Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 41.
immersed in Mark.
In the mid sixties ad the Roman Emperor Nero began a severe
persecution of Jesus followers.
During that time, the apostles, Paul and Peter were imprisoned and executed.
The apostle Peter had been one of Jesus' closest companions.
According to church tradition, mark had become a close companion
of Peter, who then passed along to mark his recollections of
Jesus' life and teachings.
Mark compiled the story of Jesus in a succinct gospel, which inspired
an already embattled generation of Jesus' followers to remain faithful.
After all, Jesus himself had said, if any of you wants to be my follower,
You must give up your own way.
Take up your cross and follow me.
If you try to hang onto your life, you will lose it, but if you give up your
life, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, you will save it.
Mark's use of Latin terms suggests that his gospel was written primarily for
Romans and other Gentiles in the empire.
He also explains Jewish customs and translates Aramaic phrases.
Indicating that his audience isn't familiar with the culture and language
of the land where Jesus had lived.
Mark uses Peter's accounts to shape the traditions about Jesus that were already
being passed down by word of mouth.
He announces right at the start of his gospel that Jesus is
the Messiah, the Son of God.
Mark's main themes are the identity of Jesus and the surprising way this son of
God is bringing God's rule into the world.
Mark shows how various groups, crowds of Jewish people, the teachers of
religious law, Jesus' family, and even Jesus' own disciples, struggled
to understand who Jesus was.
Jesus even told people not to talk to others about him.
Everyone could see that Jesus had great powers of healing and deliverance, but
his actions did not fit first century Jewish expectations for the Messiah.
Mark tells this story with urgency.
Like a fast-paced drama.
Jesus moves quickly from village to village.
Preaching and healing the heart of Jesus' message is the coming of God's kingdom.
But Rome has its own version of the good news, claiming that Caesar
is the son of God and that peace and security come through him.
By contrast, the ministry of Jesus centers on the restoration of God's people.
Announcing the forgiveness of sins and releasing people from
illness and spiritual oppression.
As the first half of Mark's gospel progresses, Jesus spends more time
teaching his disciples in private.
It is especially important to him that they understand who he
is and what his message means.
Right at the midpoint of the book, as Jesus is about to end his ministry in
Galilee and journey south to Jerusalem.
Peter finally declares you are the Messiah, but Peter and the other
disciples still do not recognize what kind of messiah Jesus is.
Jesus isn't preparing an army to fight the Romans.
His battle is against evil at a deeper level, and it will be won by following the
way of the cross from that point onward.
Jesus repeatedly informs his disciples that he will suffer, be
killed, and rise from the dead.
Furthermore, he teaches them that this path of suffering and service
for others will be their path too.
This is a hard adjustment of expectations for them as evidenced by
their fleeing when Jesus is arrested.
Ironically, the Roman officer in charge of Jesus execution recognizes
who he is from the way he dies.
Exclaiming.
This man truly was the son of God.
This officer serves as a model for the Roman believers to whom Mark was writing.
There are some historical questions about how Mark concluded his story, but
regardless of the possible endings, the message of Jesus resurrection is clear.
Jesus really is the Messiah, and God vindicated his unexpected
path of servanthood and sacrifice by raising him from the dead.
Knowing this should inspire the believers in Rome to fulfill their roles in sharing
the story of Jesus for the good News must first be preached to all nations.
The gospel, according to Mark,
this is the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.
It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written.
Look, I'm sending my messenger ahead of you and he will prepare your way.
He is a voice shouting in the wilderness.
Prepare the way for the Lord's coming.
Clear the road for him.
This messenger was John the Baptist.
He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to
show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.
All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John.
And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair and he wore a leather
belt around his waist for food.
He ate locusts and wild honey.
John announced someone is coming soon who is greater than.
I am so much greater that I'm not even worthy to stoop down like a slave
and untie the straps of his sandals.
I baptize you with water.
But he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
One day, Jesus came from Nazareth, then Galilee and John
baptized him in the Jordan River.
As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heaven splitting apart and the Holy
Spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice from Heaven said, you are my dearly
loved son, and you bring me great joy.
The spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness where he
was tempted by Satan for 40 days.
He was out among the wild animals and angels took care of him.
Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee where
he preached God's good news.
The time promised by God has come at last.
He announced The kingdom of God is near repent of your
sins and believe the good news.
One day, as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew, throwing a net into the
water for they fished for a living.
Jesus called out to them, come follow me and I will show
you how to fish for people.
And they left their nets at once and followed him a
little farther up the shore.
Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John in a boat repairing their nets.
He called them at once and they also followed him.
Leaving their father's Zedi in the boat with the hired men.
Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum.
When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.
The people were amazed at his teaching for he taught with real authority, quite
unlike the teachers of religious law.
Suddenly a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried
out, why are you interfering with us?
Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are, the holy one of God.
But Jesus reprimanded him.
Be quiet.
Come out of the man.
He ordered at that the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a
convulsion and then came out of him.
Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened.
What sort of new teaching is this?
They asked excitedly.
It has such authority.
Even evil spirits obey his orders.
The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went
to Simon and Andrew's home.
Now, Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever.
They told Jesus about her right away.
So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand and helped her sit up.
Then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them.
That evening after sunset, many sick and demon possessed
people were brought to Jesus.
The whole town gathered at the door to watch.
So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases,
and he cast out many demons.
But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.
Before daybreak.
The next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.
Later, Simon and the others went out to find him.
When they found him, they said, everyone is looking for you.
But Jesus replied, we must go on to other towns as well,
and I will preach to them too.
That is why I came.
So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the
synagogues and casting out demons.
A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus begging to be healed.
If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.
He said, moved with compassion.
Jesus reached out and touched him.
I am willing.
He said, be heed.
He instantly.
The leprosy disappeared and the man was healed.
Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning.
Don't tell anyone about this.
Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you.
Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those
who have been healed of leprosy.
This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed, but the man
went and spread the word proclaiming to everyone what had happened.
As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn't
publicly enter a town anywhere.
He had to stay out in the secluded places.
But people from everywhere kept coming to him.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread
quickly that he was back home soon.
The house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no
more room even outside the door while he was preaching God's word to them.
Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.
They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a
hole through the roof above his head.
Then they lowered the man on his mat right down in front
of Jesus, seeing their faith.
Jesus said to the paralyzed, man, my child, your sins are forgiven.
But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought
to themselves, what is he saying?
This is blasphemy.
Only God can forgive sins.
Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, why do
you question this in your hearts?
Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven, or, stand up.
Pick up your mat and walk.
So I will prove to you that the son of man has the authority
on earth to forgive sins.
Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, stand up.
Pick up your mat, and go home.
And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out
through the stunned onlookers.
They were all amazed and praised, God exclaiming.
We've never seen anything like this before.
Then Jesus went out to the lake shore again and taught the
crowds that were coming to him.
As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Al Feas sitting at his tax collector's
booth, follow me and be my disciple.
Jesus said to him, so Levi got up and followed him.
Later.
Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests,
along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.
There were many people of this kind among Jesus followers, but when the teachers
of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and
other sinners, they asked his disciples, why does he eat with such scum?
When Jesus heard this, he told them, healthy people don't need a doctor.
Sick people do.
I have come to call, not those who think they are righteous, but
those who know they are sinners.
Once, when John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some
people came to Jesus and asked, why don't your disciples fast?
Like John's disciples and the Pharisees do?
Jesus replied, do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom?
Of course not.
They can't fast while the groom is with them.
But someday the groom will be taken away from them and then they will fast.
Besides who would patch old clothing with new cloth for the new patch would shrink
and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before, and no
one puts new wine into old wine skins for the wine would burst the wine skins and
the wine and the skins would both be lost.
New wine calls for new wine skins.
One Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples
began breaking off heads of grain to eat.
But the Pharisees said to Jesus, look, why are they breaking the law
by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?
Jesus said to them, haven't you ever read in the scriptures what David did
when he and his companions were hungry?
He went into the house of God.
During the days when Abiathar was high priest and broke the law by eating
the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat, he
also gave some to his companions.
Then Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made to meet the needs
of people and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.
So the son of man is Lord.
Even over the Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue again and
noticed a man with a deformed hand.
Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely.
If he healed the man's hand, they plan to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand come and stand in front of everyone.
Then he turned to his critics and asked, does the law permit
good deeds on the Sabbath?
Or is it a day for doing evil?
Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?
But they wouldn't answer him.
He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts.
Then he said to the man, hold out your hand.
So the man held out his hand and it was restored at once.
The Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod
to plot how to kill Jesus.
Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples and a large crowd followed him.
They came from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, iia from east
of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tire and Saan.
The news about his miracles had spread far and wide and vast numbers of people
came to see him Jesus, and instructed his disciples to have a boat ready
so the crowd would not crush him.
He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed
forward to touch him, and whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught
sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him.
Shrieking, you are the son of God, but Jesus sternly commanded the
spirits not to reveal who he was.
This concludes today's Immer reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.