faith

Mountain toss

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Do you believe that what you ask will really come about? Mark 11:20-26

The next morning, Jesus and his disciples pass by the fig tree which he had cursed the day before. Peter notices that the tree is completely withered, as if it had been dead for years. Jesus says simply, “Have faith in God.”

He then refers to a popular saying at the time regarding mountains being picked up and tossed into the sea. The inference was that this was absolutely impossible. Not so, says he, if anyone just says “Be taken up and cast into the sea”, it will happen as long as there is no doubt in his heart.

Belief and prayer combined are a powerful force. Such power could accomplish much in ridding Israel of its enemies and establishing the Messiah’s kingdom. Remember, there are those among the disciples who have sought such power. So why is there no response on their part? Why aren’t they eagerly lining up, begging Jesus, “Let me try!” and “No, me first”?

First, there may have been confusion in their minds about the cursed fig tree. Was he talking about Israel? Why would it be unfruitful? This didn’t sound much like the promised messianic kingdom (there will be more concerning Israel later).

Second, those who have God’s authority and power on this earth had just been soundly rebuked the day before for their abuse of that power. What did this mean about their traditions? the Law? What about sacrifices and giving?

Finally, Jesus gives a new reason to be hesitant. They had heard the idea from him before, but now he links forgiveness to powerful prayer. Actually, he connects it to a vital relationship with God. If you expect God to forgive you, you must also forgive those in your life who have wronged you. As long as you hold anything against another, God will seem distant from you.

“Have faith in God” identifies the object of that faith. Belief is based on truth. Belief in a fantasy or wild hope will yield nothing but frustration. God is truth. To know truth, you must know God. How do you do that? By spending time with him and his people. By reading his word, the Bible. Soon you will think the way he thinks, respond the way he does and act in a way he prescribes. Praying for the things God wants to see happen will begin to seem second nature and powerful results will follow.

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

The King comes

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“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Mark 11:1-11

The journey up to Jerusalem has now reached the Mount of Olives. Stopping briefly at Bethpage and Bethany, Jesus sends two disciples into the village to retrieve a colt that had not yet been ridden. They are to find it just as they enter town, untie it and bring it back to him. Just in case they encountered anyone, Jesus adds “if any one asks what you’re doing, tell them that the Lord has need of it.”

The two disciples set out to perform their task and found everything just as Jesus had told them. The colt was tied up outside on the street, they were asked what they were doing and allowed to take the colt with them. It is not often that anyone has such specific instructions in following the Lord’s will! Still, following those instructions requires a measure of faith. It still does.

The disciples put some clothing over the colt’s back and Jesus sat on it. Many others spread their garments out on the road. Others cut leafy branches from the fields and laid them before the path of Jesus.

Where did these people come from? They also were traveling to Jerusalem for Passover, as was the Jews’ custom. Luke tells us that Jesus had made the trip as a boy with his parents, likely with friends and relatives from Galilee. No doubt the tradition continued and Jesus and his disciples found themselves in a friendly crowd, surrounded by many from Galilee who had seen Jesus’ miracles and had heard him speak. And there were others that joined the happy throng along the way, such as Bartimaeus of Jericho.

The longings of the people for their coming messiah saw the day’s events as fulfilling the much anticipated words of the prophets. They began shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” For once Jesus did not prevent them, for his time had come.

Jesus entered the city. John informs us that the Jewish leaders were greatly concerned about his arrival and the effect he had on this large crowd. Jesus goes to the temple and spends some time looking around. Not as a casual tourist taking in the sights, but as a commanding general conducting a reconnaissance and planning his strategy. Then, since it was late in the day, Jesus retreated with the twelve to Bethany, which became his base of operations.

The campaign will begin in the morning.

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

Trees walking

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“Do you see anything?” Mark 8:22-26

Jesus moves on to the next town and the people bring a blind man to him, asking him to touch him. That is what they expected, supposing this was part of his healing process. But then Jesus does something they may not have expected. He leads the blind man away from the crowd and out of the village and out of the public eye.

What follows may be described as Jesus coaxing the man to believe he can be healed. As we have seen from earlier healings, there is no need for Jesus to spit on the man’s eyes or lay his hands upon him (twice, in fact). Jesus could simply say the word – even from across town – and the healing would occur. It must have been, then, for the man’s benefit. It was important for him to have faith in Jesus and not just a spectacular event.

There are a couple of notable things about this account. First, it is the only time Jesus healed in baby steps. Healing did not occur in one dramatic moment. It took some intermediate steps and a progress report from the man that healing was beginning to occur.

Second, there is no commendation of faith by Jesus. In other cases Jesus made note of, if not marveled at, the person’s faith and healing occurred immediately. We may be seeing a bit of the spirit of Nazareth (where he could do no mighty works) evident here in this village.

But even though Jesus does not praise the man or the villagers for faith, he also does not berate them for the lack of it. However small this man’s faith may have been, it did not prevent Jesus from restoring his sight. The man did not settle for a partial blessing, of a miracle of seeing only unclearly, but persevered as Jesus again laid his hands upon him. When the man “looked intently,” he began to see clearly.

Jesus is always ready to bless us, no matter how we may try to limit his ability to do so. Don’t worry that you don’t have faith like the centurion or the woman with the flow of blood. Place what faith you have in Jesus and begin to trust him.

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

Opening ears and mouths

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“He has done all things well” Mark 7:31-37

Jesus is on the move again, but instead of heading back into Jewish territory he moves into Decapolis on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. This was predominately a Gentile area, with some Jewish settlements here and there. It also was where the former Gerasene demoniac was sent to proclaim what Jesus had done for him (see Mark 5).

The people bring to him a deaf man who also has difficulty speaking. They ask Jesus to heal the man by laying his hands on him. Jesus takes the man aside, away from the crowd. He puts his fingers into the man’s ears and mouth, then looks up into heaven, sighing. Finally he says, “Ephphatha! Be opened!” and the man both hears and speaks.

The specific details that Mark includes are interesting. Does he mean to present a sort of handbook to learn the “Jesus Method of Healing”? If so, the first thing a student would notice is that Jesus is not very consistent in his methods. He doesn’t seem to do the same thing twice in the same way. Actually, the last thing Jesus wants to teach is that he practices a superior sort of magic or wizardry. Healing has nothing to do with rituals and incantations and everything to do with the person of Jesus.

He emphasizes the need to focus on him, looking to him to provide all that is needed, from salvation to daily bread to healing. It is no different today. Divine healing certainly exists, but the divine healer is and always has been Jesus himself.

Look at how Jesus deals with this man who, remember, can neither hear nor speak. Obviously, verbal communication will not work. The crowd with their prying eyes does not help either and Jesus removes the man to a more private place.

Jesus then “speaks” to the man through his actions. He shows that he understands the man’s need by placing his fingers in the man’s ears. Then he spits and places the saliva on the man’s inoperative tongue. Finally, he looks up toward heaven, prompting the man to follow his gaze. Then he sighs. So far no words have been spoken but that does not prevent God from understanding the prayer. To demonstrate the healing, Jesus proclaims “Ephphatha!” which no doubt was the first thing the man heard.

Naturally, the reaction of the crowd was pure astonishment and they excitedly began spreading the news. Jesus, however, orders them not to say anything. And the more he demanded silence, the more they talked about it. There are a few guesses as to why Jesus would do this, but Mark leaves it unexplained.

One remarkable comment from this largely heathen crowd speaks (perhaps unwittingly) to the divinity of Jesus: “He has done all things well.” The Jews and later Christians could not help but to compare this saying with the creation account in Genesis, when God declares that all he had made was good.

The elephant in the room

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“…even the dogs…feed on the children’s crumbs.” Mark 7:24-30

Mark continues his theme of who’s in and who’s out with the story of a Syrian woman who had a demon possessed daughter. Jesus had retreated with his disciples to the region near Tyre. He desired to remain incognito and go unnoticed, something that had escaped him of late. However, the people soon became aware of his presence. One of these was the Syrian woman.

She sought Jesus out and begged him for the deliverance of her daughter. Jesus explains the nature of his mission, noting that the Jews are his initial focus. Using an illustration, he says the children must be fed first, before the dogs. She responds, “Yes, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall under the table.” Jesus is impressed with her answer and tells her that her daughter is rid of the demon.

At first glance, Jesus appears to be acting differently than we’ve come to expect. He has always been available, ready to help anyone in need. Now he seems reluctant, even prejudiced against this foreign woman. He might be taken for a Pharisee, with all their rules for maintaining their acceptability before God. First and foremost of these rules was avoiding contact with non-Jews.

It may be better to evaluate the actions and attitudes of Jesus by first looking at the end of the story. The result shows us where Jesus was headed all along. He was able and willing to perform this miracle for this Syrian woman, but then as now, answers to prayer are not automatic, nor are they guaranteed to come in the exact form we expect.

Matthew’s account of this story indicates a considerable delay in responding to this woman, something Mark only hints at. But who are we to judge Jesus by the promptness of his answer? Can we abide with him still, even though he seems to be saying “not now”? Was he testing her faith? What if she failed? We need to remember that God tests what He knows to exist. No one “earns” an answer to prayer by enduring trials and tribulation faithfully. Faith comes first and brings us through whatever circumstances come our way.

Then there is the issue of the woman’s nationality. Did Jesus really hold this against her, or was he merely calling attention to something that would have been on the minds of everyone present? In the eyes of the Jews, she would have been a “dog”, a worthless mongrel to be despised. But Jesus chooses his words carefully and softens his response by using a word meaning a household pet or even “puppy”.

The woman (and the Jews hanging around) would have noticed the difference in terms. She didn’t miss a beat and picked up on his cue: “You’re right, dogs are not allowed in the house, but puppies are.” She understood where he was headed and probably took the words right out of his mouth.

Faith can be described as seeing the world through God’s eyes, as He sees things. And the thing that delights and surprises Jesus most is the presence of faith.

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

Jesus is here!

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“…immediately the people recognized him” Mark 6:53-56

When Jesus and his disciples reached the other shore they tied up at Gennesaret. Immediately the people recognized Jesus and began to spread the news of his arrival. Today we would say the news went “viral.” Which is pretty amazing, since at that time there was no social media or other means of broadcasting important information or funny pictures of cats. All you could do was tell someone. It was literally word of mouth. Unless you brought along the cat.

But this reaction was no fleeting social sensation. It happened wherever Jesus went, in villages, cities and out in the country. And the people did not come just to see a celebrity. They had practical reasons to see Jesus which were largely related to sickness, injury and disease. They expected to receive healing from him for themselves and their loved ones. They gathered around him without hesitation, even carrying the sick to him on makeshift stretchers. There were too many of them to even think of having a private audience with Jesus. Yet they pressed forward, believing that if all they could do was touch his clothing, he would heal them. And of course he did.

Reading this passage today we might be disappointed that it is so general, without any specific cases detailed for us. This no doubt the same frustration that the apostle John expressed in closing his gospel account: “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25 ESV).

Those books are still being written, as Jesus has never ceased to speak and act. Are you prepared to fill the world with what he has done for you?

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

What is this?

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“…he could do no miracle there…” Mark 6:1-6

Local boy makes good, becomes famous and leads a large ministry of teaching and healing throughout Judea. You’d think the local paper would be trumpeting the news, bragging about how great and wonderful their town was in producing such a great wonder. But that wasn’t the case.

Yes, they were astonished at his wisdom and marveled at the miracles they had heard about. They did not deny any of this. What then was the root of their complaint?

It may have been just a matter of knowing him too well. They had no reason to suspect that he was God in the flesh. The Jesus they had known for years was just a man, like any other. What else could he be? He was the village carpenter, after his father Joseph. They were familiar with him and his work. They knew the family: his mother, brothers and sisters. Nothing particularly special about any of them. Just where did he get these “super powers”? What made him think he knew God any better than they did?

People today can have a similar perception. Many of us have heard the Bible stories so many times that they no longer register any meaning in us. The stories haven’t really sunk in. They don’t impact our daily routine. We keep that part separate from work and our life between the Sundays. Why shouldn’t we? For a lot of us, church and religion isn’t deemed relevant in the “real” world. Good examples of good Christian lives are often few and far between.

Jesus knew what was going on with the people of Nazareth. It’s likely the same thing for us as well. Mark tells us he “wondered at their disbelief.” Belief is not the same as knowing facts, rules and doctrine. Nor is it knowing how to behave or say the right things around certain people. What we really believe will show up in who we are, how we react and who people know us to be.

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Faith training wheels

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“Don’t be afraid… only believe.” Mark 5:21-42

We now come to two more famous stories: Jairus and his daughter and the woman with the flow of blood. While neither is connected with the other, the stories do intersect and impact each other. The problem with well-known stories is simply that we think we already know what they say. We skip through them thinking we’ve pondered all there is to be considered, not expecting to find anything new. But the word of God, being living and active, should never be regarded as the agent of boredom.

Both Jairus and the woman acted in faith, though each had exhausted every other means of help before turning to Jesus. They each had decided that a specific means would accomplish their faith’s object: “Please come and lay your hands on her” and “If I just touch his garments…” As we know from the Roman centurion’s example, such conditions are not necessary for Jesus to work a miracle.

Yet Jesus honored their faith and fulfilled their requests, despite the way outside influences such as culture and tradition may have shaped their expectations. As usual, God sees past the externals and examines the heart and its true motivations. By granting healing to these two, Jesus improves their faith while increasing their knowledge of his nature. The woman can’t get away with sneaking up to him and taking a “stealth” healing from him. Healing requires a personal encounter with Jesus. There is no method or formula that works automatically. Jesus is always intimately involved.

Not much is said to reveal Jairus’ inner feelings. He seemes dazed, as if in shock, going through the motions of doing what he thinks should be done. Jesus agrees to come with Jairus, but then is interrupted by the woman in her need. Then the news comes – Jairus’ daughter has died. Jesus speaks to the turmoil Jairus had kept inside, “Don’t be afraid anymore, only believe.” That was the needed thing. Belief will overcome all obstacles and distractions. A belief that Jesus will make all things right for those he loves and that he will deliver us all safely to the end.

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley