Category: Mark (Page 5 of 6)

Still No Faith?

June 13, 2015 / Allan Babcock

TV evangelist Pat Robertson claimed his prayers helped steer Hurricane Gloria in 1985 and Hurricane Felix in 1995 away from the Virginia headquarters of his Christian Broadcasting Network (The Virginia-Pilot, Norfolk, VA, June 10, 1998).

Unbelievers, skeptics and even some believers had a field day laughing. Granted, Robertson has made strange claims over the years. Maybe these hurricane-prayers are one, maybe not . . .

* * *

35 That day (of Jesus’ parables—Mark 4:1-34) when evening came, he said to his disciples,
“Let us go over to the other side.”
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.
There were also other boats with him.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat,
so that it was nearly swamped.
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves,
“Quiet! Be still!”
Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other,
“Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:35-41).

Even the wind and the waves obey him! Earlier Mark reported how Jesus demonstrated authority over an unclean spirit (1:21-28), over many sick in Capernaum (1:29-34), over leprosy (1:40-45), over paralysis and sin (2:1-12) and over a withered hand (3:1-6). Because he broke the Pharisees’ legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath law (3:1-6), and probably because he was famous with the masses (1:28,45; 2:1,2,12), “the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him” (3:6). These miracles were signs of God’s kingdom at hand (1:15). The Pharisees, however, were blind to them. They should have known better from their Bible.

“For [the LORD] commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and were at their wits end (Psalm 107:25-27).
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still, and the waves were hushed” (Psalm 107:25-29).

Almost makes you seasick! But stomach-churning mustn’t make us miss the message: the Lord can send a storm and the Lord can stop a storm. “The LORD’s kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:15); therefore every storm exists within his sovereign will. The Unseen Hand doesn’t show up on meteorologists’ radar!

The Pharisees missed the message of Jesus’ miracle because of religious pride. We can miss it because of false piety. We can snicker with skeptics at Robertson’s claim. And maybe his prayer didn’t have anything to do with those hurricanes’ course-changes. But let’s learn from Jesus and the psalmist. Rather than regarding storms as the result of weather patterns, wiser to say with the disciples in fearful awe . . .

“Who then is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (4:41).

Why are you so afraid? The disciples aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch. But how can we blame them for being afraid? If we were caught in a boat with mini-hurricane waves breaking into it and filling it, would we crawl to the stern and lay down to nap next to Jesus?

At Jesus’ rebuke “the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (4:39). At Jesus’ questions it’s clear he considered the disciples’ fright the opposite of faith. “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (4:40). All the miracles they’ve seen and they still had more fear of the storm than they had faith in Jesus. (I hate to admit I would have had too.)

Maybe we can kick off the unbelieving disciples’ soaking sandals and fuel our faith by realizing . . .

One, faith comes from seeing and hearing. Jesus expected the disciples’ faith to come from his miracles they’d seen and his teachings they’d heard. His question—“Do you still have no faith?”—implies that. For us faith comes from “seeing” and “hearing” Jesus in Scripture. That’s why daily prayerful Bible reading is vital for our faith’s health. That’s why regularly hearing it preached and taught is “faith-giving”.

Two, believing is trusting he cares. Faith-teaching “specialists” complicate faith. In this case, faith is “simply” trusting Jesus cares. The cowardly disciples shook Jesus awake: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Yes,
” . . . he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The cross is the most powerful symbol of Jesus’ love. And the most assuring promise of his love is Romans 8:37-39.

Three, silence doesn’t mean absence but presence. What good is a caring, powerful miracle-worker asleep in dreamland? But maybe Jesus sleeping meant he was in comfortable control! We naturally assume silence means Jesus is absent from our “sinking boat”. But, from the One who said “I will be with you always” (Matthew 28:20) and whose Spirit indwells us (Romans 8:9,10), silence doesn’t signal absence but presence.

With those “faith-fuelers” in mind, one question . . .

“Still no faith?”

KINGDOM? You’re KIDDING!

June 10, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Jesus isn’t content to head the church or sit on my heart’s throne. “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper)

That’s the reign to which Jesus referred when he came into Galilee, proclaiming God’s gospel . . .

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15a)

The Old Testament prophet Daniel described this kingdom most succinctly . . .

I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13,14).

It almost takes your breath away. Jesus (“one like a son of man”) was given an invincible kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him forever. So it was that the risen Christ claimed to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

But I wonder: two thousand years later, where is that kingdom?

I don’t see Jesus reigning, do you? What I do see is the political class, mostly ineptly, reigning in Washington, D.C. I see 15 or 20 Republicans and a handful of Democrats battling to sit in the Oval Office inner sanctum of power. I see Islamic State slaughtering innocents to build its kingdom-caliphate in the Middle East. I see Vladimir Putin taking over Ukraine for Russia. I see political/military coalitions that seem to mostly talk while aggressors arrogantly advance. I see a “Heinz 57” smorgasbord of churches, divided over what are often minor doctrines, each claiming to preach the only true gospel, losing members as each competes for a shrinking potential-members’ pool and either seduced by material prosperity or embattled by violent persecution.

But I don’t see God’s kingdom which Jesus announced “at hand” 2000 years ago. Where is it?

In the next section of Mark’s Gospel (4:26-32), after “The Sower and Soils” parable, Jesus told two more parables from a boat to a very large crowd gathered on the shore. These parables answer my question.

The Growing Seed (4:26-29).

And he said,
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows;
he knows not how.
The earth produces by itself,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle,
because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).

How do small seeds scattered on dirt sprout and grow into a harvest? We can describe the process. We can explain the inner workings of the seed. We can demonstrate its reaction to soil and water and sun. We can even slow-motion-video the progression. But from where comes the “life” in the seed? And why does this “life” grow? It’s a mystery 21st century biologists can’t solve. “Life” is just “there”.

And that’s the “punch” of “The Parable of the Growing Seed”. We can describe the process of preaching-hearing-believing-following. We can point to the “fruit” of an individual’s new life. We can explain the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believing man or woman. But precisely how does that seed of the Word grow into a “new creation”? And precisely how does that advance the kingdom of God toward the “harvest” of the final judgment? Even the apostle Paul’s best answer left a mystery: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Jesus calls us to walk by faith. This parable calls us to believe that what we can’t see and don’t fully understand is in fact happening in the soil of human hearts in the dirt of this world. Somehow, like scattered seed growing into a harvest, God’s kingdom in his Son is growing toward the harvest day. We know not how.

The Mustard Seed Parable (4:30-32).

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God,
or what parable shall we use for it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed,
which, when sown in the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on earth,
yet when it is sown it grows up
and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches,
so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:30-32).

Seven hundred mustard seeds equal one gram. Just one of those so-small seeds can grow into a 10-foot-tall bush . Birds make nests on large branches that once were smaller than a grain of sand. It’s another of those surprising displays God seems to delight in. Like the Hebrew nation from a 90-year-old woman and a hundred year old man. Like eternal life from a crucified Messiah. Like a 2000-year-old church from foolish, weak, and lowly people.

So here’s the Mustard Seed Parable’s punch: God’s kingdom on earth starts small—insignificantly, unimpressively—but it will have a really big finish. Things are not always as they appear. We shouldn’t measure God’s kingdom with an ordinary ruler. Just as Jesus went from the ignominy of the cross to the exaltation of the ascension, so his kingdom goes from the insignificance of one Jewish “criminal” to the glory of an eternal, invincible reign over all peoples, nations and languages.

These parables answer, “Where is the kingdom?” And these parables call us to walk by faith. Sight isn’t always right. Size can fool us. What starts miniscule can end up mammoth. Such, Jesus claims, is the kingdom of God, that is, even now, mysteriously growing on earth.

No kidding.

Lest They Be Forgiven

June 3, 2015 / Allan Babcock

One of the most hard-to-take statements Jesus ever made—that’s what this is.

Before we get to it, recall Jesus just told “The Parable of the Sower and the Soils” (Mark 4:1-9—See “Got Ears? LISTEN!”, https://theoldpreacher.com/got-ears-listen/). After that, Mark reports . . .

(10) And when he was alone,
those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
(11) And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,
but for those outside everything is in parables,
(12) so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven'” (Mark 4:10-12).

TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE in that parable-hearing crowd– “those around him with the twelve” and “those outside.” Those with the twelve have “been given the secret of the kingdom of God” (4:11). Those “outside” “see but [do] not perceive” and “hear but [do] not understand” (4:12). Jesus wants the first group to know the secret of the kingdom, but he doesn’t want the other group to understand “lest they should turn and be forgiven.” Hear that? Jesus does not want “those outside” to turn and be forgiven!

Epistrephosin (translated “turn”) literally means “to turn physically” and figuratively means “to change one’s ways or repent”. Jesus uses it in Luke 17:4 where he teaches his disciples “if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Here, then, in Mark 4:12, “turn” implies repentance and repentance requires the granting of forgiveness.

BUT SOME JESUS DOESN’T WANT TO FORGIVE. This flat-out contradicts everything we generally believe about Jesus. Jesus is “Mr. Mercy”. “Sir Soft-Heart”. Lavish with love. Frenetic to forgive. But not here. Here he doesn’t want some people to understand his parables, because, then, they might repent and he’d be obligated to forgive them.

How could that be? Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9,10 where the Lord commissioned Isaiah for a strange prophetic ministry . . .

(9) Go, and say to this people:
“Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”
(10) Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.

WHY WOULD THE LORD SAY THAT? In his commentary, The Book of Isaiah, E.J. Young writes, “[The Lord’s] nation had so sinned and hardened its heart that it contained within it the seeds of its own destruction” (Volume 1, p. 258). Young is referring to the repeated calls to repentance prophets made to Israel—calls they repeatedly refused. Young quotes John Calvin, “Such blinding and hardening influence . . . must be ascribed to the depravity of man . . . The whole blame lies on themselves in altogether refusing [the prophets’ words]; and we need not wonder if that which ought to have led them to salvation becomes the cause of their destruction” (ibid., p. 260). In other words, our refusal to pay attention to the Gospel has a limit. Reach it (only God knows when) and we’ve hardened our hearts permanently. Repentance and forgiveness are no longer possible.

Glue that hardens in 60 seconds makes me nervous. My hands shake squeezing out the glue and fitting the broken pieces together. More than once I didn’t beat the clock–as warned the glue hardened. That can happen to hearts too.

PURITAN PASTOR-THEOLOGIAN JONATHAN EDWARDS EXPLAINS: “We have here . . . a tension-laden account of human unbelief: both the consequence of man’s refusal to heed the revelation of God and God’s judgment of the unwilling, confirming the hardhearted in their unbelief. Parables veil the truth to outsiders just as they reveal it to insiders. God both opens the eyes of the blind and blinds the eyes of those who have proved themselves uninterested and unwilling.”

LISTEN!

The sower sows the word.
And these are the ones along the path,
where the word is sown:
when they hear, Satan immediately comes
and takes away the word that is sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground:
the ones who, when they heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.
And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while;
then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word,
immediately they fall away.
And others are the ones sown among thorns.
They are those who hear the word,
but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches
and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word,
and it proves unfruitful.
But those that were sown on the good soil are the one who hear the word
and accept it and bear fruit,
thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundred fold (Mark 4:14-20).

This is “the word”—“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in this gospel” (Mark 1:15). Let’s not let our heart become rocky ground, so Satan can snatch the word away! Let’s not let our heart be rootless, so trouble drives us from Jesus! Let’s not let our heart be cluttered with this-life cares or wealth’s lies or endless wants, so the word of the kingdom gets choked to death! Let’s make our heart good soil that embraces the word and bears fruit!

In other words, “Pay attention to what you hear” (Mark 4:24)!

Ears, Me, More & Homework

(A little prayer for a soft heart wouldn’t hurt either!)

Got Ears? LISTEN! Got Ears? LISTEN!

May 29, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Every morning he marched to his front porch and shouted into the neighborhood, “Tigers, get out!” One morning his wife rebuked him, “Harry, there are no tigers for thousands of miles!” Smiling with satisfaction, he replied, “See. It works!”

Parables are like jokes. Gordon Fee, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, explains, “The two things that capture the hearer of a joke and elicit a response of laughter are the same two things that captured the hearers of Jesus’ parables, namely their knowledge of the points of reference (the characters in the parable with whom they identify) and the unexpected turn in the story” (How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, p. 127). Further, Fee writes, ” . . . parables function as a means of calling forth a response on the part of the hearer.”

Many parables are about the kingdom of God. George Eldon Ladd (1911-1982), professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, defined the kingdom: ” . . . the Kingdom of God is the redemptive reign of God dynamically active to establish his rule among men, and . . . this Kingdom, which will appear as an apocalyptic act at the end of the age, has already come into human history in the person and mission of Jesus to overcome evil, to deliver men from its power, and to bring them into the blessings of God’s reign” (The Presence of the Future).

In this next section of Mark’s Good News (Mark 4:1-34) he reports Jesus telling three parables. Today we’ll “listen” to just the first—the familiar “Parable of the Sower and Soils” (4:1-9 , NIV).

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” 9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” now Jesus has publicly preached and healed throughout Galilee for about two years. His fame has spread, again bringing a crowd to the shore so large that he taught—in parables—from a boat. The Greek word—parabolay—was used of riddles and puzzles and stories. Jesus’ parables were stories of ordinary life that were often puzzling—like an “inside” joke.

For about two years now, Jesus has preached and healed throughout Galilee. His fame keeps spreading, so again great crowds came to the shore, so that he taught them—in parables—from a boat. The Greek word parabolay is used of riddles and puzzles and stories. A parable, then, is a story of ordinary life with a puzzling twist.

This parable seems straightforward. We get the farmer scattering seed and the different results depending on the condition of the soil. But, had we been there, would we have understood what Jesus meant and the response for which his story called?

Later Jesus will interpret for his disciples (4:13-20). For now, let’s see what we can discover from just the parable itself. First, the audience is a “very large crowd” (4:1). Some were disciples (4:10), most not. Second, Jesus initially wanted each person to really hear, to consider carefully what he said. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (4:9). From Jesus’ urging, we can be quite sure this is the response Jesus wanted.

The Greek word twice translated “hear” is akoueto. It can mean simply hear or, more deeply, hear with understanding. In 4:12 Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9,10 speaking of those who “hear but [do] not understand.” So in 4:9 Jesus means something like, “The one who has ears to hear, listen carefully to understand!” Later Jesus repeats it to his disciples . . .

21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you– and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

Hidden things are intended to be disclosed (4:22), just as we put a lamp on its stand to shine (4:21). Jesus is disclosing hidden things about God’s kingdom. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (4:23) repeats 4:9 (“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”). Then comes 4:24a, an elaboration of 4:23—“Consider carefully what you hear” or “Pay attention to what you hear” (verse 24a, ESV). Again, Jesus wanted disciples to listen attentively, thoughtfully, seriously with an aim to comprehending what his story meant. And since this parable is about the kingdom of God (though Jesus doesn’t use the term), Jesus wanted them to listen carefully to understand what he was telling them about the kingdom of God.

Why does Jesus want them—and us—to consider carefully what he says in parables?

Parables are puzzling. This one isn’t to us because we have Jesus’ interpretation to his disciples. But if we were in the crowd that day, the parable would have perplexed us. Got ears? Listen!

The kingdom of God is a secret. “To you,” Jesus will later explain to his disciples, “has been given the secret of the kingdom of God” (4:11a). In other words, the knowledge of God’s kingdom is hidden until revealed by Jesus. Got ears? Listen!

The kingdom comes in a counter-intuitive way. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, he ordered his troops to openly march across the border and meet any resistance with force. But when God “invaded” the world to inaugurate his eternal reign, he sent his One and Only Son to preach, work miracles and ultimately die, then be raised. God’s kingdom comes in ways we don’t expect. Got ears? Listen!

Satan wants to steal what we hear. This will become obvious later (4:15). But even now we can see that hearing Jesus to understand is a spiritual battle. Got ears? Listen!

We’re not good listeners. “Couch potato” doesn’t describe a certain kind of furniture or vegetable. It’s me on a Sunday afternoon watching the Rays on TV. Soon (with eyes open) I couldn’t tell you what the announcer said, who hit the ball where, or who was playing what.

During 44 years of preaching, I dreaded knowing the answer to one question: “What was my sermon about today?” Many times I’ve seen that “holy glaze” on many eyes!

“Allan, I told you the answer to that question yesterday!” the teacher exclaimed. “Weren’t you here?” Yes, I was there, but my mind was on the girl sitting one row over.

There’s more to this parable than good listening. But, to paraphrase Jesus, “If we don’t understand this
parable, how will we understand all the parables?” (4:13). Got ears? Listen? Really listen with an aim to understand. Shut your ears to everything else. Open them wide to only what Jesus says. Think. Consider carefully. Pay attention to the parables of the kingdom of God.

Harry’s wife is right. There are no tigers. But there is good news of a hidden kingdom.

Jesus: Misunderstood

May 23, 2015 / Allan Babcock

People don’t understand Jesus. Agree or disagree?

Make an interesting poll question, don’t you think? Whatever results today’s poll might show, it’s clear people didn’t understand Jesus in this next part of Mark’s Good News report—chapter 3, verses 7-35. Some were . . .

Desperate for Jesus’ Healing (3:7-19).
Doesn’t sound like a misunderstanding. But think it through.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed,
from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea
and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.
When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
lest they crush him, for he had healed many,
so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him . . . (3:7-12)

Word spreads, even without social media. A miracle-worker called Jesus is healing sickness! So they come. First, like a trickle of sea water on the beach. Then like a wave. Finally a flood. Limping. Dragging. Carried. Hundreds, like a thirsty mob frenzied for water pressed around him, straining just to touch him, frantic for their miracle.

Who can blame them? When you’re terminally or chronically ill, you long to be well. All you think of is health and healing is everything you want. Mark doesn’t say, but certainly Jesus healed as he had before.

However Jesus is much more than a divine doctor dispensing miraculous cures. He’s the Son of God. He didn’t come primarily to make these dust-bodies better. He came to inaugurate the eternal kingdom of God. That’s what he had proclaimed when he first entered Galilee . . .

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:14,15).

In a science fiction movie, Earth faces alien attack. Government and citizens prepare. Countdown to THE TIME starts, When Jesus announced, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand”, he was telling us THE TIME of the countdown’s zero hour had struck. The arrival of God’s most incomparable act since Creation—the inauguration of the New Creation—had dawned!

Jesus’ healing miracles were signs of that kingdom’s in-breaking, but many that day were more than happy “just” to be healed. When we fixate “merely” on physical healing to the exclusion of kingdom glory, we’re “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory).

Jesus: misunderstood.

Deranged Jesus (3:20,21,31-35). This misapprehension came from, of all people, Jesus’ family.

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that he could not even eat.
And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him,
for they were saying, “He is out of his mind” (3:20,21).

The ESV Study Bible identifies Jesus’ family as his mother and sisters and half-brothers. But on this day they all seem like Jewish mothers! “Oy gavalt! He’s out of his mind. We have to go save our boy!” Jesus had given them cause for concern: so besieged by crowds “he could not even eat”. What he said when they found him probably didn’t calm their fears: ” . . . whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (3:31-35)? Anybody have the number for the psychologist?

Believe it or not, a few people today believe Jesus was a loon. At least a victim of his own success, who believed his own messianic press clippings. Certainly there are more, though, who think we are the loons for believing in him. Either way, in their mind, Jesus and his followers aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch.

Jesus: misunderstood.

Demon Jesus (3:22-30).

And the scribes (law teachers) who came down from Jerusalem were saying,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul”
and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons”.

This is misunderstanding gone ballistic. Jesus’ fame draws scribes from Jerusalem. They can’t deny his exorcisms, so they brand him possessed! Jesus called them together and, like a patient teacher reasoning with 2nd grade children asks, “How can Satan cast out Satan? . . . if Satan has risen up against himself . . . he cannot stand . . . ” (3:23,25).

We smile at the scribe’s sorry charge, but Jesus took it quite seriously. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin . . . ” (3:28,29). Now “ballistic” misunderstanding has gone to hell.

I don’t know anybody today who says, “[Jesus] has an unclean spirit” (3:30). But rejecting Jesus as the Son of God who came to inaugurate the kingdom of God amounts to pretty much the same thing, How you be saved from God’s wrath against sin if you reject the Savior he’s sent? So learning to understand Jesus is the most important education we can have. And that brings us to part of this section we’ve skipped . . .

Disciples of Jesus (3:13-19).

And he went up on the mountain
and called to him those whom he desired,
and they came to him.
And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles)
so that they might be with him
and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons (3:13-15).

Since you’re reading this, you’re hearing the Gospel. Jesus is present in it. And he’s calling you. Not to be an apostle, but to be with him and to be sent out to make his Gospel understandably known.

None of us on this earth will completely understand Jesus. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. But this is where we want to be—with him, learning from him through his written Word. Otherwise, at best we’re settling for “mud pies” and at worst eternally unforgiven.

Learning to understand Jesus and believe in Jesus and follow Jesus and make Jesus known is the highest understanding we can have this side of the new creation.

How Can We Kill Him?

May 15, 2015 / Allan Babcock

That’s what it’s come to. Already. After just a year. How can we kill Jesus? Actually, the Greek word is stronger. Apollumi means something like “destroy once and for all”. “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him once and for all” (Mark 3:6).

Who are these would-be killers? Pharisees. An influential sect within Judaism. The name means “separatists.” Beginning 4 B.C., when Greek idolatry threatened the Jews, God used the Pharisees’ devotion to his Law to save Judaism. But now they’ve morphed into legalism—righteousness by avoiding “unclean” people and following “the traditions of the fathers”.

Herodians. A Jewish political party aligned with the family of the Herods, who ruled part of Israel under the Roman Caesar’s thumb. Typically the Pharisees avoided the Herodians, but popular Jesus became their common foe.

Scribes. Interpreters and teachers of biblical Law. Theologically, many were Pharisees. Though not mentioned in this text, they too opposed Jesus (see Mark 7:1-13).

Interesting that today in the U.S. nobody wants to kill Jesus. People take him or leave him, but few, if any, want to crucify him. Maybe because the popular Jesus today is a nice guy, loving, good. Not a provocative bone in his body. Different elsewhere though. Who do you think ISIS is trying to kill when they behead Christians?

This section of Mark’s Gospel divides into four parts which I’ll mark off with the words of Jesus’ enemies. The text is too long to quote in its entirety, best to read with Bible in hand . . .

Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners (Mark 2:13-17)? Jesus called tax collector Levi (Matthew) to follow him. Many tax collectors (Jews who assessed taxes for the Roman empire) and “sinners” (Jews Pharisees avoided because they didn’t keep “the religious rules”) joined Jesus and his disciples at Levi’s dinner party. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Table-togetherness signifies social acceptance.

Jesus doesn’t avoid these sinners or eat with them in a hidden cave. In Levi’s open courtyard Jesus unashamedly shares a meal. Nor does he try to rationalize it. (“We didn’t know these people would show up!”) Rather, he provokes the Pharisees: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). In other words, “I’m eating with them intentionally. These are the people I’ve come to call. Not you.”

Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s and the Pharisees (Mark 2:18-22)? ” . . . John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.” Though Jewish Law required fasting only once a year on the Day of Atonement, different groups fasted more often (like the Pharisees who were fastidious fasters).

Jesus answers provocatively. “As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast”—provocative because Isaiah 62:5 told of the day when God would rejoice over his restored people “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.” Jesus implies that he is the heavenly bridegroom.

“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” A not-so-subtle hint that these guys are the old, dried-up wineskins, and the new kingdom Jesus is bringing requires a new order.

Why are your disciples doing what isn’t lawful on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)? As Jesus’ disciples walk through grainfields, they pick grain and pop it in their mouths . “And the Pharisees were saying to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?'” The LORD had commanded no work on the holy Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-10a) and warned that those who profaned that day should be put to death (Exodus 31:14).

Jesus doesn’t answer, “I’m sorry; I forgot what day it is.” He knew the legalistic Pharisees had made Sabbath-keeping a burden, so he reminded them of the LORD’s original intention: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” By restoring the the LORD’s intent, he identifies himself as “the Son of man [who is] lord even of the Sabbath.” A not-so-subtle jab at the Pharisees’ Bible-interpretation skills—and an audacious claim about himself!

How can we kill him (Mark 3:1-6)? Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Jesus knows they’re watching him there in the synagogue. He knows what holy day it is. A suspicious spectator might think this was a sting operation by the Pharisees. Who knows? Maybe it was. And Jesus, it seems, played right into their hand. He openly called the withered-hand man up front. He asked a compelling question about the Sabbath law. You could hear a pin drop. You could feel the wrath rising in Jesus as he surveyed the congregation. You could see the rage slowly shift to sorrow over how hardhearted the people were to this hurting man and to Yahweh himself. Openly to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” And there before them all, like a computer-engineered movie scene, his withered hand turned whole. That’s when the Pharisees had more provocation than they could take. They stormed from the synagogue and plotted with the Herodians how to destroy Jesus.

Jesus the Provocateur. Jesus wasn’t out to pick a fight. But when the real bullies assaulted him, he didn’t shut his mouth and slink away. By his responses in every instance, he provoked the Pharisees. His replies fueled their anger until their blood boiled for death. If Jesus wasn’t trying to pick a fight, what then was he doing? Rebuking sinful leaders who twisted his Father’s words to suit their own ends. Correcting their heresy by speaking Truth.

We all see God through our own eyes. We all read his words from our own point of view. We are all marred by our own sin and by the world’s. So through his written word, Jesus comes and provokes us. Like: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). “Repent”. None of us has all the right answers to all the questions, yet sometimes we act as if we do. Everybody’s theological system has its flaw, but we refuse to admit that. Who of us loves God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength? Who of us loves her neighbor as herself? Which one of us really loves his enemy and does him good?

Jesus comes not to pick a fight, but to provoke us to repent, to change our way of thinking and seeing and doing. To better learn the truth and walk in it. A lot we learn easily. But some things we need poking and prodding to get. If we’ve read Jesus’ words and found none provoking us, better read them again more carefully and humbly. Because Jesus will keep at it ’til we get what he says, don’t like it, but finally submit to it. That’s what a loving, good and gracious provocateur does.

Power to Act Over Mighty Bad Stuff

April 24, 2015 / Allan Babcock

He was the headline news. It was his authority that put him on the front page. It astonished everyone. Demons cried. Disease disappeared. Damnation lifted. Being famous in 30 A.D. northern Israel wasn’t like making it in the Big Apple, but Jesus’ name was on every tongue. People hounded him wherever he went. ” . . . his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee” (Mark 1:28).

In our meandering through Mark’s Gospel, we’ve read reports about John the Baptist (1:1-8), Jesus’ baptism and temptation (1:9-13), the Gospel Jesus preached (1:14,15), and Jesus’ call to his first four disciples (1:16-20). Today we reach the report of Jesus’ power to act over mighty bad stuff. The whole text is too lengthy to quote. (But, if you can’t read both text and post, read text! God’s Word is more important than mine about it!)

HEADLINE: JESUS DRIVES OUT A DEMON (Mark 1:21-28)! In the Capernaum synagogue last Sabbath, a man suddenly interrupted the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and identified him as “the Holy One of God”. Jesus responded by commanding an unclean spirit to come out of the man. The man convulsed, cried out with a loud voice and the spirit came out. The people were all amazed at Jesus’ authority. One said, “He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him!”

HEADLINE: JESUS HEALS A TOWN (Mark 1:29-34)! The mother-in-law of Peter and Andrew of Capernaum was ill with fever. Eyewitnesses say that after synagogue Jesus “took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her.” News spread. By evening all the town’s sick and demon-oppressed were brought to Peter’s front door where—people claimed—Jesus “healed many who were sick . . . and cast out many demons.”

HEADLINE: JESUS CLEANS UP A LEPER (Mark 1:40-45)! Yesterday a man claiming to have had leprosy told how he had approached Jesus of Nazareth begging to be made clean. The leper said that Jesus, with a look of pity on his face, “stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.'” According to the leper, the leprosy immediately left him.

HEADLINE: JESUS HEALS & FORGIVES A PARALYTIC (Mark 2:1-12)! Late yesterday men carried a paralytic on his bed to a packed house where Jesus of Nazareth was teaching. When they couldn’t get through the crowd, they managed to pull the man up on the roof, break through, and lower their friend inside. Witnesses say Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Apparently to prove he had authority to forgive sins, Jesus then commanded the man, ‘ . . . rise, pick up your bed and go home.’ People present in the house all claim the man did pick up his bed and go home, leaving behind an amazed crowd glorifying God saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Demons (Yes, those little devil are real. Who do you think inspires ISIS’ beheadings?). Disease. Damnation. All mighty bad stuff. But Jesus had authority over it all. With a word or a touch power to act was released and people rescued,

If we lived in a northern Israeli town (you’ve seen Middle East villages on TV news) and a man visited and worked miracles like this, what would we think? Mark doesn’t want us to write them off as scams or people’s pre-science ignorance. He wants us to connect them with Jesus’ preaching . . .

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14,15).

Connect healings with preaching and what do we get?

Those healings powerfully signified the kingdom of God was at hand. “Kingdom” (Greek basilaya) fundamentally means “reign” or “the power exercised by a king.” The hope the prophets had promised was no longer a circled date on a far-off future calendar. It was as near as the hand at the end of your arm. God’s reign was at hand. Healing miracles were the signs pointing to its closeness.

The kingdom of God was at hand in the person of Jesus. Jesus was (is) the king of God’s kingdom. Wherever Jesus was the reign of God was. The kingdom wasn’t a territory but the power exercised by the king. The kingdom was incarnated in Jesus. And his healing miracles localized God’s reign in him.

Those healings revealed what life is like in the kingdom of God. Demons exorcised and banned from coming back. Disease removed and kingdom-citizens restored to health. Damnation for sin lifted by a word of forgiveness. In Jesus the kingdom had already come, but not yet in its fulness. Here were tastes, glimpses, anticipations of what God’s consummated reign will be.

Therefore, repent. Stop thinking that this world-system is all there is. Stop banking on dreams fulfilled by “making it” here. Stop living as if you’re the king of your own little kingdom. Turn to give your allegiance to Jesus. If you don’t, demons or disease or damnation will get you. And any one of those is mighty bad stuff.

There, believe in the Gospel. All this sounds like an old Disney movie. Or as crazy as the idea that if you die killing an infidel 20 virgins await you in heaven. But it’s real. As real as the demon-free man. As real as the healed town. As real as the clean skin of the leper. As real as the paralytic walking on strong legs with a guiltless heart.

Because of Jesus—the man with the power to act over mighty bad stuff.

Follow Me

April 14, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Extraordinary life-changes can come from answering a simple call.

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee,
[Jesus] saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea,
for they were fishermen.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother,
who were in their boat mending the nets.
And immediately he called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him (Mark 1:16-20).

Lest we think Mark’s report about Jesus’ call pertains only to those four fishermen, listen to what the apostle Paul wrote to the church . . .

” . . . God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved,
through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
To this he called you through our gospel . . . ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13.14).

God called these Thessalonians through the gospel. When they heard Paul preach the good news of Jesus Christ, God was present calling them. Not surprisingly, then, the apostles often referred to the church as a called people (Romans1:6; 1 Corinthians. 1:2; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 1:18; 1 Peter. 1:15; 2:9; Jude 1:1). A strong implication this is also true of us. Through the gospel we heard or read the Lord was calling us: “Follow me”.

What extraordinary life changes come from answering Jesus’ call?

WE LEAVE CONTROL OF OUR LIVES BEHIND. Peter and Andrew had to leave their nets. James and John had to leave their father in the boat. Fishing and following wouldn’t mix. But they left more than fishing; they left control of their lives behind. They surrendered to Jesus’ lordship.

Lots of fishing in Florida. If that’s your thing, take heart. Jesus doesn’t call us to put our poles in the closet; he calls us to lay our lives on the altar. Answering Jesus’ call means I can no longer say, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” Jesus is.

WE FOLLOW A PERSON—JESUS. Obvious, right? Certainly for Peter, Andrew, James and John. They didn’t trail after a doctrinal system, a famous preacher, popular music artist, dynamic church or even the Bible. They followed a Person—Jesus—down the beach. But because we can’t see Jesus leading us on, we tend to forget we’re following a Person. We become adherents of a particular doctrinal system, fans of a famous preacher, groupies of a big Christian music artist, enthusiastic members of a dynamic church or devotees of the Bible—and Jesus the Person gets lost in the crowd. That mustn’t be, because in him all God’s promises are fulfilled (2 Corinthians 1:20), and he called, “Follow me.”

WE BECOME STUDENTS OF THE WORLD”S GREATEST TEACHER. Those four guys knew how to fish. But they didn’t know how God was fulfilling all his promises in Jesus or how Jesus fulfilled God’s covenant Law given through Moses or how Jesus’ followers should live in a fallen world or how Jesus was bringing the long-awaited kingdom of God. Jesus was calling them to become his disciples—his students, his apprentices—to teach them what they didn’t know.

Are we reading the Bible through in 2015 just so we can check the boxes? Is our only take-away from sermons critiques? Jesus called us to follow him as disciples. We should remember the title of seventeenth century Puritan Ralph Venning’s book—Learning in Christ’s School.That’s what his call to follow entails.

WE START TO OBEY BY FAITH. Jesus worked astonishing miracles. (Guess all miracles are astonishing, huh?) But, apart from them, his followers saw no signs that he was anything but a great teacher. Following Jesus called them to walk by faith. That virtue has been diluted these days. So here are a few questions to help “purify” it. Jesus warns, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23). Do we believe him and evidence our faith by not keeping too much wealth for ourselves? Jesus teaches, ” . . . whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:44). Do we believe him and evidence our faith by working to serve others? Jesus explains that
” . . . the Son of Man came . . . to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Do we believe him and evidence that faith by resting in his ransoming death for our eternal salvation? “Without faith it’s impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6a). And ” . . . faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17).

WE ARE MADE INTO “PEOPLE-CATCHERS”. “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Jesus didn’t intend to leave these men as he found them. He planned to make them “people catchers”. Up to now, “Follow me” sounds rather inward, private even. Just Jesus and me. But Jesus called these men to send them out. Some would be inspired by the Holy Spirit to influence millions (!) by writing what became books of the Bible. All spread the gospel to different parts of the Middle East, even Europe and India. As they followed him, Jesus made them to become “fishers of men”.

We aren’t apostles, as these Jesus’ followers became. But, as Paul urged, we are to imitate them as they imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). That means we must constantly remember Jesus is pushing outward to “catch” children, grandchildren, relatives, friends, neighbors and nations for him.

GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY. These extraordinary life-changes at Jesus’ call can sound freedom-constricting. But Paul pricks our “freedom balloon” when he reminds us we are either slaves of sin or slaves of God (Romans 6:20-22). In 1979 Bob Dylan put it this way in the chorus of his Grammy Award winning song. (If you’re a Dylan fan or just curious and want the full treatment go to https://vimeo.com/87876758.)

“You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

Who are we following today?

The Gospel Jesus Preached

April 1, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Should we care? Only if we’re interested in the most critical, transformative sermon the world has ever heard. Here’s how Mark reported it . . .

Now after John was arrested,
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14,15).

Before we unpack this very short sermon, let’s note four important points. One, Jesus preached it “after John was arrested.” John was John the (bizarre) Baptist we read about earlier. (Check Mark 6 for why his arrest.) When one prophetic voice was silenced (in this case John’s), the Bible tells how the Lord always raised up another (in this case the Voice—Jesus).

Two, Jesus preached his sermon in Galilee, Israel’s northern province. The “movers and shakers” lived south about 100+ miles in Jerusalem. Galilee was Israel’s redneck territory. That’s where Jesus grew up and where he preached. “God chose what is foolish in the world . . . what is weak in the world . . . what is low and despised in the world . . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

Three, Jesus preached “the gospel of God.” Jesus was “the Son of God” (1:1). When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan “a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased'” (1:11). He was the One to whom John pointed: “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie” (1:7). The mighty Son of God preached the gospel—the good news—of God.

Four, Jesus preached the same sermon often (see, for example, Matthew 4:17,23). This was the headline good news Jesus came to herald (1:38). So let’s briefly unpack it . . .

THE TIME IS FULFILLED. The New International Version weakly translates peplayrotie, “The time has come.” But the Greek is stronger—“fulfilled, completed, reached its end.” Jesus announcing that the time the prophets had told of for centuries had been brought to fulfillment. This day was the day—the birth of the end of days.

AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND. So close you can reach out touch it—that’s “at hand.” And “the kingdom of God” isn’t a beautiful, high-walled city securely surrounded by a moat like Camelot. God’s kingdom (basalaya) is God’s unopposed, unending reign the prophets had promised. We’ll catch glimpses of it in coming chapters. For now, here are just two prophecies from Daniel (6th century B.C.) that powerfully picture “the kingdom” . . .

In the time of those kings (following 6th century B.C. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon),
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom (government) that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people.
It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end,
but it will itself endure forever (Daniel 2:38b-44).

I (Daniel) saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him . . . (Daniel 7:13,14a).

That kingdom, Jesus preached, was “at hand.” Therefore . . .

REPENT. Remember Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)? A son demanded his share of the father’s inheritance, left home, blew the money in wild living and ended up feeding pigs. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”‘” That’s metanoeite—“a mind-change leading to a behavior-change.” Change your mind about the time (it’s not just another day) about your sin (it’s not okay), about God’s kingdom (it’s not far off), and about Jesus (he’s not just another prophet). And change your behavior accordingly—pay attention to the time it really is, confess your sins and turn from them, understand God is starting to take over this corrupt world now, and obediently follow Jesus.

AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL. Faith is required because God’s kingdom “at hand” is unseen. Jews expected God’s kingdom to come like Caesar’s—armed soldiers destroying every pagan in their path. We think nothing significant changed when Jesus preached God’s kingdom “at hand”. Just another scene in the gospel drama. We’ll soon see in Mark’s reports that the grand hope toward which the prophets pointed was, in the person of Jesus, becoming reality. Everything changed. And still is that process.

SERMON-SLEEPERS. I preached for 44 years. I recognize sermon-sleepers. Eyes closed for several minutes isn’t meditative prayer. It’s sleep. Glassy-eye stare isn’t someone transfixed by my words. Nobody’s home! Despite its brevity and familiarity, we mustn’t sleep through Jesus’ sermon. In fact, it would be good to memorize it. (Yup, the whole sermon!) Because this is the gospel Jesus preached. And it explains everything Jesus said and did and everything done to him through the rest of Mark’s good news report. I SAID, SLEEPER, IT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING JESUS SAID AND DID AND EVERYTHING DONE TO HIM!

“Invasion”

March 20, 2015 / Allan Babcock

C.S. Lewis once wrote that he liked to take his Christianity the same way he took his whiskey—straight. That’s what we get in the Gospel according to Mark. The Gospel straight. No frills. Few details. A news bulletin.

Today in Mark’s Gospel we come to a section I call “Invasion”. Historically invasion has been how a belligerent nation took control of another. In democracies “invasion” is done by spending millions to persuade citizens to vote for you. Mark 1:9-13 starts an “invasion” news report like this: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee . . . ” Not an invasion that makes you run for cover! Why call it an invasion then? Because shortly Mark will report what Jesus proclaimed: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand . . . ” (1:15a). A kingdom alien to the world’s is on the horizon! A king is about to take over! Yet Mark records his arrival so ordinarily: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee . . . “

Mark’s “invasion” news divides into two sections: Jesus baptized by John (1:9-11) and Jesus baited by Satan (1:12,13).

JESUS BAPTIZED. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased” (1:9-11).

Four points Mark makes are worth nothing. One, Jesus came “from Nazareth of Galilee”—a poor village 180 miles north of big-city Jerusalem. I’M FROM NAZARETH t-shirts didn’t sell well. No “big names” came from there. If Israel had been a democracy, presidential candidates wanting to impress voters with their humble beginnings would have bragged to crowds, “I grew up in Nazareth. We lived in a tiny house with the goat and ate fish daddy caught with string and nail.” Jesus’ Nazareth-boyhood shows his humble distance from the world of “movers and shakers.”

Two, Jesus “was baptized by John in the Jordan”. Why, when John’s was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:40)? Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He had no sin to repent of and be forgiven of. So why be baptized by John? To identify with us sinners. He was taking his place as one of us who need to repent and be forgiven. Instead of slaughtering us “little nobodies”, this invading king became one of us to save us for his kingdom!

Three, when Jesus came up out of the Jordan “he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.” A scene of sharp contrasts! Like clouds being blown apart by raging wind, the sky was ripped open and from it, like a gentle dove, the Spirit came down on Jesus. It was an anointing with power for his mission (Acts 10:38).

Fourth, “a voice came from the heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased'”. Did everyone at the Jordan hear the voice? We’re not told. If only Jesus heard it, the voice assured him that what he was doing was well-pleasing to God the Father. And for us who “hear” it now in Mark’s news report, the voice identifies Jesus, not just as a humble and good man, but as God the Son. Every Jew, if they heard the voice, and every Jew afterward who read Mark’s news report, would have thought of messianic Psalm 2:7: “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you””. So the news of Jesus baptized, far from being an insignificant sidebar, revealed Jesus humbly identifying with us sinners and, at the same time, being anointed with power and assured of the Father’s pleasure with him.

JESUS BAITED. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him (1:12,13). The wilderness was a desolate, deserted, lonely place—a place fitting for the cosmic battle that took place there. The Spirit, who anointed Jesus with power, “immediately” (euthus—one of Mark’s favorite words) “drove him out into the wilderness.” The battle lasted 40 days, as Israel had been in the wilderness 40 years, dying for their unbelief (Exodus 14:1-35). Wild animals, not just Satan, were a danger. But—and this suggests the intensity of the battle for Jesus—“the angels were ministering to him.”

“Why this temptation by Satan?” Several reasons have been suggested. Here’s mine: to prepare Jesus for his ongoing battles with Satan. Talk about the devil, and people begin quietly backing away from you. But have you noticed how often we hear the word “evil” used to describe ISIS? Try as we might, we sophisticated 21st century Americans, can’t escape the reality of evil. Satan is evil personified. And, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s works” (1 John 3:18). This “cosmic battle” was the first of many. This one prepared Jesus for what lay ahead as he inaugurated the kingdom of God in this world which lies under the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). By the way, though Mark doesn’t tell us (!), Jesus won. That’s implied by Mark’s next report—that Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God” (1:14,15).

JESUS FOR US. I recently subscribed to “The Wall Street Journal”. Often I come away wondering what some of the complex financial news means to me. What does Mark’s “invasion news report” mean to us? That the Son of God, humbly identified with us sinners by being baptized as one of us. That Jesus, assured of the Father’s pleasure and empowered by the Spirit, was baited for us by our deadly enemy Satan. That we were the object of history’s strangest invasion. That this is a revelation of divine love and grace. And that a brief, seemingly insignificant news event like this is why the news Mark reported is called good.