Watchfulness in Tribulation and Triumph

Part 2 (13:24-37)

I already covered most of this in the last email, because these sections are so interconnected, but there are a couple more cool things I’d like to bring out.

I like this quote from Edwards:

It is equally important to note what this glorious vision of the future does not affirm. There is no mention of a millennium, no new Jerusalem, no rebuilt temple, no restoration of Israel or the State of Israel, no battle of Armageddon, and no hints how and when Christ will return. About all these things, the text is silent. All these incidentals yield to the preeminent truth of the power and glory of Jesus’ future coming and the promise that His elect will be gathered to Him. This preview of the future ought not lure us to calculate when Christ will return, nor to fear what will happen, but to know that He will come to claim His own. His coming is His promise, and the gathering of believers to Him is our hope.

“you know that summer is near” … “you know that He is near, at the very gates”

“Summer” and “gate” or “door” are very positive words – while Jesus’ return is set in the middle of an apocalypse (v24-25: the sun/moon/stars blacking out and “heavenly powers being shaken”), it is set as a beautiful, positive thing – something we eagerly wait for and yearn for.

Expectancy and Vigilance

While the disciples are asking for a sign, so they can know when these things will happen, Jesus Himself is content that even He does not know. He is content to leave it in the hands of the Father alone – as we should be – and live “awake”, expecting it at any time.

Jesus’ return – seeing Him again and being with Him – was such a big deal for Peter, as we learn from tradition as well as his letters – and such a big deal for Christians in the 1^st century. It’s a shame to see it neglected as it is today and consumed with insubstantial quarrels about times and dates. Jesus is coming back! I can’t wait. I love how this yearning is brought out in The Sands of Time are Sinking, one of my favorite hymns:

The sands of time are sinking

the dawn of heaven breaks

the summer morn I’ve sighed for

that fair, sweet morn awakes

Dark, dark, has been the midnight

But day-spring is at hand

And glory, glory, dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land

The bride eyes not her garment

But her dear Bridegroom’s face

I will not gaze at glory

But on my King of Grace

Dear Jesus, come back soon! Thank You for Your promise; teach us to treasure it and hold it close when we’re suffering and waiting. Please rip our minds and hearts from the things of this world, the petty things that charm me like shiny new software and new movies. You know my heart is prone to wander, please bring my attention back to You, help me to live today in the awareness of Your presence, Your compassion for me and Your imminent return. Yet with the same breath, I ask You for patience, that more might be saved. I want to see a remnant brought in from the gothic and indie electronica/dance subcultures. May Your Word go out and may many more be brought into Your amazing salvation!

– peter

Here are the most recent five links, which I just posted to the main outline. There’s tons of good stuff here and I’ve been getting better about being concise. Enjoy!

Mere Discipleship (9:30-50) 21 verses

• The Second Passion Prediction & the Second Misunderstanding, The Kingdom of God is larger than our Experience of it & Discipleship: Counting the Cost (9:30-50)

“On the way” through Judea (10:1-52) 52 verses

• Discipleship and Marriage, Discipleship and Children & Discipleship and Possessions (10:1-31)
• The Third Passion Prediction, Self-Serving Sons of Zebedee and Self-Sacrificing Son of Man & A Model Disciple (10:32-52)

The Barren Temple (11:1-25) 25 verses

• Jesus enters Jerusalem, The Barren Temple (11:1-25)

Jesus and the Sanhedrin (11:27-12:44) 51 verses

• The Authority of the Son, the Sending of the Son & the test of the Pharisees (11:27-12:17)
• The Test of the Sadducees, the Test of the Scribes, the Question of the Day & the Widow’s Two Cents’ Worth (12:18-44)

Credit: the outline and many of the thoughts are from James R. Edwards’ excellent commentary on Mark.

This is starting to get really exciting, hold on to your britches.

Removing the Veil

Part 1 (8:10-30)

Here we reach Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, which divides Mark in two like the Rocky Mountains. Before the confession, Jesus was criss-crossing the Sea of Galilee doing ministry, afterwards He’s heading resolutely to Jerusalem. Before the confession He was working with the masses, after He’s privately teaching His disciples. After the confession, He solemnly says “I tell you the truth” a dozen times – something He’d only said before once (3:28). Before the confession, He’s casting out demons and telling people to be quiet and not tell anyone who He is – we see none of this afterwards.

A Sign of Disbelief (8:10-13)

Jesus goes in the boat to Dalmanutha, a region probably on the Westernmost shore of the Sea of Galilee, just below the cliffs of Arbel. The Pharisees “come out” against Him, asking Him for a “sign from heaven”. This is different from the word for miracle – Jesus has been doing lots of miracles, but what they’re asking for is “a sign from heaven,” proof that God Himself is cool with what Jesus has been doing. Jesus response, though it doesn’t come across so much in English, is total dismay or despair, groaning in His spirit, signifying that He’s being pushed to the limit. His response of “no sign will be given to this generation” is literally a Jewish idiom that is the equivalent of “over my dead body” (Edwards: “if a sign shall be given to this generation, may I die”).

Right away, Jesus gets back in the boat and takes off. He has so had it with the Pharisees; their hardness of heart and total unbelief has pushed Him to the edge. They want “proof positive”. He’s been doing crazy-awesome miracles all along – He doesn’t require blind faith – but He does require some faith.

The Enemy Within (8:14-21)

In the boat on the way back, Jesus encounters more unbelief – but this time from His own disciples! He uses a riddle involving yeast to warn them to watch out for the hypocrisy and traps of the Pharisees and Herod and they think “yeast?! Oh no, we forgot bread!!” As if their unbelieving response to Jesus request “You give them something to eat” wasn’t bad enough (“Shall we go out and buy 200 days’ wages worth of bread?!”), now they’re freaking out because they forgot to bring the bread.

It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t simple chew the disciples out for having no faith, but He points to the root of their lack of faith: not seeing or understanding. Genuine, saving faith isn’t blind faith, it’s faith based on hearing, seeing and understanding – paying attention to the miracles that Jesus has done for us.

The Touch that Gives Sight (8:22-26)

I’ve always been confused with this miracles – why Jesus does it in stages, making the man’s vision blurry and asking him if he sees – and the guy seeing things blurry “I see men, but they look like trees walking around”. I was like “What?! Why not just heal him all the way, the first time?”

But I never put it in context. It occurs right after Jesus chews the disciples out for not seeing, not understanding – “do you not yet perceive? … having eyes do you not see?” This miracles is all about sight – in the English several of the words for sight are the same, but the original Greek has eight different words for the nine instances of “seeing” in 8:23-25!

The man’s blurry vision at the beginning – “I see men, but they look like trees” – is parallel to the disciples after Jesus confession of the Christ. They recognize that Jesus is the One – the Messiah – but they (like everyone else) are expecting a military campaign and a reigning king. Their vision is still blurred. It’s not until after the resurrection that they will be able to see clearly, like the man at the end of the healing.

Peter’s Declaration of Jesus’ Messiahship (8:27-30)

I really like how Jesus asks “who do others say I am?” and “how about you, who do you say I am?” as two distinct questions, forcing the disciples to think for themselves and venture into the open with their own beliefs on the matter. I also love the question – it’s not about what Jesus has done, it’s about who He is. Who do you say Jesus is? I need to ask this question more often of teens who respect Jesus and Christianity, but haven’t taken the plunge. Who do you say Jesus is? Is He the Christ, the very Son of God?

Jesus, we honor You as the Son of God, the Judge of all, the coming King. We swear loyalty to You, yet we’re acutely aware of our own weakness and faithlessness. Please teach us to see, to hear, to pay better attention to You and all You’ve said and done for us, that our faith may grow and our lives be changed, in order that You may be exalted on earth, like You are in heaven.

– peter

I’ll try to link each day’s notes as I complete them, starting with today’s (Mark 7:1-23) as well as gradually going back and posting and linking older notes. I’m not posting each set of notes as a separate blog entry because that would be too much traffic (I try to keep the blog to a max of 2 posts a week).

Credits: Up until Chapter 4, I was just using Scrogge’s Guide to the Gospels and a single-volume commentary by William MacDonald. For Chapter 4 and later, I borrowed Mark Lind’s Pillar commentary by James R. Edwards (edited by D. A. Carson), which has been excellent.

The Gospel Appears in Person (1:1-13) 13 verses

• The Key to Mark & John the Baptizer: Forerunner of Jesus, The Baptism of Jesus & God’s Son meets God’s Adversaries (1:1-13)

Beginnings of the Galilean Ministry (1:14-45) 32 verses

• The Gospel in a Nutshell, Calling the First Disciples & the Authority of Jesus (1:14-28)
• A Day in the Life of Jesus, Journey Inward/Journey Outward & Jesus Trades Places with a Leper (1:29-45)

Trouble with the Authorities (2:1-3:12) 40 verses

• The Authority of the Son of Man, The Scandal of Grace & Fasting and Feasting (2:1-22)
• Lord of the Sabbath, A Question of Life and Death & The Open-Air Preacher (2:23-3:12)

Insiders and Outsiders (3:13-4:34) 57 verses

• The New Israel, The Binder of the Strong Man & The Parable of the Sower and the Mystery of the Kingdom (3:13-4:20)
• Hiddenness that Reveals & From the Insignificant to the Incomprehensible (4:21-34)

“Who then is this?” (4:35-6:6a) 56 verses

• Jesus – Stiller of Storms & Creation from Chaos (4:35-5:20)
• Faith that Defies Defeat & Prophet without Honor (5:21-6:6a)

Witness to Jews (6:6b-7:23) 74 verses

• The Cost of Discipleship (6:6b-30)
• Feeding the Five Thousand, The “I AM” in the Midst of a Storm & the Man for Others (6:31-56)
• Recovering the True Intent of the Law (7:1-7:23)

Witness to Gentiles (7:24-8:9) 23 verses

• A Gentile who was a “True Israelite”, They will see the Glory of the Lord, The Feeding of the Four Thousand (7:24-8: 9)

Removing the Veil (8:10-9:29) 58 verses

• A Sign of Disbelief, The Enemy Within, the Touch that gives Sight, Peter’s Declaration of Jesus’ Messiahship (8:10-8:30)
• Messiahship and Discipleship, Removing the Veil: The Transfiguration of Jesus, Profiles in Suffering & Frail Faith in a Strong Savior (8:31-9:29)

Mere Discipleship (9:30-50) 21 verses

• The Second Passion Prediction & the Second Misunderstanding, The Kingdom of God is larger than our Experience of it & Discipleship: Counting the Cost (9:30-50)

“On the way” through Judea (10:1-52) 52 verses

• Discipleship and Marriage, Discipleship and Children & Discipleship and Possessions (10:1-31)
• The Third Passion Prediction, Self-Serving Sons of Zebedee and Self-Sacrificing Son of Man & A Model Disciple (10:32-52)

The Barren Temple (11:1-25) 25 verses

• Jesus enters Jerusalem, The Barren Temple (11:1-25)

Jesus and the Sanhedrin (11:27-12:44) 51 verses

• The Authority of the Son, the Sending of the Son & the test of the Pharisees (11:27-12:17)
• The Test of the Sadducees, the Test of the Scribes, the Question of the Day & the Widow’s Two Cents’ Worth (12:18-44)

Watchfulness in Tribulation and Triumph (13:1-37) 37 verses

• The Destruction of the Temple, Standing Firm Despite Infirmities & the Tribulation (13:1-23)
• The Return of the Son of Man in Glory, the Lesson of the Fig Tree & Expectancy and Vigilance (13:24-37)

The Abandonment of Jesus (14:1-72) 72 verses

• The Sacrifice of Faith, Preparation for the Passover & Oblation and Obduracy (14:1-31)
• Gethsemane: Prelude to the Cross & the Arrest: Judas and Jesus (14:32-52)
• True versus False Witness (14:53-72)

The Cross and the Empty Tomb (15:1-16:8) 55 verses

• Pilate and Jesus & Scourge and Scorn (15:1-20a)
• Crucifixion, the Son of God, Faithfulness versus Fearfulness (15:20b-16:8)

The Longer Ending of Mark (16:9-20) 12 verses

• An Early Christian Resurrection Mosaic (16:9-20)

I am the good shepherd; I’m willing to die for my sheep

When a hired man, who isn’t a shepherd & doesn’t own the sheep, sees a wolf, he abandons them and the wolf snatches and scatters them. The hired man ran away because he was hired — he didn’t care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and they know me — with the same intimacy I share with my Father — and I am willing to die for them.

(a portion of John 10, based off the GNT)

1. Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church by Ed Stetzer (should be nearly finished by the end of the year)
2. Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris (good, but a little too social-justice oriented for me to be super-excited about it)
3. Holiness By Grace by Bryan Chapell (great theology, but so thickly written it was a bit of a chore to get through it)
4. Bauckham’s, JND Kelly’s & Hiebert’s detailed exegetical commentaries on 2 Peter (read a good chunk of each, I figured together they counted as 1 book)
5. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (ok, so it’s an easy, fun book — those count too!)
6. Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead (also fun, part of a Robin Hood trilogy)
7. The Lively Art of Writing (excellent book, recommended by Mrs. Jordan)

Of course, that doesn’t count the books I’ve started:

1. Robert Ballard’s Bismark: Germany’s Greatest Battleship Surrenders Her Secrets
2. Dune by Frank Herbert (one of the few fiction authors whose writing style I very much admire)
3. The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever (excellent so far, forward by C.J. Mahaney)
4. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart (I really like this book so far)
5. Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Ted Tripp
6. Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp (on parenting teens – wrote a promotional article for it in the TFC newsletter)

How about you? What have you been reading?

God doesn’t listen to sinners; he listens to people who respect Him and do what He wants. Since the beginning of the world, nobody’s ever heard of giving sight to somebody born blind. If this man weren’t from God, He wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

It’s a little trickier to understand the connections Jesus makes between working on the Sabbath and spiritual blindness/light:

He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. As long as it is day, we must keep on doing the work of Him who sent me; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

I confess I don’t get all of this. The reason he’s blind is so that the “works of God might be displayed in him” (ESV) or “God’s power might be seen at work in him” (GNT). So it looks like there might be some word-play between the man getting sight and God’s work being displayed/seen. As well as the correlation between this being done on the Sabbath and the idea that God wants to display His works.

But when Jesus says that “night is coming, when no one can work” – is He just using nightfall as an illustration that, just like when night comes and no one can work – in a similar way when He leaves the planet, He cannot work? And therefore He needs to be busy now, even on the Sabbath? Surely He’s not saying that there will come a time when literally no one can work – that would be stretching the illustration too far, right?

At any rate, it scares and enamors me just how controversial Jesus is among religious people like me. Like Adam said at the Quiz Meet, the religious establishment in this country – in many ways the modern-day Pharisees – are conservative Christians. We are the ones careful to play by the rules, careful to look good. We are so careful not to offend. We’re not usually concerned about whether we might lead others to sin (what Romans 14 is actually about), instead we’re concerned about whether we might offend them (two very different things).

But Jesus, not Him! He’s purposefully offending people left and right — but not for the sake of shock value. Rather, He’s driven by a passion for God’s glory. Like earlier in John, “passion for Your house consumes Me”. I love what Mark Driscoll says: “we need to call sinners to repent of their sin and we need to call religious people to repent of their religion.”

Man, I want to be more like Jesus and less like the Pharisees. The scene here in John 9 is so ripe with human depravity it’s chilling (and would make a good plot for a sci-fi messianic fiction like Dune or the Matrix): when “the One” finally does come, the religious communities who’ve been waiting for Him hate Him so much they excommunicate anyone who believes in Him.

God:

I will send my beloved Son, perhaps they will respect Him.

Us:

This is the heir. Let’s kill him and take the inheritance.

I still believe this is something we desperately need to “get”, but I regret that I didn’t tell the other half. Though Paul didn’t have you — or anybody remotely like you — in mind when he penned Romans, God did.

God, in His insane foresight and deep love for you, cared enough to preserve the letter and make sure you could, centuries later, read their mail. But you’ve gotta realize it’s still their mail. If you tell yourself, “well, God knew it would get to me, so there must be something hidden between the lines for my 21st-century issues” you’re kidding yourself.

No, God wanted you to get a copy of it and, in His insane mastery of space and time, even intended you to read tonight whatever letter it is that you’re reading. But He intended you to read it as His letter to them, first of all and to piece together what He was saying to them (no easy task, but not rocket science either). Only once you’ve understood His message to those Christians in Rome, only then can you rightly apply the message to your own life and struggles. Taking a sentence here and half-a-sentence there and applying them directly will spell disaster. You’ll find yourself running to your parents with “I was just reading the Bible and… God wants me to say ‘yes’ to Johnny!”

God, in His intricate foreknowledge, planned for you to read the letter you happen to be reading tonight — and for you to learn certain things from it. But those things He wants you to learn are things that’re actually there — the original meaning and principles initially directed to Christians in Rome.

PS: The chapter on Discipline that triggered this post has an amazing section that reveals from Hebrews 12 that every difficulty in life is from God’s intricate foreknowledge. Every single one is intended to train us — either training not to do something wrong we’ve been doing or training us to prepare us for future opportunities. I’ve always approached blessings that way (seeing through rose-colored glasses to read God’s love and care into every blessing of life), but I’d never thought of trials that way.

Update: God has more purposes for our pain than simply Corrective Discipline and Training Discipline (mentioned above). There is Preventative Discipline (Tony), An Opportunity to Witness to Non-Christians (Dax, Lauren) and An Opportunity to Share in Christ’s Sufferings (Peter: this would be a “heavenly” as opposed to an earthly purpose, for instance in the case of someone being martyred).

You would think Jesus He would kick off His instructions to His followers on how to live (Sermon on the Mount) by contrasting with the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. But He starts by pronouncing blessings – rewards and joy for those who live in uncommon ways.

All nine blessings are important, but Jesus does a few things to rivet our attention on the ninth:

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

A Blessing Set Apart

• The first eight blessings pronounce “blessed are those who” – referring to all people for all time who fit the category (merciful, meek, etc). But the ninth pronounces “blessed are you when” – referring only to Jesus’ followers.

• The ninth blessing is more intense than the eighth. They’re not just “being persecuted”; people are insulting, persecuting and saying all kinds of evil about them.

• The ninth blessing is more specific than the eighth. It is not just for those persecuted because of righteousness, it is for those persecuted because of Jesus.

• The first eight blessings form a unit with book-ends that share the same reward, “for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”, but the ninth reward is a superlative of the first and eighth rewards: “your reward is great in heaven”.

The Testimony of Scripture

The Sermon on the Mount’s opening isn’t the only place in scripture where suffering for Jesus is elevated as a high privilege.

Paul talks mysteriously of “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”[1]. In writing to the Philippians, He speaks of suffering for the Lord as a precious God-given privilege on par with the privilege of faith in Christ[2]. When the apostles suffered, they rejoiced that they had been “counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the Name”[3].

Yet we have the exact opposite reaction: we rejoice that we have not had the opportunity to suffer for our Lord and we pray we never will.

Until a couple weeks ago, even I thought these blessings didn’t apply to Americans because we have a 1st Ammendment right to the freedom of religion. But as we studied this passage in church, I realized that the promises of scripture stands opposed to the thought: All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted[4]. If they do these things while the tree is green, what will they do when it is dry?[5] If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.[6]

Why don’t the Promises Ring True?

If these are the promises of scripture, why don’t we find them to be true in our experience? The answer is contained in the next words from our Savior’s lips.

Immediately following the blessing of being persecuted for Him, Jesus gives a double-warning against losing the vibrancy of our witness: the first against losing our taste and the second against hiding our light under a basket.

I believe that we have lost our vibrant witness for both of these reasons and that they are the very keys for re-gaining it – and with it, the blessing of persecution.

Faceless Suburbanites

The first warning, salt losing its taste, is a warning against blending in with the culture around us. We do this by living the full-potency righteousness in Matthew 5-7. When we look at it, we begin to make excuses: we don’t have the time or money to live for others like Jesus did.

The truth, of course, is quite the opposite, but it is painful. It requires stripping down our monthly planners and budgets to find and minister to the sick and poor among us. I’m ashamed to say that I need a lot of work in this area.

Redefining Courage

The second warning, about stuffing our light under a basket, is not so much about being different as it is about hiding our differences. Paul asked people to pray that he would be courageous with the gospel and we see the theme of courage and boldness running through Acts from beginning to end.

But somehow we’ve redefined courage, such that “so-and-so knows I’m a believer” is courageous. Take a second to look at the apostles and we realize that bold evangelism means bringing the gospel to the lost in a way that is both relevant and convicting. One of the reasons we’re afraid to do this is that we’re afraid of suffering disgrace for the Lord – because we don’t see persecution as the blessing it truly is.

May we aspire to be worthy of suffering disgrace for our Lord, as the apostles did, speak the gospel boldly and enjoy the fellowship of sharing in our Lord’s sufferings[7].

1. Colossians 1:24
2. Philippians 1:29
3. Acts 5:41
4. 2 Timothy 3:12
5. Luke 23:31
6. John 15:20
7. Philippians 3:10