Monday, March 7, 2011
Mark 9
So, here we go... onto Mark 9!
I know things have been a bit crazy over the past few weeks, with visiting other churches, being sick, and being busy, but I for one am excited to get back into what the Lord has been doing with us in this community He's brought together!
Leave your comments and input on what your learning about and what the Lord is doing with it.
Talk to you soon.
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There is SO much in this chapter. Two things jump out at me, having to do with how literally Jesus is showing his disciples/us to walk to in, and how literally He communicates with us.
ReplyDeleteVs 9-10 are almost humorous, Jesus was telling his disciples that the Son of Man would rise from the dead. The disciples are all like, "what does this mean, "rise from the dead". Um, exactly what He said. I think this correlates to a lot of what Jesus teaches, He means exactly what He says.
The second thing that really hit me and I never noticed this before was 38-50. I have read and heard teaching on different sections of this, but I believe now all out of context. What is literally happening here is Jesus is telling His disciples that whoever is not against Him is for Him...then He goes on to say DO NOT make one of these little ones (of the faith) in Me stumble in their faith".
Now, I've ALWAYS heard this teaching as: don't smoke, drink, listen to secular music or cuss because you might cause someone weaker in the faith to stumble and sin. But in context Jesus is saying, do not discourage faith! Encourage it, encourage even babies in Christ to lay hands on the sick and see them recover! Again, the gospel is not "stop sinning" it's walk in faith and see the Kingdom of God come with power and glory.
And it goes on, if your eye causes you to stumble...etc...anything that causes you to stumble in your faith (again, not not viewing stuff that might make you sin)...get rid of it. Surround yourself with the Kingdom of God to build up your faith. Jesus even says in vs 47, "..it is better for you to ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD with one eye...", etc.
And the chapter concludes with the analogy of salt, again this is all about faith.
Wow, it's all about faith. End rant.