LENT 2011, Day 27

Finally! I am at Mark 3 today!

Faithful Jesus. He faithfully entered the synagogue again on the Sabbath - his habit, clearly recorded and demonstrating a pattern for us to follow.

Instead of focusing on faithfulness in worship, the Pharisees were intent on finding the fatal flaw to fault Jesus with. He didn't disappoint. Their attitude grieved him - the ESV translation of Mark says it made Jesus angry.

We should be angry at the things that anger God - but it is not an anger at people, it is an anger in defense of righteousness. There is a difference. It is the 'be angry and sin not' kind of anger - living in Truth above the cacophony of the crowd. That's what Jesus modeled.

I cannot reiterate often enough how precious it is reading the Bible with the topography of the locales mentioned so clearly in mind. When Mark tells us that Jesus went down to the sea - I can see the sea. When Mark reports that Jesus had them get a boat ready because the crowd pressed so closely in on him, hoping to just be able to touch his garment - I can even visualize the boat. We got to see a boat from Jesus' day that had been buried in the mud along the shore of the Sea of Galilee for 2,000 years....

Later in the chapter when Mark writes that the scribes 'came down from Jerusalem' I understand why. Galilee is north geographically, but no matter where you are in Israel, you always go 'up' to Jerusalem. Conversely - no matter which direction you head when leaving, you always go 'down' from Jerusalem.

In this instance the point we pay closer attention to is Jesus' teaching about the one unforgivable sin. That sin is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. It is not an accidental sin. When I used to be a youth group leader I even wrote a song for them about it - and the point was, people swear using God's name, and Jesus' name - but they never swear using the Holy Spirit's name. Swearing against the Holy Spirit is not something done accidentally. Anyone who intentionally does - the only way it happens - commits the one unforgivable sin. I'm glad God is the judge. I operate on the 'as long as there is life there is hope' theory - but I have cautioned people more than once that they were going too far in denying God's reality and power - which are demonstrations of the Holy Spirit. That definitely grieves my spirit - and His spirit within me.... We always need to be sensitive to His spirit within us.

Another special focus I note in Mark 3 is the naming of the 12 closest disciples - the ones Jesus designated as apostles. Mark gives us the short version - but gets them all down:

Simon (who Jesus will later name Peter)
James, (one of the sons of Thunder), the son of Zebedee
John (James' brother, also one of the sons of thunder and obviously son of Zebedee)
Andrew
Philip
Bartholomew
Matthew AKA Levi the son of Alpheus (Mark 2:14)
Thomas
James the son of Alphaeus
Thaddaeus AKA Judas the son of James and Judas (not Iscariot)
Simon the Cananaean, identified by others as Simon the Zealot
and
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (John 6:71 says his father was Simon Iscariot)

Mark already told us Jesus called Andrew and Simon first, then James and John together, and then Levi. Now we get the whole list of all of them.... I wonder why Andrew and Simon aren't together on the list any longer. I note that there were 2 named Simon and 2 named James - but neither of those named James was Jesus biological 'half-brother' James. He wouldn't come to belief for a while yet.... Just to make things more confusing, the other gospels have the names just a little different in some cases. And in this list Mark lists Matthew instead of Levi.

They were a motley crew. I wonder at their lives. I'm looking forward to meeting them. Soon - very soon!