Jesus and his followers went into Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching. The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.” “Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!” The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out. Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, “What’s this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!” Right away the news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee. (Mark 1:21-28, CEB)
Jesus taught as one with authority, not like the legal experts.
And the demons knew who he was and were afraid of him.
Nothing is out of the power of Jesus.
Know you are safe with Jesus who will always be with you.
When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed came from among the tombs to meet him. They were so violent that nobody could travel on that road. They cried out, “What are you going to do with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time of judgment?” Far off in the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you throw us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” Then he said to the demons, “Go away,” and they came out and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. Those who tended the pigs ran into the city and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole city came out and met Jesus. When they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. Boarding a boat, Jesus crossed to the other side of the lake and went to his own city. (Matthew 8:28-9:1, CEB)
Have you come to torture us before the time of judgment?
This to me is an odd sentence to say to Jesus. There isn’t any justification for this, as we have no stories of Jesus torturing anyone from the scriptures.
But remember these are demons. Evil spirits.
But here Jesus tortures the pigs, by letting the demons enter them. What a waste of bacon…
But in everything Jesus is merciful. He didn’t send the demons away, he allowed them to do what they asked.
“Write this to the angel of the church in Pergamum:
These are the words of the one who has the sharp, two-edged sword: I know that you are living right where Satan’s throne is. You are holding on to my name, and you didn’t break faith with me even at the time that Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed among you, where Satan lives. But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who follow Balaam’s teaching. Balaam had taught Balak to trip up the Israelites so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. In the same way, you have some who follow the Nicolaitans’ teaching. So change your hearts and lives. If you don’t, I am coming to you soon, and I will make war on them with the sword that comes from my mouth. If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. I will give those who emerge victorious some of the hidden manna to eat. I will also give to each of them a white stone with a new name written on it, which no one knows except the one who receives it. (Revelation 2:12-17, CEB)
We can choose to follow after ways that are not the path set before us by God. When we do this we follow the path of Satan.
This is not what God calls us to and when we do this we need to repent and change our ways. We can change our hearts and follow after Jesus.
But it’s not as though God’s word has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are part of Israel. Not all of Abraham’s children are called Abraham’s descendants, but instead your descendants will be named through Isaac. That means it isn’t the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children from the promise who are counted as descendants. The words in the promise were: A year from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but also Rebecca conceived children with one man, our ancestor Isaac. When they hadn’t been born yet and when they hadn’t yet done anything good or bad, it was shown that God’s purpose would continue because it was based on his choice. It wasn’t because of what was done but because of God’s call. This was said to her: The older child will be a slave to the younger one. As it is written, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. So what are we going to say? Isn’t this unfair on God’s part? Absolutely not! He says to Moses, I’ll have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy, and I’ll show compassion to whomever I choose to show compassion. So then, it doesn’t depend on a person’s desire or effort. It depends entirely on God, who shows mercy. Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have put you in this position for this very thing: so I can show my power in you and so that my name can be spread through the entire earth. So then, God has mercy on whomever he wants to, but he makes resistant whomever he wants to. (Romans 9:6-18, CEB)
Blood relatives are not always the best relatives. Sometimes the best family is the family you choose. Or the family that is chosen.
God chooses you to be a part of the family, God has grafted you into the family and made you a part. Even if you are not a descendant of Abraham or Isaac, you are a part.
God chose to be merciful to you. Share that mercy with the world and let them know that they too are loved.
Jesus went up on a mountain and called those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve and called them apostles. He appointed them to be with him, to be sent out to preach, and to have authority to throw out demons. He appointed twelve: Peter, a name he gave Simon; James and John, Zebedee’s sons, whom he nicknamed Boanerges, which means “sons of Thunder”; and Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, Alphaeus’ son; Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. (Mark 3:13-19a, CEB)
Who are the 12 disciples? According to the above passage they are: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas. But as you can see from the below chart from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles_in_the_New_Testament it is not as easy as saying these 12.
Did some of them have 2 names, like a niche name, or where there different groups of people? This is the problem sometimes with multiple accounts of the same story. Who has the correct list of the 12?
My thought is, it doesn’t really change the story. There were 12 men chosen by Jesus to follow him and learn from him, which was not the way teacher-student relationships worked then. Students had to prove to the teacher they would be good students, teachers didn’t select their students. And they were chosen by God to be a part of the family.
In a sense all of us are disciples. We are all apostles. In the sense that disciple means learner and apostle means one sent. We are all supposed to learn from Jesus and go into the world to share the good news.
So don’t worry about the details of the story and get the point.
God loves you.
God wants you to love God’s creation.
Go and show love in everything you do.
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of John
Acts of the Apostles
Simon (“also known as Peter”)
Simon (“to whom he gave the name Peter”)
Simon (“whom he named Peter”)
Simon Peter/ Cephas “which is translated Peter”
Peter
Andrew (“his [Peter’s] brother”)
Andrew
Andrew (“his [Peter’s] brother”)
Andrew (“Simon Peter’s brother”)
Andrew
James (“son of Zebedee”)
James (“son of Zebedee”) / one of the “Boanerges”
James
one of the “sons of Zebedee”
James
John (“his [James’s] brother”)
John (“brother of James”) / one of the “Boanerges”
John
one of the “sons of Zebedee” / the “disciple whom Jesus loved”
John
Philip
Philip
Philip
Philip
Philip
Bartholomew
Bartholomew
Bartholomew
Nathanael
Bartholomew
Thomas
Thomas
Thomas
Thomas (“also called Didymus”)
Thomas
Matthew (“the publican”)
Matthew / Levi
Matthew / Levi
not mentioned
Matthew
James (“son of Alphaeus”)
James (“son of Alphaeus”)
James (“son of Alphaeus”)
not mentioned
James (“son of Alphaeus”)
Thaddaeus (or “Lebbaeus”); called “Judas the Zealot” in some translations
Thaddaeus
Judas (“son of James,” referred to as brother in some translations)
Judas (“not Iscariot”)
Judas (“son of James,” referred to as brother in some translations)
When the council members heard this, they became furious and wanted to kill the apostles. One council member, a Pharisee and teacher of the Law named Gamaliel, well-respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be taken outside for a few moments. He said, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you intend to do to these people. Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and some four hundred men joined him. After he was killed, all of his followers scattered, and nothing came of that. Afterward, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and got some people to follow him in a revolt. He was killed too, and all his followers scattered far and wide. Here’s my recommendation in this case: Distance yourselves from these men. Let them go! If their plan or activity is of human origin, it will end in ruin. If it originates with God, you won’t be able to stop them. Instead, you would actually find yourselves fighting God!” The council was convinced by his reasoning. After calling the apostles back, they had them beaten. They ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, then let them go. The apostles left the council rejoicing because they had been regarded as worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of the name. Every day they continued to teach and proclaim the good news that Jesus is the Christ, both in the temple and in houses. (Acts 5:33-42, CEB)
How many of you ever heard of Theudas, or Judas the Galilean?
One can suppose from this reading they were people who started an uprising that went against the norms of the time. But when they died what they started just fizzled away because it was not true.
The apostles were sharing the truth of God and Gamaliel gave good advice, let them do their thing, because if it isn’t of God it will not continue, and if it is of God, do you want to be fighting God?
I personally do not want to be fighting God, which is why I try to error on the side of grace and love.
God calls us to love all.
In Loving we give grace. So Choose to love all and give grace.
Nevertheless, each person should live the kind of life that the Lord assigned when he called each one. This is what I teach in all the churches. If someone was circumcised when called, he shouldn’t try to reverse it. If someone wasn’t circumcised when he was called, he shouldn’t be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing; not being circumcised is nothing. What matters is keeping God’s commandments. Each person should stay in the situation they were in when they were called. If you were a slave when you were called, don’t let it bother you. But if you are actually able to be free, take advantage of the opportunity. Anyone who was a slave when they were called by the Lord has the status of being the Lord’s free person. In the same way, anyone who was a free person when they were called is Christ’s slave. You were bought and paid for. Don’t become slaves of people. So then, brothers and sisters, each of you should stay with God in the situation you were in when you were called. (1 Corinthians 7:17-24, CEB)
What matters is…
following God. This means worrying about how you are doing what God called you to do and not what everyone else around you is doing.
What matters is…
being who God created you to be. This means not being who others or society want you to be but being authentic to who God created you to be.
What matters is…
Loving like Jesus. This means not judging, but loving all unconditionally as we are loved.
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” Right away, they left their nets and followed him. After going a little farther, he saw James and John, Zebedee’s sons, in their boat repairing the fishing nets. At that very moment he called them. They followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers. (Mark 1:14-20, CEB)
I love the calling of the disciples in Mark, Matthew, and I think Luke. I like John as well, but it uses a different word for follow. There are a couple of words in Greek that mean follow and the one that Mark and Matthew use for certain is the most interesting to me.
ὀπίσω μου. Opiso Mou. This is what is used here when Jesus says, “Come, follow me.”
Follow me. We think of this and I have heard it portrayed as a nice let’s go for a walk and hang out, be buddies, and do stuff together. But that is not the connotation of the word.
ὀπίσω μου is used in another part of the gospels where Jesus confronts Peter and says to him, “Get behind me, Satan.” ὀπίσω μου is literally get behind me.
Jesus is calling the disciples to know their place. If you don’t see the back of Jesus’ head, you are not following.
We are not the leaders. We are but followers of Jesus.
“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin. How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida. If the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives long ago. They would have sat around in funeral clothes and ashes. But Tyre and Sidon will be better off at the judgment than you. And you, Capernaum, will you be honored by being raised up to heaven? No, you will be cast down to the place of the dead. Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” (Luke 10:13-16, CEB)
We get caught up in seeming to be right for those around us we do not actually do what God has called us to do.
Listen to God and go and love like Jesus.
Do not worry about keeping up your appearances, or doing what makes others happy. Do what makes God happy. Love everyone.
My dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both letters to stir up your sincere understanding with a reminder. I want you to recall what the holy prophets foretold as well as what the Lord and savior commanded through your apostles. Most important, know this: in the last days scoffers will come, jeering, living by their own cravings, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? After all, nothing has changed—not since the beginning of creation, nor even since the ancestors died.” But they fail to notice that, by God’s word, heaven and earth were formed long ago out of water and by means of water. And it was through these that the world of that time was flooded and destroyed. But by the same word, heaven and earth are now held in reserve for fire, kept for the Judgment Day and destruction of ungodly people. (2 Peter 3:1-7, CEB)
When is Jesus coming?
Sometime. But we do not need to worry about that. The thing we need to focus on is loving like Jesus.
Do not be concerned about when God will come back, trust in the promises and live love out loud.
aSacredRebel 