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Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Monday Apr 19, 2021
Monday Apr 19, 2021
Some call Mark 6:53-56 a kind of summary of the ministry in Jesus in Galilee, in the northern part of Israel. He had come across the Sea of Galilee again to Gennesaret, a small, fertile area along the Sea, and as before, people recognized Him and began bringing sick people to Him, placing them in marketplaces wherever He went. He continued to go to “villages, cities, and countryside,” preaching and teaching, and the healings continued, too.
At this time, He allowed sick people to touch even “the fringe of His garment,” and they would be healed. (Jesus wore an outer garment with fringes or tassels on each corner, as each faithful Jew was expected to do. See Deuteronomy 22:12. Jesus did not make a big show of this, with huge tassels, as some did; but the tassels were a helpful way for people to touch his garments and more to be healed, before His ministry in Galilee would soon lessen. He continued to care about His people and their spiritual and physical needs.)
As Chapter 7 of Mark begins, Pharisees and scribes “gathered to Him,” including a delegation from Jerusalem. They seem to have come to challenge Jesus and were looking for ways to criticize Him. They quickly saw that Jesus’ disciples did not do the proper washing of hands before they ate. (The Greek text literally says, “before they ate bread.” “Bread” sometimes referred not just to bread, as we think of it today, but to the food, the meals they ate. When Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” He meant all that we need to eat and live and survive.)
The religious leaders were not talking about washing hands for sanitary and physical health reasons, like we wash hands before meals or for 20 seconds, very carefully, in these Covid days. They were talking about their own prescribed ceremonial washings, developed over time by previous Jewish elders and teachers, in case people were spiritually unclean by contact with spiritually unclean people or things. (Mark explains in Mark 7:2-3 a little of what this meant. Remember that his Gospel was written especially for non-Jews, and he needed to give some of these explanations as God inspired him to write.)
The Pharisees were concerned with “holding to the tradition of the elders” and the many traditions they had developed as a kind of “fence” to protect people from violating God’s will, as they saw it (v. 3-4). They had 613 specific rules, plus some others over which they argued. If people kept all these rules, they should be following God acceptably. Many of these rules and traditions were not in the Old Testament, but were still required by the Pharisees and scribes, and over time, became more important than the Scriptures themselves. Sometimes, as Jesus said a little later in this passage, the traditions could even cause one to disobey clear Scriptures.
The one issue the scribes and Pharisees were raising here was about ceremonial hand washing. Their view seemed to be that if they allowed people to get by with breaking even one of the traditions, then all the traditions were in danger. They blamed Jesus because He was the leader and let His followers break the traditions (v.5). The “marketplace” was mentioned in v.4 because it was very likely that Jews could bump into non-Jews who were "unclean” and anything they touched and all sorts of other things considered unclean.
Doing a regular ceremonial cleansing of hands was therefore very important to these Jewish leaders. It had to be done properly, too, in just the right way. The Greek text of v.3 literally speaks of “washing with a fist” - though we do not know today exactly what that meant. Were you to use a fistful of water or apply water only to the parts of a hand involved in making a fist?
Mark mentions that there were many other washings, too, of household items that might be unclean. The Greek word in v.4 for washing is literally the word for “baptizing.” Some understood that word only to mean immersing something in water. But how could one regularly immerse big items like a dining couch on which people would lay down to eat their meals? This later became an issue for Christians. How much water is needed for a proper Christian baptism? Some said only immersion was allowed. Others said that the amount of water did not matter, because the Scriptures do not clearly tell us how much water must be used. (That is our Lutheran view, though we can’t get into this more right now. We simply try to follow what is clear in Scripture.)
Jesus, as he answered the question raised in v.6, pointed to what the Scriptures actually said and required. He quoted a passage from Isaiah 29:13 in the Old Testament, where God accused His people of teaching and following humanly-made commandments instead of what He commanded in Scripture. These Jews spoke highly of God with their lips and words, but their hearts were far from God and what He really wanted for them. Jesus accused the religious leaders of His own day of doing the same, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” (v.8).
Jesus used the example of making vows. The Scripture cautioned about making vows involving God, but the Jewish leaders encouraged people to make vows to give money and other things to them for their support or to help the temple in Jerusalem or synagogues. The gift was then “Corban,” that is, “Given to God,” even if it had not actually yet been given. If parents had an emergency need then, the religious leaders would not allow any of that money to be given to help the parents, even in a very dire situation.
Jesus said that their man-made rule was violating the clear Scripture, “Honor your father and mother” and other passages that talk about helping family and others (v. 9-12). You are “making void the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down,” Jesus said. “And many such things you do,” He added (v.13). The Word of God alone was key - and now that Word interpreted by Jesus, as He brought in the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
In Mark 7:14-23, Jesus used His authority as the Son of God to make a definite change from the Old Testament, the Old Covenant between God and His people. Jesus followed the will of His Heavenly Father to declare that under the New Testament and the New Covenant He was bringing in, all foods were now clean (v.19). Under the Old Covenant, pigs and pork were unclean and not to be eaten. Now we have great freedom about what we eat or do not eat, including pork.
It is not really foods that we consume that make us spiritually unclean, Jesus said. Those foods just go in and out of our bodies. It is what comes from within, from our sinful nature and sinful hearts, that defiles us and others. Jesus went on to give a long list of attitudes and actions that are sinful and flow from our sinful hearts (v.21-23). These are things that God clearly calls wrong in His Word. These are to be our concern, not how we wash our hands and so many other traditions of the elders that we are not bound to do.
The real problem is our sinful nature and our sinful hearts. Here are just a few Scriptures that speak of the corruption of our hearts and minds, ever since the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. (These are Scriptures I was struggling to find to give you, if you listened to the podcast, this week. Many more could be mentioned, too: Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21, Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Jeremiah 17:9.) Only Jesus could overcome these spiritual problems for us. That is what he came to do, in love for us all, as our Savior.
The scribes and Pharisees were even more opposed to Jesus now, as He had rejected their rules and traditions. His fellow Jews in Galilee were also becoming more focused on His miracles and healings and less concerned with the Gospel He came to bring. We will see next week how He spent more time in non-Jewish areas for a while, showing His concern for all nations and people.
Sunday Apr 18, 2021
Sunday Apr 18, 2021
Sunday Apr 11, 2021
Sunday Apr 11, 2021
The 12 chosen disciples of Jesus had been with Him for some time now, hearing Him preach and teach and seeing His amazing miracles. As Mark 6:7-12 begins, Jesus chose to send these 12 apostles out to help spread His message and to get some practical experience in sharing the faith with other local people, before they would be sent out to the world in full-time ministry later on. They were sent out in pairs, so that they could help and encourage each other. They were to take very little with them in material possessions - to learn to depend upon the Lord and the help they could receive from others who would listen to them. They were to stay where they were welcomed and not look for better situations for themselves. They were also to expect opposition and people who would reject them and their message.
In turn, Jesus promised to give them power over evil spirits and the ability to heal some people; and He gave them the message to speak - calling people to repent and to trust the Good News of God’s coming kingdom, in the promised Savior (Mark 6:7-12). When they returned, they were able to report that they had been able, by God’s power, to share the message and cast out demons and heal some people, along with anointing them with oil, a medicine of the day. (Mark 6:13,20. See also Isaiah 1:6, Luke 10:33-34, and James 5:14, for example.)
Meanwhile, we have a flashback to what King Herod had done with John the Baptist, after he arrested him and put him in prison, in Mark 6:17-29. John had been arrested because Herod’s wife, Herodias, was very angry with him (John) for criticizing their marriage. It had been a very evil time for a very troubled royal family. Herodias had been living in Rome with her husband Philip, who was actually also her uncle. Herod was also married, but made a trip to Rome, leaving his wife behind, and then deciding to elope to with Herodias, stealing her away from Philip. Philip and Herod were actually brothers, so that meant that Herodias was now living with her former husband’s brother. Herod was also a half-uncle to her. This meant that two marriages were broken up in the process and all sorts of Old Testament laws were broken about whom one could marry and how close a relative one could marry. I don’t know if you could follow all that, but it was a terrible mess. John the Baptist had to speak up about this, and Herodias hated him for it and wanted him dead.
Herod was not really a king, but was really a tetrarch of one fourth of an area controlled around Israel by the Romans, and just used that title of king. He had some respect for John the Baptist, though. He knew that John was “a righteous and holy man.” He “feared” and protected John and liked to listen to him, though he was “greatly perplexed” by what John said. Like his father, Herod the Great, (who was leader at the time of the birth of Jesus and was responsible for the killing of all the babies in Bethlehem, as he tried to kill Jesus Himself) this Herod was partially Jewish, but was not a faithful Jew.
This was also evident in a birthday party Herod then threw for himself and invited the influential people around him, who helped keep him in power as ruler. There was a great banquet and probably lots of drinking and then Herod’s latest wife, Herodias, sent in her own daughter to dance before all these men. It was likely a very immoral and lascivious kind of dancing, but Herod allowed his daughter to do this, and he and the others were pleased. Again, likely drunk, Herod began to make all sorts of promises, saying things he could never deliver on, but saying he would give Herodias’s daughter whatever she wanted. She consulted with her mother and quickly came back to Herod, wanting the head of John the Baptist delivered to her on a platter. Herod did not want to do this, but because he had made “vows” to her and the guests had heard them, he gave the order and John was soon dead, with his head on a platter (Mark 6:17-29).
Herod was haunted by this event, and when he heard more and more about Jesus, he thought that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead, who had come back to give him more trouble. Others said that John was the Elijah predicted by Malachi 4:5-6. But we have already heard in Luke 1:17 and from Jesus Himself in Matthew 11:7-10 that John was the one promised but came only “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” He was also more than just another prophet of the Old Testament (Mark 6:14-16).
When His own disciples returned from their mission trips, Jesus took them by boat to a desolate place, so that He and they could get some rest and have time to eat. Others saw Jesus, though, and hurried on foot around the Sea of Galilee to find Jesus. A huge crowd had gathered before Jesus and his disciples arrived. It was no longer a place of rest; but Jesus cared about all these people, probably mostly Jews, “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus was the Good Shepherd promised in the Old Testament and He spent the whole day teaching these sheep many things (Mark 6:30-34). See also Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34:11-16, as examples of prophecies Jesus fulfilled.
It was getting late in the day, though, and the disciples asked Jesus to dismiss the crowd, so that the people could go find some food for themselves. But Jesus said to His disciples, “You give them something to eat.” Maybe he was hoping that they would just turn to Him for His help, after all the other miraculous things He had done. Instead, they try to think of what they could do, coming up with no good answers. A denarius was about a typical day’s pay for an ordinary person’s work. Even if they had eight month of pay, 200 denarii, that would not be enough. They themselves had only five loaves of bread and two fish for themselves (Mark 6:35-38).
Jesus knew exactly what He would do, though. He had the people sit in an organized way. He took the bread and fish they had and prayed and asked a blessing over the food (as we have also been taught to pray and thank the Lord for our food, before meals). Then He began to break up the loaves and then the fish and had His disciples distribute them to everyone, in a marvelous miracle. There was food for everyone and 12 baskets of leftovers, enough for all the 12 hungry disciples, too. 5,000 amazed men were fed, plus women and children (Mark 6:39-44).
This was a miracle like that of God, when He provided a kind of bread, manna, in the wilderness for His chosen people, along with quail, after they left Egypt. Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, also provided both spiritual food as He taught the people, and physical food, bread and fish for them, to show His fellowship with and concern for them. (Remember how the Pharisees criticized Jesus because He showed friendship and fellowship and ate with “bad” people like tax collectors and sinners. See Mark 2:15-17. (How sad it was, later, that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Who “ate His bread” and received so much care and fellowship from Jesus. See John 13:18.)
Jesus immediately made His disciples start to go across the Sea of Galilee by boat again. Other Gospels tell us that people were thinking about seizing Jesus and trying to force Him to become their king. How great it would be to have someone who could miraculously provide free food for people every day, this way. Jesus did not want this or his disciples to hear this idea of the people and so He Himself dismissed the crowd and then went off to a mountain to pray and receive strength from His Heavenly Father. He also realized that the disciples were having a difficult time on the se again because the wind was against them.
Somewhere between 3-6 am, Jesus came to them, walking on the water of the sea. They could see Him, but thought He was a “ghost.” They “cried out” and “were terrified.” Right away, He spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And when He got into the boat, the wind ceased. The disciples were “utterly astounded” at all this - His walking on water and control of the wind. But again Mark tells us, “They did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”
His own disciples were still not getting who Jesus really was, even after such a miraculous day. Their hearts were still hard, resisting the truth about Jesus and not trusting Him as they should have. How much we need to keep seeing and hearing from Jesus, through His Word, also, in our own struggles and ups and down in faith! May we keep listening and learning, too.
Sunday Apr 11, 2021
Sunday Apr 11, 2021
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered April 15, 2012
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
In Mark Chapter 5, the ministry of Jesus continues, with varying reactions to Him and His work. Jesus and His disciples had just crossed the Sea of Galilee, after Jesus had calmed a great storm on the Sea and called His disciples to greater faith in Him (Mark 4:35-41). They arrived at an area to the East of the Jordan River, known as the Decapolis (10 cities) (Mark 5:20), where there were more Greek people and fewer Jews.
Immediately they were met by a man possessed by an evil spirit. He lived in tombs in a mountainous area. He had great power, because of the power of evil within him, and no one could control or subdue him. Day and night he was crying out and cutting himself (Mark 5:1-5).
As soon as the man saw Jesus, the unclean spirit in him forced him to go to and fall down before Jesus and admit who Jesus was: the Son of the Most High God. Evil spirits are only evil angels and are not God. They must ultimately do what Jesus, the Son of God said to do: to come out of the man and leave him alone. The unclean spirit tried to get Jesus to swear that He would not “torment” him. Jesus could not make that promise and made the unclean spirit admit that there were actually many evil spirits within the man - a “Legion” of them. The Roman Army was organized into “legions” of 4,000 to 6,000 men, and the term “legion” then came to mean any large number of people. This unclean spirit, then, speaking for a large number of other evil spirits within the man, begged Jesus not to send them far away but to let them go into a large herd of pigs nearby. Jesus allowed that, and as soon as these evil spirits entered the pigs, the pigs ran down a steep bank into the Sea of Galilee and were drowned (Mark 5:6-13).
The herdsmen caring for the pigs quickly went and told the owners of the pigs and others what had happened, and many people came out to see what the situation was. They saw Jesus and the formerly demon-possessed man, now clothed and in his right mind and back to normal again. They seemed to have no sympathy for the man and for the help and freedom Jesus had given him. Their focus seemed to be on the economic impact of the loss of the pigs and “they were afraid” - maybe of Jesus Himself and His power and what he might do next. They begged Jesus to leave the Decapolis area.
Why did Jesus allow all this? We do not know for sure. This Scripture does not tell us. Clearly, though, the true intent of the devil and all his evil angels was revealed. The temptations of the devil can seem good and appealing at times. We are free to do whatever we want, he tells us. That “freedom” leads only to other kinds of slavery, though; for Satan comes “only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The evil spirits wanted only to trouble and torment the man they possessed; and they were the ones who caused all the pigs to go crazy and to die by drowning, when they went into them.
Jesus, on the other hand, came to bring life, new and abundant life, to people (John 10:10). The formerly demon-possessed man knew that and wanted to go away with Jesus as His disciple. Jesus instead sent the man back to his friends to tell them of the Lord’s mercy and what He had done for the man. The man did just that, with his focus on “how much Jesus had done for him” and everyone he spoke with in the Decapolis “marveled.” This man was a great witness for Jesus (Mark 5:18-20).
One more thought about this story. It is not clear from this passage, but some think that maybe the owner of the pigs was actually Jewish himself. He was therefore violating Jewish law of the Old Testament by what he did, since pigs were “unclean” animals themselves, and Jews were not to eat or touch or have anything to do with pigs, or they would become “unclean” too. (See Leviticus 11:7-8, for example.) A Jewish man should not have a business involving pigs, then, but he could get away with it more easily in a largely non-Jewish area, as the Decapolis was. Maybe the death of the pigs was a stern reminder to him and other Jews not to violate Old Testament law.
See Isaiah 65:2-7, where God warned His people not to be rebellious and worship false gods and do other things we hear about in Mark 5 - being involved with pigs and eating pig’s flesh and spending time in tombs and other secret places, influenced by the Satanic, and yet claiming to be holier than others. (We will see later in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus freed the Jews and us from many of these ceremonial laws; but it had not yet all happened at this point.)
When Jesus and His disciples returned to the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee, where He was more well-known, crowds quickly gathered around Him again, and a Jewish leader of a synagogue, Jairus, came, begging Jesus for His help, because his little daughter was very ill and near death. Jesus was very willing to go with him (Mark 5:24).
In the crowd with Jesus and Jairus was also a woman who had had a “discharge of blood” for 12 years. This was not the regular menstrual cycle for a woman but a more serious medical issue. The woman had visited many physicians and spent all her money, but was only getting worse, not better. This was not only a medical problem but a spiritual problem, because Jewish Law said that a flow of blood made a person unclean. See Leviticus 15:25-27, for example. Jewish leaders interpreted this to mean that this woman and others like her could not enter the temple in Jerusalem or any synagogue. Since this women was considered spiritually unclean, anyone who had contact with her would be made “unclean” also. So, this medical problem caused her also to live a very lonely, isolated life (Mark 5:25-26).
This woman had heard of Jesus and believed that He could help her. In her misery, she decided just to touch Jesus’ clothes, hoping that she could be cured in that way. She touched His garments and immediately felt that she had been healed of this 12 year long problem. This was an embarrassing problem, and she did not want to talk about it and hoped to slip away. Jesus, though, knew her situation and what she had done and wanted to talk with her, to reassure and encourage her in faith. So many people were in the crowd, though, constantly bumping into Jesus.
The woman finally came to Jesus “in fear and trembling” and admitted what she had done. Would she be in big trouble, because she had technically made Jesus unclean, too, just by touching his clothes?
Jesus simply spoke with her in care and love and said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.” Obviously, Jesus had healed her, and she received this gift by faith in Him. She received more, too. Jesus had literally said, “Your faith has saved you.” By the grace of God, she had received the gift of faith and salvation, too, and went home physically and spiritually healed (Mark 5:27-34)
The large crowd and now the interruption to help the woman in need had slowed down the trip to the home of Jairus. Just then, people came to tell Jairus that, very sadly, it was too late. His daughter had died. There was no point in troubling Jesus now. We can imagine how Jairus must have felt. Why didn’t he try to find Jesus sooner? Why did there have to be all these delays in trying to get Jesus to his daughter? So many regrets and so much shock and sorrow (Mark 5:35).
Quickly Jesus took charge of the situation. He reassured Jairus, “Do not keep being afraid; only keep believing!” Jesus then made the crowd scatter and took only Jairus and Peter, James, and John with him. At Jairus’ house there was a great commotion, with people loudly weeping and wailing at the death of the daughter. (Sometimes, professional mourners were even hired to make a big show of the sorrow at a death.) Jesus told the mourners to leave, saying to them, “The child is not dead, but sleeping.” The people knew better and laughed at Jesus, with scorn. They knew the girl was dead (Mark 5:36-40).
Jesus allowed only the father and mother and His three disciples to come to the place where the child was. The girl was dead, but Jesus took her by the hand and said in a common language of the day, Aramaic, “Little girl, arise,” and immediately she “got up and began walking, for she was 12 years of age.” Everyone was overcome with amazement at this miracle of someone being brought from death to life. Jesus told the family not to spread the news, but to make sure the girl got some food. She had been ill for a while and was surely hungry and in need of nourishment. Jesus cared about the smaller needs of people, too. (Jesus likely had three disciples with Him, as well, because among the Jews, 2 or 3 witnesses were needed to affirm the truth and reliability of something said or done. These disciples could later help affirm the truth of all that Jesus said and did.)
As Mark Chapter 6 begins, Jesus traveled back to His hometown of Nazareth with His disciples. He followed His usual pattern of worshipping on the Sabbath in the local synagogue and teaching, also, when invited to do so. Many of the people were astonished. They knew him, because he had grown up among them and was simply a carpenter, as his father, Joseph, had been. They knew all his family, too. (Joseph is not mentioned, as he had likely died already. The brothers and sisters were likely the children born in a normal way to Joseph and Mary, after the virgin birth of Jesus.)
The people could not understand how Jesus could say and do what was claimed by him. Who does Jesus think he is? They were offended by him. As Jesus said, He was a prophet not honored in his own hometown and even by his own family. It is at this point, still, as we have already heard in earlier lessons, that many in his own family were still not believing in him as the promised Lord and Savior. (That is why in this little section, I did not always capitalize the pronouns for Jesus. His claims were being rejected.) “And He marveled because of their unbelief.” As a result, Jesus did only a few healings in Nazareth. He did not give up, though, but moved on to other nearby villages, teaching them the Good News (Mark 6:1-6). His work was to continue to teach the truth and that He was the promised Savior, whether people believed in Him or rejected Him. We see both reactions in what we have read today and what we will read in weeks to follow.
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Sermon for Easter Sunday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered April 8, 2012
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Sermon for Maundy Thursday, based on:
1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23-32
Sermon originally delivered April 5, 2012
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Monday Mar 29, 2021
We have been hearing in the Gospel of Mark of Jesus continually “proclaiming the Gospel of God” and “the Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14-15). As His public ministry began after His baptism and when He was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3: “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:3-4). As we heard last week, Jesus then chose twelve disciples and began to teach them the Word of God, so that they could then help Him share that Word of God with others.
In Mark Chapter 4, Jesus told a series of parables, most of which use the picture image of the Word of God as being like seed which is sown in the ground and produces a crop and eventually is ready for harvest. Jesus of course describes farming as it was done in His own day, very different from our own. Yet we can still get the main point of each parable.
I’d like us to begin with the short parable in Mark 4:26-29. This is a parable of Jesus that only Mark recorded for us. Read those verses. Jesus says that this is what happens as the seed of God’s Word is scattered in the world, for growth in the Kingdom of God. The sower sows his seed and then waits, night and day, until the seed sprouts and grows - note what is said next - “he knows not how.” There is much that the farmer does not know or understand or have control over. So, he waits some more and plants grow and eventually are ready for harvest.
Obviously, today we know much more about the process of farming and can do much more - but we still don’t know and cannot control everything. I planted some seeds some weeks ago and hopefully will have plants to go in my garden once the weather is warmer and we are beyond the killing frost that can still come well into April where I live. But guess what? Not all the plants are coming up. Some are and others are not. I don’t know why and what to do. Most likely there was some error on my part, in some way. The good news, though, is that in spite of me, some seeds are working and growing and there will be some plants to go in the garden and a harvest will come.
God’s Word is like that. It is not simply ordinary words on a page. God’s Word has power, because God’s Holy Spirit is working with the Word and accomplishing what God wants - though we don’t know just how or why it works as it does. Just as this parable tells us, “we know not how.”
As we read more of these parables in Chapter 4, we will have questions. We will wonder the how and why about some of these things. But we are simply to try to trust God and keep on spreading the Word, listening to it first for ourselves and sharing it with others and then trusting that God will bring some fruit, some effect in peoples’ lives, as He knows best.
Let’s go back now to the first and main parable, as Chapter 4 begins. Jesus had already been teaching God’s Word, as he always wanted to do. Then “a very large crowd gathered about Him” and He needed to use that boat we heard about in Chapter 3. He went in the boat, a little off shore, for safety’s sake, and began to teach in parables from the boat. In verse 3 He said, “Listen!” Hear! Pay attention! “A sower went out to sow seed.” In those days, seed was simply taken by the handful and scattered over the earth. If the wind was blowing, seed could blow all over, not only where wanted. If the casting of the seed wasn’t perfect, the seed could also end up in undesirable places, with unknown results. Jesus gave several example in verses 4-7.
There were paths running around fields and sometimes through fields. These had packed-down soil, and seeds would just sit on the top of the soil and soon be eaten up by birds. There were rocky areas, with more rocks than soil. The seeds might work and begin to spring up there, but had small, weak roots, and would wither away and die in scorching heat. There was thorny ground, as well. The seeds might grow, but the weeds would likely grow even better and choke them out. Again, there would be no fruitful grain.
By God’s grace, seeds would also fall on good soil, and those seeds would grow and do well and produce a bountiful harvest, though with differing amounts of grain in different places. Jesus then ended this parable as He began it. “He who has ears, let him hear.” Listen to and think about this parable (v.8-9).
When Jesus was alone later with His 12 disciples and some others, the disciples asked about the parables. Even they didn’t get what the parables meant. Jesus then told them that He would give them “the secret of the Kingdom of God” - which centered in receiving and trusting Him and His Word and works, as their Savior, in spite of the many temptations to ignore or reject Him and His Word.
Jesus then quoted from a surprising passage from Isaiah 6:9-11a. When Isaiah was called to preach God’s Word, God warned him that he would speak to a sinful and rebellious people. He was to keep preaching and writing, though, no matter what the response was. Isaiah did so - with 66 chapters of God’s Word, full of warnings (the Law) and of very hopeful promises for the future (the Gospel). Many would refuse to listen and would reject this Word. Sadly, the more they rejected the Word, the harder their hearts would become, the more blind they would be, and many would never repent and turn to the Lord in faith.
Isaiah asked, “How long, O Lord” will this go on? God warns of judgment coming for both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel. Both would fall to enemy nations and many would be carried away into captivity. Yet through it all, some would believe and trust in the Lord. There would be fruit from God’s Word, and eventually the Savior (Jesus) would come to help His people and the whole world. Isaiah was to trust the Lord, no matter what, and keep sharing His Word.
Jesus quoted this passage because He Himself would face similar opposition, as would His disciples. Many would reject the Word and eventually would kill Jesus Himself. Yet, He and His disciples were to keep spreading the seed of the Word of God, because there would be fruit and some would believe. Jesus went on, then, to explain the barriers to the Word of God described in the parable.
In Mark 4:15, the seed falling on the path represents people who hear the Word, but Satan quickly tries to obscure it and take it away, by His own opposition and by the opposition of others, who would question and attack God’s Word and plans in Jesus. Remember that later even Peter would try to stop Jesus’ plans, and Jesus had to say to him, “get behind Me, Satan” (Mark 8:31-33). There are parts of the world even today where it is hard for people even to have a Bible or hear the Word, because such teaching is forbidden.
In Mark 4:16-17, some seed of God’s Word falls on rocky soil. This represents people who receive God’s Word with joy and it begins to grow in them, but the roots of their faith are weak, not yet strong, and troubles come and even “persecution on account of the Word” and they stumble and fall away from the faith.
In Mark 4:18-19, some seed of the Word falls on thorny ground. People hear the Word and it begins to grow in them, but then “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things enter in.” We know the excuses that sometimes even we use. “I don’t have time for God and His Word right now. I have better things to do. I need to get ahead with my work and investments and future plans. I need to relax and rest and have time for myself and what I want. I’ll have time for God and spiritual things later.” People listen less to God’s Word. Their faith is not nourished. The Word of God is choked out. There is no fruit of faith, and that “better” time for God may never come back to them.
There are so many failures in people’s spiritual life. The key to failure is a rejection of Jesus Himself and His Word of Life. He is the Sower of the seed. As one commentator put it, “The kingdom comes in the unspectacular and vulnerable form of the Word of God, which can be devoured, scorched, and choked. But the 'failure' of the Word indicts the soil, not the Sower or the seed. A person is responsible when confronted by God’s Word and guilty when he fails to use it. Therefore there is the stern warning at the end of the parable. 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear'" (Martin Franzmann).
The good news comes in Mark 4:20. The seed of God’s Word also falls on good soil, where people do, by God’s blessing, receive and trust the Word of God and bear fruit through Jesus at work in their lives, through that Word. There are different kinds and amounts of fruit, but there still is fruit in Christ and His Word. The believers are blessed, and the Kingdom of God grows. Jesus says through this parable that the Word of God is always worth receiving and sharing with others. It will work, for you and others.
But be aware of the opposition to and dangers to the faith and weak spots in your own life. Keep hearing the Word of God. Keep praying that the Lord will keep your heart strong in faith. As a Gospel song by Handt Hanson says, “Lord, let my heart be good soil” (© 1985 Prince of Peace Publishing/Changing Church Inc.). Keep sharing the Word, also. It helps others and strengthens your own faith.
In Mark 4:21-23, Jesus told a related parable. The Word of God is also like a Lamp. It needs to be out where it can be seen and give its light, not under a basket or under a bed. The Word of God shines light and reveals our sins and secrets, but it above all gives us hope and forgiveness in the darkness of our lives and a very troubled world. It gives direction for our lives. See other Bible passages like Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 6:23, and 2 Peter 1:19-20. Keep listening to that Word of God, Jesus said, in Mark 4:24-25. The more we listen, the more blessings we have. The less we hear, the less the blessings. The ultimate danger would be losing our faith entirely, for lack of nourishment.
In Mark 4:30-32, Jesus returned to another parable about the Kingdom of God being like a growing seed, a mustard seed. It is a very tiny seed, but it can grow into a very large bush, where birds can even live and build their nests. In the same way, Jesus and His few disciples were a very small group. From that small group would grow a great Kingdom of believers, by God’s blessing. Again, don’t give up, Jesus was saying. Keep sowing the seed of God’s Word.
Jesus was also using picture images used in the Old Testament that people might know and remember. Great Kingdoms like those of Assyria and Egypt and Babylon were pictured like a great growing tree, towering over others. Yet all of those kingdoms fell. Earthly nations come and go. (See Ezekiel 31, and especially v.5-7 and 10-14, and Daniel 4:11-15.) In contrast, God would provide a new Kingdom for His people, like a mighty tree (Ezekiel 17:23-24). That is the Kingdom of God ultimately brought by Jesus. It will continue forever.
As we read Chapter 4 of Mark, we may still be left with lots of questions. “We know not how” all this works with our Lord (Mark 4:27). We are simply called to trust our Lord and His ways and promises in Christ and His Word and to keep sharing that Word. Other Scriptures also tell us that there is no promise of a perfect life now - but only when we are in heaven. In the meantime, the Lord will help us through, as we trust Him.
The final story in Chapter 4 of Mark, v.35-41, is a real, true story of what happened with Jesus and his disciples later that evening, but it is also a kind of parable about trust in Christ. Jesus told His disciples to go across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He was in one boat, asleep, and there were other boats with His, too. A great windstorm came up and the boat was filling with water and about to sink. The disciples woke up Jesus and said, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea, saying. “Peace! Be still!” “And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” And Jesus said to the disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And instead of having great joy in Jesus, at their rescue, the disciples had “great fear, asking “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Clearly, the disciples did not yet understand a lot about Jesus, who He was and what He was doing. They really needed more of Jesus and His Word, for a growing faith. (Do you think Jesus ever says to you and me, too, “Why are you so afraid?”) The Lord keeps calling us to trust Him and His Word and His eternal promises for us, too. He kept on sowing the seed of the Word and encouraging His disciples and others, as we will hear in the next chapters of Mark, too. These are words for us, too.
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Sermon for Palm Sunday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered April 1, 2012
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
Sermon for Midweek Lent VI - "Lies of Satan vs. The Truth of Jesus"
Sermon originally delivered March 21, 2012