Silence of the Lambs...i mean Demons...

In Mark 3:7-12, Mark accounts for one of the first large gatherings Jesus drew. The people were crowding around Jesus wanting him to touch them to heal them. This is common even in today’s society. What has always gotten to me is the demons and evil spirits that are forced to humiliation by the mere SIGHT of the Son of God. I’ve always thought that was so incredible that Jesus has dominion/power over everything: good AND evil. I had often wondered, however, why the demons were always told not to tell ANYONE who Jesus was. I found it strange that Jesus would be trying to hide his identity all the while going around healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching the truth of God to the multitudes. Not much different from a musician playing on the streets of New Orleans (or Memphis or Nashville or wherever you want it to be) telling certain people not to tell anyone that he is a musician. Garland’s take on it was that it was an “ominous” experience to have a demon call you by name as well as the fact that knowing someone’s name in first century culture was like owning a power over them. But what is more is that demons are never bearers of revelation. Jesus displayed his power over them COMPLETELY: he threw them out of the possessed AND he silenced them…with merely a word! Man, oh MAN, the power of the Living Savior.

-Pyron

God Bless AMiracle!

To be a part of a miracle is without a doubt, a fantastic, marvelous blessing. That God was choose me to have any part of a miracle blows my mind. In Mark 6, in the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus said to His disciples in verse 37, "You give them something to eat ." At this point, they question their ability to do so. I believe that in the command, lies the ability. I think that if they would have trusted God in spite of their "lack" of food, they could have been a greater part of the miracle than what they were. This can be looked at in one or two ways. They could have carried out the command if they would have just trusted God, and been a greater part of the miracle, OR it is to show that Jesus wanted them to see their weakness or inability. I believe the first to be true. Why would Jesus command something to anyone that wasn't possible? So if I will be obedient to my Lord, perhaps I will be a great part of many miracles. And that's the same for all His children.

Yo Momma, My Momma!

In the latter part of the third chapter we see this statement, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" This is pretty neat for me in that my mother died when I was very young, but I a great support system through our church. Jesus said of those sitting around Him that these were his mothers and brothers. To me this really gives the picture of true family in the Kingdom of God. God has trully blessed me with some wonderful mothers and brothers. I love them and would do anything for them and they also I believe. Who are my mothers and brothers? They are those who love God and love me through God's love.

It's The Little Things That Count

In class last time we talked about the origins of the book of Mark. We talked about specific words that were used to identify the audience and posible locations of where the book was written. I began to think "who cares?"... but then I became very convicted. These little details open up the world of the writter so that we can better understand the inspired Word of God. If I don't care then I should probley get a knew major so that God can use His time to reveal His Word's intricacies to someone who does care. It is the tiny clues in the Bible that make up its DNA. I plan to pay better attention to these little facts in class with more enthusiasm.

Mark 3:22-30

In Mark 3:22-30 Jesus is accused of being "possessed by Beelzebub!" by the scribes, then they say that Jesus is driving out demons by the prince of demons. I love Jesus’ response to this, he basically says "Y’all aren’t making any since. Why would the prince of demons cast himself out? A kingdom against itself will not stand, so what you are saying does not make since." I always enjoy reading about how people are around Jesus and start talking about him so then he tells a parable that will either shut them up or just make them a little more up set.

Matt Justice

Jesus the Lion

This Post has been recoginzed as a POST OF THE WEEK! 1/31/2007 Great Quote! Great Connection!

After finishing Burridge's chapter on Mark, I came to appreciate the many examples the writer used to prove his point. The best of these examples, other than the ones from the Bible, came from the The Chronicles of Narnia. By using Lewis's work, it made his point so much easier to understand. Mark's just is powerful, almost fierce. I am incredibly appreciative of the reminder that my Jesus is no pansy God, He is powerful and mighty. Burridge ended his chapter with my favorite quote from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: "'Then he isn't safe,' said Lucy. 'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver, 'Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'" I was excited at the reminder that Jesus isn't safe, isn't "tame", but he is good!

--Melanie

"I want a Possy like That"

In the first part of our reading in Mark 3:7-12, it talks about how Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake. There were so many people that had heard of all he was doing from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon, as verse eight tells us. This passage talks about all the different kinds of people that were trying to find him and there was a variety. My title said, "I want a possy like that;" though Jesus was doing many miracles, he was also doing great teaching too, and "great" is an understatement. I want God to be able to use me in a way that my teaching and preaching like Jesus' draws a crowd like that. I hope that there would be all kinds of people - that I would not just reach a certain group of people but all. I know this passage may seem simple, but I read it in a different way this time. The devotion of the crowd and how Jesus attracted them just really stuck out to me.

God said don't do that. I think.

I am not the most legalistic person in the world, however I do have times of finger pointing's and " I can't believe he did that(s)" I find it interesting that Garland makes it a point to talk about the Priest way of living, which is in their mind is right. My favorite quote so far is on page 116 were he address the Priest legalistic thinking and lack of God centered thinking. It is reassuring to know that I do have to be a flashy Christian (negative sense) to be a follower. Garland said the priest didn't like Jesus because he was against all the flash with no bang and I agree with that. I like to know that in my showings of weakness, God does not abandon me.

Miracles, Signs, and Wonders in the Gospels

I found the DJG reading concerning miracles to be especially interesting. The article, although very paranthetical at times, seemed to give good insight into a comparing and contrasting of both miracles in general as well as those used by Jesus in the Gospel accounts.Within the first paragraph simplistic detail was used and i felt very necissary to accomplish all that was to follow. Also, it was very interesting to see how the Gospels differ and relate in how miracles are not only used, but stated. An example of this would be use of "miracles" as apposed to "signs" in scripture.

impact of sharing

one thing struck me as i read the story of the leper being cleansed and then the paralytic lowered from the roof by his friends. the trouble experienced by the friends was rooted back to the man who shared his faith after being healed. the text tells us that even though Jesus told him not to say anything he spread the news about what happened everywhere. his sharing of his faith forced Jesus to go to deserted places, yet people from everywhere folled him. i find it amazing that the excitement about one man to share caused such a situation for Jesus. he could not go anywhere alone since everyone knew about his healing power. it makes me think - what if i would have that same desire and share my faith no matter what? what would be the result?

Asking The Right Questions

After four friends lower a paralytic through the roof so that he could be near Jesus and be healed, the scribes that were present ask the right question and make the right accusation, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone? (Mark 2:7) Their reasoning "serves to notify the reader how incredibly outrageous or how incredibly wonderful Jesus' words are" (Garland 94). As a reader, I am asking myself, "Is the kingdom of God at hand?" "Is the rational conclusion, at only the second chapter of Mark's Gospel, to repent and believe in the Gospel? Jesus announces the forgiveness of sins to a world paralyzed by sin. Not to infer that disease is in direct correlation to sin, but sin does bring with it a heavy load. I am thankful for the friends and family members that bore my load and made a way through the crowds so that I could receive the forgiveness that is offered to all. I would only pray that others, who are like the scribes reasoning in their hearts about who Jesus is, will come to the proper conclusion: repent and believe in the Gospel.

Wait...what was I saying? Demons or something or other.

In my mind right now its hard to put together but I don't really have enough time to bring the idea to fruition so I'm going to try and piece it together as I go. As I've been studying in this class it seems I've only been led to more questions instead of answers. I've been wondering about the relationship between Jesus and demons in Mark. In Chapter 1, Jesus is tempted by satan, which i guess can be considered a demon. My question is, why did Jesus allow himself to be tempted? Surely if Jesus could be tempted by Satan then he could also be tempted by other demons. It's not possible to place the blame of all temptation upon demons but I have had a thought about them. The demons came to Jesus and they were scared, they begged for mercy and called out who Jesus really was. This is probably as far reaching as Queen Elizabeth being represented as a dolphin in A Midsummer Night's Dream, but maybe When they told Jesus his title, even though he was quite aware of what it was, maybe, just maybe there was a temptation to say,"yeah i'm the king of the stinking universe, you're right, I should show these people what I'm really made of." When I hear of some title bestowed to me I wanted to get all bowed up and happy and strut around and be prideful in myself. Maybe that was the temptation that Jesus had to so often fight off. But can you really be prideful if you're God and now I quit and you can quit reading this rambling because it probably doesn't make sense.

FAITH: before & after

I had never thought much about how big a part faith played in the miracles of Jesus until now that I have going through the Gospels again for class. As I read I began to notice that Jesus almost always tells the recipients of His miracles that it is their faith that has healed them. At least this seems to be the case in the synoptic gospels. While reading DJG I again read about how faith seemed to be a prerequisite for faith. John, however seemed to put more emphasis on the faith that came after Jesus performed miracles. All this does not mean that the writers of the synoptics didn't think Jesus' miracles produced faith from all those who observed or that John did not think faith was required before Jesus would perform a miracle. I think that is just shows that the different authors were trying to emphasise different things. John wanted his readers to realize that when Jesus performed miracles faith resulted and Matthew, Mark and Luke wanted their readers to realize that Jesus healed people because of their faith.

-Aaron Abbott

From the Bad guys (scribes, religious leaders) Point of View

I was reading about the oral law and the Dictionary gave me a whole new prospective. Being a product of Lifeway’s Sunday school material, I have always viewed the oral laws as this evil addition to God’s holy and untamperable (might have made that word up) scripture. I do believe that it is wrong, but more justified and less evil now.
This summer I worked with kids. You explain a seemingly simple game of throw this ball in this bucket to 3rd graders and their reply will be 78 questions, all of which would have never crossed your mind. If the bucket tips over does my ball still count? What if I miss but it goes in that teams bucket? What if I miss and it goes in that whole over there? What if he tackles me when I shoot? Do I get another try or can I just hit him?
The Israelites, just like us, are little kids when it comes to God. When He gave them the 10 commandments and other laws they were straight forward, but at the same time vague. So people who feared and genuinely wanted to obey God had 70 times 7 questions about what was or was not permissible. God what do you mean by “work” or “adultery”? Of course Jesus did come along and clarify all that.
Basically, I’m beginning to see why the religious leaders thought what they did, and I’m beginning to wonder if I had been alive then just who’s side I would be on. More than likely not Jesus’. It’s quite scary.

-Dixie Wyllia

Ritual Purity of foods

Once again I am amazed at the Qumran and Essenes. I read "Clean and Unclean" and the part the kept my attention the most is the extremity of their ritual practices. It says that the Essenes and Qumran peoples would not eat or drink anything belonging to non-members. Also the new members of the people groups were not allowed to eat the purified food immediatly. The article did not specify how long they had to be a member to take part, only not immediatly. So this changed my perspective of how odd it was that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. In the past I thought of it in todays worldview not that land and those people's worldview. They saw it as unclean to eat with the sinners, not just odd. If i was out at Cafe Bueno sipping some hot chocolate, i don't like coffee, with the town druggie, some people now might think i'm either falling away from Christ, or witnessing, but we do not think in the clean vs. unclean standards.

How Powerful?

After reading the section in the dictionary about power and authority, one can only wonder and speculate how powerful and how much authority Jesus actually had. He had enough power to tell the disciples to go out and through his power perform mircles and other actions as well to the public. It would be amazing to have seen these miracles in action, and we see miracles today but i still see it as amazing that Jesus had so much power and authority that he could just tell people to go out and perform miracles and through those actions they were able to, but as well as performing just as miraculous of works elsewhere to on his own.

Andy Miller

is there proof, or even logic, to back up the resurrection?

Historians agree that Jesus' disciples claimed that he came back from the dead shortly after his crucifixion. However, a lot of people claim that the disciples claims were bogus. That seems easy to understand. A group of people running around yelling about a guy raising himself from the dead would come across as weird. But what about defending that? Where's the extrabiblical accounts? I suppose there are some, but I'm not sure. But let's look at it this way:
Let's say a bunch of disciples did go around claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, don't you think the religious leaders would've wanted to put a stop to that? Maybe check it out? OK, let's say they do, if they found something...maybe a decaying body in the tomb, a skeleton even, they would've published those findings for certain. But there's NO record of any discoveries like that.
There are other arguments that could be given for and against the ressurection of Christ. But I'm writing a paragraph long-blog, not a book. If you wanna read more about that you should check out the article "Miracles and Miracle Stories" in the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (p 558-559). Oh, and another good source for that stuff is The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. It's got some great stuff in there, and I think it's important to know the in's and out's of this issue.
"In a profound sense, Christianity without the ressurection is not simply Christianity without its final chapter. It is not Christianity at all." - Gerald O'Collins

Alex H

Faith and Deeds...in regard to Jesus?

Jesus’ miracles were never attributed to his divinity. At every healing he would say, “Your faith has healed you.” This begs the question: if the faith of the inflicted is what healed them, then why were they not healed prior to seeing Jesus? Could it have to do with the James passage in chapter 2: “Faith without deeds is dead”? The paralytic man, who was lowered through the roof, was not healed strictly because of their faith; if that were the case then they would not have had to carry him all the way to Jesus. It is the same with the Centurion with the sick child and the woman with the hemorrhages.

-Zach

The powerlessness of Christ?

I particularly enjoyed the section of the Authority and Power article in DJG that discussed the fact that Jesus seemed to be in a sense powerless against the authorities that performed his execution. The article points out many ideas that should be considered for a proper understanding of this topic, such as the fact that Jesus "identifies himself with the poor and afflicted" by allowing himself to be executed by the seemingly powerful Roman authorities. DJG says that the "divine authority" of Christ is not only the freedom to stop his execution if he wished, but the ability to be used to carry out the will of God, and references Gethsemane. WOW! That is amazing to me. We have always heard from our days in Children's Church or Sunday School that Jesus could have chosen to "call down ten legions of angels" to stop his execution. I suppose that is true, but DJG has really put this in perspective. Christ's freedom not to stop his execution and save himself speaks louder than his ability to stop it.

Huh, just when you think you know everything there is to know about a topic, God goes and shows you that you don't know as much as you thought you did.

-Steven

Shush yo mouth

In this weeks reading of the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels I really enjoyed the section Mark, Gospel of 3.3.1. Silencing the Demons. Alex and I were talking about this section and I found it very interesting about how Jesus showed his authority by silencing the demons. Also this section mentions how exorcist would normally battle with demons for power or control by calling on name different names. But with Jesus it was different, first the ones who were possessed came to Jesus. They did not wait for Jesus to come to them, they came to Jesus and then begged "Please don’t hurt me". Once Jesus spoke the demon would obey and be silenced and the come out. To study about the awesome power of God through Christ plows me away, because Jesus did not have to call up on different names, because he is a part of God.
Matt Justice