Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 6-7.

I want to start by commenting on an interesting literary trick which Mark uses here.  I have noticed it before, but nevertheless it still works on my every time.  He tells us that Jesus sent the Twelve out two by two to preach, heal the sick, and drive out demons.  Then he writes about how, some time earlier, Herod had beheaded John the Baptist before writing about how Jesus debriefed the Twelve upon their return leading into the account of feeding the five thousand.  By interjecting the account of Herod beheading John, Mark causes us to feel that a significant amount  of time passed between Jesus’ time in Nazareth and the feeding of the five thousand.  Of course the thing we also miss with this is that the Twelve had just returned from performing miracles which amazed them when they were reluctant to feed the five thousand.  They failed to make the connection between the wonders they had just performed over the course of many days by the power of the God who had given the Israelites manna in the wilderness and feeding a crowd of people.  How often do we fail to make the connection between the power God has demonstrated in our lives and His ability to address the need in front of us?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 6-7.

Today’s passage begins with Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth.  The reaction of those present contrasts poorly with that of those when He taught in the synagogue in Capernaum. Both saw similar things in His teaching, but in Capernaum they were impressed by His wisdom and understanding, while in Nazareth they were contemptuous of it.  We must be careful not to reject the message which God sends to us when He sends it through those with whom we are familiar.

I also had some thoughts about Mark’s account of the feeding of the five thousand.  First, when Jesus first told His disciples to give the people something to eat, their reply was, “Are we to go buy 200 denarii of bread and give it to them?” Today it struck me that that suggests they HAD 200 denarii which they could spend on bread, but that there was no place close by for them to do so.  However, I want to look closer at Jesus’ reaction when He saw the crowd which had gathered in advance of them at the remote place they went to get away from the crowds.  When Jesus saw the crowd, He saw them as sheep without a shepherd.  I want to write a little bit about what that means.  Sheep without a shepherd are vulnerable to predators and may have trouble finding food and/or water.  They will wander aimlessly, following each other with none of them having any idea where they should go.  We should think about those around us who may also be like sheep without a shepherd and direct them to the Shepherd.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 6-7.

I thought about writing on Jesus’ commentary on what defiles a person when it came up in Matthew, but there were other things I felt were more impactful on that day.  When confronted about His disciples not following the tradition of washing their hands before eating, Jesus went off on the Pharisees about their traditions.  He pointed out how they used traditions to nullify God’s commands.  In particular the way in which they created loopholes for themselves.  In fact, today what Jesus says about this particular loophole reminds me of the one which the very wealthy in our society use to evade estate taxes.  More importantly is what Jesus says concerning what does, and does not, defile us.  While we may be made sick by what we take into our bodies, we are not defiled by it.  According to Jesus, we are defiled by how we think about others.

Which leads me to something else important which was not part of what I intended to write today when I started.  Jesus lists sins which He says all come from evil thoughts, and He tells us that those thoughts come out of our hearts.  When we look at what all of these sins have in common we realize that they all come from thinking of others as existing for the purpose of satisfying our own needs and wants.  So, it is not enough not to take actions which harm others, we must train ourselves to not want to harm others.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 6-7

I did not write much about Jesus’ comments on hand washing and purity when I read it in Matthew, but I want to spend some time on it today.  It would be easy to think that Jesus was unaware of the health benefits of hand washing, and of washing eating utensils.  However, that misses the point.  Jesus does not say that washing serves no good purpose, or even that we should not wash our hands before eating.  Rather, He tells us that we should be more concerned with our spiritual health than with our physical health.  Contaminated food can only harm our physical bodies, we should be more concerned with that which can harm our spirits and our souls.  Further, Jesus tells us that what we say and do defiles our souls in much the same way that eating contaminated food can make our bodies sick.  It is what comes from within which controls our spiritual health and well-being.  Say and do that which is wholesome and our spirits will become healthier and stronger.  If, instead, we say and do those things which are vile, our spirits will become corrupt and weak.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 6-7

I am not entirely sure what we should make of this, but the first thing which struck me today was that John the Baptist was killed for speaking truth to power.  However, his trouble did not come from confronting Herod over Herod’s policies, or even Herod’s actions as political ruler.  Rather, John the Baptist confronted Herod over his personal moral failings.  Perhaps if Christians today focused their attention on upholding the God’s moral code we would have less need to uphold God’s code of social justice.  I try to limit how much I write about social justice because the topic has become so loaded with terms which don’t mean what they seem to mean.  I strongly believe that we should treat every human being as created in the image of God.  No one is less worthy of respect and honor than myself, and the only degree to which anyone is more worthy of respect and honor is the degree to which they serve others.

I am not quite sure how I am going to tie this together, but I believe that Jesus’ comments about tradition and the sources of defilement relates to what I wrote above.  Jesus tells us that the truly vile things come from within.  We should be concerned with addressing the evil thoughts we have more than with the outward appearance of righteousness. Jesus gives us a list of things which can defile us.  I find it noteworthy that He lists sexual immorality, adultery, and lustful desires: three variations on the same idea.