Jesus was on the mount quoting Law and then adding, “But I say unto you ….” Some may have thought that Jesus was negating or nullifying the Law, but nothing could have been farther from the truth. There has always been a struggle by many to understand the relationship between the old and new covenants, but in our passage, Jesus is pretty clear about that relationship.
There are too many people who are happy to live on the margins of Christianity, but there are others who want to move closer, who want to take it to the next level in their relationship with Jesus. There are people who are willing to deny themselves, pick up their cross every morning, and follow Jesus. People who are not ashamed to stand up and say, “Yes! I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He was born of the virgin, lived without sin, was crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and ascended to the Father’s right hand where He lives forever as my Savior, my Intercessor, Redeemer, and Lord.
In verses 22 through 26, Mark recorded the story of a blind man in Bethsaida, which was in a largely Gentile region, but excavations have found a significant, if not predominately Jewish population in the town. As such, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the blind man was Jewish or Gentile, but for purposes of illustrating a powerful point in the Gospel, it doesn’t really matter what his race was.
No man knows the day or the hour of the Lord’s return, but we can know the seasons by the signs that we see all around us. In Matthew 16:4 Jesus chided the Pharisees and Sadducees because they believed they could discern the weather by the color of the sky at night or in the morning, but they could not discern the spiritual signs of the time. Jesus said, “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Anyone who cannot see that these are the last days that are leading swiftly to the Last Day is not paying attention.
It may be a nice sunny day when we are building our house of faith, but the tribulations, persecution, fiery trials, and afflictions are inevitable. The storm is coming and when the rain falls, the winds blow, and the floods flow, the substance of our faith will be revealed and the foundation will be exposed. That foundation will either sustain us or fail us depending upon how we have responded to the teaching of Jesus.
In this life, we are often faced with unexpected circumstances and events that surprise us, catch us off-guard and initially cause some alarm. Regardless of how much faith we have, our first response is usually fear but if we remember that Jesus is with us, then fear can be destroyed where faith is employed.
Joseph heard the Lord in three dreams and the wise men heard God in their dream. As a result, Jesus our Savior was born, lived, and gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. He has earned the right to have our attention, our worship, and our obedience. Dream to believe that God has a plan for your life and if you hear Him, He will do exceedingly, abundantly, more than you can ask or think.
Luke includes four songs in the birth narratives, each following a powerful moment in the narrative. The early church gave each of these songs a title in Latin, which as the language of Rome, became the main language of the early church. Today I want to look at these four songs in the order they appear and explore the main message of each of them as an outline for the Christmas story.
There was no escaping the fact that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah because to be the Savior of the world He had to be the Christ, the Anointed One. But Gentiles hearing the story, as wonderful as it was, must have questioned where they fit in the story, which brings us to our text. Found only in Mark’s Gospel, this passage—along with the preceding passage and the passage that follows—highlights the ministry of Jesus in mostly Gentile territories where Gentiles were sincerely seeking Him. Like the Jews, when their faith was sufficient to believe, Jesus could and would heal and deliver Gentiles as well.
Most of us who have a dog in the house can understand the reply of the desperate mother, who takes the metaphor Jesus used, turns it around, and ends up walking away with a miracle. Sometimes we give up too quickly or get our feelings hurt too easily, and as a result, we walk away empty-handed. There is a powerful message in this passage that needs to be unpacked.
