Truly Believe

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

TRULY BELIEVING

Mark 9:14-19

14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 "What are you arguing with them about?" he asked. 17 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." 19 "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." 

NIV                               

                           

We know that it was just Peter, James and John who went up on the mountain with Jesus, so that would leave nine of the others that Jesus had called to himself and who were among the twelve that he had sent out with power to heal and cast out demons which we already saw earlier in the gospel of Mark. Yet it seems those nine who did not go up with Jesus were not capable of casting out this demon which inflicted the boy we are told about here. We would think that once empowered by Jesus that empowerment would continue, yet no power was to be had in those nine disciples. It also seems interesting that the father of the boy did not try to take him to Jesus first, that he took his son to the disciples to have the evil spirit sent away from his son. There must have been some talk about how the disciples had already been doing this, yet it seems they have no power over evil now. We surely can tell Jesus in not happy about their lack of faith. We will deal with the rest of the narrative later but first we must deal with the expressed sadness of Jesus regarding their disbelief. What we must ask of ourselves is if Jesus ever becomes saddened over our disbelief? Does he see us as an unbelieving generation? Sure we believe in Jesus for our salvation. We believe he is the Son of God. We believe he died for our sins. We believe all those things we find in the statement of faith established by our church. But do we believe? Has Jesus given us power over evil? He has given us the Holy Spirit who empowers us to do even greater things than Jesus did. Those were his words, not ours. So if we are going to do greater things, it would appear we are going to need to truly believe. It is obvious, at least for the time being, his disciples did not have that kind of faith, or truly believe they had the power over evil spirits, but after they received the Holy Spirit, they were indeed filled with all sorts of power. The Holy Spirit is still here and still empowering people who believe. Do we what Jesus to think, “how long shall I put up with you”? If not we have to start truly believing. 

Accept or Reject

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

ACCEPT OR REJECT

Mark 9:11-13

11 And they asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" 12 Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him." 

NIV

It appears that because of the transfiguration, even though Peter might have been thinking in the earthly realm, wanting to build shelters, the three might now actually believe Jesus is the Messiah. This is concluded because of the question they ask. Because Jesus is the Messiah the learned men have taught the people that before the Messiah appears, Elijah must come first to restore everything. Jesus is affirming that is what they teach, and in fact that is what has happened. Luke records for us that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah restoring the correct teaching about the coming Messiah, preparing the way for Jesus, and we know what happened to John. On the surface this particular passage seems a little confusing but the truth is not hidden from us because we have all the scripture to examine. The importance being able to cross reference other accounts and records of events and sayings of Jesus is to get the whole picture, not taking one thing out of the context of the whole truth. But why are we told this story in the first place? Why is it important that it is recorded for us? Jesus is affirming what in fact the prophet Elijah wrote about him. Jesus will suffer and he will be rejected. That happened and it will continue to happen. Men will still reject him; men will still cause Jesus to suffer by their rejection. We know the heart of Christ, we know the heart of God, we know he desires that all men come to him for salvation through Jesus Christ, yet that is not going to happen as men will reject continue to reject him. We also know that seeing the whole story in all of scripture we have to be careful not to reject some of it and only appear to accept some of it. In other words we cannot go through the bible with an al a carte approach, taking only what we want to believe and rejecting what we think is not for us today. This is especially true when we come to passages where Jesus is referring to events past and future at the same time. We have all the truth and we can know exactly what Jesus meant and understand it. He is the Messiah, He came to save us. So the question is do we accept all of it, or do we reject some of it? How can we even think of rejecting any of the scriptures, that they do not apply to us? Accept or reject. 

Overshadowed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

OVERSHADOWED

Mark 9:9-10

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant.

NIV

It is obvious that the reason we know all about the event we call the transfiguration is because they told everyone about it after the Son of Man rose from the dead. Had Jesus never rose from the dead, and then we would never have heard about the time that he was transformed and stood there with Moses and Elijah. Yet it is interesting that Peter, James and John experienced such a supernatural event and still did not get it. They simply did not understand that Jesus was going to die and then rise from the dead in a transfigured state, a form in which he would be able to float off this earth into the sky disappearing before their very eyes into the clouds. Of course we now know that he went all the way to wherever what we call heaven is, and is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. But we have all that account to read and believe. Those three men had nothing but their personal experiences with Jesus, how could they know all we do? How could they believe he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah, the Savior, the Prince of Peace, the third person of the trinity? How could they know he was God in the flesh? Yes, at some time in their future they would understand it all, but not yet, as they had not been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, they had not been baptized in by the Spirit; they had not experienced Pentecost yet. It would make perfect sense that people today do not understand the truth about Jesus, and do not understand his rising from the dead, because they have not yet been overshadowed by the Spirit. The main reason this is their situation is because they refuse to allow the Spirit to overshadow their self. They are stubbornly refusing to allow their own opinions, their own closed minds to be enlightened with the truth. Those three men kept that matter to themselves, but they discussed what Jesus meant about rising from the dead. They were open to an idea that simply defied everything they thought was reality, although they surely saw Jesus bring people back from the dead. People who are not overshadowed by the Spirit will never understand the truth. But we have been, and we know the truth. We know that Jesus was telling them he would rise from the dead, so that we too may rise from the dead, we too will be transformed into a form that will be able to float off this earth and rise to the heavenly realm where Jesus is now. Yes, it is true we will not stay there forever, as we will return and experience far more then we have ever before. But the whole point here of the story is that we will rise from the dead transformed because we have been overshadowed.

Enveloped or Overshadowed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

ENVELOPED

Mark 9:5-8

5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

NIV

Once again Peter is thinking about the world’s way of handling a situation. Here is a man who had been inspired by the Holy Spirit, a man who had received a revelation from the Spirit that Jesus was the Christ, and here he is again, wanting to build a worldly shelter for heavenly beings. Sure he is frightened, he and the two others are the only human beings, at least that we know of, who are standing in the presence of people who had died, gone to heaven and are now standing in front of them. Yet this was not all they were going to experience, just as Peter is saying something stupid a cloud envelopes them and he hears the voice of God. What are we to learn from this? We already know that who Jesus is, this was for Peter, James and John. Yet there is a truth for us in that we should always be aware of the eternal presences of God, and that those who have preceded us in death are with him, and capable, if God deems it necessary, to return in a vision to encourage our faith. It is also a truth that God has and still can speak to us in an audible voice, so that we can understand him. So often, perhaps most of the time, we live in the physical realm of the world, thinking in terms of material things, seemingly unaware of the supernatural power of God. But it is very possible for God to demonstrate his power, do something so far outside the realm of this world. Maybe the reason some of us do not experience this kind of supernatural power is because we are not even looking for it, or even believe it would ever happen again. Maybe we think all that was for then, and not for now. Maybe we have accepted the false teachings about how all those things we read about the power of God and his interaction with mankind were just for those times, and all we have or need is faith. Maybe we have accepted that false teaching that none of that is for today, and so we don’t expect it, or miss it when it does occur. Maybe we have accepted those who claim God have called them to tell us what he says to us today. But the truth is, God is still capable of doing everything it is recorded that he did in those days. God has, in fact, sent the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and minds, if we are willing to hear him, if we are not trying to build some shelter for him to be contained in, like a church, for instances. It would seem it is far better for us to live in high places, spiritual mountain tops, expecting visions, expecting to hear the voice of God, expecting to be enveloped by the presence of God. 

Transfigured

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

TRANSFIGURED

Mark 9:2-4

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

NIV

Hold on a minute, this is Jesus, a man born of a woman, true fully God but fully man, capable of being killed on a cross and something supernatural has happened to him. We all accept this as a normal event in the story about Jesus, calling it the transfiguration of Jesus, but it was more, it was way more. We are going to see how Peter reacts to this a little later, again not thinking of things above, but on things of this earth, even after having the spiritual insight that Jesus is the Christ. Yet we should focus on the moment, this change that occurred in the body of Jesus. Here he is a man, physical in every form, human flesh, and he is changed into something that only can be described as dazzling white. Matthew records that his face shone like the sun. His clothes were so white, whiter than anything white on the earth. Then if all that wasn’t enough, Moses and Elijah show up, two guys the Lord took away. Sure Moses died, but it was God who buried him up on the mountain. Nevertheless this story is about being transformed. The Greek word is metamorphoo, which means metamorphose, or changed from one thing to another. Jesus was not just shining, he was actually changed into a heavenly immortal being, as he was in the beginning and what he would be again as he sits at the right hand of the Father. He was showing them and showing us what would happen to us at the end of this human life. As it is explained to us in the letter to the Corinthians, we will be changed, we will go through some sort of metamorphose, putting off the mortal for immortal, putting off the corruptible for the incorruptible. Jesus was demonstrating what we would be like in the heavenly realms, and that we would see others, people who we know, as he was standing there with two that even Peter, James and John knew although they had never seen them before. If this isn’t enough to get us excited about what is to come, then nothing will. If this doesn’t fill us with anticipation of stepping into eternity then what will? We have been told the truth, those who have died before us will rise first, and we who are still alive will be catch up in the air to meet our Lord Jesus. We will all be changed, we will all be transfigured.

Before Tasting Death

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

BEFORE TASTING DEATH

Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." 

NIV

This is really a part of the whole discourse Jesus was telling them in the preceding chapter. Why the framers of chapters put it at the beginning of nine is unclear, but the truth of it is still extremely relevant. Obviously those Jesus was talking to have indeed been dead for many years, that is they did indeed taste death. The question is, did they see the kingdom of God come with power before they died? If they did, then we have to know, without any doubt at all, that we are living during the time of a powerful kingdom of God. If they not only saw, but were a part of the kingdom of God in all its power, then so are we. Some people might think Jesus was talking about the end of the world, when he would return riding a white horse, with thousands of angels and all the saints who had died, defeat Satan and establish his kingdom on earth, and therefore those people did not see it before they tasted death. But that is not what Jesus was talking about. We have to know that at the time Jesus was telling his disciple this, they were a small band of people, maybe with a few other followers, the message was somewhat limited to a small area of the world and it had really been a force to reckon with yet. But before those disciples tasted death, they witnessed Pentecost. They experienced the power of the Holy Spirit descending upon them and they saw Peter, stand up and preach with power, bringing thousands to the knowledge of the saving power of Jesus Christ in one day. They saw what was a little band of brothers, become a church of tens of thousands of believers scattered all over the region, They saw Paul converted and travel the world preaching with power, bringing the church to a force that changed the world. Many of what they experienced is recorded for us in the letter written about the Acts of the Apostles. So the kingdom of God did come with power before they tasted death, and therefore we are in fact living in the time of the kingdom of God in all its power. We have experienced Pentecost, we have experienced the Holy Spirit descending upon us, and we are filled with the power of God. We are experiencing the power of the kingdom of God, seeing the church, us, making an impact on the world, or at least we should be. Maybe some of us who attend church, some small dying churches, are not seeing the power of the kingdom of God. Why is that? Maybe some of us attend larger churches but we are just going through the motions of being a Christian, trying to live without the presence of sin, or at least no admitting the presence of sin in our lives and we do not see any power at all. We are not seeing the kingdom in all its power, in fact, we are not much different than the rest of the world, expect we say we believe in Jesus Christ. Where is the power? Should we not experience the kingdom of God with power? It is here, it is available for us to be a part of. We merely need to lift up our hearts and minds, our spirits and enjoy the power of the kingdom of God before we taste death. 

We Must Die

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

WE MUST DIE

Mark 8:34-38

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." 

NIV

It would seem like if we want to follow Jesus than we are all supposed to die. Well that is exactly what we are supposed to do, die to self. We are supposed to give up our own human ambitions, our own goals and desires; our own wants and things we think would be great to have. There is no doubt that the human condition exists of fulfilling the desires of our heart. From the very beginning all we want is what we want. We are taught to learn all we can so that we can grow up to be successful at whatever we choose to do with our life. We are told education is the pathway to success. We are told we must make something of our selves, so we can live the good life, so we can have a healthy self-esteem. We have been conditioned to look down at those who are not living successfully, who need public aid, which look to others to support them. We have been told that we should make as much as we can, store up are much as we can for our future years. It seems everything is about us. We celebrate every achievement of our lives, inviting all our friends to a party. They tell us how happy they are for us, how proud they are of us, that we did it, we made it, and we accomplished the goal. We have even been told that God helps those who help themselves if we express some sort of spiritual quality. But all that is completely wrong or at least it is completely worldly, completely human, without any concept of God at all. Jesus is telling us that we must die to all that and to take up our cross, make the walk to Calvary, nail our sins to it, dying to the human condition we have been living in, and then we will have eternal life, we will have a real life. Can we still be a doctor, lawyer, nurse, carpenter, laborer, candlestick maker, baker, business owner, factory worker, construction foreman, waste management specialist, salesman, or whatever we feel we should be doing? Sure, we have been told to go into the entire world, to live in every aspect, every endeavor of life, in order that we might bring the good news to those who are alive to self, but dead to Christ. We must be everyway in our culture, doing and working in every kind of field, giving one hundred and ten percent showing ourselves to be a productive member of the workforce, so that we are respected by those who we need to tell about Jesus. But our purpose for all our efforts is not for self but for the Kingdom of God. We have lost our lives, no we have given our lives and in doing so have gained Christ. If we pursue success for our own self, then we forfeit our real life in Christ. Everything we do must be about gaining Christ. We must die.