Week 42
Mark 6:1-30, Matthew 13:54-58, 9:35-11:1, 14:1-12, and Luke 9:1-10
Jesus calls together His 12 disciples, and gives them instructions for going out in pairs to preach about the coming of God’s kingdom, and He gives them power over demons, and power to do miracles.
While this is going on we read a side story of the death of John the Baptist, who Herod has beheaded, and who is afraid that Jesus might be John raised from the dead.
The Lord’s disciples return with reports of all they had done, and Jesus gets word that John the Baptist had been killed.
Matthew 14:13-36, Mark 6:31-56, Luke 9:11-17, and John 6:1-21
When Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been killed, He took His disciples to a deserted place to be alone, but the crowds knew where they were going and went ahead. When Jesus saw the multitude, He had compassion on them, and began teaching and healing the sick. At evening time the Disciples told Jesus to send them away, but He said “you feed them”. They brought Jesus the sack dinner of a child, with 5 rolls and two small fish, and from that the Lord fed some 5,000 men, plus women and children, with 12 baskets of leftovers gathered up.
After everyone had eaten, Jesus sent the crowds away, and forced His disciples to get in a boat without Him, to go over to Capernaum while He went upon the mountain to pray. Jesus prayed all night, but the disciples worked all night and couldn’t get to land because of wind and waves they were rowing against. However, Jesus was watching them from afar, and then came walking on the water to them before sunrise. Jesus knew this storm would hit, but He sent them out without Himself with them, and He was watching them throughout the time He was praying. This is the same with us, as He leads us into difficult circumstances, and even when it seems like He is far away, He is watching and protecting us.
John 6:22-7:1, Matthew 15:1-20, and Mark 7:1-23
After Jesus had fed the multitude, there were many in the crowd who wanted to make Him king, but He dispersed them and sent them away. The next day they found Him with His disciples at Capernaum, and they challenge Jesus to give them more food, just like Moses gave their forefathers in the wilderness. Jesus corrects them, telling them that it was God Who gave them bread in the wilderness, and it was God Who sent Jesus down as the bread of life. Jesus almost goes out of His way to offend them, saying that He is the Bread of Life from the Father, and that it is necessary for those who seek God to eat His Body and drink His Blood. Many in the crowd were offended, and went away, and many of the Lord’s disciples also stopped follow Him at that time. Only the 12 were left, and they told Him they would remain faithful to Him.
In like manner, we see other ways in which Jesus offended the Jews, with examples in these passages from Matthew and Mark. Pharisees from Jerusalem came to Galilee and criticized Jesus and His disciples for breaking the law, even though they didn’t break God’s law, but only their interpretation. Jesus points out their own hypocrisy, and quotes from Isaiah 29:13, telling them that they were guilty of teaching the people the doctrines of men, but claiming them to be the doctrines of God. Jesus tells them, and then He tells His disciples that it is what comes out of a person’s mouth (which is a reflection of what is in their heart) that defiles a man, and not what a person eats, or if they eat with unwashed hands.
Matthew 15:21-16:20, Mark 7:24-8:30, and Luke 9:18–21
For a short period of time Jesus and His disciples go north of Galilee to the Syrian coast, where the region of Tyre and Sidon was, and they encounter a gentile woman who keeps asking Jesus to free her demon possessed daughter. Jesus pushes back, because she is not a Jew, but she persists and Jesus commends her for her faith, and heals her daughter. Many times the faith of gentiles was far greater than of those in Israel.
Upon returning to Galilee, Jesus teaches and heals people for 3 days, but before sending them home, he feeds some 4,000 men, plus women and children, with 7 small loaves of bread and a few fish, and afterwards they gather up 7 large baskets of food scraps. Jesus has to remind the disciples of this miracle, and the feeding of the 5,000, when they (again) misunderstand His instruction to beware of the leaven (teaching) of the Pharisees.
He then asks His disciples the crucial question that every person must answer for themselves - “who do you say I am?”. It is critical that people believe He was sent from God, and that He was crucified for the sin of the world, but rose again on the 3rd day to life everlasting.
Matthew 16:21-17:27, Mark 8:31-9:32, and Luke 9:22-45
Peter had just answered Christ’s question correctly (“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”), but then He rebukes Jesus for telling them that He was going to be killed in Jerusalem and raised from the dead on the 3rd day. Jesus responds by saying “get behind me satan”, so Peter goes from hero to goat in just a few verses. As seen in these passages, there were many times when Jesus told His disciples in advance that He would be killed, and raised from the dead on the 3rd day.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain, and He was transformed before them, as if His heavenly glory was leaking out of Him, being brighter than the sun. Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah, and then God speaks from heaven to the disciples, saying “hear Him, Who I have chosen”. Jesus tells them later to not speak of the incident until after He was raised from the dead. This event remains vivid in Peter’s memory, and he speaks of it again in his epistle (2 Peter 1:17-18).
When they come down from the mountain, they encounter a man who’s son has been afflicted by a demon since childhood, and the Lord’s disciples had been unable to cast it out. Jesus rebukes the demon, and the son is restored to his right mind, after He tells the man that all things are possible to him who believes (the man responded “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”). Jesus later tells His disciples that their faith was weak, and that such do not come out except following fasting and prayer.
Matthew 18, 8:19-22, Mark 9:33-50, Luke 9:46-62, and John 7:2-10
In many ways and times Jesus impressed upon His disciples the importance of being servants, and not striving to be great in the kingdom of God. This is a lesson that they would not really learn until the night that Jesus would be arrested, when He would humble Himself to wash their dirty feet.
Jesus also taught them many times about forgiveness, and emphasizes this in Matthew 18, with the story of the two servants, and how God will likewise treat us in the same way we treat others. If we refuse to have mercy, and to forgive, then Jesus says that God will likewise refuse to have mercy and forgive us. Jesus told Peter that we should be willing to forgive the same offense hundreds of times without growing weary.
He also taught on the correct way to resolve conflict between individuals, where they should first try to clear things up one-on-one. If that doesn’t work, then they should enlist the help of a disinterested third party as an arbiter. Then, if that doesn’t work, the issue can be brought before the larger body of believers in the church, who will make a judgement between them. If the guilty party then refuses to listen, they should be treated as a stranger. Many people want to short circuit this process, and go straight to corporate discipline, but that is not how Jesus ordained it to happen.
Jesus also taught on the importance of living holy in this life, and said that we should take drastic steps to separate ourselves from whatever causes us to stumble. We should not interpret this literally, in cutting off body parts, or gouging out an eye, but see these as examples of how serious and drastic we need to cut off what causes us to sin.
John 7:11-8:59
The timeline of Christ’s ministry has jumped forward about 3 years, and it is about 6 months before His crucifixion that He goes up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (or feast of booths), which occurs in the Fall of the year.
Until this time Jesus had been primarily teaching and healing people in the northern region of Galilee, but now He has gone up to Jerusalem to present Himself before the people, and to openly declare Who He Is. He makes very clear that He was sent from God, His Father, and that everything He said and did came from the Father.
The Pharisees devise a scheme to try and trap Jesus, Who they hate because He is constantly helping people, and drawing people away from being under their control. They bring a woman who was caught in the act of adultery (but they didn’t bring the man), and they demanded that Jesus judge her appropriate punishment, which is clear in the law of Moses. In the law there is no provision for sacrifice or forgiveness for intentional sins, like adultery and murder, so she was clearly guilty, and clearly deserving of the death penalty. They know that Jesus doesn’t want to condemn anyone, so they want Him to be trapped between the law and His desire to show mercy. This grieves the heart of Jesus, and He finally tells them that the one among them who is without sin can throw the first stone. Each of her accusers become aware of their own guilt, and disappear, and then Jesus tells her that He also does not condemn her (“go and sin no more”). It’s impossible to trap God, no matter how sly and cunning the enemy might be.
Jesus ends a heated debate with the Pharisees in John 8, by again telling them clearly that He is from God, and that God is His Father. He likewise tells them that they are of their father, the devil, who was a murderer and liar from the beginning. At the end of this, Jesus tells them clearly that He is the “I AM” of the burning bush, and they tried to kill Him, but without success.