Study on Mark 12

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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The Parable of the Tenants was spoken against the Pharisees, who were the religious conservatives of the time. Then the passage about the hypothetical question of the woman who married 7 brothers one after another in levirate marriage was spoken against the Sadducees, who were the religious liberals of the time. Both sides have their problems, and we likewise today have to watch out that we don’t succumb to something similar.

I had lady friend who was very bothered by the idea that there’s no marriage in heaven -- because she loves her husband very much. But I suspect that it’s not less, but more -- we’ll have that kind of oneness with all our brothers and sister in Christ in heaven, and not be limited to just our spouse.

Back to the religious people: there were, however, also religious people who were on the right track, like the expert in religious law who realized that Jesus was right about the two greatest commandments.

Jesus warned against how many experts in religious law,, however, who liked to be honoured by men., and pointed out how the widow with the two copper _lepta_ had given more than all the rich people. Another jab against the prosperity gospel, we think, so we who are against the prosperity gospel might be smug and think, “Oh, that’s not a problem for me.”

But, is it really? Temptation of desiring wealth I think is not far from me even in spite of my theology.

Study on Mark 11

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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11:1-11 God must have told the owners of the donkey colt that someone’s coming for his donkey, which is why they were so willing to let complete strangers take their animal.

This passage is often titled “The Triumphal Entry.” Luke’s longer account of this (Luke 19:41), however, it records that Jesus wept as he approached the city. This is interesting, because why would Jesus weep right after people celebrate him coming into Jerusalem in his “triumphal entry”?

Palm branches were the symbol of the Hasmonean dynasty, the last time Judea was self-ruled by Jews. You can read about this fascinating story in 1 Maccabees. (I highly recommend reading it. Even though Evangelicals don’t believe it to be scripture, pretty much everyone agrees that it’s historical, and gives a good insight into what happened in Judea between Malachi and Matthew. You can read a modern translation of it here: https://goo.gl/TeSC91 )

So, this passage actually was very Jewish nationalistic. It’s as if some foreign country had conquered Malaysia and banned the Jalur Gemilang, then this saviour arose and lead a procession into Kuala Lumpur and everyone came out and waved the Jalur Gemilang in defiance of the foreign overlords.

But do you see, why Jesus wept, then? Because, even here towards the end of his earthly ministry, he knew that the people misunderstood his purpose for his first coming -- to die for the sins of the world, not to become a political messiah like King David and wipe out the Roman overlords.

11:15-33 Here is a really interesting set of events. We like to point out the cleansing of the temple event, but the cursing of the fig tree always had bothered me. I mean, doesn’t this show Jesus being petty and impatient? After all, it wasn’t that the fig tree wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do -- it was, after all, not fig season.

But the cleansing of the temple, and the answering of the chief priests and lawyers, showed Jesus’ authority. So perhaps this fig tree incident also shows Jesus’ authority?

Christian radio talk show host Brant Hansen, whose podcast http://branthansen.com/category/podcast/ I enjoy listening to, pointed out that it is not surprising that the infinite God does stuff that we don’t understand. Isn’t it silly to expect that we would understand *all* of God’s motives?

Back to the cleansing of the temple: the merchants had taken over the court of the Gentiles -- the part of the temple that God had designated as a place for people who don’t know Yahweh yet to come to find out about Him. So by turning this into a marketplace, it meant that it was no longer a place that Gentiles could come to find out about Yahweh. The Jews had forgotten the essentially evangelistic mission that they had from the time of Abraham -- that through Abraham’s seed all the nations on earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). So, as someone (Thomas?) pointed out earlier, Jesus was very focused on his mission.

Study on Mark 10

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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10:1-12 OT Law permitted divorce because things are not ideal. But the ideal we should be aiming for is no divorce. For me, this hasn’t been a personal problem but I don’t know that I can tell a woman that if her husband abuses her, she cannot divorce him. And must we force a divorcee to remain single for the rest of her life or else become adulterous, because of this verse? Things are not ideal now as well as in OT times.

10:13-16 “Suffer the little children” is an example of when people get the totally wrong idea because the English language has changed since the King James Version was translated. I’m very happy that Joni received Jesus when she was about 2 years old.

10:17-31 Jesus felt love for the rich young man who tried to attain salvation by keeping the commandments. But nobody is able to keep all the commandments. Jesus looked into this young man’s heart and saw that his riches was keeping him from following God. People were amazed because the Jewish equivalent of the Prosperity Gospel was prevalent at the time -- the idea that if you were godly, God would bless you materially. But instead, materialism can become an idol. “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” So many of the prominent people in this life may be last in the next.

10:35-45 The disciples were not above jostling for position. Jesus teaches us “whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant”. The church has struggled with this through the ages, which even the Reformation hasn’t removed the danger of.

10:46-52 Healing of blind Bartimaeus. Hmm… sorry, I don’t have any deep thoughts about this 😁

Study on Mark 9

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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8:34-9:1 Putting things in perspective. So easy for us to lose that perspective, and become too busy with the things in this world. May I not ever be ashamed of the Son of Man.

9:2-9:13 Peter’s reaction: gibber, gibber 😜. And again Jesus points out he must suffer.

9:14-29 “I believe; help my unbelief!” I have this same reaction many times. I’ve gone for prayer, seen people gone for prayer and not gotten healed. In the recent Supernatural Encounter, many testified to great healing, yet also many others were not healed. “I believe; help my unbelief!”

9:30-32 Again Jesus predicted his death and resurrection but the disciples “did not understand this statement and were afraid to ask him.” Just like many of my students!

9:38-9:41 Some others actually _did_ manage to cast out demons in Jesus’ name, unlike the 7 sons of Sceva. Who have we excluded from the Kingdom of God because their theology doesn’t match ours, but we might be surprised by in heaven?

9:42-9:50 Jesus uses superlatives (‘Cut off your hand! Pluck out your eye!’) to point out how terrible sin is… yet how difficult it is for me to remember it when tempted! O Lord, remind me, that I might not sin against You.

Study on Mark 8

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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8:1-21 Jesus repeated the multiple feeding sign, and in between the two incidents, he walked on water… yet when he spoke of “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!” the disciples thought it was about having no bread. Jesus was more concerned about what they had in their hearts than bread. Sometimes we can be “too heavenly minded till we’re no earthly good” but more often it’s the other way around. I tend to be very rational and practical, but I need to balance that with the fact that we have a miracle-working God, who is more interested in our spiritual well-being. 8:22-24 Why did this man need 2 healings? I’m guessing that the first healing was for his physical eyes, while the 2nd healing was for the brain programming. Neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote about a man named Virgil who was blind since he was 5, but at 50, they managed to restore his sight. But “The house and its contents were unintelligible to him, and he had to be led up the garden path, led through the house, led into each room, and introduced to each chair.” Another case of a teenaged boy is related by Dr. Pawan Sinha, a professor of vision and computational neuroscience at M.I.T. When the boy’s bandages are removed after his eye surgery which gave him sight for the first time, “The boy sits still and blinks silently, the room around him reflecting in his eyes as a kind of proof of their new transparency. Sinha believes these first moments for the newly sighted are blurry, incoherent, and saturated by brightness—like walking into daylight with dilated pupils—and swirls of colors that do not make sense as shapes or faces or any kind of object.” So, modern eye surgery shows what the 1st century author of the Gospel according to Mark could not have known -- hence adding to the body of evidence that this was a true account of a true miracle. 8:27-33 Peter realizes that Jesus is the Messiah, but Jesus tells them not to reveal it to the world. Why? Because he needs to first die for our sins. So he cannot be the political messianic king that the Jews wanted, and he would be misappropriated for if the Jews knew. Matthew adds the detail that Jesus told Peter after his declaration, "You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!” So when Jesus declared that he was going to suffer and die, Peter took it upon himself to rebuke Jesus! But Jesus turned around and called Peter, this guy whom he had just affirmed received revelation from the Father in heaven, “Satan”! “You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” We may be greatly gifted by God with Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom, etc. but that doesn’t mean that everything we say or think is godly -- it can even be the devil’s plans! So, if God gives us wonderful supernatural gifts, we must nonetheless be circumspect and pay attention to the Holy Spirit. So many great supernaturally gifted people in the past have fallen astray and started teaching an unbalanced Gospel because of that -- and aside from the internationally famous ones, I have met one here in Malaysia who has drastically negatively impacted the lives of many including some people I know and love. Peter’s mistake didn’t invalidate that God indeed did give him a true word earlier. And his mistake also didn’t mean he was a goner now -- God indeed did take him through more failures and successes after this. So, we, likewise, when we have had a high, don’t become proud. When we’ve had a low, don’t give up.

Study on Mark 7

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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7:1-23 Ritual purity isn’t so important. More important is actual moral purity. “Am I being a pharisee?”

Incidentally, the “corban” thing, some time after Jesus, the rabbis actually decided Jesus was correct about this point.

7:24-30 The Syrophoenician woman: In one of the movies made about Jesus, they showed this as Jesus the human learning from the experience in overcoming the Jewish prejudice he grew up with. Many Christians balk at this interpretation because “Jesus was perfect! How could he have had racism?” but Luke 2:52 said that Jesus did grow in wisdom. So I dunno.

But as far as application goes, we can use this to ask ourselves, “What prejudices do I have that I need to grow from?”

7:21-27 Jesus now goes to the Decapolis and healed people, but this time he told people not to tell anyone. Interesting -- change since the time of the demoniac.

Study on Mark 6

My Life Net Group has been doing a study of Mark over WhatsApp, so I've not been doing my SOAP studies, so I thought I'd share what we've discussed so far instead.

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1 “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, and among his relatives, and in his own house.” Familiarity breeds contempt.

“He was not able to do a miracle there, except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.” -- Our unbelief hinders God’s miracles.

2 Jesus delegated authority to his disciples. Not their own authority, but they could still preach repentance, cast out demons, and heal.

As noted in the recent Supernatural Encounter, it’s not the celebrity preacher who has the power to heal -- it’s God, and His Holy Spirit can enable _any_ of us to become miracle workers.

Is our faith the limiting factor?

Yet, the other side is the great evil of blaming the victim, “You are not healed because you don’t have enough faith” which has shipwrecked the faith of many.

Also the other evil of saying that you must not use medicine and rely on “Doctor Jesus” alone -- a false teaching which has caused misery and death even here in Malaysia. Then the victims are blamed, “Oh, your child died because of your lack of faith. You just didn’t trust Jesus enough to heal her. It is your own fault of harbouring doubt.” How cruel!

3 Jesus walking on water to the disciples: I remember Pastor Daniel Ho (DUMC)’s joke, the disciples in the boat saw Jesus walking towards them in the storm and cried, “Hantu!!!” And Jesus replied, “Bukan, Tuhan.” 😜

This was right after the multiplication of the loaves & fish, and Mark notes “They were completely astonished, because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”