Healing a Blind Man

22They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” 24And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26, NRSV)

My first question from this reading is how did this man know what trees look like?

Well, the reading doesn’t say he was blind from birth, so he could have gone blind. But isn’t it interesting he said the people look like trees?

I actually understand what he is saying because, without my glasses, people can be blurry and tree-like. But Jesus touched him again and healed him completely.

And Jesus sometimes does this for us, heals us with a touch from a friend, or partly gets us there and then sends in others to complete the work. You see we are all part of the plan of His kingdom.

So allow God to work in and through you.

Yeast of the Pharisees

14Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” 16They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” 17And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20“And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:14-21, NRSV)

Yeast is not always about bread. But once you put the yeast in, you can not take it out…

It is like pouring salt and sugar together and then trying to separate them. It isn’t possible. We need to be aware of what is happening around us and who the people are that are influencing our life.

Do not let those who will bring you down have an effect on you.

Let God permeate your life and work in and through you.

More Miraculous Meals

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2“I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” 5He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. 11The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side. (Mark 8:1-13, NRSV)

Have you ever wondered how things were going to work out?

That was me most of the time I was in seminary. I wondered how we would pay our bills and keep food around for the girls and for us. I wondered how we would pay back all of the money we were borrowing (which I am still paying, 13 years after seminary…).

I am wondering about all of this now as we are preparing to move to different places for 4 months. We will have 2 rent payments, 2 utility payments, a new car payment, and all kinds of things, along with all of the bills we currently have. SO how will it work? I actually have no idea, but I do know that God has it. I don’t need to worry about it (even though I will).

God has led us to this and God will lead us through it.

Have faith and believe.

Jesus Brings Hearing

31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” (Mark 7:31-37, NRSV)

Have you ever seen anything like this?

Do you have to see this to believe this?

Do we have to see it to believe it and if we do do we really believe it?

One of the best lines from The Santa Claus 2 is “Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.”

Believe it because God said it.

A Courageous Mother

24From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (Mark 7:24-30, NRSV)

What would you do for your children?

This passage has always troubled me. Why would Jesus call this woman a dog? Even if it is a term for a pet, and not the slang term many said these two different groups would call each other. It just seems a stretch for the God of all creation to refer to his creation this way. Maybe it was a test…

And I wonder if it was a test and we were tested int his way, would we pass?

Would we have the fortitude and insight this mother has to say that while I might be a dog to some, even dogs deserve to be treated with love and understanding?

We all deserve love and understanding.

Gove what you want to the world.

What Makes You Unclean

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” 17When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-23, NRSV)

All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. We need God’s grace, but if we do not allow it to permeate our life we will allow the darkness in us to overtake everything we do.

Jesus tells us the evil intentions live in each of us. We must look to God and allow His love to work in and throughGo our lives so we can shine His love to all of the world.

So all God’s light to shine through your life and keep the evil at bay.

The Spirit of Commandment

9Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 11But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God)— 12then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.” (Mark 7:9-13, NRSV)

When we twist the word to fit our needs is not what God intended.

But aren’t we all guilty of this. How can we focus our lives on God and follow God’s word in our life?

We need to understand the underlying meaning God has for us and allow that to permeate our lives.

Love God and allow God’s love to shine through your life.

Scribes and Pharisees

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”(Mark 7:1-8, NRSV)

When we do things to be seen for doing something that is not what God called us to.

God knows the intentions of our hearts and knows why we do the things we do.

We may think that we will be rewarded for doing good deeds, but good deeds don’t matter. God’s grace is what is needed for life with God, and our deeds are clanging cymbals and empty promises.

God knows your heart and will not see actions that hold no love.

Who Rules the Sea?

5Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
7a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and awesome above all that are around him?
8O Lord God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
10You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it—you have founded them.
(Psalm 89:5-11, NRSV)

Who is like God?

God created everything and is in control of everything.

God created you and can control your life. Will you let God?

Walking on Water

45Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. 49But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; 50for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 51Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. 53When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. (Mark 6:45-56, NRSV)

A ghost walking on the water is scary enough. But it really is what Jesus says on the water that should make us afraid.

The translation is, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” but the actual Greek text says, “Be confident, I am, do not fear.”

Jesus said I am. I am is the name of God God gave to Moses at the bush. Jesus just claimed to be God. If the ghost on the water isn’t enough now this guy we are following thinks he is God.

It is one of the most frightening and comforting statements in the Bible. Jesus knows who he is and he is trying to help them and us understand.

Trust and believe.