Accompanying Signs

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

ACCOMPANYING SIGNS

Mark 16:19-20

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

NIV

These are the last works of this gospel according to Mark and he tells us something very interesting. First, there is no question as to where Jesus is. Mark makes sure to tell us that after he has spent some days appearing to various people and as we know from the other gospel accounts he spent time with his disciples. We know that he met them on the seashore one day and was preparing a meal as they came to shore and again, Peter jumped out of the boat and got to shore first. But after all those times and people that he appeared to it was time for Jesus to return to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. This is where Jesus is now and of course, we know that he sent the Spirit to be first convict us of our need to repent of our sin and to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but also to be our guide. He leads us into all truth, he guides us to that truth and gives us the understanding or the discernment to know truth from falsehood. There is also something here which is very interesting and of what we can also expect as we do that which we have been called to do. The disciples went out and preached everywhere. Of course, we may not be called to preach everywhere, although in some sense we all have been called to go into all the world and preach the good news. We could interpret that in both the sense of traveling the world and preaching, which we are doing in the sense of supporting those who have been called into the mission field and do go to parts of the world. However, we too can go into the world in the sense of the world of business, the world of medicine, the world of science, or the service industry or whatever profession or career path we have been called to, and in that path, we are still called to be His witnesses. That would be in some sense preaching the good news, even if it is by our good life, our working as though we are working not for men, but for the Lord. Whatever we are doing, we can be sure that the Lord is working with us and confirming his word in our lives by signs that accompany it. The question we have to ask ourselves, is what are the signs that accompany our lives, that confirm the word in our lives and that the Lord is working with us? We think that we would have to be doing that which we have been called to do in the first place. It would seem inappropriate for us to expect the Lord to work with us if we had made the choice as to what career path we wanted and thus we would not be on the path he chose for us or called us to. So then we have to believe we have listened to him, and we have walked this path, this journey we have been called to, both this spiritual and physical journey of his choice. We then would have to believe he is working with us and confirming his word in us. How does he work with us? What is he doing as he works in us? We would have to believe that there would be signs in our lives, signs that he is with us, and that we have the word in us. We talk about the signs of the times as though we understand what that means. As our culture changes, as the years pass by, we see differences in what is acceptable and more openness of blatant disregard for God. These are the signs of the times. But Jesus said there would be signs that appear in our lives. Signs of his working with us and signs he has and is and will be confirming the word in our lives. We could see this in one respect as we are in a constant state of change, that we are always growing, not stagnant in our walk, but always on the move, growing to be more and more like Jesus. However, in another sense, we should expect some kind of signs in our lives, signs that other people take notice of. Jesus had just told them they would speak in new tongues, they would handle snakes, could drink poison and they would place their hands on sick people and they would be healed. We considered these signs already, but did Jesus mean just those, or did he mean some other signs? Either way, if we are doing that which Jesus has called us to do, there will be signs that accompany his confirming his word in us. There are and will be accompanying signs.

Believing in HIs Name

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK
BELIEVING IN HIS NAME

Mark 16:9-20

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. 12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. 14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."  19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

NIV

We have notes that comment regarding this last verse of Mark. It is noted that some of the oldest manuscripts do not have these verses, which means they were either added by some scribe or left off some of those older manuscripts for whatever reason. However, they do appear in many of the newer versions or translations of the New Testament. They are a shorter version of what other gospel accounts record of events that occurred after the resurrection of Jesus. This fits very well with the rest of this gospel according to Mark as he is a whole lot briefer than any of the others. This would or could indicate that Mark did not copy others, but did give his first-hand account of what he knew to be true. This is not to say the others did not have firsthand knowledge, but there has been some question about this ending of Mark. Nevertheless, the truth is still the same. Jesus spent time with various people, mostly his disciples, but also he appeared to many, assuring them all he said was true and that he was indeed alive. This commission of his disciples has significant meaning as if it were not for them following his commands, we would not have known about Jesus. Sure, we would still have all the Old Testament, but maybe that would have been kept to the Jewish people themselves and they would have felt no need to share those writings with gentiles. But now, we have all these writings that were inspired, just as the writings of the Old Testament, and give us a wonderful record of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, bringing us the hope of eternal life. We are so thankful that Jesus inspired these men, through the power of the Holy Spirit to go into all the world and preach this gospel. We have also taken his command and men and women have picked up that mantel of spreading the gospel message throughout the world. This message is still in the process of being spread, as there are still people who have not heard this message. There are some people who have heard it, and may have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but have not completely grasped the whole of his message. Who of us has ever driven out a demon? We could say that we have, in one sense when we worked at Teen Challenge in Chicago, as we were involved in several cases of men who were possessed and had the demon leave them. We could also say, in some sense, that we exercised our own demons through the power of the Spirit. We can also say that we have spoken in new tongues. This is controversial in some sense, as some denominations, being considered as Pentecostal, believe the gifts of tongues still exist and practice speaking in this new tongue which they are not learned in, but rather speak through the inspiration of the Spirit, like the disciples did on that Day of Pentecost. There is another sense of a new tongue in that before salvation we spoke words or the world and considered not about God. But now our language is new as we speak not like the world, but we speak of the things of God. Yet, we have experienced both new languages. As far as the snakes, we cannot be certain we have ever handled such a thing. However, in some sense, Satan, the great serpent has been handled. We have cast him out and told him to get behind us. So we have picked up that snake and have thrown him asunder. We cannot say we have ever drunk poison and lived, however in some sense many of our daily intake of food and drink may poison our bodies, but we continue to live, and that is contributed to the power of the Spirit. This idea of placing our hands on sick people and they're being healed is a practice we believe in, but how many of us actually do this? Maybe we need to reassess just how much we believe Jesus. Maybe we just believe all this was just for those twelve and not for the rest of us, yet we want to go into all the world. We spent much time and effort along with money in the spreading of the gospel, funding those who say that have been called to the mission field. So why do we do that and not the rest of what Jesus told them would be the signs of those who believe in his name.

Good News

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

GOOD NEWS

Mark 16:1-8

16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

NIV

There is far more than has been accounted by the other gospels than what Mark tells us. Nevertheless, the fact is all the same. Jesus is no longer in the grave, He has risen, just as he said he would. This Sabbath being over, which is our Saturday which ended at the setting of the sun and now very early Sunday morning, the day the Jews considered as the first day of the week, the woman was headed to the tomb. It is interesting that if Joseph and Nicodemus laid his body there, and Nicodemus had brought what is considered as about seventy pounds of spices, did the women not know and that is why they were bringing spices? Not sure why more spices, but again here are the women wanting to make sure everything was done right, making sure of taking care of the needs of Jesus. However, the main point here is that Jesus is not there, he is not in the tomb, and the grave could not hold him. He has risen, He has risen indeed! Although the good news of the kingdom of God is related to our sins being forgiven because of the blood of Jesus, through the cross, this does not give us eternal life. However, because Jesus rose from the grave, because He lives, having victory over death, we too have this same victory because we are in Christ and He is in us. The grave cannot hold us either, we will not remain there, for we too will rise from the death and enter into eternal life in the everlasting presence of our Lord. This is indeed good news. The other accounts give us some more of what happened and that Jesus had a conversation with Mary who lingered after the other women went and told the disciples what had happened. Still, everything is the same. No matter what any other details occurred that Mark does not tell us, the fact remains the same. Jesus has risen from the dead, the grave could not hold him, as so will we. The grave is but a temporary place for our body, as we have to know, Jesus was not there, only his body was. We are not sure where Jesus was for those few days, but he was not in his body. This too is good news, as our bodies may be committed temporally to the grave, but we will not be there, for we too will be absent from our bodies, but we will be present with our Lord. But just as with Jesus, his body was resurrected and once again He was present in his body and will be forevermore. This too is good news for us, as one day our bodies will be resurrected and we will be present in them in the new city on the new earth with our Lord forevermore. All this is good news.

 

A Good Day

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

A GOOD DAY

Mark 15:42-47

42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

NIV

Mark leaves out some details about this Joseph of Arimathea that Matthew and John give us. First, Joseph had been a secret disciple of Jesus, for he also feared the Jews, as he was a prominent member of the Council. Still, it is interesting that up until now he could have been considered a coward, believing that Jesus was the Messiah, but not wanting to let anyone know about his faith. Now, Mark tells us that he boldly went to Pilate and asked if he could remove the body of Jesus from the cross. Mark also does not tell us that Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council accompanied Joseph. We remember Nicodemus coming to Jesus in the night confessing he believe Jesus came from God. He would not dare say that in the daylight in front of his fellow council members, let Joseph a secret follower of Jesus. What or rather who prompted them to be so bold now? We have to believe the Holy Spirit was at work in their lives. Although in the truest sense, Jesus had not sent the Spirit, which we see in Luke’s account of the Acts of the Apostles. This was the day of Pentecost, and power was given to all who the Spirit was giving. However, as we know, God in three persons has always been engaged with his people and thus it would have not been possible for two men having so much fear confessing Jesus in the open, now after his death on the cross, go boldly to Pilate asking to take his body down from the cross. Now, on the other hand, it is also interesting that because this would have been Friday, as we call it, and the evening was approaching. This would have meant the Sabbath was about to begin, as the Sabbath was from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Because of the Law of Moses, no criminal should continue hanging on a tree, or the cross, on the Sabbath. It is interesting the other two criminals were not removed, nor were they dead, as Jesus was. Perhaps they were not even Jewish, all we know is they were criminals. Nevertheless, Pilate was surprised that Jesus died so quickly. This form of execution took far longer than the few hours Jesus was on the cross, but Jesus gave up his Spirit, again taking control, or being in control, rather than being a victim, as we have noticed before. So, Joseph and Nicodemus take Jesus down and put him in a tomb. From the other accounts, we also know Nicodemus brought spices, which was the normal method of preparing a body for the grave. So it is done, Jesus has paid the price for our sin, and now he lay in the grave, but we know the rest of the story and we know the grave will not hold him, and therefore it will not hold us either. The church usually makes this Friday, that day Jesus gave up his Spirit and the day he was buried as this solemn dark day, although we call it, “Good Friday”. Instead of making it a mournful event, maybe we should make it a day of celebration, for it was the day that our sins were taken away, and that is a good thing, hence, “Good Friday”. Sure we want to celebrate Easter Sunday morning, the day Jesus rose from the grave. Yes, it is considered the best day ever, because he won the victory over death, so then we too have that same victory over death, for death is the greatest of all man’s fears. But what is eternal life if our sins are still held against us? No, it was the reason Jesus had to go to the cross. It is the reason he gave up his Spirit there so that he would take all our sins upon himself and put them to death with himself. Now he lay in the grave and our sins with him. Although he will rise, our sins will not, for when he raises from the grave glorified, back into his divine person, we too, as we are in him, and he is in us, are also a new person, a new creature in Christ, cleanse from all our sin. So that Friday was a good day, a good day indeed,

Caring

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

CARING

Mark 15:40-41

40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

NIV

Although there is some debate regarding just who are all these women, there is enough evidence from three of the gospel accounts to know that one was Mary, the mother of Jesus, the other was her sister Mary, wife of Cephas, who was the mother of James the younger and Jose, who is also thought to be Joseph, and Mary Magdalene, who is thought of as the one who poured perfume on Jesus. It is also thought that Mary and perhaps Martha the sisters of Lazarus were there. The point here or the reason so many women were there watching from a distance was a simple fact. Women are the nurturers of the world. We see they are identified as women who followed Jesus and cared for his needs. This seems to be a great gift for women, which men just lack. Oh, there may be an exception here and there, but men just are not caretakers in the sense that women are. It may not be the most popular thinking in our culture today, however, God did create woman from a man for the reason to be his helpmate. In our free to be me, hear me roar, women’s equality movements, women still cannot deny they feel this sense of nurturing, for caring for the needs of people, or at the very least, one person. There is this inner core that cares about others. Sure, there may be an exception here and there, but this is an inner, God-instilled, sense to care for the needs of someone. We do not hear about these women throughout the gospels during all the times that Jesus taught or traveled from one town to the next. We do not hear about these women in the sense of caring for Jesus. We have seen them mentioned, Mary the mother of Jesus surely cared for her son. Mary and Martha hosted Jesus and his disciples often and we have seen Martha preparing meals, caring for the needs of Jesus. We have seen Mary, perhaps the one from Magdala pouring perfume over him. What we need to see here is the role throughout scripture of women being the helpers of men.  God knew from the beginning that it was not good for man to be alone, he needs a mate, a helper, a caring loving person to care for his needs. It is interesting the first time the word woman, and not female, appears is in Genesis. This Hebrew word is the feminine form of the Hebrew word for man. The Greek word here that Mark uses for woman has the direct meaning of the female version of man, woman, and has been interchangeable and translated also as a wife. The old English word “wif” was used to mean the wife or the woman of a marriage, and it has evolved from that into wife or wifman, thus woman. As interesting as all this is, the point here, that we see women being in the center of caring for the needs of others. As unpopular as this may be in our culture, this is the reason God created woman, to be this helpmate, this partner, this caring, loving, nurturing half of mankind, for without women where would we be. We need their caring.

The Veil is Gone

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

THE VEIL IS GONE

Mark 15:33-39

33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"    35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. 37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

NIV

Jesus breathed this last and the world has never been the same. We have already come to the conclusion that God never turned his back on himself, although from our perspective it was the Father turning his back on His Son. Yet, as we have thought, Jesus and the Father are one and therefore they cannot be separated, not alone from each other. Mark does not give us all the details, including some of the other things Jesus spoke, such as stating forgiveness for these men because they really did not understand what they were doing. He also spoke to the one he loves, which was John, and transferred his mother’s care from himself to John. This would have certainly meant that Joseph had already died, and Mary was a widow so was in need of care. But now as the earth was in darkness for three full hours, the people had to know this was something other than an ordinary man on that cross. Even a full-fledged eclipse of the sun does not last for three hours. The last eclipse happened a few years ago and lasted six minutes and a few seconds. So these three hours of darkness was a supernatural event, because of the momentous occasion of the light of the world being crucified, or we could say being snuffed out. Without the light of the world, there is total darkness. That is certainly a metaphor for the condition of a person who does not have Jesus in their heart, living in total darkness unless the Light of Jesus shines within them. The other most interesting event that happened when Jesus breathed his last was the veil in the temple tearing in two from the top to the bottom. From one standpoint, this veil separated the most holy place from the rest of the temple. It was the place of the Ark of the Covenant, the place God resided with his people. Only once a year was the high priest allowed to enter the holy of holies which was the Day of Atonement. Even then he would have a rope tried to his angle so that if he was not worthy enough, God would strike him dead, and the other priests could drag him out. This was the type of access men had to God then, but now with the death of Jesus, the veil has been torn and because of Jesus, we have full access to God. The Israelites were taught to fear the Lord, in fact, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, yet the most used Hebrew word translated as fear, especially in relationship to God, meant revere, or moral reverence. Thus this fear of entering the Holy of Holies, but at the same time, they wanted to kill Jesus. It just does not seem to make sense on the human level, but God had determined this course from the beginning. This fear of God has now been replaced by the peace of Christ. When Jesus said that he gives us his peace, that word carries the meaning of being at peace with God, being assured of our salvation through Christ and thus fearing nothing from God and being content with our earthy lot, whatsoever that is. The veil is gone, and we can come to God anytime, anyplace in whatever state we are in, for he will not strike us dead, but has instead given us life. We are so thankful the veil is gone.

Always Teaching

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

ALWAYS TEACHING

Mark 15:23-35

23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.   29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!"   31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! 32 Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. 33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"   35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."

NIV

We are at the cross, Jesus has been nailed to it and lifted up, there are two others there, true criminals according to Rome, one to each side of Jesus, and thus three crosses stood on Golgotha. What we see playing out here is a direct result of what was spoken about by David in the twenty-second Psalm. We would need to read the Psalm in its eternity to get a full meaning of what is happening here at the cross of Christ. This heaping of insults is in this psalm, the casting of lots for his garment is in this psalm, and the words that Jesus spoke are the first verse of this psalm. What has been said by many believers is that Jesus experienced God turning his back on him because he was full of all the sins of the world and God could not look at that sin. This does not fit with the whole of the situation. First, If Jesus was truly forsaken, God has lied. He has promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us. Second, if Jesus was speaking as a man, desperately pleading with God, feeling all alone, then his sacrifice as the perfect Lamb of God, a deity that died for the sins of the world, would be for nothing. If Jesus is a man on the cross, we have no salvation. Jesus is the Christ in the cross, the Son of God, the second person of the triune Godhead. Jesus is God, and therefore he was not alone, for He and the Father are one. Jesus said that if we have seen Him then we have seen the Father. There was never any separation, in our opinion, from the Father and the Son, at any time whatsoever. Jesus taught every opportunity there was. He is still teaching from the cross. It is thought by many of our scholars that most Jews were very familiar with this twenty-second Psalm and referred to it as speaking about the Messiah. Jesus sees all they are doing as fitting right into this psalm and he was showing them by quoting the first verse that he was that Messiah. There are other explanations that go far too much in-depth about Jesus’s exact language and what else it might have meant if we use this manuscript or another. Some head toward his words being Aramaic others head toward Hebrew. Some say that Jesus had to experience all the emotions of humankind, but we should never ever, not ever feel that God has abandoned us because of our sin. If that were the case then what hope do we have? How could perfection be the standard for God remaining with and in us? While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Jesus was divine and he never felt abandon by his Father as he was in His perfect will. So let us not ever feel that God has turned his back on us, although he has a perfect right reason to do so, for we still have sinned. If then God cannot look upon Jesus full of our sin, then God could not look upon us, and we know that is simply not true. Let us learn from Jesus, and know that He is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus is always teaching his people.