BASIC TRAINING

Stumbling about

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“Have salt in yourselves…” Mark 9:42-50

A hook for a hand, a pegleg or an eyepatch might make a good calling card for the likes of Long John Silver and Captain Hook, but can anyone say these injuries improved the morals and behavior of such scalawags?

Jesus is concerned with the root of sin within us. Do our words and actions cause those around us to stumble and fall? Whoever causes a little child to stumble will suffer the worst God can mete out in judgment. It would be better for that person to have a very large millstone hung around his neck and be cast into the depths of the sea.

An innocent might be easily deceived and manipulated to go astray, but what causes a mature adult to stumble and fall? Is it your hand, a foot, or an eye? If so, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to enter life maimed than to know the fires and sufferings of hell.

Jesus is emphasizing the seriousness of our bad influence on others, not recommending drastic (and useless) self-mutilation. It is not the hand which draws our heart to sin, nor do the feet hasten our souls toward evil. Though the eye is a powerful influence, it only does the bidding of another. That other is the heart. It is the source of the problem. “For a fool speaks nonsense, and his heart inclines toward wickedness: to practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord” (Isaiah 32:6 NASB).

Jesus offers a better way: to be seasoned with salt and help make the world around us taste better and be preserved from evil. But what happens when we run out of salt? How do we get “salty” again?

Our own strength will fail us whether we are trying to avoid sin or are trying to do well. We need outside help. Jesus hints at the coming solution: “everyone will be salted with fire.” What other good thing comes with fire? He will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to comfort us, i.e. to strengthen, empower and encourage us. Though we are saved, it is only with his help that we are able to overcome the failings of our hearts and the evil tendencies of the world around us.

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

Who is Jesus?

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“Get behind me” Mark 8:27 – 9:1

Jesus asked the question: “Who do people say that I am?” It’s always easy to answer for other people. But he goes on and gets, well, more personal: “Who do you say that I am?” That’s always more difficult. Our answer might depend on the situation and on who’s listening, but should it?

Peter had it all figured out. After all he’d seen and heard enough of Jesus to know he was not just an ordinary guy. Jesus was who Peter had hoped he would be: The Christ. And he was correct.

But he hadn’t figured all of it out yet. He saw the triumphant Christ, victorious over evil, pain and suffering. He saw a friend, a healer and a comforter of sorrows. He did not see a dangerous threat to the world he lived in. He did not see a man that would get himself killed and his followers along with him.

Jesus saw it plainly, though, and said so. He would suffer, be rejected and ultimately executed by the very people he brought the hope of new life to. (He also said he would rise again, but nobody seemed to notice that at the time).

Peter couldn’t believe his ears. He pulled Jesus aside and proceeded to chew him out for being so negative. Jesus would have none of it and gave Peter a strong rebuke: “Get behind me, Satan!” (It is enough for now to know that “Satan” is a name that can mean “adversary.” Others can explain it’s application to Peter better than I). Peter no doubt is in shock. Jesus spells it out for him: you’re looking at this with man’s interests in mind and not God’s. The picture is much bigger than you are seeing.

Jesus goes on, “If anyone wishes to come after me…” There it is again, “Get behind me.” When you follow someone, you are behind them. You don’t go running ahead and try to lead the way. The leader is out in front.

This is a tough lesson for Peter, the disciples and all who would follow Jesus. Do we follow only when the grass is green, the birds are singing and the sun is shining? Or do we persevere with him when the storm clouds roll overhead, the rain beats down driven by a gale, and the enemy openly besieges us?

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

What’s in your heart?

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From within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts and deeds. Mark 7:14-23

Jesus now turns to the crowd, to help rid them of the onerous traditions and rules laid upon them by their religious rulers. You can’t soil a man by the kind of food he puts in his mouth, he says. What dirties and soils a man is what comes out of him, in his words and deeds.

The disciples were confused, as no doubt were many in the crowd. All Jews were taught not to eat certain foods to avoid becoming defiled. Jesus just threw that out the window, leaving them to wonder how in the world they could now please God.

The outward acts we do, which are readily observed by the world around us, serve as a witness to what God can accomplish with a life surrendered to him. The observance of tradition or obedience to commandment reveals the change in heart God performs within us. The problem arises when we turn things around and skip over the disagreeable parts. We think that by performing the rituals and obeying the commands we have cleaned ourselves up and thus proclaim to God we are now pleasing in his sight.

We want to say to the world, “Since we are so wonderful and do the right things, God has honored us.” But in reality, God chose the least significant and most corrupt people ever to live on the face of the earth and saved them from their sin at great cost to himself. We can no more make ourselves presentable to God than we can fix a cracked block in the engine of our car by keeping the windshield clean.

The basic issue, then as now, is understanding the nature of the human heart. The rabbis taught men are born pure and righteous, but become defiled by contact with the evil present in this world. So they offered a solution in the form of rules and regulations to clean up the mess. Jesus presents a different perspective: the heart starts out as a filthy mess and its natural outflow is evil deeds and thoughts. Either way, it’s not a pretty picture and Mark leaves us hanging without a solution. But here’s a spoiler:

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Ezekiel 36:26 NASB

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Who sets the pace?

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“…and many such things you do.” Mark 7:9-13 ESV

Jesus is not yet finished with the Pharisees. In fact he is just getting warmed up on the subject of man’s traditions versus the commandments of God. Now it should be noted that “tradition” here is not referring to hanging stockings or drinking eggnog at Christmas. It is tradition with teeth and consequences. It is placing the expectations of men over other men with an eye toward enforcing compliance. In effect, these traditions had the force of law, superceding even the law of God. This is what Jesus was attacking.

The specific issue was denying support to parents when a vow had been taken to devote one’s means to God. Vows were (and are) very important and bound a man to fulfill them, but never should have been allowed to nullify God’s clear commands, as in this case the fifth commandment. To make matters worse, the rabbis prohibited a man who had taken such a vow to help his parents in any way, while never ensuring that any of the means actually were given to God! As bad as this sounds – and so obviously wrong, even to outsiders – Jesus adds that this is just one example of the many ways the Jews avoided obeying the Lord.

Has this sort of thing ended, or does it still exist today? One need look no further than the divisions that exist between Christians over matters of doctrine or theology or eschatology, all while claiming the same source of authority: the Scriptures. On a sillier note, we joke about congregations splitting over the color of the carpet. Even style of worship, music or dress can distract us from praising God. And where money is concerned, we hear of preachers encouraging folks to give sacrificially, above and beyond what they can afford. God will bless you, they say, because you can’t outgive God. Well did James say, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16 ESV).

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Ins and outs

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“Why do your disciples not walk according to…” Mark 7:1-8

The scribes and Pharisees again come out from Jerusalem to take another look at Jesus and his teachings. They readily observed that the disciples were eating with unwashed hands. And their implication was that Jesus was negligent for not requiring them to do so.

This time their complaint seems incredibly picky to us, but to them it was of tremendous importance. They do not mean that the disciples were eating with dirty hands, but that they had not followed the prescribed ritual to rid themselves of all unholy contamination caused by contact with the outside world. The Jews were well known for their slavish devotion to this tradition, which not only including washing their hands up to the wrists but extended also to cups, pots and pans. And tradition it was. The Law never required such cleansing. But their traditions were held in such regard that they even superseded the law of God.

Jesus is quick to point this out. He quotes from the respected prophet Isaiah, saying that these religious leaders were hypocrites (play actors), portraying themselves as something they were not. They knew which words to say about just about everything, but their hearts were not in tune with God and the intent of His word. Further, their worship was self-serving and of no worth to God because they exalted the ideas and commands of men above even what God had to say.

We may wonder what all the fuss was about, but then we have enjoyed a couple of thousand years of freedom in Christ. But that does not mean our lives as Christians have not been impacted by the pronouncements of religious leaders and organizations above and beyond what God requires. The pressure to define who’s “in” and who’s “out” permeates even our Christian society. However, we humans lack the resources to judge even those most like ourselves.

The trick is to keep in mind who you are trying to please. If it is a person, the rules may well change with every person you happen to meet. If it is God, rest assured He will look past your outward appearance and actions and examine your heart, seeing what you are really about.

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Walking on water

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“…they all saw him, and were troubled.” Mark 6:45-52

Today we joke about walking on water as reserved for those who are exceptionally pure or righteous. But to the disciples it was not a joke. In fact it was unsettling.

Immediately after feeding 5,000 miraculously, Jesus packed the disciples in the boat and told them to meet him on the other side of the lake. Mark doesn’t record any questions or need for explanation. They just go, leaving Jesus alone to dismiss the crowd and then to retreat to pray on a nearby mountain.

The disciples had a hard pull across the lake since the wind was against them. During the fourth watch (between 3 and 6 AM), Jesus paused in his praying and noticed they were still struggling to cross Galilee. He got up and went to them. Not by walking around the shore, but by walking across the lake. On the water. We’ve heard the story so often, it may not strike us how unnatural this was, and how utterly unprepared the disciples (or anyone, for that matter) were to witness such an act.

Mark tells us Jesus intended to pass by them, probably hoping to greet them when they reached the shore, but the disciples caught sight of him walking on the sea. There was no natural explanation for what they were seeing. It went against all they knew about how things on earth worked. In a moment, their powers of rational thought skipped a beat and resorted to the primitive superstitions of their day. They supposed they were seeing a ghost and cried out.

Jesus knew their fear and immediately spoke to them as he drew near. “Take courage! It is I – do not be afraid.” He climbed into the boat. The wind stopped. The disciples were astonished. We are told the reason for their astonishment – they had not yet gained any insight from the miracle of the loaves and their hearts were hard. Not that they were bitterly set against him, but they had not yet fully opened themselves to receive all that Jesus was and could do.

It may be tempting to take the disciples to task, but there isn’t any indication that Jesus did this. The disciples followed his instructions and persisted despite the arduous and exhausting rowing against the wind.

Too often we think that if we encounter opposition when following God’s will that we must have missed a turn and gotten off the path. We fear that we have not been following his voice but that of our own deceptive hearts or the voices of our neighbors. It is then that Jesus comes and says, “Take courage!”

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

No smart phone?

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“They went out and preached…” Mark 6:7-13

Jesus now sends out the disciples in pairs to preach a message of repentance. He also gives them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal the sick. Preaching and miracles! No wonder the world was later “turned upside down” by these guys.

We remember this story not by what Jesus provided them, i.e. a message and miraculous power, but by what he denied them: no bread, bag, money or change of clothes. Sounds like a few poorly planned hiking trips I’ve been on.

Jesus’ purpose is not to make them suffer or practice self-denial, but to continue teaching them to rely completely on God. They would be his laborers; he would clothe, feed and house them. Nowhere does anything indicate that they would be hungry, exposed to the elements or without support and assistance. In fact, Jesus expected them to learn that he would care for them through the people they would meet.

But all this is just a secondary issue in commissioning them for this “mission, quest… thing.” First and foremost was to reach the people with the good news of God’s kingdom. It was like having twelve more of Jesus out in the field.

We know the results of their efforts by the reports: many demons were cast out, many sick people were healed. But what of the message they preached? And why was it so brief? Wasn’t there more that could be said besides “repent”? Couldn’t they have given a less blunt message, one with a more appealing approach, perhaps?

Well, it was what they knew. After all, John the Baptist and Jesus himself had preached the very same thing. A well-crafted, reasonable and compelling message is not necessarily what is required. More than words are needed. The apostle Paul expressed this perspective as well in First Corinthians 2:4,5 – “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Seed power

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“…and the seed sprouts up and grows…” Mark 4:26-34

Seeds are one of the marvelous illustrations that Jesus uses in teaching. A seed pretty much works on its own. Whatever makes it tick is already in place even before the sower places it into the ground. What else does the sower do? He waits day after day and night after night for it to grow and ripen. Then he harvests it and enjoys its fruit. He doesn’t even have to understand how it works.

The mustard seed is simply a story that shows how something small can become something large. A small seed that grows into a big bush, so that birds can nest in its branches.

However growing seeds are not the main subject here. Jesus is using these stories to teach us something about the kingdom of God. It’s not about any work that we do or could do. It’s about how God moves steadily and surely toward establishing his kingdom. His kingdom does not follow man’s rules or ideas of how things should be. Men deny that God’s way will work and provide lengthy, involved explanations of how it didn’t work when it is quite evident that it has.

Do we realize the power that we unleash when even the smallest seed is planted? Or the bountiful crop of fruit that results? To us, life goes on a day and a night at a time while God produces growth in these tiny seeds. Most of the time everything looks the same – nothing appears to change. But eventually we notice the blade has emerged from the ground and before we know it, it’s a huge shrub. In time, we can hardly imagine when it was not there.

Remember to keep spreading those seeds around. What seeds? The seed that is the word of God.

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Turning the lights on

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“…nothing is hidden, except to be revealed…” Mark 4:21-25

“Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel?” This saying of Jesus is among his most well known. We even sang about it in Sunday School: “This little light of mine.” Matthew records the meaning Jesus had in mind, as if there was a need to make it more obvious. Like a bolt of lightning which even the light of day cannot hide. “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16).

Mark quotes the same saying and meaning with a slight twist. Although he does not offer an explanation, his context suggests that Jesus is still answering the disciples’ question about his use of parables: does he really intend to hide his teaching from some people? In response, Jesus does not apply the parable’s meaning to his followers, but to himself.

The answer, of course, is “No.” Why would anyone bring a lantern into a dark place and then cover it with a bucket?

The nature and purpose of light is that it dispels darkness. The dark can never push aside even the smallest amount of light. It is always the other way around. If God has hidden something, he will reveal it in good time. Some knowledge may be out of our view for a while, but those secrets will eventually come to light.

God is not trying to hide his truth and wisdom from anyone. But we must be careful to watch for those moments when he unveils what is hidden. Our attention must not wander. Distractions from many sources will tempt is to pay heed. If we are not mindful, the opportunity to increase our knowledge and wisdom will pass us by, and with it, deny us the chance to increase the amount of light to come.

Our mind and spirit can be like a muscle. The more it is fed and exercised, the greater the capacity to absorb the Lord’s wisdom and knowledge. Such an outlook will find an ever abundant source of light.

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Parables

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“He was teaching them many things in parables” Mark 4:2

Mark Chapter 4 contains a series of parables. We heard a few parables earlier which were readily understood by those that heard them. But now, Jesus seems to be intentionally hiding the meaning from the people.

Even the disciples seem to be in the dark and come to Jesus privately seeking an explanation. Jesus is happy to give them the meaning and tells them his purpose: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive.”

Parables were common in the teaching of the rabbis and might even be considered a favorite of Jesus. The rabbis taught, then followed up with a parable that illustrated what they had just taught. Jesus approached the parable differently. It was the foundation of his teaching. The parable came first, followed by the teaching, which was reserved to those closest to him.

This might seem exclusive or even a bit mean. Why would he deny the people his word? It may have more to do with logistics than any lack of desire to teach the masses. Jesus’ time was limited – he would not be able to do everything required to launch the church and equip it to last for centuries. Attracting large crowds of followers was not his primary purpose. His main work concerned redemption and the sacrifice he would offer of himself.

The disciples, soon to be known as the Apostles, would have the responsibility to spread the word, not only to Israel, but to the entire world. It was essential that they know Jesus’ teaching and purpose forward and backwards. They had to know him and his teaching so well that it became second nature to them, and flowed easily and powerfully from them as they taught the people after the Ascension of Jesus. This is why he focused his efforts on them.