Good morning. Mark starts out almost right away with John being taken into custody. Other Gospels tell of things happening before that. Then Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of God. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. As we have said before about other things – it was the right time for this to happen. Jesus sees Peter and his brother fishing, and tells them to follow Him, and He will make them become fishers of men. He then sees James and John. He goes into a synagogue, and begins to teach. People were amazed because He was teaching as one having authority, and not as the scribes. The scribes were only giving their opinions or the opinions of people before them. Jesus was giving them the truth about the word of God. There was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit, and the spirit cried out “what business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are - the Holy One of God!” Jesus told him to be quiet and come out of the man. Jesus was not ready to proclaim who He really was; besides, He did not want that revelation to come from a demon. The people were amazed that Jesus commanded even the unclean spirits, and they obeyed Him. Of course later we will see that the Pharisees said He did that by the power of the ruler of the demons. It sounds a lot like today where no matter what someone says or does, there are plenty of people who criticize what is said or done. Father thank You that Jesus had authority over the demons, and that You gave us that authority too. Help the reader to get everything done that needs to be done. Give him/her the strength and wisdom that he/she needs!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed

  Good morning. We left John at the entrance of the tomb, stooping and looking in. “Shy” Peter then arrives following John, and enters the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there. So the other disciple, John, who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. It does not say whether or not Peter believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes. I’m not exactly sure what it means by their own homes. They were originally from Galilee and would not have had homes in Jerusalem. Perhaps it means the homes where they were staying while in Jerusalem. Apparently, they were not staying in the upper room, or it would have said so. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped (just like John) and looked into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been l...
Read more

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and he granted permission. So he came and took away His body

  Good morning. After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and he granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds weight. Remember that myrrh was one of the gifts that the magi brought when Jesus was a baby. Also notice that he had 100 pounds of spices. Normally one does not have that much just lying around the house. Since most likely he was older, he may have been storing it up for when he himself was going to die. Or perhaps while Jesus was hanging on the cross, he went to the merchants and purchased it, because there was no time to do so after Jesus died prior to the beginning of the Sabbath. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. My Bible says that these were thin ...
Read more

Why are you timid, you men of little faith?

  Good morning. Remember that Jesus had given orders that they should depart to the other side (of the lake). While Jesus was asleep in the boat, there arose a great storm, so that the boat was covered with the waves. This was no afternoon shower; it was one of those “make the palm trees bend over and touch the ground" kind of storms. And Jesus just slept through it! He had confidence in His Father to protect Him. The disciples, however, were not confident. They were focusing on the circumstances and not on the word Jesus had given them. They awoke Jesus saying, “save us, Lord; we are perishing!” Jesus had told them to go to the other side; so they should've been confident that they would make it. They did not even think about all of the miracles that Jesus had just finished doing. But even if they had, they probably would've said “well that was one thing, this is something entirely different”. The same thing happens to us. God tells us to do something, and a storm arises....
Read more