Sunday School Session 7

Well, hello again. We're here to look at the Gospel of Mark together. And so if you would turn in your notes, we're in Lecture 3. Lecture 3. And we are in the section that covers Mark chapter 6, verse 30, through chapter 8, verse 26, entitled, Seeing Clearly.

All right?

Now, let's just take a moment and ask God to bless our time together as we look into his word, as we see what God has to say to us in this gospel.

Let's pray.

Father, again, we ask for insight. We pray that you would use this to point out in our lives where we need to change to help us to see Jesus and what he is and what he's about. So help us now, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Disciples' Lack of Faith

All right. Mark chapter 6, verse 30, through chapter 8, verse 26 is the next section that we want to talk about. You notice in your notes, what is the purpose of this section? What is Mark trying to communicate to us?

It's just this.

Here you find a whole string of miracles with some teaching, but one theme, and that is who can see clearly. Who can see clearly? Now, in most of these incidents, you find an element of the disciples not seeing Jesus clearly, what he's about, and that is the overarching telos.

The overarching telos is the disciples don't seem to get it, and this is illustrated primarily with the last miracle in this section of the man who cannot see clearly. Sometimes we're like the disciples.

We are so familiar with Jesus that we do not clearly see who he is. So let's begin. Chapter 6, verse 30 through verse 44, the feeding of the 5 ,000. Consider these questions. When Jesus says to the disciples, you give them something to eat, he was testing them.

What should have been their response? Think about that, especially in terms of Mark chapter 6, verses 12 and 13. What could they not see in that miracle? Well, let's look at it together. Mark chapter 6, verse 30 through verse 44.

Once more, I want to say to you that if you haven't read all of this text, chapter 6, verse 30 through chapter 8, verse 26, just turn this off and take the few minutes that's required to read that whole section and then come back and we'll look at it.

When Jesus asked that question of his disciples, when he asked them, you give them something to eat, when he tells that to them, the disciples could have responded with, no, Jesus, you can feed all these people.

You're the one who can feed all these people. They should have responded immediately with faith, with faith. These were the same men who had just returned to Jesus, remember, excitedly reporting all their miraculous deeds that they did through the power conferred on them by Jesus.

They should have seen that since Jesus had given them power to cast out demons, since Jesus had given them all this power, he was the one to go to, right? They could have turned to him and says, no, Jesus, you're the only one.

You're the only one. If we're to do it, we need something from you, right? We're looking to you to do that, but they didn't respond in that way. Now, before you look down your nose at the disciples, how often has God shown his truth and has shown himself and his power on our behalf and then we turn around and forget everything that God has done?

We forget that God can accomplish great things. How often has God showed himself powerful on my behalf, right? Has done some extraordinary things, has worked in some way, and then I turn right around and start worrying about something else, forgetting all about what Jesus has done.

In fact, I can look back over my whole past and see many times where Jesus, where the father through Jesus has worked, right? And then immediately I can start worrying about something yet to come, forgetting everything that God has done.

Here you find a record of Jesus' power, and yet we fail to trust him at many junctures.

Of the way.

So the story from Mark is intended not just to show Jesus' divinity, he can feed 5 ,000 people with very little, but to show that the disciples didn't get it, that he could do that, that he could do that, they should have turned immediately to him.

Jesus Walking on the Water and Hardened Hearts

And then next we see in chapter 6 verses 45 through 56, Jesus walking on the water. Now, Mark purposely makes a contrast here. He wants you to ask, who does not recognize Jesus and who does recognize Jesus?

He's drawing a contrast here between those who do not see Jesus and those who do. What is the reason he gives for not recognizing Jesus? What can cause that in our own hearts, not recognizing Jesus for who he is?

Well, as we look at this text, you will notice that two miracles are recorded within this one narrative, Jesus walking on the water and the people flocking to see him when he reaches the other side with the disciples, the other side of the lake.

It seems to me that Mark is putting a contrast right before us in order for us to see that. So you read through the story, here's what you see. After praying, Jesus sees his disciples straining at the oars as they're trying to cross that body of water and he heads out toward them on the water, walking on the water, but they don't recognize him.

They don't recognize him. In fact, they think he's a ghost and they are terrified. However, Jesus gets in the boat, grace climbs in the boat, and everything is still all at.

Once.

And Mark makes this observation. They were completely amazed for they had not understood about the loaves. Their hearts were hard, right? Their hearts were hardened. There was a hardness to their hearts that kept them from recognizing Jesus.

Even after this miracle, they had not understood about the loaves. They didn't get it, right? And so they didn't recognize him. They're completely amazed. Their hearts were hardened. Now, notice, notice the contrast.

As soon as they land on the other side of the lake, what does it say? Look at verse 54. The people immediately recognized him. So in verse 49, you see, but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and they cried out in terror.

They didn't recognize him. But notice what he says to us in verse 56. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him. That's a purpose. It's a purposeful choice of words there.

Mark is trying to show us there that the people noticed they recognized Jesus immediately. So word spreads and the people come. Now see the contrasting faith of these people. They begged him to let him touch even the edge of his cloak and all who touched him were healed.

You see that in verse 56. These folks had receptive rather than hardened hearts. And they completely believed that Jesus could do all these things while the disciples can't quite see it clearly.

All right.

They can't quite see it clearly. These folks do. Now, can you see that in your life? I'm a man who spends hours in the word of God face to face with Jesus. And yet I can say there are others of you who oftentimes see Jesus clearer and who trust.

Him more.

You'll find that. What hardens our heart so that we do not see Jesus? That's the question we need to ask as we leave this particular narrative. What hardens our heart? What hardens our heart so that we don't see Jesus and what is it about these people that make them receptive and they immediately recognize it?

All right.

What Really Makes a Person Unclean

Now we come to chapter seven, a very pivotal chapter for us in our Christian lives. Verses 1 through 23. What really makes a man unclean? What really makes a man unclean? That's the question here. Who is blind in this narrative?

Verses 1 through 23. Who is blind and who cannot quite see clearly in this narrative? What do the Pharisees believe makes you acceptable to God? What do they believe about worship? Where do you see this attitude today?

And by the way, make sure you're not looking at another group of people. Look at yourself. Where do we see this attitude today? Don't look at other people. Look at yourself now and ask, where do I see this attitude?

Now, as you read, the Pharisees are upset because the disciples don't hold to the tradition of when they come back from the marketplace, they don't wash before they eat. Now, this is not Jesus saying to little children, when your mom says you don't have to wash your hands before you eat lunch, don't believe that.

That doesn't matter. That's not what this is about. Remember, he's talking about the traditions of the elders, and they have all of these little rules that you must follow in order to be acceptable to God.

For example, you go out into the marketplace, you're rubbing shoulders with Gentiles. You're rubbing shoulders with people who are considered unclean by Old Testament law. And so what they say is, so then before you eat, because if you eat, you know, if you don't wash, if you don't go through the ceremonial washing, it wasn't to take germs off.

It was to make them acceptable to God. And if they didn't do the washing, they would contaminate the food. And then the food they would eat would contaminate them and make them unclean. You see, that's what they're worried about.

So they had all these rules and they're angry at Jesus and his disciples because they don't do that, right? They don't do the proper washings. And notice it mentions things like the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches and so forth.

All these ceremonial things to make sure you're acceptable to God. Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?

Okay.

The disciples are quoting the Pharisees here. Well, let's see. No, they're asking Jesus, I'm sorry. They're asking Jesus, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?

And so Jesus goes on to talk to them. So to the Pharisees, all the outward context, the outward ceremonies, the outward actions determine one's acceptance with God. You've got to do all the right things in order to be acceptable to God.

Jesus says, as you read through the narrative, Jesus says, God's interest lies in the heart, not in the religious rights for the heart is where true worship and obedience begins.

All right.

So Jesus is tackling two subjects here with these traditions. First, he talks about worship and then he talks about obedience.

Okay.

And he says to them concerning worship and he quotes Isaiah concerning the legalistic rules for worship and says, you go all, you, you do everything right in order to be able to say, I worship God acceptably.

But in the process, your heart strays. Your heart is, is, is not worshiping outwardly. People honor God with their lips. They're singing their hymns. They're praying outwardly. They honor God, but inwardly their heart is straying away from God.

The worship is empty because it consists of no more than following man's rules for worship. Jesus even goes so far to say that that kind of worship actually leads to throwing aside God's commandments.

It leads to actual disobedience. Your rules for worshiping God acceptably, your rules that say, do this and God will accept your worship actually leads you to the point where you're disobeying God. Notice what he says, verse 16 or verse nine.

You have a fine way, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. For Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.

But you say, if a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you would have gained from me is korban, that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do.

You see what he's saying there? He said, you have all these rules about acceptable worship to God. And you say, if you take all your possessions and you say, I am so sold out to God that I'm going to give all my possessions to the temple, right?

I'm going to give all my possessions to the temple. That's how serious about God I am. And Jesus says, you know what you've done? You've just by your tradition that says this is really worship. You've actually ended up disobeying the true commandment of God, which is honor your father and mother.

Take care of them. Take care. Part of honoring your father and mother means take care of them. They're needy. They need food. They can't work anymore. It's your job as a son then to help them. But no, because of your tradition, you actually lay aside the commandment of God in order to follow this tradition of man.

You see what he's saying, that we get so concerned. We get so concerned with the outward. We get so concerned with the rules that we make. We get so concerned about these things that we actually end up disobeying God rather than saying, wow, I'm really serious about God.

Let me give you some examples. Here's my observance of traditions that has caused people to stray from worshiping and obeying God. And I don't exclude myself from this. I need to look at myself. So for several years and even maybe still today, churches have been involved in worship wars, which is to say, should you have guitars, drums, people holding microphones as they lead in worship?

And some people have said, no, that's absolutely forbidden. This is not this is a church, not a nightclub. These are the sorts of things I heard when I was a kid, when there would be people who would hold a mic.

No one dared to have drums or guitars when I was a kid at church. Oh, no, that was considered part of the rock and roll scene. We can't have any of that. But if you hold a microphone, oh, man, I heard this.

This is a church, not a nightclub. Right. So what happens? We're really serious about God. We're setting aside this hour for worship, not nightclub stuff. And what happens is, does the Bible say anything about holding a microphone and singing?

No, it doesn't. But people have these rules. And what happens is in their intent to say, by cracking, we're going to worship God. We're not going to have a nightclub here. What happens is they start hating their brothers and sisters who disagree with them on that in their devotion to this rule about microphones or later on the rule about guitars and drums and praise teams.

Right. In their in their intense saying, we don't want that sort of stuff because that's not worship. What do we end up doing? We end up hating our brothers and sisters instead of loving them like we're commanded.

Right. Instead of loving them like we're men, we ended up hating them. When I was in Romania all those years, here's what I noticed. So so Romania, the Romanians in the Baptist churches there are, you know, kind of traditional, kind of like what I grew up.

It's kind of like going back to the days when I was young as as we first went to those churches. And it was the tradition of the Romanian, the Baptist, that they would the women would sit on one side of the auditorium and the men would sit on the other.

They would be there would be two sections. Right. And single women would wear head coverings. Married women did not. But single women would merit would would have head coverings. And so there would be these incredible fights.

As some churches said, you know, the Bible doesn't say we have to sit segregated. Why don't we sit together as families or or even the head coverings? Oh, there would be humongous arguments about that.

Again, what happens? We have all these rules that we think are absolutely necessary for proper worship. And in the process, we end up hating our brother and sister instead of loving them. We end up getting angry with them.

We end up violating all kinds of what God commands. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Love your brother or sister. If you're angry with your brother, what you're guilty of murder. All these things are happening in our intense desire to do acceptable worship by these rules.

And so you see, when you get to that point, you actually lay aside the worship of God. Your heart strays, even though outwardly, even though outwardly you are doing what is proper worship, proper worship.

Actually, you're disobeying God. Now, next, Jesus tackles the idea of sin. Jesus tells his disciples that any outward sin always has its roots in the inner man, in the heart. Now, again, when Jesus talks about heart, he's not talking about this organ, nor is he talking about merely emotions.

The Bible, when it uses the word heart in this way, is talking about the inner man, your thought processes. So we could say that the heart includes mind. It includes emotions. It includes motives. It includes intentions.

It includes my loyalties, right? What I'm devoted to. It's the inner man, that part of you that thinks that part of you, the control center of your life. That's what he's talking about. And he says sin has its roots in the inner man, not outwardly.

The contamination of sin begins with us. Our hearts are the first link in the contamination chain, not the last link, as the Pharisees talked about. Right. If I touch these kind of people, I am unclean.

I am unacceptable. Right. Instead of seeing that contamination comes from within, they saw it as starting on the outside. So whenever you sin, now listen carefully, whenever you sin, it always has its origins in your heart.

All right. Now, let's take a look at a couple of these. For example, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft. Let's think about theft. That's an outward thing, right? I am stealing something, but that stealing starts on the inside.

Why am I stealing? Why is that person a thief? Is that person a thief? Because in his heart, he says, there's no way I'm going to work. I'm going to take the easy way out. I'm going to, right. I'm going to grab some stuff that I didn't pay for and sell it and make more money.

And I mean, that's pure profit margin, isn't it? OK, or or someone's hungry. I don't trust God to provide for me. And so what I'm going to do what I have to do, whatever I have to do, I'm going to do it, you see.

So it starts in the heart. It starts on the inside. I know people, I've counseled people. I can think of one in particular who the only reason why he shoplifted. Was for the thrill. I love this thrill, the thrill of danger, the thrill of getting away with something.

It started in his heart. You see, I have this incredible desire to have this kind of a feeling. And so I get it when I steal. It starts in the heart. What about adultery? What about adultery? I would guess that most people don't wake up and just say, you know, today I'm going to commit adultery.

No, it starts in the heart. Here's a guy who's married to a woman who says to him, you know what? I don't care about your work, really. I'm thankful that you can bring, you can support us, but I don't want to hear about your work.

I'm really not interested in what you do. So don't bring your work home with you. Don't talk to me about it.

All right.

And so he says to himself, what? I need a woman who understands me. I need a woman who, I want a woman who understands me. I want a wife who understands me. And that that becomes a, I need someone to understand me.

And lo and behold, he's at work and he's working with a female colleague and she is vitally interested in what he does. And she wants to understand him. And she wants to understand why he, he feels bad when the project didn't go like it should have gone.

Right.

And so now I need to have someone who understands. There it is. There's someone who understand. There's someone who's interested in what I'm doing. You see, it starts in the heart. I have this desire for something and it leads down this path until it shows up on the outside in adultery.

And so always examine your heart. Always examine your heart. Whenever you see the fruit of sinful behavior, look to your heart and ask yourself, what is going on on the inner man? What's going on? What am I loving?

What am I hating? What is it that I want? You can never blame anyone or anything else if what Jesus says is right.

Right.

If Jesus says, if what Jesus says is right, and he does say what's right, obviously, but if what he's saying is right, then you can never blame something else for your sin. You must always say it began inside.

It's the heart that sets the stage for worship, and it's the heart that lays the groundwork for sin. Now, let's continue. Next in chapter seven, beginning in verse 24, you see the plea of the Syrophoenician woman.

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith and the Deaf Mute Healed

Now, what does this woman see clearly? OK, so by the way, let's go back. The disciples don't see clearly what Jesus is teaching here. They don't they don't get it right. They're not seeing clearly what Jesus is about.

Jesus is about the heart, not just the externals. All right. The Syrophoenician woman. What does this woman see clearly? What does this woman see clearly? That's interesting. She's not a disciple.

All right.

In fact, she is identified as a Gentile and not just a Gentile, but a Syrophoenician woman. In other words, a traditional term for the very, if you will, the very worst enemies of God. All right. The Canaanite type woman.

Now, she comes to Jesus and she wants him to deliver her daughter from a demon. And she falls down at his feet and she begs him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he says to her, let the children be fed first, for it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

Now, what's Jesus saying here? He says, I've come for the people of Israel and for the for the covenant people of God. And I've come to give them bread. And so I don't throw the children's bread to the dogs.

And by the way, dog is another, dog was a common term for Gentiles. And so Jesus is probably making that allusion to make the point. Now, is he being cruel here? Is Jesus being cruel? He can't be cruel.

He was the perfect, the perfect lamb of God. But Jesus tests her faith here.

All right.

Jesus tests her faith. With this statement, because her reply, notice her reply shows her faith. She answered him. Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Now, do you see what happens here?

Here you find someone who sees Jesus clearly. And what does she see? She knows that Jesus is her only hope. There's nowhere else to go. At the feeding of the 5 ,000, the disciples did not immediately see Jesus as the one to whom they must first turn.

Who to whom they must immediately turn. This woman sees Jesus as her only hope. Her faith sees only him. And she does not cast about for other solutions.

Right.

Where else can she go? Where else can she go? She says, hey, if I only get crumbs, I'll be happy with crumbs because you're my only hope. And if I can only get crumbs from you, then I'll take the crumbs.

Do you see what's going on here? She sees clearly that no matter what Jesus decides to do, no matter what he decides to do, she cannot go anywhere else. He's the only hope that she has. Even if he chooses to give her crumbs, he's the only one who can help.

There's nowhere else to go. Jesus, you're it.

You're the only one.

If I can only get crumbs, then that's what I'll take because you're my only hope. Do we see Jesus that clear? Jesus, of course, sees her faith, doesn't he? And the girl is delivered from that evil spirit, that unclean spirit.

Isn't that interesting? Do we have the same vision of Jesus, the same view? Where do you look for help and hope? Where do you look for help and hope?

Yeah.

I mean, we have to prepare like I don't get up and say Jesus is my only hope. And so I'm just going to wing it when I preach.

I prepare.

I study.

I pray.

But I expect Jesus to work. It's worth nothing unless Jesus decides to work. And what if Jesus does not work in the way that I want him to?

Right?

What if he doesn't work in such a way, in the way that I want him to? Do I start looking for other solutions then? Do I start casting about? Do I start saying, wow, my sermons don't seem to be effective.

Maybe we ought to quit preaching and do something else.

Right?

Now, what do we do? Do I say, Lord Jesus, if you want me to have crumbs, I'll be satisfied with that because you're the only one who can work. Do I, do I see him as cruel or do I see him as testing my faith so that no matter how he works, I will see him and rely on him no matter what.

Even if he doesn't do what I want him to do, what am I going to do? I'm going to stay with Jesus. He's my, if I only get crumbs, I'll take the crumbs because Jesus, there's nowhere.

Else to go.

Actually, I love the story about the Syro-Phoenician woman. That is a tremendous, tremendous lesson on seeing clearly, on seeing Jesus as our only hope. Now we see the miracle of the deaf mute, the man who cannot hear and the man who cannot talk.

The Deaf Mute, the Second Feeding, and the Blind Man at Bethsaida

Here's the question.

These people do not see clearly, even though they walk away in wonder and.

Amazement.

Why are they so amazed?

Okay.

They don't quite see clearly enough, even though they walk away with wonder and.

Amazement.

Let's take a look at this. Unlike the previous woman, these people do not see as clearly as they ought. The woman knew that Jesus was her only hope and that she had to keep asking, never wavering in her faith.

Now there are some similarities with these people. These people beg Jesus to heal the man, like the woman begged him to heal her.

Daughter.

In the woman's case, he doesn't want people to know where he is, that he is.

Here.

They don't, he doesn't want them to tell what he's done. Like the woman, he seems reluctant to heal that reluctance evidence in the side. Um, but unlike the woman, these people see Jesus as what, as the miracle worker, they do not see him as savior, as the savior came.

And that's why Jesus commands their silence. That's why Jesus commands their silence. They'll just talk about his power and not his mission. They'll talk about his power, but not his mission. That's why he tells them not to talk, right?

Overwhelmed with amazement at the wonder worker. They're overwhelmed with amazement at the wonder worker, but they have no desire to follow him or to trust him.

All right.

They see the signs, but they don't see where those signs point. They're satisfied at the relief he can bring, but they are not satisfied in the fact that he is Messiah. He has done everything well, is their cry, right?

He has done everything well. Now, can we be awed by Jesus and still not love him? Think about that. Can we be awed by Jesus and still not love him as we should? Now comes another feeding, the feeding of the 4 ,000.

Again, the Pharisees display blindness. Now, the Pharisees come to Jesus and they demand a sign. They want a sign that will meet their criteria for a miracle. Such demands indicate a settled and deliberate blindness that no sign would.

Ever overcome.

This is a settled, deliberate blindness. Jesus could do whatever, he could perform any miracle and they still would not.

Believe, you see.

Now, what didn't the disciples see clearly? What is the yeast of the Herodians and the Pharisees, and how do you find that.

Today?

So take a look at the disciples. They blow it again. How could they have responded to Jesus' question? How could they, how could the disciples have responded to Jesus' question when he says to them, why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? There again, we see, are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the 5 ,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces.

Did you take up?

And so they recount the feedings, right? Here's what happens. Jesus warns them about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, that corrupting agent that demands signs in the face of the obvious. Of course, they mistake this for a discussion concerning the bread that they forgot, right?

What are you talking about? Jesus gets a little frustrated and he asks them if they still don't see or understand, he asked them about the feeding miracles and they just recite the facts, do you still not understand?

He says to them, do you still not understand? Unlike the Pharisees who are blind, the disciples again, just miss it. With evidence all around them, the Pharisees prove their blindness. Do a sign for us.

Well, they've had all kinds of signs. With all that Jesus is and does, the disciples just miss it, right? Jesus gave them a chance to say, Jesus, why don't you feed these people? Remember? But they end up thinking about one loaf of bread in the middle of all of Jesus'.

Power.

Now we can see the revelation of Jesus' glory in all of scripture. And yet we too, in the midst of all that revelation, can miss the point. Cannot see the significance of who he is.

Okay.

They don't see the significance of who he is. We can get distracted by everything that's going around for us. I'm only looking at the present reality and not seeing my powerful Lord Jesus and what he can and will do.

I worry about bread, forgetting that Jesus has multiplied loaves beyond my greatest expectations, right? I must see Jesus. Now, this whole section ends in chapter eight, verses 22 through 26 of what I call the funny miracle.

Do you think Jesus couldn't heal the man on the first try? This man who's blind and he does something to his eyes and then they say, what do you see? He says, I see people like trees walking.

All right.

He couldn't see clearly. What's the purpose of this miracle? Now, this is a living object lesson concerning the disciples and their lack of sight. He just said to them after the discussion concerning Pharisees and Herod, don't you still understand?

He has challenged them about their lack of understanding of their lack of sight. The disciples were not blind, but they like this man could not see clearly. Their vision was blurred. They are not blind, but they still can't see.

You see?

So this, this is the culminating miracle. The object lesson that says too often, we're not blind, but we just don't see.

Clearly.

We need to see clearly. That's the way it will be with many with whom you minister. It's going to be the way with you. Some are blind. They need to be brought to salvation through Christ. They need God to break through the blindness, to give them sight so that they can embrace Jesus in faith.

But some are not blind like this man. They see men as trees walking. They see life in Christ's purposes through blurred vision and confused images. They are not blind. But they cannot see now that's addressed to you.

And that's addressed to me. It's not just addressed to people. We minister.

It's addressed to us.

We have to work at seeing Jesus clearly. And he's given us all kinds of miracles here by which we can see him clearly. So we see the kingdom of Christ advances, even with responses to it that you would think would oppose its growth.

But when that kingdom and its king is put before people, as you minister to others, you'll observe that not all see clearly its nature and its power. Well, I hope that's helpful to you. And I pray that these studies will continue to give you more insight into who Jesus is.

Let's pray.

Thank you, Father, again for today. Help us now as we go on. Help us to begin to see Jesus clearly. Give us eyes to see. Help us to work at concentrating on what Jesus has revealed about himself so that we will know clearly who he is and his power and put our faith and our trust in everything.

In him.

We thank you now in Jesus name.