Mark: A Walk With The Savior Archives - Page 5 of 8

Mark: A Walk With Our Savior (Day 50)

Posted on Jan 15, 2018 in Mark: A Walk With The Savior |

Read Mark 12:1-12

THE PARABLE OF THE EVIL FARMERS

Jesus’ stories, also called parables, were illustrations that used something familiar to help us understand something new. This method of teaching compels listeners to discover truth for themselves. The message gets through only to those who are willing to listen and learn.

Israel, pictured as a vineyard, was the nation that God had cultivated to bring salvation to the world. The religious leaders not only frustrated their nation’s purpose but also killed those who were trying to fulfill it. They were so jealous and possessive that they ignored the welfare of the very people they were supposed to be bringing to God.
In this parable, the man who planted the vineyard is God; the vineyard is the nation Israel; the tenant farmers are Israel’s religious leaders; the servants are the prophets and priests who remained faithful to God; the son is Jesus; and the others are the Gentiles. By telling this story, Jesus exposed the religious leaders’ plot to kill Him and warned that their sins would be punished.

Jesus referred to Himself as the stone rejected by the builders. Although He would be rejected by most of the Jewish leaders, He would become the cornerstone of a new building, the church (Acts 4). The cornerstone was used as a base to make sure the other stones of the building were straight and level. Likewise, Jesus’ life and teachings would be the church’s foundation.

Mark: A Walk With Our Savior (Day 49)

Posted on Jan 15, 2018 in Mark: A Walk With The Savior |

Read Mark 11:27-33

RELIGIOUS LEADERS CHALLENGE JESUS’ AUTHORITY
The religious leaders asked Jesus who gave Him the authority to chase away the merchants and money changers. Their question was a trap. If Jesus said His authority was from God, they would accuse Him of blasphemy; if He said His authority was His own, they would dismiss Him as a fanatic. To expose their real motives, Jesus countered their question with a question about John the Baptist. The leaders’ silence proved that they were not interested in the truth. They simply wanted to get rid of Jesus because He was undermining their authority.

Mark: A Walk With Our Savior (Day 48)

Posted on Jan 13, 2018 in Mark: A Walk With The Savior |

Read Mark 11:20-26

JESUS SAYS THE DISCIPLES CAN PRAY FOR ANYTHING

The kind of prayer that moves mountains is prayer for the fruitfulness of God’s kingdom. It would seem impossible to move a mountain into the sea, so Jesus used that illustration to show that God can do the impossible. God will answer your prayers but not as a result of your positive mental attitude. Other conditions must be met: 1) You must be a believer; 2) you must not hold a grudge against another person; 3) you must not pray with selfish motives; 4) your request must be for the good of God’s kingdom. To pray effectively, you need faith in God, not faith in the object of your request. If you focus only on your request, you will be left with nothing if your request is refused.

Jesus, our example, prayed, “Everything is possible for you . . . Yet Your will be done, not mine”. Our prayers are often motivated by our own interests and desires. We like to hear that we can have anything. But Jesus prayed with God’s interests in mind. When we pray, we can express our desires, but we should want His will above ours. Check yourself to see if your prayers focus on your interests or God’s.

Mark: A Walk With Our Savior (Day 47)

Posted on Jan 12, 2018 in Mark: A Walk With The Savior |

Read Mark 11:12-19

JESUS CLEARS THE TEMPLE AGAIN

In this passage, two unusual incidents are related: the cursing of the fig tree and the clearing of the Temple. The cursing of the fig tree was an acted-out parable related to the clearing of the Temple. The Temple was supposed to be a place of worship, but true worship had disappeared. The fig tree showed the promise of fruit, but it produced none. Jesus was showing His anger at religious life without substance. If you claim to have faith without putting it to work in your life, you are like the barren fig tree. Genuine faith has great potential; ask God to help you bear fruit for His kingdom.
Fig trees, a popular source of inexpensive food in Israel, require three years from the time they are planted until they can bear fruit. Each tree yields a great amount of fruit twice a year, in late spring and in early autumn. This incident occurred early in the spring when the leaves were beginning to bud. The figs normally grow as the leaves fill out, but this tree, though full of leaves, had none. The tree looked promising but offered no fruit. Jesus’ harsh words to the fig tree could be applied to the nation of Israel. Fruitful in appearance only, Israel was spiritually barren.

Money changers and merchants did big business during Passover. Those who came from foreign countries had to have their money changed into Temple currency because this was the only money accepted for the Temple tax and for the purchase of sacrificial animals. Often the inflated exchange rate enriched the money changers, and the exorbitant prices of animals made the merchants wealthy. Their stalls were set up in the Temple’s court of the Gentiles, frustrating to the intentions of the non-Jews, who had come to worship God (Isaiah 56). Jesus became angry because God’s house had become a place of extortion and a barrier to Gentiles who wanted to worship.

Though Jesus became angry, he did not sin. There is a place for righteous indignation. Christians are right to be upset about sin and injustice and should take a stand against them. Unfortunately, believers are often passive about these important issues and instead get angry over personal insults and petty irritations. Make sure your anger is directed toward the right issues.

Mark: A Walk With Our Savior (Day 46)

Posted on Jan 11, 2018 in Mark: A Walk With The Savior |

Read Mark 11:1-11

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

This was Sunday of the week that Jesus would be crucified, and the great Passover festival was about to begin. Jews came to Jerusalem from all over the Roman world during this week-long celebration to remember the great exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12). Many in the crowds had heard of or seen Jesus and were hoping He would come to the Temple (John 11:55-57).

Jesus did come, not as a warring king on a horse or in a chariot, but as a gentle, peaceable king on a donkey’s colt, just as Zechariah 9:9 had predicted. Jesus knew that those who would hear Him teach at the Temple would return to their homes throughout the world and announce the coming of the Messiah.

The people exclaimed “Hosanna,” literally meaning “to save us,” because they recognized that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, and probably they were still looking for Jesus to save them from the Roman government. They did not realize that in shouting out “Save us,” was what Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to do: to die on a cross and save them from their sins. They spoke of David’s kingdom because of God’s words to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-14. The crowd correctly saw Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies, but they did not understand where Jesus’ kingship would lead Him. This same crowd cried, “Crucify Him!” when Jesus stood trial only a few days later.