Evil Spirits

As we read Mark, we find that Jesus does quite a few exorcisms. As you read through the commentary, you come to learn that demons are trying to gain control over the situation by stating Jesus’ name. Nevertheless, Jesus shows his power by shutting up the demons. According to Garland, Jesus used the verb “epitimao”, which is frequently translated “rebuke.” Therefore, Jesus is not telling the spirits to be quite so that people will not know whom he is, but rebuking them and showing his power over the demons. During the lecture the other day, we found that the Jews believed that each demon had an angel that had power over that demon. Jesus, in rebuking the demons shows that he is more powerful than all the angels. In addition, I though it was pretty cool that when Jesus sent out his disciples, he gave them power over the evil spirits. So, does this mean that the since Jesus gave them power over demons, that they are more powerful now than angels who each have power over only a certain demon? Well, there is that one boy they have trouble with after the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. Also, today we don’t really see many demons possessions. Is it because we do not recognize it as such or what? Well, I have heard that there are more possessions seen in places where people have never even heard the name of Jesus. So maybe they are too scared to come anywhere near people who have Christ living in them.

The Cosmic Cowboy Rides Again!

Jesus the Demon Challenger

I thought it interesting in how Twelftree discussed the subject of demon possession and exorcism in his article in the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, which Dr. Foster also went over in class Monday. One part that interested me was the part about the techniques of casting out demons that were commonly used at the time, and comparing Jesus' style with these techniques. For instance the idea of binding a demon. I had always been under the impression that Jesus just simply casts out the demons, and then the focus turns toward the former demoniac, and that was basically the format in the text. I had never thought much about the interaction between Jesus and the demon, other than that they knew each other and one of them was obviously in control. But as Twelftree notes, that by saying "be quiet" it is believed that one is "muzzling" or a form of binding the demon, and thus giving the person "control" over the demon (of course we know that only God has true control of the demons). Once a demon tried to bind Jesus first by declaring who Jesus was, but it had no effect on him. Also the idea of transferring a demon to another object (like pigs in Mk 5:11-13) so that the demon may drown by placing the object in water intrigued me. Then we look at what sets Jesus apart from other exorcists at the time, for one he is God and the Messiah, but other than that he does not use any "devices" or "props". Also he does not pray or use a lot of commands common with casting out demons of exorcists of his day, but instead uses his own authority. Successful exorcism made anyone popular back then (sometimes even the appearance of success), which was not Jesus' goal but rather to help someone in need, but of course word spread anyway and many wanted to see this "Miracle Worker" from Galilee (some also wanted him to leave Mk 5:17). I guess they were drawn to him in part because here was someone who obviously had control over the unexplainable, and people even today do not like not being in control of their lives and are scared of the unknown.

Radical Jesus

I am continually amazed how radical Jesus was. As I study all the reading material, I see that Jesus cut across every grain. He broke the Sabbath. He had complete disreguard for the ritual laws. He claimed to be God, a sure no no in a Jewish society. Little wonder remains whay the religious leaders did not like or accept him. I wonder what Christ would have to say to in our completely carefree society. Would He be unmoved by the lack of concern for God and His commands, or would that be the society He was striving to achieve? I know He was not attempting to destroy the law, but why so radically different?

Insert Interesting Title Here

Temptation is generally something that every person faces on a regular basis. Many of us college students know that temptation creeps up at 8:55 a.m and you have slept longer than your alarm intended for you to sleep and you catch yourself asking the question, "Should I stay or should I go now?" (cheesy music lines are fun). But in all seriousness, that is a question of temptation. I choose the one more appealing to me and that would be sleep, and so I give into my temptation to skip class and continue into my blissful slumber of dreams.

This type of temptation seems real petty compared to what we see Jesus went through in Mark 1:12-13. Jesus faced a much greater temptation. As I continually read these two verses I began to realize the harshness of His temptation. Forty Days!!!! Forty stinkin days!!!!! I fail after 30 seconds or less with some stuff. But again, the severity of Jesus' temptation is much greater than my bed time. Garland states that Mark mention this temptation as one major clash and not a series of temptations like in Luke or Matthew. And I think that better shows the pressure Jesus went through. You can just imagine that Satan tried everythign in his power to get Jesus to sin, yet Satan was unable to prevail. That shows Jesus as human and as authoritative. I think that is an example that we should follow. In just a simple version of allowing ourselves to tell Satan NO.....LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DEVIL YOU!!!!! Jesus truly made a great statement through action. Maybe we should have confidence in ourselves and do the same.

Temptation

When Dr. Foster stated that Jesus understands temptation better than we do because we have never said No to it….I felt a little bit of a slap in the face. Mainly because of all the times I prayed to God moaning and groaning about everything I was being put through, sometimes in order to gain some kind of sympathy. Now, through thinking about it, I see how much of an idiot I can actually be. I talked to God as if he knew nothing about anything I was going through, when in fact, it was totally the opposite. He knows everything I have ever felt, because He, himself, has felt the same way. The difference is…..Jesus didn’t give in; I can really learn a lot from Him!

Mark has a Plot

I had never thought of the book of Mark as a peice of litature. When Professor Foster started talking about plots and settings, it all of a sudden dawned on me that this book and the others in the Bible were all great works of litature. The Cyclical Outline of Mark is a tool like those I had used before in developing children's litature. From looking at this prespective I gained a new knowledge and appreciation for the book of Mark.

To Fast or Not to Fast

Garland’s comments on Jesus’ response to his opponents about the question of why His disciples do not fast intrigued me. The bridegroom was certainly with His disciples so there was no need for them to fast. Jesus does point to a time that He will not be with His disciples. Garland, I believe rightfully, explains that this time points to Christ’s death. The question I pose is since Christ was resurrected to new life and after His resurrection assured His disciples that He would be with them always, what would be the reason for His disciples to fast now? Surely Christ lives in each believer through the person of His Spirit. To fast or not to fast, this is my question.

Jairus and the Woman

I have read this story many times. And every time I think how awesome Jesus is that he has the power to heal and perform great miracles, and I wonder how people could not believe in him after these sort of things...blah, blah, blah. I always thought the usual stuff that comes with being in Sunday School for so many years where just shouting "Jesus" seems to always be the right anwer. But as I read through Garland's commentary on Jairus and the woman God began to reveal many things to me about my own life. I found myself sitting alone, in a dark room, tears falling down my face. Last semester was my most difficult semester since I have been here at Williams...this is to be expected right. After all, I am a senior. But beyond school, life circumstances affected my grades. But more than that...they affected my sleep, my spiritual life, my emotional and mental well-being. And all of these things I could manage to keep hidden within my heart...a part from a few exceptions. As I finished reading I could not help but spend time with God. I realize that ideally we would want to be Jairus. He was a respectable man. Why would Jesus not want to help him...why would Jesus not want to help us if we are like Jairus? But we all have the potential to be the woman. No one wants to be her. She was an outcast. She lived on the fringes of society. But we all have that potential. But the good news is this...Jesus does not care. Jairus...the woman...they were one in the same. They both had needs. Jesus met both their needs....irregardless of who they were and where they had been in life. God's forgiveness knows no bounds....how awesome for those of us who feel we have fallen to far away to be forgiven.

The Moral of the Story

I enjoy reading Jesus' parables in Mark. It's kinda like He understands that if He didn't put the message "in other words" He might not make His message as clear as if He had just said it "outright". The parables take the reader away from the actual life of Christ for a moment to accept the message that He is trying to deliver. I can imagine setting around a blazing campfire like little kids and listening to Jesus tell "the moral of the story" tales. I realize that I am over-simplifying this, but telling a story with another story I was always told was a southern thing, but Jesus did it long before southern traditions were born.

Demon Seed Correlation

I caught an interesting parallel in the parable of the sower (MK 4:1-9) and the story of the demon possessed man (MK 5:1-20). In the parable of the sower Jesus talks about the farmer sowing with reckless abandon seemingly not caring about where to best put his seed. We all know that usually in this parable we are taught that only some people will react correctly to the gospel message (good) and some will not(bad). But notice what takes place in the demoniac story. Jesus healed a man physically and spiritually, right? Was he looking to be saved from his sins? Was he searching the torah looking for the answers of life? NO! Jesus was spreading the gospel (seed) much like the sower had been doing in the parable a few chapters before. I think He was showing us how to put the parable into action. We should be spreading the gospel to people regardless of whether they seem "ready/fertile" or not. I have never heard a comparison between these two stories and I thought I might try to show how I see their relationship. I want to see some comments to see if maybe I am wrong or misguided,
thanx.

Where have all the demons gone?

I have pondered this idea for a while now and it is interesting that we are seeing it as we work our way through Mark. In Ch. 5, we see Jesus, the exorcist, bring supposedly a Legion of demons out of a man and then the man returned to normal. Were demons just around during the biblical times and do we simply blow off the idea of actual demon-possessed people today? I have heard firsthand accounts of demon possessions in other countries, but it seems to be something that we do not acknowledge here. Not that this is the case, but is it possible that we have cleaned up the idea of demon possession and now refer to it as "mentally incompetent" or "mentally handicapped" or "insanity"? Could some of the people on death row who have committed horrendous crimes actually be demon-possessed? Just a thought.

Humanity of Christ

Dr. Foster talked about the temptation that Christ went through, and how it made him understand temptation more than us, and also how Christ is more human than we are. These thoughts just sort of set off thoughts of Christ's humanity, and reflection on how Christ relied on the Father. How he needed the basic things such as food and sleep, and felt fear and pain, and sometimes he needed to pray to the Father for guidance. I guess really it's just made me specifically think about how important the Father's guidance is, considering the fact that Christ needed it also. And though this is a very simple concept and thought, it's something that needs to be reflected on sometimes.

These thoughts of Christ's humanity also led to the thoughts of my lack of understanding of the trinity. That tension that was there when Christ was 100 percent God and 100 percent man at the same time. His inability to know all things, such as the date of his second coming, even while he was God. That separation of the Father and Son, while still being the same. I'm continually confused, and am forced to recognize that these answers will not be found on this earth.

Pigeonholing the Lost: My Life as a Pharisee

Trying to sleep when God is speaking to you is like trying to wrestle a bloody steak from a starving dog. God reminded me of this last week after reading a section of the NIV Application Comm. I had just finished reading about chapter 2 and 3 of Mark, where Jesus was confronted with the rising conflict of the Pharisees and their unending questions. When reading this section, two words jumped off the page and into my mind that would keep me awake for the rest of the night. These words were “pigeonholing others” (pg.113). Before reading this section I held disdain toward the Pharisees, thinking that they had to be the most self-righteous, pompous jerks in the Bible. However, after reading the author’s explanation of how they had constructed oral laws to protect their culture and faith, I began to sympathize. In fact, I identified with them exactly. I began to think back to all the times that I had formed guards around my heart that restrained me from witnessing to others. I began to think of all the mindless clones of myself that I had tried to construct in the name of our Lord. Pigeonholing the Lost in so easy and I believe that we do it so often. I know I do. I cringe at hearing the words of Jesus to the Pharisees, for I know that in the brood of vipers I have slithered. Therefore, before we cast the first stone in the Pharisees’ direction, may we first consider our own practices in order to see if we are also guilty of the same “good intentions.”

More about Jesus in his home town

When I was reading the Garland book something caught my eye that I've never thought of before. I have read and heard the story of Jesus going to his home town and them not being very accepting of Him. As many times as that's been I thought I pretty much knew about all I could about this passage, but as I read Garland I found new things that I've never thought about before. The first thing that I've never really thought about before was how big Jesus was. The Bible says he was a carpenter. Think of the work a carpenter does. A tekton is traditionally translated carpenter this is someone who works with wood, metal, or stone. If Jesus worked with the things all the time he would have been a good size fellow. In movies and pictures he's always this little dude. Sitting and thinking about that changes the way I imagine Jesus might have looked. Another thing I learned was that when the people were talking about him they said isn't this the son of Mary. I never thought about the fact that Mary's name was mentioned not Joseph. Garland gives some reasons why this is the one that he says is most likely is that by this time Joseph was dead. The thing that stuck out most and I guess has always bothered me was the fact that no one in his hometown believed. I'm sure they knew Jesus very well they had probly seen him do miracles before but yet they couldn't get past Jesus outward appearance and see Him as the son of God. Before I get to down on the people in the story. Let's fast forward to our time would we accept Jesus as God's son if he was just a plain old carpenter in our town? Would we be able to get past the outward appearance and look see him as the savior or would we just blow him off as nothing special and miss the chance of fellowshiping with God because we couldn't get past the outward appearance

Miracles and Miracle Stories

My favorite part of the reading material consisted of the miracles. Especially where it stated that a miracle denoted a supernatural event that was the result of supernatural power. It also stated that supernatural events in the Gospels were due to the exercise of God's power.
As stated in the DJG, Jesus was not only a miracle worker, but also the object of miracles. (the virginal conception, baptism, Transfiguration, resurrection, and the ascention. Luke stated the virgin birth (Luke 1), Simeon stated at Jesus' circumcision that Simeon would not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ (Luke 2:36), Anna, the prophetsess praised God about Jesus to those around her (Luke 2), John the Baptist stated that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and Nathanael called Jesus the Son of God, The King of Israel (John 1:49).
Jesus said "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me" (John 7:16) and often refered to God and scripture.
Even the demons recognized Jesus as "The Holy One of God" (Mark 1:24:25), "You are the Son of God." (Mark 3: 11), and "What have you to do with me, Jesus Son of the Most High God?", (Mark 5:7)
Also, the DJG showed that Jesus was an exorcist because of the Holy Spirit; in other words, that God was with him and the exorcism was the Work of God.

A speaker with Authority

There are so many times growing up that we all want to be some one of authority and to become some one who has power. Whether it be in a job or even just have the ability to be told that you are a speaker with authority. In the mark passage where Jesus drives out the demons there is a huge focus on that he is a speaker of authority. I feel that sometimes we also forget that even though he is not here in a physical stand point he lives in side all of us. I am not here saying that we have the same power as God, because we don't he does give us the power and strength to do what ever he has planned for us. And then we can be a speaker of authority if just step out in faith and believe that God can use a common man like us. I firmly believe that God wanted us to understand that side of him because of how he created the earth. What did he do? He spoke everything into existence just as he spoke the evil spirit out of the man.

God Will Provide The Lamb.

Yesterday, I was thinking about what Dr. Foster said in class about how too often we look toward the prophets in the Old Testament to give us answers about Jesus and avoid the Pentateuch. This made me question some things and see if some of the events in the Pentateuch were used as symbolism of the coming Messiah. After thinking of this, one story in particular stuck in my head. This was the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 where God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him. In my opinion, this story parallels Christ's death in a few ways.

For one, Abraham places the wood on Isaac to carry to the place of the sacrifice, just as Jesus did on the way to be crucified in Jerusalem. Also, God told Abraham to kill his ONLY son. Abraham didn't have many children like other men at the time. In fact, the Bible says that Abraham was around one hundred years old when Isaac was first born. John 3:16 says God loved the world so much that he gave his ONLY son. The thing that most stuck out to me was how Abraham says that God will provide the lamb. I know that Abraham probably was not referring to Jesus being the lamb of God because the title comes from John the Baptist in John where John says "Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world" and not in Genesis 22 but I still think it is a fairly interesting comparison.

faith and waiting

While reading in Garland I was very interested in the part where he talks about the passage where Jesus heals both the woman that wouldn't stop bleeding and the dead child. Two parts of what he talked about really got to me. 1) The man that came to Jesus first had to wait for Jesus to come heal his daughter because a woman that couldn't stop bleeding came up behind him and touched his clothes. Now I don't know about everyone else but I tended to get a little ticked off sometimes when I see that other people are getting what appears to be what they want from God while I have to wait in the background for something that I want. The fact is this man could have easily blown his top when Jesus stalled in order to recognize this woman. How many times do we Get impatient with God when things don't go our way. 2) The man was shocked by the word of his daughters death, yet Christ told him to have faith. His daughters dead and he has to have faith that she will be alright. Now this man was probably thinking," Okay Jesus you have done some pretty amazing stuff but this is death only God can stop death." But where a man sees defeat God sees and opportunity. The mans view were changed drastically that day when he witnessed his dead daughter rise. What kind of faith do we have? Is it strong enough to face even the most difficult problem?