Mark 9: Jesus' Faith

13 January 2015: Magnificent Jesus

Opening prayer: Hurrah! Time to enter Your Word! Reveal Jesus to us in a fresh new way, O Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Scripture: Mark 9:1–13

Context: Jesus did not end of his rebuke in chapter 8, but in chapter 9, verse 1: And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” Earlier on, Jesus mentioned that the person who is ashamed of Jesus would be denied by God the Father in heaven, adding on that some will taste heaven literally before their time.

And it came to pass in the very next chapter.

Analysis: Six days after the rebuke, Jesus took His inner circle, Peter, James and John up a high mountain, leaving the rest of His disciples behind as inferred from later verses. Then, He transfigured. Literally. His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them (Mark 9:3). He then talked to Moses and Elijah, who appeared too.

Imagine Peter, James and John, exceedingly afraid of the entire situation (Mark 9:6). Peter was so afraid that he spoke in fear, for he just had to say something. “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (Mark 9:5) Following this “recommendation”, God replied: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7)

Herein lies a principle that we can follow. Moses represents God’s word in the form of the Law. Elijah represents God’s word in the form of Spoken Word, via prophecies. Jesus is God’s word in the flesh, giving grace to the humble. In other words, when we are terrified, we tend to mix Law, judgement prophecy and grace together; God tells us to focus on His grace only. Keep our eyes on Jesus. And if the Law or prophecies were to enter the picture, see Jesus in them.

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.” [Mark 9:9–13]

Did Elijah return from heaven on chariots of fire? Of course not. However, Elijah here represents preparing the way for the Lord: John the Baptist! Indeed this prophecy is fulfilled in the context that John the Baptist was treated with contempt for declaring repentance, preparing the way for the Christ to enter. And more persecution would await the Christ. The disciples had a preview of Jesus being glorified after having gone through all the torture. Matthew 17 records: Do not be afraid. imagine Jesus saying this: Do not be afraid. For now, do not tell the rest of this event until after the Son of Man has rise from the dead. I’ll die and rise again, and only then do you testify of the glory you beheld (John 1:14). So don’t be afraid. You’ll be persecuted, but at the end, be glorified beyond earthly measure.

Jesus would rise from the dead, and we have this privilege in living in security, knowing that Him risen from the dead is a divine receipt that we have been justified (Romans 4:25)!

Closing prayer: You are with us all the way. You will take us through the persecution, but we have nothing to fear. So Lord, in You we trust and rest and live. We fear nothing because You are with us and we are on Your side and You are on our side. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

15 January 2015: To HIM Who Believes

Opening prayer: Lord, give us a neat surprise when studying this chapter, and let us encounter You in Your Word. Stir it up in our hearts, the application of Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 9:14–29

Context: While Jesus and His inner circle disciples, Peter, James and John were atop the mountain, what were His other disciples doing? Perhaps doing some ministry, as Jesus already mentioned that they would need to take up their cross.

Analysis: It turned out that the disciples had yet another debate or scuffle with the religious leaders in the valley. And that they were unable to cast a demon out of a boy. With crowds witnessing the event and seeing Jesus the miracle worker coming down the mountain, they saw him and were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him (Mark 9:16).

There was a demon-possessed child in extreme torment, making him mute, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid (Mark 9:18). Does it not tug your heart to see a loved one suffering and tormented? I’m sure Jesus’ extreme compassion led Him to be extremely heartbroken. Yet, despite the demon-possession, Jesus’ disciples couldn’t cast it out. Man was Jesus disappointed. Was He somewhat frustrated. “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mark 9:19) The boy started convulsing ad foaming, for the demons in him saw Jesus and were terrified. The enemy manifests evil works as a result of his fear of Jesus.

The father of the child explained how his child had suffered long enough all his life, having nearly died multiple times. Even the dad would experience emotional turmoil and in desperation, he turned to Jesus. He pled, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22).

And today we will look at what faith is really all about. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23) In the Greek, Jesus is talking about how all things are possible to The One who who believes. In other words, Jesus was speaking of Himself who has the faith required for the supernatural. Today, if we need faith for a miracle yet seem to see all hopes gone, look to Jesus. All things are possible to Him who believes!

Then Jesus rebuked the spirit and healed the boy from a lifelong demon-possession. During the healing process, the boy convulsed so violently till people thought that he died in the process. And perhaps he did, but Jesus did not stop at driving out the demon by taking him by the hand, signifying personal touch and intimacy, and lifted him up, restoring his dignity and life. Jesus is the One who will give us life, and life more abundantly.

To end off this healing, his disciples wanted to know where they went wrong. Jesus told them that “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 8:29) But wait a minute, did Jesus pray? What was the prayer recorded for us? The only one I see is “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” (Mark 9:25) A command. And yet, many times in the Bible, we see that that is the prayer of great faith.

Pray boldly on the basis of His faith. All things are possible to HIM who believes, not us but Him! Faith is simply seeing Jesus and believing that He can and is willing to do for us, what we, in and of ourselves cannot.

Closing prayer: Lord, thank You for letting us rest in You even in the area of faith, that we can rest in Your effective faith. Our faith comes from the One who believes. Father, we speak forth supernatural healing to lifelong demonisation, sickness and death by Him who believes. By His stripes, we are healed! We command this blessing of divine health in Jesus’ name, Amen.

16 January 2014: Glorifying the Humble

Opening prayer: Thank You Lord that You love us. You love us so much. Feed us and restore our souls, as written in the psalm. Take our eyes of ourselves and onto You alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 9:30–37

Context: After the revelation of Jesus as the Christ, He focuses His ministry not to the general public but toward His disciples. Notice that after He rebuked the demons and set the child free from demonic oppression, He addressed His disciples about faith. While there was freedom displayed in the child, it was also an act of ministry for His disciples.

Analysis: Jesus continues to teach His learning disciples and sharing them God’s plan for salvation, refraining it from the crowd as His focus was on the disciples to understand what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples… (Mark 9:30–31). Remember, only the disciples saw Him as Saviour; most of the Jews saw Him as but a miracle worker or a moral teacher; the religious perhaps condemning Him for starting a revolt on religion.

Yet, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” (Mark 9:31) For the second time now did He share with them His fate, per se. But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:32) The last time around one of them asked, he got declared as a vessel of Satan. This time around, they would surely think twice before questioning Jesus’ preposterous statement. The concept of death was perplexing and scary enough, but then Jesus talks about the power to rise from the dead.

It would be normal to consider a normal person who said as Jesus did to be insane. As such, as a human, lay people would consider Jesus insane too. However, when the disciples know that Jesus is the Christ, the One whom the prophets had prophesied a mighty long time ago, and He spoke of the words that He did, their confusion is comprehensible. On the one hand, He sounded crazy, but on the other hand, they knew He wasn’t.

Jesus told them again of His death and resurrection. This is not the only time that Jesus was going to mind-blow them. Along the way, they started to dispute about honour. Who would be the most honoured in heaven. The one who does the most good deeds, aka moral? The one who is the most pious to his faith, aka religious? The one who knows the Word of God best, aka knowledgeable? Jesus asked them rhetorically, ‘What are you arguing about?’ (Mark 9:33) His answer was this, “If anyone would be first, he would be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) In complete contrast, Jesus took up a child and likened the child as the one of the highest honour.

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3–4)

What is a child capable of doing in and of himself? Practically growing. Just growing. He isn’t at a stage where he can do much practical contribution. All he can do is receive from his parents. And yet, this is the place of honour that Jesus speaks of. In other words, Jesus gave His disciples the answer to be honourable in heaven: child-likeness. Reliant on his father. That blew their minds once more.

We think that the more we do, the more honour we deserve. But Jesus asserts that honour comes from being a child of God. From the innocence of a child. From the helplessness of a child, that he can depend on his father only. This is honour that we rest in our Father’s embrace instead of striving to work things out. Trust Him. Stop striving to earn His love but enjoy His love freely, not on the basis of our works but on the basis of His works. He is the One who justifies us, who restores relationship with us.

And Jesus was giving His disciples pockets of tastes of His Father’s love for them. This is the reason why Jesus would go to the cross: to allow the relationship of His people and His Father to be restored.

Closing prayer: Lord, we rest in You. Thank You Father for loving us. We rest in You like a child rests in his father. We need You, Lord. At times when we get cocky, remind us Lord that without You, we are nothing. Thank You Abba Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

17 January 2014: Unity is Not Uniformity

Opening prayer: Lord, open our eyes to find the hidden treasures in Your Word. When we fail to understand, birth in us understanding. And Lord, we want to see more of You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 9:38–41

Context: Jesus was teaching His disciples what honour was, likened to that of a child rather than the achievements that they thought were quintessential. Now John reflects to Jesus about one more of their ‘achievements’ in stopping a non-official Jesus-follower and minister from doing his thing, that is, to cast out demons in the name of Jesus.

Analysis: His disciples would feel that they have done an honourable deed, for only those who are actively with Him would deserve heaven. After all, they were following the real Jesus and not doing things in their own wisdom; surely they must receive a greater reward for their discipleship.

Not so with Jesus. “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:39–40) Don’t worry about him. Ravi Zacharias once said, “Unity is not uniformity”. Don’t worry about other churches or denominations. The barometer to correct them or not is this: if the church is not against Jesus, the church is for Jesus. I’m not talking about other religions that proclaim moral deeds over Christ. That is utter blasphemy. I’m talking about other groups that preach Jesus but perhaps a different aspect. New Creation Church, for example, focuses on grace while Grace Community Church focuses on exegetical Bible analyses, both of which are revealing Jesus but in different ways.

The disciples think naturally: do big, get big. Do more, get greater rewards. You sow what you reap. Yet, denying the man of his ministry does not make the disciples any more superior, any more deserving of a reward. Jesus explains: whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. (Mark 9:41) This does not even seem to amount to anything. A thirsty follower of Christ ministered to with a cup of water; he will surely receive his reward for edifying a fellow member of the Church.

The disciples would naturally stand flabbergasted. Time and again they expected big rewards for big deeds, and yet the rewards go to the small and seemingly lowly. God loves to exalt the humbled and humble the exalted. His ways are greater than man’s ways. Going big on ministry doesn’t necessitate a reward, but a simple deed done out of the love of God will be rewarded beyond a shadow of a doubt. Perhaps this church is not as “loud” as yours. Don’t worry about them; they are serving God, just in a different way. And don’t stop them. Whoever is not against Christ is for Christ.

Unity is not uniformity, and I believe that unity is the key to see Christ’s glory in the most extensive way. Support each other not because you are from the same church but because you worship the same God and worship the same Saviour.

Closing prayer: Lord, unite us as a Church. We want to see Your glory manifest greater than ever before. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

22 January 2014: Be the Influence

Opening prayer: Lord, we rest in the truth that You love us and indeed love us with a passion. Take us through your word today, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Mark 9:42–50

Context: The disciples were taught not to condemn fellow believers who were advancing the kingdom, and before that heard Jesus honour the humbled, like a child compared to a useful servant, for example. God wasn’t utilitarian. And this passage paints Jesus in both a frightening light as well as one of extreme comfort.

Analysis: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. –Jesus (Mark 10:42)

That was harsh. Watch out guys. You better not cause anyone to sin, because Jesus says it’s better for you to be suffocated to death at the bottom of the sea. That’s what I used to think that got me incredibly confused. Of course, we don’t want to cause others to stumble. That is completely lacking of love. That said, Jesus wasn’t using ‘whoever’ to refer to believers but to non-believers.

In the passage before this, Jesus commended that whoever gives the disciples a cup of water to drink because they belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward (Mark 4:41). And verse 42 continues by juxtaposing the contrasts: those for Christ and against Christ. In other words, these “little ones” refer to His sheep, the children of God! Jesus was giving a warning to non-believers, that it would have been relatively better for them to be gone than to tempt believers to fall into sin. Don’t you see how much Jesus prizes the child (Mark 9:37), helpless in and of himself but resting in his father’s protection.

So Jesus sternly warned anyone who wanted to harm His people. Then He turned to the disciples: if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your leg causes it to sin, cut it off. If your eyes cause you to sin, gauge it out! Obviously, He wasn’t talking about the body parts per se, but use them as a picture of close connections with people who can lead them astray. In other words, if we clearly have connections that will influence us to sin, cut off those connections. It DOES NOT mean to not interact with non-believers per se, but that when we do, we are the ones influencing them to see Jesus, not them influencing us to live on a lower level that sin dwells in. Either we influence or are influenced. And if it is the latter, influence by bad company, then it is of much greater value for us to cut it off.

Jesus later adds on the whole idea of influence with this: Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. (Mark 9:50) Salt was used as flavour, but more importantly a preservative for keeping food fresh, and hence is essential. As a preservative, it kills off bacteria that thrives in food and keeps the food tasting fresh. That is the influence of salt. And Jesus calls us salt. In addressing the disciples’ issue of rebuking the believer who did not physically follow Jesus, He says this: have salt in yourselves, that is, keep the influence to influence others, and have peace with one another, not nullifying each other’s salt and devaluing them.

To conclude: Jesus warned potential perpetrators their fate in trying to harm His people, wanted the disciples to lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely (Hebrews 12:1), cutting off connections that led to that and keep their collective influence on the world by not defying one another.

This is how Jesus works: in grace. Grace to keep set apart, grace to live an influential life and grace to look past seeming differences in light of the common Light that brings unity and preserves their legacy.

Closing prayer: Lord, we choose to live life Your way. That we may unite as one church and build one another up instead of tearing one another down. Father, we rest as children. Use us and work for us, in us and through us. All things are possible to You who believe. We boldly proclaim all of these promises, in Jesus’ name! Amen!