berated the disciples in the message He left for them, but that is not who He is. Jesus chose to encourage and remind. He reminded them that He was going ahead of them to Galilee, that His death was not the end of the ministry, that it was “just as He told you.”

Mark 16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”

Precious Savior, Thank You for Your mercy and grace. Thank You for knowing the many ways we will fail You yet loving us anyway, going ahead of us, meeting us on the other side. Help us to give ourselves and each other grace upon grace. Amen.

Mark 16:8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Have a blessed day.

Mark 1:43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:  

It seems almost counterintuitive that Jesus would give a “strong warning” to the now-healed-leper not to tell anyone about his healing. Telling others about Jesus and His presence in my life is a huge part of who I am.

Mark 1:44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Maybe the leper felt that way, too, or maybe he was just so relieved to be finally healed that he couldn’t contain himself. But as the news spread, it became harder for Jesus to do anything but heal, and while that was a crucial part of His ministry, it was not his sole purpose. The leper’s elation and gratitude ended up hindering Jesus’s mission.

Mark 1:45a Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places…. 

Precious Savior, Thank You that proclaiming Your goodness in my life is something I can do without restraint. Help me to share my story in a way that gives others hope and not in any kind of way that hinders Your work. Amen.

Mark 1:45b …Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Have a blessed day.

Mark 1:39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

There is a footnote after the word indignant in verse 41 which says that many manuscripts say that Jesus was filled with compassion instead of Jesus was indignant. The translation choice baffles me because compassion and indignation are vastly different emotions. Commentary supports compassion instead of indignation, but it still begs the question why such a popular translation (NIV) uses it.

Mark 1:40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

NIV is my favorite translation, probably because it is the one I’m most familiar with, but on verse 41, I am totally siding with every other translation I can find–which uses compassion or filled with pity instead of indignant–because the Jesus that I’ve come to know over the years, is filled with compassion, not indignation.

Mark 1:41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Precious Savior, Thank You for the intellectual ability to parse out meaning from Your word. Thank You for the knowledge of You, who You are and who You are to me, to understand that Yours is a heart of compassion and not indignation. Help me to be an agent of compassion to Your people. Amen.

Mark 1:42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Have a blessed day.