They Kept Silent

Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. Mark 9:33-34

Hey, you disciples, your Rabbi asked you a question. There are those times when a teacher will catch us students in a place we should not have gone. We know it, and like the disciples we may not want to speak the answer for fear of incriminating ourselves. Setting the students on the right path goes with the job of teacher or rabbi, and Jesus has a lesson for His greatness-seeking disciples: be the servant of all. In the Gentile world, we tend to think it would be great to be the top dog and be served by all. (And of course get the most loot to spend from that position.) There is an interesting question in this world. How can we be servants of all and not taint it with a desire for wealth and fame? Maybe I will keep silent until I can answer that one.

Good thing Jesus has an answer!

Bucky

Stalwart Heroes Of The Faith

For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him. Mark 9:31-32

With the story in hand from all four gospels, it seems hard for us to understand the disciples' lack of understanding in this. However we might understand the fear of asking they felt as we have known an 'afraid to ask' moment or two ourselves. We have also known persons who did not go to the doctor to get something checked out because they feared the diagnosis. You or I might even know that fear personally. The disciples may be feeling a similar sort of fear in this scripture we read today. Jesus stated it plainly, but ignorance felt better than acceptance to His stalwart heroes of the faith. Yes, they were anything but that in this moment of scripture. And yet, eleven of these twelve would be there when the Spirit of truth arrived on a day known as Pentecost.

Jesus can work big changes in us too. Have faith in Him!

Bucky

Became As One Dead

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  Mark 9:25-27

Jesus used His authority to rebuke and expel the demon. But for that brief moment he appeared as one dead, hardly the result the kid's dad wanted, I would think. Jesus was there though, and the child was raised up by the hand of our Lord. Was the man's son dead or just mostly dead? We may wonder in circles over it, but Jesus was there, the child lives. 

Find Jesus there with you in prayer, and live!

Bucky

Him Who Believes...And The Rest Of Us

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24

"If you can believe, all things are possible." That has been used to pad quite a few pockets and stomp on some heads on the way up the ladder of worldly success. However, grab just a tiny bit of the context of the story and we find the man who represents all of us when it comes to belief and doubt. That great, earnest, and appropriate for you and me, prayer comes with tears from the father of a child the disciples could not set free of an evil spirit. "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" It says all we need to know of that battle within us between the newborn faith in Jesus we have and the old crusty doubts of worldly experience. What we think we know is easy and right here; who we believe in is up there, somewhere, invisible. We think how much it would help if Jesus were back right here. But for the man in the story, Jesus was right there - and still he begged for help with his unbelief.

So, you and I are not alone in this fight of faith versus doubt that prevents us from doing those great things Jesus promised. Let us pray together for help with our unbelief.

Bucky

Faithless Generation

He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. Mark 9:19-20

After the disciples had their failure that we read of last week, Jesus has a commentary on all of them. "O faithless generation...how long shall I bear with you?" A comment of exasperation comes from our loving Lord Jesus. The Good Shepherd has sheep who are acting like sheep. The problem is not with the Lord, of course, it is with unbelief in the whole of His chosen generation. We might think it would be a treat to be with the Lord Jesus as He healed and taught in those days, but this should give us a nudge to reconsider. Unbelief or faithlessness was huge in the time of Jesus. Praise God we were born into that age when the good news went out to the Gentiles and we were called to believe in Jesus the Christ.

Rejoice this week in Jesus our Savior,

Bucky

A Scribe-ish Dispute

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”  Mark 9:14-16

When Jesus disputed with the scribes, it was shutdown city. The disciples appear to be having some difficulty with that. When the multitude and scribes see Jesus though, the disciples are dumped like a creepy first date. The dispute might even have been dropped as well except that Jesus asked what was going on. And as the story goes in our next reading, the disciples had a massive fail. So what was the dispute? In some cases the scribes would have been ecstatic to see the disciples of Jesus fail at something. We can easily guess the dispute; the failure happened and then a scribe or two opened their mouths and criticized, or mocked, maybe even scoffed. But Jesus arrives for the disciples, and all will be alright now. Or, will it? 

We continue the glorious story of our Lord next time,

Bucky

Encapsulated

But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him. Mark 9:13

Yesterday we read how Elijah will come, but today he has already come? It may be that Jesus refers to John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and also to that witness of the two from Revelation 11. Prophecies have been seen to have both past and present, or past and future fulfillments. However, yesterday it was foretold (sorry, prophecy pun) that we would look into that bit Jesus encapsulated between His Elijahs. That part where the Son of Man must be treated with contempt.

With the advantage of the Gospels as history, we can see what the disciples in that moment could not yet see. Jesus was indeed treated with contempt, and executed by the Romans on the cross. We know by this advantage what the disciples should have recalled from many prophecies available to them including, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and many others. Well ain't we just the learned uber-disciples! Without the enabling of the Spirit of God, faith in Jesus, and the study of His word, we would be facing the same difficulty as those disciples of our Lord's. We enjoy a little distance and a lot of scripture; they had to learn on the spot.

Praise and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky