I want to emphasize something about Mark’s gospel as we continue in our verse by verse study of it this morning. And that is that Mark is not writing a biography of Jesus, he is not writing a history of Jesus Christ nor His ministry. But Mark is writing the gospel. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is God’s plan of salvation for His people, brought about and manifested through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Now I emphasize that point because understanding that helps us to discern why some things are stated in the gospels and some things may have been left out. So that we might understand that some things that might seem merely biographical on the surface may be intended to be used to teach certain principles of the gospel. We have to be careful not to over-spiritualize every thing that happened, and yet we do need to recognize some things that have spiritual significance and not just read it in a superficial way.

And Jesus Himself emphasizes the necessity of that, of having eyes that see spiritually, and not just see the physical implications of an event. In fact, He rebukes the disciples for their lack of spiritual insight in vs17 saying, “Why do you discuss [the fact] that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? “HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?”

Now that’s pertinent especially because of the fact that Jesus has reached a transition point in His ministry. From this point on, He is not so much focused on preaching the gospel to the multitudes as He is focused on teaching the disciples. He will be crucified within a year’s time, and He must prepare the disciples to carry on His work once He is gone from them. And so we will consider this passage in light of this transition in HIs ministry, and that Jesus is using these events to teach the disciples especially. To prepare them for ministry when He is taken away from them.

So then, the chapter opens with yet another feeding of the multitudes. You will remember we looked a few weeks ago at the feeding of the 5000 in chapter 6. This is a few weeks or so later, we’re not sure exactly. It’s in another location, which may have been in the Decapolis region, a largely Gentile region.

Look at vs 1, “In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”

Though Jesus is now focusing on teaching the disciples, that doesn’t mean that He has abandoned the multitudes. Mark says He has compassion on them. But perhaps Jesus also wants to pass on that compassion to His disciples. He wants to teach them what it means to have compassion. And so He does that by example. That really is the best method of teaching a lot of the time, isn’t it? Not just to preach doctrine, but to show by your actions the life changing doctrines of our faith. For out of a changed heart come a change in actions and behavior.

Jesus had taught that principle previously as recorded in Luke 6: 44-45 “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil [man] out of the evil [treasure] brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

So how better to teach compassion than to once again feed the hungry multitudes who have no possibility of feeding themselves. And even more to the point, to engage the disciples in that process.

But the disciples are slow to learn. Vs. 4 And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able [to find enough] bread here in [this] desolate place to satisfy these people?” They have already forgotten what happened a few weeks earlier when they were in another desolate place, and there were 5000 people there who had not eaten. But let’s not criticize too severely the disciples when we are often guilty of the same thing. Isn’t it amazing how quickly we forget the provision and blessing of God in the past when faced with a new trial in our lives? We are so caught up in the moment of crisis that we forget how often God has delivered us or provided for us in previous trials.

But let’s continue the story in vs 5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people. They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.”

Now when Jesus fed the 5000 there were 5 loaves and two fish. In this feeding of the 4000 there are seven bread cakes, which were like flat bread, and some fish. I don’t think there is anything significant about the amount of food available. But what is significant is that Jesus asks the disciples how much bread that they had. Again, the emphasis of Christ’s teaching is to instill compassion for the multitudes in the hearts of the disciples, and to consider what they had as the means of supplying the need of the multitude.

Spiritually speaking, this miracle illustrates that Jesus is the bread of life that comes down out of heaven, which God gives to men who are desperate for the spiritual food which gives life. And the disciples take the bread of life from Christ and serve it to the multitudes, and God is able to make it sufficient for everyone that will receive it.

So the disciples serve the people and after everyone has eaten, they pick up 7 bushel baskets full of the leftovers. There is more than enough for the multitudes and for themselves. These baskets are quite a bit larger than the 12 baskets they picked up after feeding the 5000. In the previous case, the baskets were more like the size of a personal lunch basket. There were 12 disciples and 12 baskets left over for them to be able to eat. In this feeding, Mark uses a word that is also later used to describe the basket that the apostle Paul was let down from the wall in. That’s a pretty big basket, to be big enough to hold a man. It reminds us of the promise that in regards to ministry, that God will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory. Perhaps it also speaks to the abundant, super sufficiency of the gospel.

It illustrates the principle Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure–pressed down, shaken together, [and] running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

Immediately after this event, they get back in the boat and leave this region to go to the region of Dalmanutha. And it is after leaving the predominately Gentile region, and going back to an area more populated by the Jews, that they run into the Pharisees again. Vs11 “The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’”

I’ve said before that the Pharisees were like the game, “whack a mole”. They were always popping out from behind a tree or something, hoping to catch Jesus or His disciples in some error. In this case, they come asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus has been doing hundreds if not thousands of miraculous works. But they want something more. They want to tempt Jesus to do something prideful or self validating. And if He should do what they ask, then they would use that against Him as well. Because they have already decided not to believe in Him. I think they recognized that there was already more than enough evidence to prove that He was the Messiah. But they have rejected Him because they do not want this man to rule over them. They have attributed His miraculous powers to Satan. And so in a similar fashion as Satan did in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, they want to tempt Him to sin in some way in order to publicly discredit Him. For instance, to sin like when Moses struck the rock in anger so that water came out. They hope to discredit Jesus in a similar way.

Matthew adds in his account in chapter 16 vs 4, that Jesus said “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.” That miraculous sign that Jesus speaks of was likened to the sign of Jonah, where Jesus was three days in the belly of the earth and would rise again from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus was the sign from God that Jesus was indeed the Holy One of God and that God had considered Him righteous and His atonement had been considered sufficient for the sins of the world.

But when Jesus says this generation will not be given a sign, He is speaking of the Jewish people living in His day. Particularly, He is speaking of the Pharisees and other religious leaders that have rejected the truth of the gospel. When Jesus appeared after His resurrection, He doesn’t appear to the Pharisees, or temple priests. He only appears to those who had believed in Him, His disciples.

But isn’t it also true that our evil generation seeks for a sign? Isn’t it true that people today say that if God is real, then why doesn’t He show Himself? Why doesn’t God prove Himself to me? But one day God will reveal Himself in all His glory, with flaming angels of fire, and yet that display of His glory will not be for their salvation, but for their damnation. God has established that it is by faith and not by sight, that we are saved.

Let’s look next at vs 13 “Leaving them (that is the Pharisees), He (Jesus) again embarked and went away to the other side. And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They [began] to discuss with one another [the fact] that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss [the fact] that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? “HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” “When [I broke] the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Once again, we see the emphasis here is on Jesus teaching the disciples, and He uses the incident with the Pharisees. Jesus is trying to teach spiritual discernment to the disciples. Discernment is not something that is easy to teach. Yet it’s something vital for a spiritual teacher or leader to have.

But when Jesus is warning them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, the disciples think that He is upset because they forgot to bring enough bread for lunch. I”m not sure how they made that correlation, except it seems that they are always thinking about their stomachs. I suppose we are guilty of the same thing a lot of times. The Lord may be teaching us a spiritual principle in the Word, and we interpret it as a physical thing. I was trying to explain to someone the other day about that principle in regards to what we consider blessings. We tend to see blessings only in the realm of the physical. In fact, we most often consider God’s blessings as being financial. But actually, God’s blessings are much more than simply financial. In fact, you might argue that financial “blessings” are more often than not really a curse.

So Jesus was warning them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Herodians. The Herodians were the party of Herod who were conniving with the Pharisees how to discredit Jesus and ultimately how to kill Him. Leaven in scripture is always a picture of sin. That’s why they ate unleavened bread at Passover. So in this case, Jesus means that the teaching of the Pharisees and Herodians is evil, in that it has the corrupting influence of sin in what appears to be spiritual food. The gospel is spiritual food, the bread of heaven, given to the multitude. But the spiritual food that the Pharisees fed the people was in fact corrupted by sin. It was corrupted by unbelief and hatred and the desire to murder of the Son of God.

And it would seem that Jesus is a little exasperated that the disciples cannot see that, but instead interpret His warning as saying something about not having enough bread for their lunch. So Jesus reminds them that He had supplied enough bread to feed 5000 people and 4000 people and still have plenty left over. Don’t they understand that He could easily feed 12 disciples from one loaf of bread? Don’t be focused on physical things when you need to be focused on spiritual things. If you comprehend the spiritual, then God will take care of the physical.

There’s one final illustration of this principle of the necessity of spiritual discernment. And that’s found in the healing of the blind man. Vs 22 “And they came to Bethsaida. (This is the same place where Jesus fed the 5000) And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see [them] like trees, walking around.” Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and [began] to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Taken at face value, this is one of the most confusing and difficult to understand miracles that Jesus performs. Jesus who has by now healed probably hundreds of blind persons, who has healed countless others from every sort of disease, who has even raised dead people to life, heals this blind man in two stages. And no one seems to know why. Some commentators just say that God has His purposes and we are not privy to them. And that may be true to some extent.

But when you consider the context of this whole passage, we might get some insight into why Jesus heals this way. One thing is for sure, it’s not because this man doesn’t have enough faith to be healed, as the charismatic faith healers like to say. It’s not because Jesus doesn’t have enough power to heal in one sitting this particular brand of blindness in this man. As I just said, Jesus has healed thousands of people, even dead people. You can’t find less faith than in a dead person, nor a more difficult illness than death. So you can disregard those possible reasons.

I think we must use a bit of spiritual discernment ourselves in considering all that Mark has related that happened so far in this chapter, which gives us the only possible reason that Jesus heals this way. And that is to illustrate that spiritual discernment, or spiritual maturity comes by sanctification, which is progressive in nature. See, salvation comes to us in three stages. The first stage is justification, whereby by faith we are judged in Christ, where He takes our sin upon Himself and we receive His righteousness. At this point we are born again, made alive in Christ Jesus by faith in who He is and what He has done. We are given a new heart.

Then the second stage of our salvation begins at that moment. And that is the process of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It is the process of living out the righteousness that has been imputed to us. It is learning to be obedient. It is learning about the Lord. It is contemplating on His word and applying it to your life. It is the fruit of righteousness produced in our life from having been given a new heart. As Jesus said, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good.”

I read recently about a man who was saved out of a pagan culture. And as he grew in his faith he decided he wanted to memorize the Sermon on the Mount. He said, “I had a really difficult time memorizing the Sermon on the Mount until I committed to live out those principles in my daily practice.” Sanctification is living out our salvation, bearing the fruit of righteousness in our life.

The third phase of our salvation is glorification. When we shall see the Lord face to face, and we will be made like Him, given a new body in the new heaven and the new earth. But the second stage is the one we live in now. It’s a stage of spiritual progression. And that stage is the one in which you grow in spiritual discernment and maturity. And I think that’s what Jesus was illustrating by His two stage healing of the blind man.

Remember, He has given two illustrations of feeding the multitudes from His hands to the disciples hands to the hands of the multitudes. Then He rebuked the Pharisees for not seeing Him for who He was despite having seen the miracles and signs that He had done. Then He rebuked the disciples for not having eyes to see, for being spiritually dull and only thinking of the physical, when they should have been focused on the spiritual. And now He heals the blind man in the first stage, so that he sees, but not clearly. And then laying His hands on Him again, the man begins to see clearly.

I think there is a correlation indicated there in the progressive nature of our sanctification. Whereby as we follow Christ, as we do as He instructs us, as we follow in His footsteps, as we listen to His word, our eyes are made more clear, so that we understand more distinctly the truth of the gospel, so that we might be more closely conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

That is the goal of our salvation. We will not be made perfect here in this life, but as Paul said in Phil. 3:12-14 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s speaking of the process of sanctification, of becoming more like Christ, and then he goes on to speak of our glorification. 17 “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, [that they are] the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end [is] destruction, whose god [is their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame–who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

Let us strive to follow in Christ’s footsteps, that we “may be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil. 3:9)

Last Sunday we looked at the passage in Mark where Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy.  These religious leaders cleaned the outside of the cup, so to speak, but the inside was full of corruption.  They publicly made a great show of  following the traditions of men, which presumably had their basis in religious law, but inwardly they broke the commandments of God.  And so Jesus taught the disciples that it was necessary to have a clean heart, for out of the heart proceeds all evil.

Now a clean heart or a new heart speaks of a spiritual transformation.  A leper cannot change it’s spots.  Neither can man change his heart.  We sometimes speak of “having a change of heart.”  We mean by that a change of mind, or a change of attitude.  And it’s possible to do that.  My wife says it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. I’m just supposed to accept it and go along with it, I suppose.

But spiritually speaking, to have a change of heart is much more than simply deciding to do wear the blue shirt rather than the red shirt.  The Bible uses the word “heart” to denote the will and emotions and intellect of a man.  In Biblical terms, you can even use the word soul as a synonym for heart.  So when the Bible speaks of the heart, it speaks of the innate desires of man, the intrinsic nature of a man.

Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it? In that saying, we see that man in his fallen state is sinful, and he is sinful because his heart is sinful, inclined to sin.  And he cannot know it, which means comprehend it, or control it.  This condition is the result of the fall. When Adam and Eve sinned, they caused their sin nature to be passed on to their children, and to all succeeding generations.  So man is born with a sin nature, a sinful heart, which produces a sinful life.  So immediately following the fall, it says in Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.”

The heart is the source of all evil.  As Jesus said in the previous section, vs 20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,  deeds of coveting [and] wickedness, [as well as] deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride [and] foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

The great problem of the world is not pollution. It’s not poverty.  It’s not a lack of education or a lack of health care.  The great problem of the world is that the world is held in the bondage of sin. Sin is the snare and condemnation that is brought upon the world through the enemy of God and man, who is Satan.  And the only way to be freed from that captivity of sin is through Jesus Christ.  

Now Mark is going to use two events in the ministry of Jesus to illustrate this principle of salvation, which is that a change of heart must come through faith in Jesus Christ. There must be a spiritual transformation, and only Jesus has the power to change hearts.  That is illustrated here in two episodes following this teaching about the heart.

The first episode is described for us starting in vs 24 “Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know [of it;] yet He could not escape notice.  But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.  Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.”

Now remember Jesus has just finished teaching about the heart being unclean and now Mark records Jesus as going into the Gentile region, a region that the Jews considered unclean. Traditionally, they avoided Gentile regions, and avoided as much contact as possible with Gentile people.  But Jesus deliberately travels to Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region and enters a house there, presumably to stay with the occupants.  Who they are we are not told, but we might suppose that they were Gentiles, though they might have been Jews living in a Gentile region.

But irregardless of who He was staying with, word gets out that He is there, and a Syrophoenician woman comes to see Him. Now she is undoubtedly a Gentile.  And for the most part, Jews did not converse or have fellowship with Gentiles.  She knows this.  But she is desperate for help.  And she knows that only Jesus can help her.

Matthew’s account in Matthew 15 tells us more about this woman’s faith than we see here in Mark.  Matthew says that she says to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”  Notice she calls Him Lord, Son of David.  It’s evident from that appeal that she believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  She has a right understanding of Biblical prophecy, better than the Pharisees by the way. And as this event unfolds she continues to call Him Lord. 

The scriptures had been given to the Jews.  And the covenants were given to the Jews. Jesus would say in Matthews account in chapter 15: 24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Jesus would say to the Samaritan woman, “salvation is of the Jews.”  So the gospel is first given to the Jews, even as the old covenant was given to the Jews.  But that did not mean that the other nationalities could not obtain salvation.  There was such a thing as becoming a proselyte, which was to convert to the Jewish faith and practice.  And the scriptures show many examples of Gentiles converting, such as with Rehab the harlot, with Naaman the Syrian, with Ruth the Moabite.  So there was a way for a Gentile to become saved.  But it was through the Jews.  And Jesus had limited His ministry to the Jews.  But we have already seen other examples of His ministry reaching beyond that border, such as with the Samaritan woman and the Roman centurion whose servant was healed. But Jesus’s primary ministry at this time is to the Jews.

But this woman has come to Jesus believing in who He was, as prophesied in scripture, and she is seeking His help in the deliverance of her daughter from demonic possession.  We have been talking about demonic influences or demonic control or demonic possession for a couple of weeks now in our Bible studies.  And I think it is a matter of concern for our times as well. As we become more and more a pagan society, as we reject good and embrace evil, we open up our hearts to demonic control.  And I believe we are seeing more and more evidence of demonic control, and even demon possession occurring in our society today. In fact, demon worship and Satanic practices are not only becoming more common, but are more acceptable today and even trendy.  I heard a popular female movie star the other day refer to herself as a witch.  And she seemed proud of that title. 

Scripture tells us in the last days men will worship demons and sorcery will become more and more commonplace. Rev. 9:20-21 “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;  and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.” It’s interesting to note that the word sorceries comes from the Greek word “pharmakia” which is where we get the word pharmacy from. The scripture shows that sorcery and drugs are closely connected. No wonder our society is manifesting more and more demonic influence.

I’m afraid that we tend to try to explain away a lot of what is really demonic control over a person’s life by trying to attribute it to other factors, such as an emotional or psychiatric disorder, or a drug or alcohol problem.  And I will agree that sometimes unnatural behavior is a psychiatric or emotional disorder and we it’s not always easy to be able to discern the difference.  But I also believe that a lot of behavior is demonic in origin and we don’t recognize it as such.

I don’t know what the specific characteristics of demonic possession was with this girl.  But we know that she was a young girl. Mark says she had an unclean spirit.  Matthew says she was cruelly demon possessed.  I would suspect from other accounts of demon possessed people that one manifestation of being demon possessed was that she was hurting herself. Another mother came to Jesus on another occasion about her demon possessed son who threw himself in the fire and tried to harm himself.  And we recently studied the story of the demoniac in the tombs who cut himself and constantly was screaming.  So in the case of this young girl there was probably some very evident manifestation of demonic possession which her mother knew was of the devil.

But I will tell you that there are varying degrees of demonic control, and not all of them show signs that we might attribute to that.  For instance, there is an event that happens not long after this, where Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind Me Satan.”  Peter showed no outward signs of demonic influence. He was a disciple. He had just made a great statement about Jesus Christ being the Son of God. And yet Jesus sees enough of the devil in him at that moment to call him Satan.  And I don’t think Jesus was joking when he said that.  I don’t think he was exaggerating either.  So we must believe that Jesus meant what He said. 

So not all demonic control manifests itself in someone by having a demonic look about them.  They don’t always have horns on their head or fangs or some evil look about them. And yet we need to be discerning.  In Peter’s case, the evidence was simply according to Jesus, “you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”  God sees the heart, and He knows our thoughts.  And He could see that Peter’s thoughts were influenced by Satan.

But while Jesus can read the heart, I don’t think we have the ability to read minds.  My wife thinks she can read my mind.  And maybe she is the exception and can actually do that. But most of us mere mortals can’t read minds. But nevertheless I think we can be more discerning sometimes when it comes to demonic behavior.  I had an experience recently where someone I encountered I believe was being demonically controlled.  And one of the primary reasons I believe that was that their mouth was spewing the most vile curse words and profanity that you have ever heard. I’ve had a few encounters like that over the years in ministry and I believe that when you have that kind of the vilest profanity being used, being screamed at you in a unreasoning manner, you can be sure that the person at that time is being controlled by a demon.  They may not even be aware of it, such as Peter wasn’t aware of it Im sure, but nevertheless, it’s a manifestation of evil that has it’s source in demons. It may not be a permanent condition, but it may come on for a while and then it’s influence may seem to wane. In the case of this young girl, it seems to have metastasized to a permanent condition.

Well, Jesus responds in a way to the request of the woman that may seem atypical. Vs27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw [it] to the little dogs.”  There are a couple of things that seem inappropriate with Jesus’s answer. For one, it would seem that Jesus was calling this woman a dog.  A dog was a euphemism that the Jews used to refer to Gentiles. It showed the disdain that they had towards Gentiles.

But Jesus actually uses a different phrase to describe the position of the woman. He says “little dogs” or some translations have it, “house dogs.”  The derogative word dogs that the Jews used indicated that Gentiles were like mangy dogs that ran the streets, practically wild and ravenous. But the dogs that Jesus speaks of is a house pet. Being called a house pet is not quite as bad as being called a mangy wild dog.  But we might suppose that Jesus is not making a derogatory statement to this woman about being of an inferior race, but rather to  show her relationship and position in the kingdom of God.

An even better understanding of His intent is shown in His mention of “first,” ie, “let the children be filled first…” A first obviously precedes and acknowledges that there will be a “second.” So Jesus is indicating that there will be a time or opportunity for the Gentiles, which will come after the gospel is preached to the Jews.

But this woman, percieving that Jesus has opened the door slightly, is bold enough to try to push it open even wider.  Vs 28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”  She recognized that her position was that of the house dogs, but also knew that even they receive some of the scraps from the table. She had faith that God could still help her and deliver her daughter, though the Gentiles were not the primary object of Christ’s ministry.

And Matthew says in  15:28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great [is] your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.  Mark’s account has in vs 29 Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”  And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.”  Even by her leaving Jesus to go back to her house was an act of faith, as she had no evidence that Jesus had delivered her from the demon until she arrived and saw her daughter. But she believed in Him and in His word.

But let’s make sure we understand Jesus’s commendation of her faith. It was faith in Jesus Christ, in who He is.  Not faith in herself, or faith in the power of faith.  She believed in who Jesus was, and in HIs word.  And Jesus rewarded her faith in Him by delivering her little daughter from demonic possession.

The second event that illustrates the power of Christ to change our hearts, is found in the next episode that Mark selects for us.  Vs 31 “Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.”  Now the geography described here is a little confusing for me, but Decapolis was ten cities that were primarily inhabited by the Greeks.  So again there is this idea of Jesus visiting these unclean regions, or unclean people.  The principle being taught of course is that only Jesus can make the unclean, clean. 

Vs 32 “Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.  And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.’”

In every case of Jesus healing or delivering someone, He seems to use a different method.  We just read about Jesus delivering the demon possessed daughter and yet He didn’t touch her or even visit her personally.  He delivered her from a distance. But in this case, Jesus not only touches this man, but he puts His fingers in the man’s ears, and spat on his finger and touched the man’s tongue.  In chapter 8, in another healing of a blind man,  Jesus will spit on a man’s eyes, in the process of healing him. 

Now trying to understand why Jesus did some things some times, and other things other times, and sometimes did nothing at all, is beyond our pay grade.  Except to show us that there is no secret formula for healing.  And I don’t think that there is some medicinal value in spittle. I don’t think that there was some special holiness in Christ’s spit which had healing properties. I really don’t know why He did it that way though, when He could easily heal someone without doing anything at all, as we have clearly seen. 

But what is evident is that as He puts His fingers in his ears, and touches his spittle to his tongue, He shows that He is changing those specific impediments by the power which comes from Him. The elements of Jesus’s body enters this mute and deaf man’s body which then changes him.  Isn’t that what is represented by taking the Lord’s supper?  When we eat of the elements which represent Christ’s body, we symbolically show the means by which we are saved through His sacrifice on the cross.  We receive the Spirit of God who gives us life, who changes our heart, so that we might have life more abundantly.

The fact that Mark says that Jesus sighed as He looked up to heaven, indicates that Jesus took the man’s condition upon Himself.  He sympathized with this man’s condition. I am reminded of Isaiah 53 which says, “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. …  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put [Him] to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see [His] seed, He shall prolong [His] days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see the labor of His soul, [and] be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.”

Jesus came to save sinners.  That was His purpose.  To offer Himself as our substitute, to offer Himself as a sacrifice to atone for our sins, that we might be given life.  Jesus did not come to earth just to heal as many people as possible and miraculously feed tens of thousands of people.  But He came to fulfill the prophecy of One who would crush Satan’s head, who would set the captives free, and who would rule over the kingdom of God.

And so Mark tells us in vs 36 “Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed [it].  And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’”

Jesus told them not to tell anyone because He did not want to be overwhelmed by people wanting to be healed, to the point that He was not able to preach the gospel. But nevertheless, His healings did provide evidence that He was the Son of God.  If they would have believed that, then they could have been saved.   But though HIs healing astonished them, most of them stopped short of believing unto salvation.

Believing in Jesus as Lord is believing first and foremost in who He is, the Son of God, in what He has done, which is to provide atonement for our sins through His death on the cross, and believing in what He has promised, which is eternal life.  When Jesus was preaching in a house and they opened up the ceiling to drop a paralytic man in front of Him, Jesus said to him, “Son your sins are forgiven you.” And the Pharisees became indignant because they said no one has the power to forgive sins but God alone.  So Jesus said, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”–then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

That’s the reason Jesus healed and casts out demons, so that men might know that He has the power and authority to forgive sins, to create in them a clean heart and renew a right spirit within them,  and give them everlasting life.  I hope that you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, that you might be given  a new heart and a new life through Him.

Tertullian, who lived as a Christian preacher and theologian in the second century, is credited with the expression, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” He wrote this phrase in a treatise which he sent to the governors of the Roman Empire, in to hope to quell the persecution of the early Christians. What he was basically saying is that the blood of Christians is a seed which multiplies the converts to Christianity, so rather than their persecution stopping Christianity, it causes the church to flourish.

That’s a counterintuitive thing to consider, that persecution makes the church stronger, not weaker. But a study of the history of the church makes that clear. Jesus said that the Jews had from ancient times murdered the prophets in His denouncement of the Pharisees and scribes and that such persecution would continue. He said in Matthew 23:29, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been [living] in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in [shedding] the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure [of the guilt] of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall [the guilt of] all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.”

Today we are looking at the account of yet another prophet of God that was martyred for the sake of the gospel. John the Baptist was considered the greatest prophet that ever lived up to Jesus Christ. And yet in the wisdom and providence of God, He allowed one of His greatest servants to be decapitated at the whim of a hateful, spiteful woman. And of course, we know that not long after this event, they crucified Jesus, the greatest prophet, the Lord God Incarnate. We also know that of His twelve apostles, eleven of them were martyred for their faith. And yet the church of Jesus Christ continued to multiply, to grow and spread so that it was said that from this tiny seed of the apostles, the gospel had spread throughout the entire world.

Now Mark’s account of the death of John the Baptist does not lend itself very well to a three point outline, but our purpose is to preach the word and let God take care of the application of it. But I think there are some instructive points that we can take from it as we work through it.

Let’s pick it up in vs 14, “And King Herod heard [of it,] for His name had become well known; and [people] were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” The context demands that we must connect this verse to the preceding verses which describe the ministry that the apostles were doing as the emissaries of Christ.

In the preceding passage which we looked at last week, Jesus had sent His disciples throughout Galilee two by two, to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and had given them authority to cast out demons and perform miracles. The gospel of the kingdom is that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One from God, the King of the Kingdom of God, and that by believing in Him, and believing His word, you would be saved from the wrath to come.

And the apostles were so successful in their ministry, that King Herod heard of it. He heard of the mighty works that were being done in the power of Jesus’ name. Perhaps Herod perceives this as threat to his own power and position as king. However, Herod was not really a king. He wants to be a king, and the people under him refer to him as king, but in actuality he is the tetrarch, which is more like a governor of Galilee.

This Herod is actually one of four sons of Herod the Great, the same Herod that was king when Jesus was born. You will remember that bloodthirsty tyrant had all the Jewish baby boys murdered who were under the age of two, in an attempt to put Jesus to death, because he was worried that Jesus might be a threat to his throne.

That same bloodthirsty, demented type of personality seems to have been passed on to his sons as well. Herod the Great had many sons with many wives, but upon his death his domain was split into four sections, with each section being ruled by one of his sons. The King Herod we are looking at today was one of his sons, whose name was actually Herod Antipas. He was the ruler over Galilee, but each of these four sons answered to the emperor of Rome. They had very little power and authority other than what was extended to them by the emperor. So even though Mark calls him king, which was the popular title, Herod was not really a true sovereign in the full sense of the word.

But when he hears about Jesus’ ministry and mighty works, his guilty imagination wonders if it’s possible that John the Baptist, whom he had put to death, had come back from the dead and now possessed supernatural powers. Vs.15 But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “[He is] a prophet, like one of the prophets [of old.]” But when Herod heard [of it,] he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

So everyone was speculating about Jesus, some saying He was Elijah, who was prophesied in Malachi to come before the coming of the Messiah to turn the people’s hearts toward the Lord. Others thought that some great prophet of old had come back to life. But Herod thinks it’s John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded.

Then in vs 17 Mark recounts how it came about that Herod had beheaded John the Baptist. Vs17 “For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not [do so;] for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.”

A little background on Herod’s marital situation might help us understand what was going on here. Herod had a brother named Philip, actually he had two brothers named Philip. But one was in Rome who had taken a wife who was the daughter of another mother but was technically his sister. So Herod Antipas came to visit, he has an affair with his brother’s wife and the two agree to divorce their spouses so they can get married. And that’s what they do.

But everyone knows about it, and everyone knows that it was wrong. John the Baptist somehow has an opportunity to preach to Herod, presumably with his new wife Herodius there with him, and he denounces Herod for taking his brother’s wife in an adulterous and incestuous relationship. John doesn’t refer to Herodius as Herod’s wife but as Philips wife. He said, “”It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

You know, it’s entirely appropriate for a preacher to call out sin, and to call sin, sin. It’s not popular, and people might get offended by it, but that is what God has commissioned us to do. If people don’t come to understand that they are lost, that they are sinners, then they will have no need for salvation.

But for the most part, people are not sorry for their sin when you confront them with it, but they end up hating you for telling them they are sinners. That’s the response you see so often in our culture today. They don’t want to think that what they want to do is sinful, and so they hate those who say that it is sin. Herodius has that same response towards John the Baptist. Mark says she had it in for him, and wanted to kill him. That’s the same response that the Pharisees had towards Jesus. They plotted to kill Him. And Herodius wants to kill John the Baptist but she lacks opportunity. But finally she convinced her husband to arrest John and put him in prison.

Mark says Herod her husband was afraid of John the Baptist. I actually wonder who he was most afraid of. I believe he was more afraid of his wife. But he is afraid of John because he knows that John is a prophet of God, that he is a righteous and holy man. And so he kept him safe in his prison. And by some accounts, he was probably kept in prison for about a year.

That was probably longer or just as long as John had been in ministry. That’s one of the hardest things for me to understand about the wisdom of God. That God allows His prophets and preachers to often undergo incarceration or something like that for a long time, when it would seem to us that it would serve the kingdom purposes much better if that man of God were able to continue in ministry. I think of Joseph, who spent 13 years in prison. Or Moses, who lived in exile in the wilderness for 40 years. Or the Apostle Paul, who spent most of his final years of ministry in prison. Or the Apostle John who was exiled on the isle of Patmos. It doesn’t make sense to us, but in the wisdom of God, it must somehow serve His purposes.

A couple of interesting things though happened while John was in prison. One was his disciples were able to visit him. And the other interesting thing was that he regularly preached to Herod. Of course, Herod’s court, his government officials, would have also been that audience. God doesn’t just want the gospel preached to those who will repent, but also to those who won’t repent. And that is so that they will have no excuse. Contrary to what those who hold an extreme view of the doctrine of election might teach, God desires everyone to be saved.

1Tim. 2:3-4 says, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And another passage in 2Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning [His] promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

So God wants the gospel preached to everyone, but of course, not everyone will come to repentance. In fact, not many will come to repentance. And one of the reasons is that they don’t see their sin as sinful. We might read between the lines and assume that perhaps Herod had some remorse about his sin. His conscience bothered him about it. Mark says he enjoyed listening to John but greatly disturbed. But not so with Herodius. She just became more prideful and more hateful and wanted to add to her sin by killing John the Baptist.

Well her desire to kill John gave birth to a plot to kill John, and then one day came a strategic opportunity to bring her plan to pass. Vs.21 “A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee; and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.” And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And although the king was very sorry, [yet] because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded [him] to bring [back] his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison.”

Herod threw a birthday party for himself. That shows some of the extent of his vanity. He invites all the dignitaries of Galilee, all the military commanders and all the lords in his realm. it’s the equivalent of a state dinner which he throws in his honor. And when they had eaten their fill and were drunk with wine, the daughter of Herodius came out and dance for them. This was really a depraved situation. I think Herodius was complicit in sending out her daughter to dance for these men. It would have been a men only dinner. And she was probably only a teenager, who danced provacatively and was more than likely at least partially undressed. She’s not Herod’s true daughter, but his niece. However such a family relationship was not ever a hindrance for the Herod’s. They seemed to have no problem with incest.

Herod and his guests are obviously pleased with the girl’s dance. And perhaps because of his illicit desire or intoxication or both, he makes a foolish offer to the girl. He says whatever you want I will give you, even up to half the kingdom. It was foolish because he really didn’t have a kingdom to give. But perhaps he meant it monetarily.

But the girl begs leave of the king, in order to speak to her mother. And that’s another reason why I think Herodius was behind it all along. Herodius is watching and waiting in the wings. Salome goes to her mother what shall I ask for? And her mother said, “the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” She wants John’s decapitated head served to her on a plate. This was not only a hateful woman, but a barbaric one. No wonder Herod was afraid of her.

And Herod, weak, fearful man that he was, immediately did what she demanded. He was afraid of what she might do, and what his dinner guests might think if he didn’t fulfill her demand. I guess in some respects that’s what we would call peer pressure today. I can’t help but wonder how many people ended up in hell because they were afraid of peer pressure.

You know, it’s not cool today to be a Christian. The culture thinks eastern religions are cool. If you’re into transcendental meditation or Zen or some sort of spiritism, then that’s cool. You can talk about it all you want. You can openly try to convert people to your philosophy and that’s acceptable. But if you believe in the God of the Bible, if you believe in the gospel of salvation, then you’re a kook or worse, you’re a fascist. At the very least you will be ostracized from society. And I think the day is coming soon when you will be imprisoned for believing in and speaking about the gospel. It’s already happening in Canada and Western Europe and it’s starting to happen in America.

Well, Herod sent an executioner to the prison cell of John the Baptist and he had him decapitated and his head brought to to Herodius on a platter. He went against his conscience and against God in order to save face in front of his wife and peers, but in so doing he condemned his soul to eternal hell.

What about John though? What must have he been thinking as he went through this ordeal? How unjust must he have thought this whole thing was working out. I wonder if he expected God to deliver him at the last moment as God had done with Daniel or other prophets. I wonder if he was disappointed in God that after all he had done for the Lord, the Lord would let him die in such miserable circumstances. After all, the bad people seemed to win. Evil seemed to win over good. Doesn’t God care?

Well the Bible teaches us that in heaven we will receive rewards commensurate with our works here on earth. Jesus gave a parable explaining that principle in which he said in Matt. 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”

John the Baptist was faithful unto death. And he will receive a martyr’s reward, which I think will be the highest reward given in heaven. I’m reminded of Jesus’s last message to the 7 churches in Revelation. And he said to the church of Smyrna, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

John was faithful unto death and he entered into his eternal reward. I hope that we do not count the temporary pleasures of this world as worth holding onto, or the acclaim of friends as more important, and thus end up rejecting Jesus Christ. I hope that we are willing to follow the example of the prophets and the apostles, that we might declare as Paul did, saying in Phil. 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9\ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

I don’t believe that John the Baptist was doubting the goodness or fairness or justice of God when he knelt to receive the axe upon his neck. But I think he was rejoicing that he had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. John had said to his disciples earlier, that “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

God has purposed in HIs divine wisdom that as the children of God, we should share in the sufferings of Christ, that we might be exalted in heaven. Rom 8:16-18 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

The Bible teaches us that to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the basis for our salvation, the means by which we become a child of God, for receiving eternal life. In John 1:12-13 we read, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Believing in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the means by which we are born again of the Spirit.

Jesus was continually preaching that one must believe in Him for salvation. Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” He said in John 6:35 “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” Jesus said in John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” In John 11:25-26 He said, ”I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” And in John 12:44 and 46 Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me…” 46 “I have come [as] Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”

So to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the means by which we are born again. Paul said in Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

So what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? It means to believe Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, that He is the Lord, the Sovereign King of the Kingdom of God, that He is the Son of God, who became flesh and blood and who died on the cross for our sins, and who was raised from the dead and now stands at the Father’s right hand, and who is coming again for those who believed in Him.

Then what constitutes unbelief? Unbelief may actually believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a man who lived in 30AD. Unbelief may actually believe that Jesus was a great prophet. Unbelief may actually believe that Jesus was the perfect man. But ultimately unbelief means that you reject the idea that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Messiah, God incarnate and that He died on the cross as our substitute and the perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sin, and that He was raised from the dead and reigns forever.

Now the passage before us tells us that the townspeople of Nazareth where Jesus grew up did not believe in Him. They had been witnesses to Jesus as a child. We are not told what they thought of Him when He was young, but they would have naturally believed in what their senses told them – that He was the son of Mary, that they knew Him and His brothers and sisters as the kids living down the street. But, having been witnesses to Him growing up, they couldn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. You might think that they would have been thrilled to realize that Jesus, who had lived among them and grown up in their town, was actually the Son of God. But having known His family, His father and mother and brothers and sisters, having seen Him growing up in their village, made it almost impossible for them to imagine that He was who He claimed to be. And so because it went against what their experience had taught them, they rejected Jesus as the Son of God, and consequently, brought condemnation upon themselves.

As the apostle John says in John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Now let’s look at the text and see how Mark describes this unbelief of Jesus’s hometown and it’s consequences. He says in vs 1, “Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him.” So this is His second visit to Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus. The previous time that He came to Nazareth was at the beginning of His ministry.

In His previous visit recorded in Luke’s gospel He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the scriptures. He read to them Isaiah 61, ““THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

He then sat down and declared, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And as He began to teach them they were so filled with rage that they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff, but Jesus escaped from their midst.

Now Jesus has come back again to Nazareth, and in the mean time He had been doing what Isaiah had prophesied – He had been preaching the gospel to the spiritually destitute. He had been preaching deliverance to the captives and had healed the blind and all manner of sicknesses. He had even raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead.

So what is their reaction this time to Jesus? Did they believe in Him? Let’s look at vs 2, “When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man [get] these things, and what is [this] wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.”

Their question is kind of odd isn’t it? Where did this man get this wisdom? Where did He get this power? You can almost hear the indignant tone to their voice. Because they knew Him as just Jesus the carpenter’s son. They knew Him as the son of Mary. By the way, the fact that they don’t say Jesus the son of Joseph one of the reasons a lot of commentators think that Joseph had died by this point. Once Jesus began His ministry Joseph isn’t mentioned in a living sense. And so as the eldest son, Jesus would have taken on the responsibility for the well being of His family, in the place of His father. We see that in His first miracle, the turning of the water to wine. We see that at the cross when Jesus gave to John the responsibility for the care of His mother Mary.

But that aside, the answer to their question is obviously that His power and His wisdom came from God. But they don’t want to believe that. After all, they probably believed that He was born under dubious circumstances. Mary had not yet been married when she had been pregnant with Jesus. And so they would rather believe that, than believe that somehow He was begotten of God. They don’t want to believe that this young man who had grown up among them was actually the Son of God. The only obvious answer to where His teaching and His power came from was God. As Jesus said in John 10:37, “If I do not do the works of My Father, don’t believe Me. But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father.” The only explanation, again, is that God is present in Him.

And notice that the townspeople said his brothers and sister were there with them. We know from John 7:5 that not even His brothers were believing in Him. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs when one’s own family doesn’t believe in you. Remember when His brothers and His mother came to do an intervention on Jesus because they thought He was losing His mind? And so Jesus looking about at those who were sitting around Him who were believing in Him said, ”Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

And of course I must point out that the fact that the scripture tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters indicates that Mary did not stay a virgin forever as the Catholic Church teaches. The try to explain away the obvious for the sake of maintaining their worship of Mary as some sort of divine by saying that Jesus’s brothers and sisters must have come from a previous marriage of Joseph before He married Mary. But there is no basis for that claim, other than their desire to venerate Mary as a perpetual virgin, who was sinless, and who was assumed into heaven, never having died. I’m here to tell you that if you hold to those beliefs about Mary, and you pray to Mary, and worship Mary, then you are guilty of worshipping another god.

So Mark says that the townspeople took offense at Jesus. Did you know that the gospel is offensive? I think the majority of preachers in the contemporary church try as hard as they can to make the gospel unoffensive. To make it as innocuous as possible. I think that’s why they dare not talk about sin. They dare not mention the judgement of God. They dare not mention hell. They only want to talk about love. That God loves you just the way you are. Period. And so every offense, every objection is taken out of the contemporary message of the gospel.

But Jesus said in Matthew 11:6 “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” Why is the gospel offensive? Because Jesus came to save sinners. People are offended at the idea that they are sinners, condemned to death. They are offended that there is something about them that needs to be made right. And I believe people are offended today if you tell them that they are sinners and need to be forgiven, they need to be converted. We want to think that we are ok, that we are basically good people. That God loves us just the way we are. It’s offensive to think that you need a Savior, that you need to be saved from your sins. And I think that is the root of their offense taken towards Jesus. “This guy? This man who we saw grow up here, who does He think He is? This guy is not going to be our Savior. He will not rule over us.”

So what is Jesus’s response to their unbelief? Vs4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his [own] relatives and in his [own] household.” What that means is Jesus was accepted in other areas on the basis of His word and His works. But the exception is the people from his own town, and those from his own household who could not seem to accept Him. As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. Those who had grown up with Him found it impossible to reconcile what their natural perception told them from what they might see spiritually.

What then is the result of their unbelief? The result of their unbelief is found in vs 5, “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Because the people of Nazareth rejected Jesus, and were in that respect even worse than the Gerasenes, for they had received more light, and greater privileges, they did not flock to Him to be healed or to bring their sick. So these rebellious unbelievers were not delivered from their illnesses. Of course, the most deadly illness is that of sin. And so being unbelieving not only prevented them from being healed physically, but it also prevented them from being healed spiritually.

It was not that their lack of faith rendered Him unable to heal, but their lack of faith prevented them from coming to be healed. Jesus had just healed a dead girl, the daughter of Jarius. She had no faith herself being dead. But still Jesus healed her. The demoniac of the Gerasenes had no faith, being demonically possessed, but he was healed from demonic oppression. So Jesus could have healed, but their unbelief hindered them from coming to Him. That’s why I quoted the verse earlier that said, as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God.” There is a responsibility on our part to believe, to receive Him as Lord and Savior. And the people of Nazareth would not do that and so were not delivered.

And that reaction on their part, caused Jesus to be amazed at their unbelief. Vs 6, “And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.” That’s a poor translation. The way that sounds it seems as though Jesus wondered why they didn’t believe. No, Jesus didn’t wonder why. Jesus knew full well why they refused to believe. What it means is that Jesus was amazed at their unbelief. Or even better, He marveled at their unbelief. It’s like when you see a tremendous car accident. You might marvel at it. You might say, how could someone be that stupid? How could someone be that blind? I think that’s the thought here.

In another instance, the scripture says that Jesus marveled at the centurions faith who asked that Jesus speak and his servant would be healed. And He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” So here is the opposite to great faith, which is great unbelief, and Jesus marvels that they could have been given so much light, so much privilege, and yet be so unbelieving.

And so Jesus left Nazareth and preached the gospel to other villages in that region where His gospel would be received and believed.

We come today to the end of chapter four, but the story of Jesus’s ministry does not stop there.  He is simply traveling from one place to another.  And He does so in this story by means of a ship on the sea.  It’s a simple story, but one which provided a teachable lesson for the disciples, and which should be a lesson for us as well.

It’s been a very long day of preaching and teaching and working miracles.  At one point the crowds were so large that Jesus and His disciples were not able to eat.  So  at the seashore of Galilee He asked that a boat be brought near the beach so that He could preach without being crushed by the multitude.  It’s interesting to picture Jesus sitting in a boat right off the shoreline and using it as a pulpit to speak from. Perhaps it was John and James’ fishing boat, or maybe Peter and Andrew’s boat.  It was probably not a rowboat though. It was a fishing boat that was large enough for a crew, perhaps all 12 of the disciples plus Jesus, and a large catch of fish as well, which would be a pretty good sized boat.

At any point, Mark says “On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” First notice that it was evening.  It was getting dark. I’m sure you have all heard this story before and we know there is a storm coming.  To be at sea in the dark in an open boat, in the midst of a violent storm, would be especially terrifying.  A storm always seems worse at night.

But the other thing to consider is that Jesus knows what is going to happen before it happens. He knows it is night time. He knows that a fierce storm is coming.  And yet He is the one who orders the disciples to head out in their boat.  What’s coming was going to be a terrifying surprise for the disciples, but it was no surprise to Jesus. In fact, you might say that He would seem to be orchestrating it. Jesus could have said, “Fellows, I want to go over to the other side, but I know there is going to be a fierce storm tonight, so we will find shelter here and leave in the morning.”  But Jesus, in His divine omnipotence, does nothing like that. Instead, He says let’s go to the other side, knowing full well what is in store for them.

It’s hard for us to understand sometimes, but God often sends us tests in our lives.  It’s like a  good teacher that gives the students a test periodically.  Contrary to what the students might think, the teacher doesn’t give them a test hoping  to make the students fail.  But to make the students learn. James  1:2-8 says “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,  [being] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Notice James says testing produces faith that endures through trials, and enduring faith makes you complete in your faith, and in wisdom.  But a lack of faith is likened to being in a boat in a storm tossed sea that drives you this way and that way, so that you are unstable, and double minded. It’s interesting that Jesus uses a stormy sea and a driving wind to test the disciple’s faith.

Vs 36 “Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.”  So they left the crowd on the beach.  Again and again we see Jesus escaping the crowds just when you would think that from a ministry point of view He should be capitalizing on the momentum. Instead, He leaves to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  But I want you to notice something else here.  This storm that is coming is not the disciples fault.  This isn’t a Jonah situation here, where God sends a storm to punish someone who has made wrong choices.  The disciples are doing what Jesus told them to do. I think we are often surprised to find that when we are trying to follow the Lord, things seem to not always go the way we think they should.  Instead of smooth sailing, fair winds and following seas, suddenly the winds seem to turn against us.

So Mark says the disciples took Him just as He was.  I find that an odd statement. I can’t really be sure what to make of it.  But in light of the context, I would have to assume it means that as He finished preaching, sitting in the boat, they just pushed off shore and set sail for the other side.  They didn’t come to land and then make preparations for the journey.  They left without any food, without packing a bag, just took off with Jesus sitting in the boat having just finished an exhausting day.  You know, passages like this remind us that Jesus wasn’t some sort of superman in a physical sense.  He got tired, He got hungry, His body was just like our bodies, and subject to the same physical limitations.  He was fully man, and yet fully God.

And because of that physical body that was subject to being tired, Jesus was exhausted.  We read in verse 38 that Jesus had gone to sleep in the stern, with His head on a cushion.  That shows us a couple of things. One is He is supremely confident and at peace about what was about to transpire.  And second, as I said previously, He was subject to exhaustion just like any person would be who had been doing what He did that day.

Vs37 “And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.” In the original language Mark uses a word that is best translated as a whirlwind.  A whirlwind is like a tornado, or a hurricane, with the wind going in a circular motion. From what I have read, the Sea of Galilee was ringed with mountains and the sea was 680 feet below sea level.  So due to geography there is some weird atmospheric thing that happens there occasionally due to the cold air in the mountains dropping down to the heated sea below which can cause very violent storms to occur. 

So the wind has come rushing down from the mountains and into this sea, kicking up tremendous waves, and the boat was being swamped.  Waves were breaking over the sides and it was filling up with water.  it’s ironic that this test for the disciples comes in the form of something that I’m sure they thought they were well qualified to handle.  After all, they were professional fishermen who had made their livelihoods plying this sea.  They had years of experience with boats and dealing with bad weather.  And yet to their strength comes this extreme trial that shows them just how weak and insignificant they are.  I don’t know if you have ever been in severe weather before, like a hurricane or a tornado, but when you experience that you are keenly aware of just how massively powerful nature can be, and how powerless and insignificant man is.

But these were sea faring men with years of experience dealing with storms and waves. It’s funny how God tests us in our strong areas, and not our weak ones.  Satan on the other hand tempts us in our weak areas.  But God tests us in our strong areas.  The areas of our life we take the most pride in.  The areas we think we don’t really need God’s help in.  For some of us, it’s our business acumen or ability to make money.  For others it’s our body, maybe our physical strength or our good looks.  It can be a lot of different things.

I remember a time when I was around 40 years old. I was in the prime of my life. I was doing very well in my antique business.  I had learned more about my particular antique specialty than most of my competitors which enabled me to be very successful.  I remember one day answering my mother’s criticism who was comparing me to my brother who was working a job and getting a salary of about $50,000 at the time, and I said that I could make $50,000 standing on my head.

About a year later, a whirlwind came out of nowhere and completely overwhelmed my life in every respect.  In that storm that seemed unrelenting and which lasted about three years, I lost my health and my business, went completely broke, and almost lost my mind in the process.  But as I was just telling someone the other day, if God had not put me through that trial, then I probably would not have been where I am today in my walk with the Lord, and I doubt very much that I would be a pastor.

Well, the disciples were overwhelmed in the storm as well.  They were justifiably terrified and realized that there was nothing they could do to stop the storm or keep the boat from capsizing and sinking.  Amazingly though, Jesus was still asleep in the stern. Vs38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Luke’s account makes it clear that the men were very frightened.  Fear causes men to do and sometimes say terrible things.  Panic causes men to do even worse. Sometimes when a trlal causes fear in a married couple, it makes them turn on one another.  I think the tendency is you don’t think your spouse is hurting as much as you are and so you want to hurt them yourself.  Your spouse seems too comfortable with the situation. I think the disciples were both terrified and panicking.  And in their fear, they turn on Jesus who is at such peace that He could sleep through this terrible situation.

The different gospel accounts include more things that were said, but I think Mark focuses on something here which is very important.  When trials come, when things don’t turn out like you planned, when all around your soul gives way, the temptation of Satan in that moment is to say that God doesn’t care.  God is uncaring, unloving, impersonal.  He doesn’t care about you.  He could help you if He wanted to, but the fact that He doesn’t seem to be doing anything, is evidence that He doesn’t care.  You’re on your own. And so you get angry at God, you turn away from the Lord at the moment when you need Him most.

But the purpose of the trial from God’s perspective is to get you to turn to the Lord. To trust Him more. To love Him more.  To commit your life to Him completely.  God uses trials a lot of times to get us to move away from our independence, our self reliance, our pride, and trust completely in His sufficiency and in His plan.

So in vs39 we read, “And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush, be still.’ And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”  Jesus is the One who created the wind and the sea.  He created the weather.  He created the elements.  In John 1 it says of Jesus, “and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

It’s interesting that Jesus spoke the world into existence, and He speaks now to rebuke the wind. The wind stopped immediately, and then He speaks to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the sea instantly became dead calm.  You know as someone who is a surfer, I’ve learned that the wind produces waves.  Many times the storms can be hundreds of miles away and yet we are getting waves sent from that storm to our beaches.  Yet Jesus immediately causes the sea to become dead calm after just stopping the wind.  From a natural point of view, the waves should have continued for quite a long time afterward.  But Jesus stills the wind and the waves simultaneously.

And then after speaking to the wind and the waves, Jesus speaks to the quaking hearts of the disciples. Vs. 40, “And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ One thing I want to point out is that Jesus doesn’t rebuke the disciples for their accusation that He didn’t care about them.  I think His compassion for them overrides any desire to rebuke them.

But He does want to teach them. And so He asks them two questions.  The first is “why are you afraid?”  Luke makes it clear in his account that the disciples were afraid during the storm, and even more afraid after Jesus stilled the storm.    So Jesus says, “Why are you afraid”, not “why were you afraid.”   As if to say, doesn’t this teach you that your Master is not only very powerful, but also that He cares for you and loves you?  Perfect love casts out fear.  Therefore shouldn’t you respond not in fear but in childlike faith?

One thing that I ended up having to deal with as a result of my trial by fire that I mentioned a moment ago was severe anxiety.  I developed crippling anxiety attacks that I could not control and which took control of my life and greatly contributed to the loss of my business and so forth. I often claim that I started the whole anxiety attack thing years before it became  well known.  Back then no one knew what it was.  But at it’s root was just fear. And to some extent I still deal with it even today.  I think many of us deal with fear.  The psalmist David dealt with fear.  That’s one reason I am so drawn to the psalms. But fear comes when you realize something’s happening beyond your control.  The answer to fear comes when you realize that God is in control and your life is in God’s hands.  And you can trust Him with your life.

And then Jesus’s second question speaks to their lack of faith.  “Do you still have no faith?” He says “You still have no faith” even though they had seen Him perform hundreds of miracles.  Even though they had followed Him for some time now and heard His message of the gospel, had heard His claim to be the Son of God.  Yet their faith had not endured in the midst of  the storm.  

You know, when everything works out the way we want, when God seems to answer our prayers just as we desired, when our finances and health are good, when our families are safe and sound, then we think our faith is good, don’t we? But when trouble comes, when God doesn’t seem to care, when God doesn’t split open the clouds and immediately come rushing to our help, when our prayers don’t seem to be answered, then does our faith endure? Do we lose faith when God seems to be asleep and our boat is sinking? I think Jesus orchestrated this trial to teach the disciples and to teach us, that God is in control and He is not surprised by any circumstance or situation in our life.  He is not surprised or scared of any storm.  He is the Master of life’s storms, and He will use them for His purposes and bring us through them to a greater knowledge of Him, and to a deeper, enduring faith, that we might be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But Mark finishes this account with the perspective of the disciples, in vs 41 “They became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”  They were still learning who Jesus was.  It’s one thing to hear about God, but another to have a personal experience with Him.  I think this storm helped them to see through the veil of flesh that covered Jesus of Nazareth so that they saw a glimpse of the glory of the Son of God.  Only God can command the weather.

So the disciples ask a question that we should be asking as well, “What kind of a person is this, that even the weather obeys Him?  Only God causes storms and only God stills storms.  And so the answer must be that Jesus is the Son of God. That is the faith that we must have, the faith that saves us.  Trust in who He is, and what He has done, and what He has promised.  That is saving faith. 

Hebrews 11:6 says “And without faith it is impossible to please [Him,] for he who comes to God must believe that He is and [that] He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”   And without faith it is impossible to be saved.  [Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

But even when we are justified by faith, it is necessary that we continue in faith, and endure in faith, that we may be perfected in faith as we walk by faith and not by sight.