When I was preaching through Mark a couple of years ago I found some excellent notes in various commentaries on the Transfiguration (Mark 9), and thought I would pass them on today since that is part of today's reading.
Parallels with Jesus and Moses in Exodus 24 & 34
-Both went up on a mountain (Mark 9:2; Ex. 24:15)
-In both account "six days" is specified (Mark 9:2; Ex. 24:14-15)
-Three men accompany each (Mark 9:2; Ex. 24:1, 9)
-Both Jesus and Moses shine (Mark 9:3; Ex. 34:29)
-God speaks in a cloud in both accounts (Mark 9:7; Ex. 24:18)
-People responded with fear (Mark 9:6; Ex. 34:30)
Parallels Between Jesus and Moses and Elijah
-All experienced theophanies on mountains
-All were suffering servants
-All experienced unusual events at end of life (resurrection in the case of Jesus, struggle over body in the case of Moses, translation into heaven in the case of Elijah)
Contrasts Between the Transfiguration and Crucifixion
-Two prophets vs two thieves
-Clothes shining vs clothes stolen
-Presence of three men vs three women
-Presence of Elijah vs. "He is calling Elijah"
-God from cloud "This is My Beloved Son" and Confession of centurion "Truly this man was the Son of God"
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Daily Bible Reading - January 13 - Eyes That See
The New Testament portion of today's reading comes from Mark 8, which contains one of the most unusual miracles of healing Jesus performed. It is the account of the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida, an account which is unusual because the man was not immediately healed. Mark loves the word immediately, and particularly in connection with Jesus' miracles:
Why was this healing different from all others? It was surely not because Jesus was having an off day, and it took two doses of healing power to get the job done! But why was this man's sight restored in stages?
As many commentators have pointed out, the reason is to illustrate the stages of the spiritual vision of the disciples. In the paragraph just before the healing of the blind man, Jesus asked the disciples, "Having eyes do you not see?" (8:18). They were spiritually blind. Jesus helped them to recover their sight, but this restoration would also be in stages. In 8:29, Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, which required great spiritual vision. But Peter did not have a clear vision of what that confession really meant, as his adamant opposition to the notion of Christ's suffering demonstrated (8:32). Like the blind man, Peter's vision was blurred. And just as in the case of the blind man, more work by Jesus would be needed until Peter saw "everything clearly."
The great hope that this passage offers for all of us is that Jesus is patient. He does not give up on His people just because they do not grasp everything perfectly from the get-go. And as someone who often has blurry spiritual vision, I am incredibly heartened to know that is the case.
- "Immediately the leprosy left him" (1:42)
- The paralytic "rose and immediately picked up his bed" (2:12)
- "And immediately the flow of blood dried up" in the woman with the hemorrhage (5:29)
- "And immediately the girl got up and began walking" who had just died (5:42)
- Mark says that in the case of blind Bartimaeus "immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way" (10:52)
Why was this healing different from all others? It was surely not because Jesus was having an off day, and it took two doses of healing power to get the job done! But why was this man's sight restored in stages?
As many commentators have pointed out, the reason is to illustrate the stages of the spiritual vision of the disciples. In the paragraph just before the healing of the blind man, Jesus asked the disciples, "Having eyes do you not see?" (8:18). They were spiritually blind. Jesus helped them to recover their sight, but this restoration would also be in stages. In 8:29, Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, which required great spiritual vision. But Peter did not have a clear vision of what that confession really meant, as his adamant opposition to the notion of Christ's suffering demonstrated (8:32). Like the blind man, Peter's vision was blurred. And just as in the case of the blind man, more work by Jesus would be needed until Peter saw "everything clearly."
The great hope that this passage offers for all of us is that Jesus is patient. He does not give up on His people just because they do not grasp everything perfectly from the get-go. And as someone who often has blurry spiritual vision, I am incredibly heartened to know that is the case.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Daily Bible Reading - January 12 - "This Fellow" Lot
For a long time when I was a kid I wanted to be a lawyer, especially a defense attorney. I loved the character of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and thought it would be cool to be the champion of the underdog, to vindicate someone unjustly accused. And those instincts always re-emerge when I read the story of Lot.
For years preachers have castigated Lot for choosing the well watered plains of Sodom, and for becoming so compromised that by Genesis 19:1 he was sitting in the gate of the city. And from his story we should learn the dangers of becoming too comfortable with the world.
Clearly, we are to guard against worldliness (Rom. 12:1; 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4). But I do not believe this characterization of Lot is fair, for several reasons:
1) The Bible says he was righteous (2 Peter 2:7). That kind of ends the debate for me!
2) The same passage says he was tormented in his soul by the behavior of those around him, hardly a description of someone flippantly pitching tents toward Sodom.
3) In Gen. 19:9, the men of Sodom testify to Lot's outsider status when they say, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!" Lot may have been sitting in the gate of the city, but he had not found a place in the hearts of the people of the city.
Lot was a righteous man. Lot was moved by the wickedness around him. Lot was willing to stand up to a violent mob, even if it meant risking his life. That is the Lot of the Bible, and we need a lot of people to be a lot like Lot.
For years preachers have castigated Lot for choosing the well watered plains of Sodom, and for becoming so compromised that by Genesis 19:1 he was sitting in the gate of the city. And from his story we should learn the dangers of becoming too comfortable with the world.
Clearly, we are to guard against worldliness (Rom. 12:1; 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4). But I do not believe this characterization of Lot is fair, for several reasons:
1) The Bible says he was righteous (2 Peter 2:7). That kind of ends the debate for me!
2) The same passage says he was tormented in his soul by the behavior of those around him, hardly a description of someone flippantly pitching tents toward Sodom.
3) In Gen. 19:9, the men of Sodom testify to Lot's outsider status when they say, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!" Lot may have been sitting in the gate of the city, but he had not found a place in the hearts of the people of the city.
Lot was a righteous man. Lot was moved by the wickedness around him. Lot was willing to stand up to a violent mob, even if it meant risking his life. That is the Lot of the Bible, and we need a lot of people to be a lot like Lot.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Daily Bible Reading - January 11 - Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?
I was really struck by the contrast between two passages in today's reading (which was Gen. 16-18 and Mark 6).
-"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 18:14)
-"And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief." (Mark 6:5-6)
In the first instance, the angelic visitors reassured Abraham (and an eavesdropping Sarah) that God indeed could give the elderly couple a child, even though they would be 100 and 90 years old. But in the second instance, the text of Mark 6 says that Jesus could do very few miracles in Nazareth.
From one perspective, God's power is not limited by man's faith. God can do anything He wants to do. And even though Abraham and Sarah literally fell down laughing when God told them He intended to keep His promise and give them a son of their very own, He kept His word. So God's power is not inherently dependent on human faithfulness.
At the same time, there are some blessings made possible by divine power that God does choose to dispense on the condition of faith. Many of Jesus' miracles of healing fall into this category. Jesus told the woman He healed of the bleeding disease in Mark 5, "Your faith has made you well." His power was the basis of her healing; her faith was the means of her healing.
And that apparently is the reason Jesus could not perform many miracles in Nazareth. It wasn't as if His power suddenly vanished, or that He was thwarted by some evil force. He could not do many miracles there because there were not many believers there - a fact which amazed Him.
Salvation is another example of a mighty work of God that is contingent on our response. God did not have to make salvation conditional - He's God! But He has chosen to give us a choice - to allow us to accept or reject the work of redemption. And how He must marvel at the refusals of a dying world to accept eternal life through His Son.
-"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 18:14)
-"And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief." (Mark 6:5-6)
In the first instance, the angelic visitors reassured Abraham (and an eavesdropping Sarah) that God indeed could give the elderly couple a child, even though they would be 100 and 90 years old. But in the second instance, the text of Mark 6 says that Jesus could do very few miracles in Nazareth.
From one perspective, God's power is not limited by man's faith. God can do anything He wants to do. And even though Abraham and Sarah literally fell down laughing when God told them He intended to keep His promise and give them a son of their very own, He kept His word. So God's power is not inherently dependent on human faithfulness.
At the same time, there are some blessings made possible by divine power that God does choose to dispense on the condition of faith. Many of Jesus' miracles of healing fall into this category. Jesus told the woman He healed of the bleeding disease in Mark 5, "Your faith has made you well." His power was the basis of her healing; her faith was the means of her healing.
And that apparently is the reason Jesus could not perform many miracles in Nazareth. It wasn't as if His power suddenly vanished, or that He was thwarted by some evil force. He could not do many miracles there because there were not many believers there - a fact which amazed Him.
Salvation is another example of a mighty work of God that is contingent on our response. God did not have to make salvation conditional - He's God! But He has chosen to give us a choice - to allow us to accept or reject the work of redemption. And how He must marvel at the refusals of a dying world to accept eternal life through His Son.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Daily Bible Reading - January 8 - Faith, Life and Death
Genesis 12-15 and Mark 5 contain two story lines that involve life emerging from death. In Gen. 15, God reiterates His promise to Abram that he will have a multitude of offspring, despite the fact that (in Paul's language in Rom. 4:19) Abraham's body was "as good as dead." And in Mark 5, Jesus raises the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Though the circumstances of each are quite different, there is one common denominator-
-"And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6).
-"But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe'" (Mark 5:36).
Faith is the link between the stories. The faith of an aged nomad that God would give him children as numerous as the stars of heaven, and the faith of a desperate father who just witnessed the death of his only daughter that she could be raised.
Each story illustrates the many facets of faith. It is on one level an intellectual decision - to agree that God is indeed powerful enough to bring life from death. But on another level it is a matter of the will, to place trust in God that He will do what you believe He is capable of. And Abraham and Jairus are great models of what it truly means to trust.
This applies as well to the spiritual life God can create from death. We are dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1), and we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) - not merely a belief about God, but a deep trust placed in God and His Son. This is the very point Paul made about Abraham in Romans 4-
-"And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6).
-"But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe'" (Mark 5:36).
Faith is the link between the stories. The faith of an aged nomad that God would give him children as numerous as the stars of heaven, and the faith of a desperate father who just witnessed the death of his only daughter that she could be raised.
Each story illustrates the many facets of faith. It is on one level an intellectual decision - to agree that God is indeed powerful enough to bring life from death. But on another level it is a matter of the will, to place trust in God that He will do what you believe He is capable of. And Abraham and Jairus are great models of what it truly means to trust.
This applies as well to the spiritual life God can create from death. We are dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1), and we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) - not merely a belief about God, but a deep trust placed in God and His Son. This is the very point Paul made about Abraham in Romans 4-
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Rom. 4:20-25)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Daily Bible Reading - January 7 - The Aftermath of Two Storms
Today's reading combines the aftermath of the flood of Noah (Gen. 9-11) with the calming of the storm by Jesus (Mark 4). You would think that such amazing miracles would have immediately and indelibly changed the people who witnessed them. But instead, Noah immediately gets drunk, leading to the shameful actions of Ham, followed by the prideful project of the tower of Babel, which leads to yet another display of judgment, as God confuses languages and scatters the nations. And while the disciples were certainly astonished by Jesus' power in calming the storm they will continue to battle pettiness and ignorance.
There is a difference between the will and the emotions. Emotions are reactive - sometimes even involuntary. But the will is reflective, and it is always voluntary. The phenomenal display of God's power in His miracles can induce great emotion (fear or awe), but that does not necessarily lead to a decision to change. Ideally, God's great power should lead us to reflect on our standing before Him, His authority over us, and the great judgment that awaits us all. But that only happens when see the message of the miracle, and not just its power.
There is a difference between the will and the emotions. Emotions are reactive - sometimes even involuntary. But the will is reflective, and it is always voluntary. The phenomenal display of God's power in His miracles can induce great emotion (fear or awe), but that does not necessarily lead to a decision to change. Ideally, God's great power should lead us to reflect on our standing before Him, His authority over us, and the great judgment that awaits us all. But that only happens when see the message of the miracle, and not just its power.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Daily Bible Reading - January 6 - Preachers Are Crazy
Today's reading is the flood narrative in Gen. 6-8, along with Mark 3 and Psalm 104. When I was a kid I read a fictionalized version of the story of Noah, in which the people around Noah mocked him as he warned about the coming flood. I don't know if that actually happened or not, but 2 Peter 2:5 does call Noah a "herald of righteousness," and it isn't difficult to imagine the kind of reception he would have received from the people who saw him building a boat in the middle of dry land. What is clear is that many of Jesus' hearers did think He was nuts, particularly those in His own family (Mark 3:21).
In the movie Gettysburg, there is a great line where Gen. Longstreet explains to a British observer that "we Southerners like our men religious and a little bit mad. I suspect that's why the women fall in love with preachers." But in reality, most people - Southerners, Yankees, Israelites or Canaanites - do not like those who preach the truth, precisely because they warn of such peril for sin than they are dismissed as lunatics.
That means it is always going to be a challenge to teach the truth - and it is even more of a challenge to listen to it.
In the movie Gettysburg, there is a great line where Gen. Longstreet explains to a British observer that "we Southerners like our men religious and a little bit mad. I suspect that's why the women fall in love with preachers." But in reality, most people - Southerners, Yankees, Israelites or Canaanites - do not like those who preach the truth, precisely because they warn of such peril for sin than they are dismissed as lunatics.
That means it is always going to be a challenge to teach the truth - and it is even more of a challenge to listen to it.
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