South's SOAP for the Day
S-Read Mark 8:1-21.
O-Jesus points out that just a little toxin, the yeast of the Pharisees, is too much.
A-What small piece of toxin do you allow in your life, because it’s only a little?
P-Pray that God will help you rid your life of toxic influences.
Imagine something so good, someone so engaging that you would follow them somewhere and sit and listen for three days without eating. Sort of hard to comprehend in our day and age where we struggle to focus through a TV show, let alone a three or four hour movie. I really find it hard to comprehend anyone or anything in today's age that would cause such captivation. At times, some people will wait in line for something like a movie or the latest, greatest game. I guess some people wait in line for deals on Black Friday. Yet, nothing to the degree we see here with Jesus. He is one who brings hope, healing, and peace. It makes sense that people flock to him and take it in, rather than worrying about food.
This feeding account if similar to the one we talked about a few days ago. Here, Jesus is in a mostly Gentile area. Mark doesn't tell us if its Jews or Gentiles in the desert listening. With the way things were in the previous chapter, I lean towards this being a more Gentile crowd. Plus, the numbers involved show significance.
In the previous story, Jesus took five loaves and fed the crowd. In the end, they collected twelve baskets full of leftovers. Some scholars see a connection with the Jewish crowd there and the five loaves. The Torah, the first five books of the bible, are the end all for the Jews. It holds the Law. It is seen as life. Add to that the fact that Abraham, the man God chose to bring his blessing through to the world in the Old Testament, and his family eventually becomes twelve tribes when it is all said and done. He is feeding Jewish people, who would have had a heightened sense for the occurrences of the numbers 5 and 12.
Out of the five comes twelve. Huge OT theme there.
In the second story, the disciples have seven loaves. Seven is a significant number in scripture. God completes the creation in seven days, with the seventh day being a day of rest. Israel is to take the seventh day of the week and make it a day of rest. In the law, Hebrew slaves are given freedom in the seventh year of their service (Ex 21:2). Every seven years the Hebrew people were to give the ground rest and not plant anything (Lev 25:4). And, every seventh cycle of the seven years (7 times 7) was the year of jubilee, where all the land sold in those 49 years returns to the original owners (Lev 25:10). Jesus even gets in on the seven idea with people needing forgiven 70 times 7 times.
Then, you have the 4000 people....4000 Gentile people. Some scholars think that 4000, being divisible by 4 hints at the 4 corners of a compass, or all directions. They connect it with the previous stories in Mark--Jesus saying everything is clean to eat or touch, Jesus healing the Syrophoenician woman's daughter and the blind/mute Gentile. They think this story is symbolic of the fact that while Jesus is focused on the Jews, the coming of the good news is for all nations.
The numbers are intriguing to me. They help my mind flesh out the differences in the story. Yet, my big question is what are the disciples getting out of this. In the first feeding, they told Jesus they didn't have enough money to get anything for the people. Yet, they saw Jesus take the five loaves they had, bless it, break it, and feed five thousand (another multiple of 5). Here in our story, their response is that they are out in the middle of no where, they can't go get bread to feed the crowd. No need to complain about money when you don't even have a place to spend it, right?
Yet, their response, if they really got it should have been, "Jesus, we have seven loaves this time. Last time you did things with five. Can you work your mojo again and feed less with more?" Ok. They wouldn't have said mojo, but you get the point.
Maybe they respond in the way that they do because they don't think the Gentile crowd is worthy to be fed by Jesus. They are Gentiles!
And in the end, they picked up seven basketfuls of bread. They started with seven single loaves and picked up seven basketfuls of bread.
The story then shifts to an interaction with the Pharisees. They are asking Jesus for a sign from Heaven. The sign they are asking for was for him to specifically do something to show to them that he is the Messiah. Now, we have to unpack the idea of Messiah in that day and age. To do that, we have to do a little history lesson. Its that important! Hold on to your hat, we are going to run through the OT in about two minutes.
God created in Genesis. The creation was good. He was well pleased with it.
In His creation were Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. They were to rule over the earth. The only thing they were not given to do was eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They, by the serpent's tempting, chose to eat from the tree so they could be like God.
Wrong answer. Thanks for playing. God kicks them out of the garden because they have sinned. They can't be in relationship with him like they were in the garden.
Fast forward to Noah. God is frustrated with His creation. It brings him sorrow. He wants a mulligan. So, he tells Noah to build a boat. He brings the floods. Creation is re-set. His relationship with man (Noah) has been restored. However, not too long after that Noah gets a little drunk and bad things happen. Man is again separated from their God.
Now to Abraham. God's going at the relationship with his creation with a different angle now. He is going through Abraham--a nobody from nowhere. God's promise to Abraham? You will be a great nation. You will have a great land. My blessing will come through you to the world. You will be involved in that blessing. Funny thing, though. Abraham didn't have any land....and he was old, his wife was old. He couldn't have kids at that age. Not a problem for God.
Through the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) we learn of how Abraham's descendants became Israel. In that journey, God restores his relationship and connection to man via the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place where God's presence would be within the people. They, the people, camped around the tabernacle. He was their center, His presence residing on the Ark of the Covenant--the symbol of his relationship with the people. Wherever they went, he was to be. God came near (we've heard that before).
The rest of the story of the OT is about how this relationship went between Israel and God. Eventually, they get land that is their own--Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, Israel had this problem with keeping up their side of the relationship (covenant). And God sent them into exile...a lot like when he kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden.
After exile, the Israelites have been on the lookout for the Messiah, the one who is going to come and restore Israel to its glory. Yet, for them, they were caught up in the place, the land, and the political power of what was going on around them. By the time we get to Jesus coming into the world, Israel--the Jews, are being oppressed by Rome. Rome owns everything around the Mediterranean Sea. They rule everything. This is a problem for the Jews. They are eager for a Messiah to come and overthrow Rome so they can get back to what Jerusalem and Israel was before the exile--land, the temple, God's presence, etc.
However, this is not the kind of Messiah Jesus is. As the God comes near again, through Jesus--the good news that the Kingdom of God is near, the Pharisees and the keepers of the Law don't get it. They are looking for a Messiah who will come in, cast Rome out, and make Israel a great nation again. Jesus is bringing in a new kingdom, one without land and boundaries where the sick are healed, the lame walk, the blind see, the demons are cast out, and the dead are risen to life. A kingdom where thousands are fed and hope, healing, and peace reign.
The Pharisees have heard the people around them proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. They want to see a "sign from Heaven" that will prove he is this messiah they are waiting for. Yet, Jesus isn't the Messiah they are waiting for. He is something totally different. Their understanding of the Law and the scripture is contorted and wrong...they have trained their eyes to see the wrong thing.
Jesus response is pointed. I think he should have said, "Some of you have seen me heal people. You balked at me forgiving sins. You've heard of the story of the dead raising to life. Is this not the sign you want? Is this not what the Prophets point to?" It is. But not how they read it. It helps us understand Jesus' words:
At times, in the church, we fight to save the church. Sometimes our perspective of the church is too small for what God wants, yet we can't see past what we think. It gets even more personal than that. At times, we ourselves fight for what we think it right for us, for our theology and beliefs, for our stuff...because we have rights.
Jesus' concern is the Kingdom of God. He is continually showing us what the Kingdom of God looks like within the gospel of Mark. We would find the same thing in the other Gospels. We'll find that the whole Bible is about the Kingdom of God. God wants to be near to His people--His whole creation. Yet, we are too caught up in ourselves and what we think we deserve to hear and see what the Kingdom truly is.
Lord, help us to learn how to live out the Kingdom. May we learn to be bearers of your Kingdom. May we be a place of hope, healing, and peace. May we produce the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. May we simply not have this fruit for ourselves, but may we share it with all people so they will know what the kingdom of God is--what it feels like, what it looks like, what it smells like, what it sounds like, and what it tastes like. Give us the passion that your Son had to be the Kingdom.
This feeding account if similar to the one we talked about a few days ago. Here, Jesus is in a mostly Gentile area. Mark doesn't tell us if its Jews or Gentiles in the desert listening. With the way things were in the previous chapter, I lean towards this being a more Gentile crowd. Plus, the numbers involved show significance.
In the previous story, Jesus took five loaves and fed the crowd. In the end, they collected twelve baskets full of leftovers. Some scholars see a connection with the Jewish crowd there and the five loaves. The Torah, the first five books of the bible, are the end all for the Jews. It holds the Law. It is seen as life. Add to that the fact that Abraham, the man God chose to bring his blessing through to the world in the Old Testament, and his family eventually becomes twelve tribes when it is all said and done. He is feeding Jewish people, who would have had a heightened sense for the occurrences of the numbers 5 and 12.
Out of the five comes twelve. Huge OT theme there.
In the second story, the disciples have seven loaves. Seven is a significant number in scripture. God completes the creation in seven days, with the seventh day being a day of rest. Israel is to take the seventh day of the week and make it a day of rest. In the law, Hebrew slaves are given freedom in the seventh year of their service (Ex 21:2). Every seven years the Hebrew people were to give the ground rest and not plant anything (Lev 25:4). And, every seventh cycle of the seven years (7 times 7) was the year of jubilee, where all the land sold in those 49 years returns to the original owners (Lev 25:10). Jesus even gets in on the seven idea with people needing forgiven 70 times 7 times.
Then, you have the 4000 people....4000 Gentile people. Some scholars think that 4000, being divisible by 4 hints at the 4 corners of a compass, or all directions. They connect it with the previous stories in Mark--Jesus saying everything is clean to eat or touch, Jesus healing the Syrophoenician woman's daughter and the blind/mute Gentile. They think this story is symbolic of the fact that while Jesus is focused on the Jews, the coming of the good news is for all nations.
The numbers are intriguing to me. They help my mind flesh out the differences in the story. Yet, my big question is what are the disciples getting out of this. In the first feeding, they told Jesus they didn't have enough money to get anything for the people. Yet, they saw Jesus take the five loaves they had, bless it, break it, and feed five thousand (another multiple of 5). Here in our story, their response is that they are out in the middle of no where, they can't go get bread to feed the crowd. No need to complain about money when you don't even have a place to spend it, right?
Yet, their response, if they really got it should have been, "Jesus, we have seven loaves this time. Last time you did things with five. Can you work your mojo again and feed less with more?" Ok. They wouldn't have said mojo, but you get the point.
Maybe they respond in the way that they do because they don't think the Gentile crowd is worthy to be fed by Jesus. They are Gentiles!
And in the end, they picked up seven basketfuls of bread. They started with seven single loaves and picked up seven basketfuls of bread.
The story then shifts to an interaction with the Pharisees. They are asking Jesus for a sign from Heaven. The sign they are asking for was for him to specifically do something to show to them that he is the Messiah. Now, we have to unpack the idea of Messiah in that day and age. To do that, we have to do a little history lesson. Its that important! Hold on to your hat, we are going to run through the OT in about two minutes.
God created in Genesis. The creation was good. He was well pleased with it.
In His creation were Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. They were to rule over the earth. The only thing they were not given to do was eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They, by the serpent's tempting, chose to eat from the tree so they could be like God.
Wrong answer. Thanks for playing. God kicks them out of the garden because they have sinned. They can't be in relationship with him like they were in the garden.
Fast forward to Noah. God is frustrated with His creation. It brings him sorrow. He wants a mulligan. So, he tells Noah to build a boat. He brings the floods. Creation is re-set. His relationship with man (Noah) has been restored. However, not too long after that Noah gets a little drunk and bad things happen. Man is again separated from their God.
Now to Abraham. God's going at the relationship with his creation with a different angle now. He is going through Abraham--a nobody from nowhere. God's promise to Abraham? You will be a great nation. You will have a great land. My blessing will come through you to the world. You will be involved in that blessing. Funny thing, though. Abraham didn't have any land....and he was old, his wife was old. He couldn't have kids at that age. Not a problem for God.
Through the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) we learn of how Abraham's descendants became Israel. In that journey, God restores his relationship and connection to man via the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place where God's presence would be within the people. They, the people, camped around the tabernacle. He was their center, His presence residing on the Ark of the Covenant--the symbol of his relationship with the people. Wherever they went, he was to be. God came near (we've heard that before).
The rest of the story of the OT is about how this relationship went between Israel and God. Eventually, they get land that is their own--Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, Israel had this problem with keeping up their side of the relationship (covenant). And God sent them into exile...a lot like when he kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden.
After exile, the Israelites have been on the lookout for the Messiah, the one who is going to come and restore Israel to its glory. Yet, for them, they were caught up in the place, the land, and the political power of what was going on around them. By the time we get to Jesus coming into the world, Israel--the Jews, are being oppressed by Rome. Rome owns everything around the Mediterranean Sea. They rule everything. This is a problem for the Jews. They are eager for a Messiah to come and overthrow Rome so they can get back to what Jerusalem and Israel was before the exile--land, the temple, God's presence, etc.
However, this is not the kind of Messiah Jesus is. As the God comes near again, through Jesus--the good news that the Kingdom of God is near, the Pharisees and the keepers of the Law don't get it. They are looking for a Messiah who will come in, cast Rome out, and make Israel a great nation again. Jesus is bringing in a new kingdom, one without land and boundaries where the sick are healed, the lame walk, the blind see, the demons are cast out, and the dead are risen to life. A kingdom where thousands are fed and hope, healing, and peace reign.
The Pharisees have heard the people around them proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. They want to see a "sign from Heaven" that will prove he is this messiah they are waiting for. Yet, Jesus isn't the Messiah they are waiting for. He is something totally different. Their understanding of the Law and the scripture is contorted and wrong...they have trained their eyes to see the wrong thing.
Jesus response is pointed. I think he should have said, "Some of you have seen me heal people. You balked at me forgiving sins. You've heard of the story of the dead raising to life. Is this not the sign you want? Is this not what the Prophets point to?" It is. But not how they read it. It helps us understand Jesus' words:
Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.The Pharisees wanted a sign of something Jesus was not. The messiah is something different. He's bigger than what they wanted, yet they couldn't see past their own wants.
At times, in the church, we fight to save the church. Sometimes our perspective of the church is too small for what God wants, yet we can't see past what we think. It gets even more personal than that. At times, we ourselves fight for what we think it right for us, for our theology and beliefs, for our stuff...because we have rights.
Jesus' concern is the Kingdom of God. He is continually showing us what the Kingdom of God looks like within the gospel of Mark. We would find the same thing in the other Gospels. We'll find that the whole Bible is about the Kingdom of God. God wants to be near to His people--His whole creation. Yet, we are too caught up in ourselves and what we think we deserve to hear and see what the Kingdom truly is.
Lord, help us to learn how to live out the Kingdom. May we learn to be bearers of your Kingdom. May we be a place of hope, healing, and peace. May we produce the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. May we simply not have this fruit for ourselves, but may we share it with all people so they will know what the kingdom of God is--what it feels like, what it looks like, what it smells like, what it sounds like, and what it tastes like. Give us the passion that your Son had to be the Kingdom.
0 comments:
Post a Comment