Mark 8: 1-13
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The New
Testament Witness of the Apostle
Peter |
The Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA) |
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Have you ever read something over and over again to understand it, or to prepare for an exam in school or to assemble some new purchase? Yes, it is sometimes necessary to repeat a lesson, especially when we are not too keen on learning. And so we see in Mark's account of this feeding a second lesson to drive home the implication of the first. I still marvel at the blind stupidity of liberal scholars who, even if they can read, do in fact pay no attention to the text. Neither do their followers read their scriptures before during of after they have had their new age lessons. This passage is one despised by liberal scholars, they seemingly refuse to believe that there could have been two similar miracles, let alone any one miracle where something unexplainably divine could remotely happen. In the Greek text, the fifth word of the first verse clearly states the multiplicity of events in the simple word "again". Of course, to a generation that has a problem understanding what the word "is" really is, we should probably not be surprised! Even the translators generally meld the word into phrases that seemingly serve the purpose of punctuation and to avoid a too literal repetition of the same phrases over and over again. Years and years ago, when teachers still knew their Bibles. One of my English teachers pointed out, that just because my Bible used the word and at the beginning of so many sentences, I did not need to do so in my own assignments.
So this is our first point today, Jesus was not limited to doing a miracle only once. Every once in a while, I do a little magic trick to amuse and befuddle my students. The best one can only be done once, because it takes advance preparation. And if you try to do it twice, the method of the magic is exposed. Please do not for a minute think that the Lord of heaven and earth is involved in any slight of hand. The miracles as they are simply reported are real, live historic events done from loving compassion or to teach a larger lesson.
In this miracle, as in the first feeding, there is a real sense of compassion. The crowd is far from the market towns and they have tarried beyond normal attention spans - for three days in this case. There is also a purpose in the mind of our Lord in this repetition, and we will see that driven home in another meditation. For this week, however - we must be content to analyze this blessed sign from God.
You have all heard me tell you about a bill board I once saw. It read simply, "If you are waiting for a sign from God - this may be it!" In the disciples case as chapter eight unfolds, this miracle is an important part of the ongoing revelation of Messiahship. And in Mark's ordering of Peter's sermons here, there are a subtle subliminal and serendipity methodology and purpose.
Subliminal learning was once a rage a decade or two ago. Even friends of mine in college and seminary would play tapes of the days lectures under their pillows, hoping to soak up the logic, insight and information in a restful and relaxing method. There were even experiments in movie theaters where the word "popcorn" was flashed rapidly over the movie as the plot unfolded. Since the experiments did indeed increase the sale of that commodity, there are generally in most states and cities laws against that type of conditioning. Every once in a while you hear charges of back masking in the recording industry. As if, the unintelligible phrases, in many cases could be heard over the high volume which in many cases is turned up to cover the lack of instrumental skill, or a sometimes to obvious drug or alcoholic preparation for the performance.
Subliminal, is an old Latin word that means under the threshold. That is water, that would seep under the large rock placed at the door to divert water from running in through the house door. I have such a threshold at the front of my barn. Once, I had to dig down, put in some tile and replace the broken down threshold to keep water out of the barn. Simple, but effective.
Mentally, the meaning here is that too often, our minds are opposed to what we need to know, learn and understand. One gentlemen in my first church had a question a week about the faith and was frustrated at all of the apparent illogical elements he saw in the divine plan of salvation. Since, he was grasping nothing and getting nowhere, I suggested that he suspend his questioning for six months or so, and just listen and reflect on what he had heard, because I did not think he could be argued into the faith and meeting his arguments took more time than sermon preparation. So he agreed and listened. At the end of the six months, he had only a few unimportant questions left and the essence of the Gospel had been grasped.
I am reminded of the philosopher Mortimer Adler who studied and wrote for Encyclopaedia Brittanica most of his life. At long last, he became an orthodox Christian because the Christian God is beyond understanding and only in such a God could he bow his head and stand in awe and appreciation. The point here is that, growing into the faith takes some time, patience and careful listening, even as the disciples demonstrate in their slow grasp of who Jesus really is.
My second point in this portion revolves around a neat word "serendipity". This word means "the making of pleasant discoveries by accident." In my educational experience, the best example was in my study of Latin. Now, I was not a great scholar and one nine weeks I barely passed. But, the outcome of that classical course was an vast improvement in my use of the English language. Someone later told me that was a classical purpose of studying that language, plus of course, all of the neat history and movement towards civility demonstrated by the best aspects of the Roman experience.
So, in respect to our passage from Mark, the real purpose of the healing miracles goes beyond the obvious compassion to demonstrate the great love of the Father God who is really and sincerely more interested in healthy souls than healthy bodies. Certainly, the crowds who gathered to hear and see Jesus, were drawn by the reported miracles and the desire of the weak, troubled and forlorn to better their human condition. But, little did they realize initially their vast spiritual hunger, for which Jesus is willing to become for them, the bread of life. Many miss this point and later when Jesus refuses to belittle the work of the church as a social welfare institution alone, many of the followers disappear, since it was only the material bread and healing that they understood and really wanted.
We had an unexpected serendipity experience in the church this week. Thursday evening, the ceiling of the old closet had just been pulled down, and the loose insulation shoveled out and the sanctuary cleaned. Of course, I shouldn't stress the word "just" in that context, because the work was hard, tiring and extremely dusty for those involved. When I surveyed the result of the deconstruction, which some of you are getting pretty good at, I saw that the ceiling was not constructed of trusses, but jerry rigged on the spot. This meant that a lot of the cross pieces and supports can come out and a cathedral ceiling imposed upon the room at a reasonable price. Had it not been necessary to bring down that one piece of wall board, we probably would not have discovered a way to raise our ceiling. In the same way, through the hard knocks of life and the ongoing providence of God, we are drawn to look upwards instead of inwards or outwards to glory in the knowledge of the Holy One. Yes. we well understand the implication of the second tablet of the law, that the gospel does indeed have social implications. But primarily, the words and commandments of the first tablet which call us to honor, worship and obey a Holy God are of ever so much more importance in the realm of eternity.
You see, we do not find eternal life in being good to our fellow man. Only as we understand who this Jesus really is and when we learn to look up to the heavenly God of the whole universe do we comprehend the real good news of the Gospel reports. I am not sure if such a work has ever been written, but I see a need for a work entitled "The Accidental Christian". At least from our human viewpoint, the unexpected pearl of great price, the treasure buried in the field is worth the whole world to us. What a great blessing for those who were twice healed by the Savior of all the earth. First the physical improvement and as it slowly dawned upon those who sincerely followed Jesus, the second birth into His eternal kingdom. All of this pleasant life and heaven too!
We come now to our last lesson for the day in verses eleven through thirteen. Here we see the wickedness of the leaders of Israel in the time of Christ. They will not believe the reports or the signs of which they have heard. No indeed, they must come to the Sovereign Lord of all the earth and demand a personal sign.
The story is told of a philosopher who spent most of his life seeking truth and the God of that truth. According to this joke, the philosopher met God in a clearing in the forest and then asked Him three questions.
"Is it true", he asked, "that a moment for You is like a thousand years to us?"
"Yes", was the immediate answer.
"Is it also true," he asked, "that a penny for You is vast riches for us?"
"Certainly", was the answer.
Then the philosopher worked up his courage to ask, "Could I trouble you for a penny."
"Absolutely", the Lord answered, "I'll be back in a moment."
The humorous impertinence of that joke is but a shadow of the great insult demonstrated by the Pharisees who demand a sign from God. Just as the worldly go on with their sins year by year, giving no thought to the God of heaven, so would the Pharisees continue their ungodly focus on ritual, habit and traditions. Oh, they might be willing to change, if the Sovereign God of heaven and earth would appear before them and demonstrate his Godship!
All manner of fools and self seekers followed Hitler, when he was willing to demonstrate his ruthless affection for power and his talent for telling the German masses just exactly what the wanted to hear. The rural conservatives were won by law and order, the city crowd by jobs and mass meetings. The industrialists were won by anti-union policies, and the worst of the German generals by expansion and the gory glory of war.
I remember a tawdry line from the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, where the Pilate charicature demanded of Jesus that He just walk across his swimming pool to demonstrate the powers of His Lordship. Who is really god here in these three short verses? Is it the Christ being revealed, or are the Pharisees just goodly sons of Eve who would take the place of God and demand from Him a performance to tickle their interest. Remember, the purpose of the miracles is to draw people to Jesus, so that people can comprehend who He is. The Pharisees really don't care who Jesus is, all they wish to ascertain is the fact of the miraculous. This is their personal tragedy, they cannot have the Christ because they will not have Him on His terms. They would raise themselves above the high and holy God being revealed in Jesus. And rightly, Jesus tells them that they will never have a sign from heaven. So let us learn from this passage that He is God and we are human. The whole process of our salvation history is in His hands. We do not simply choose to show up in any church and announce - "Hey Big Daddy, I'm here - shouldn't You be grateful that I'm willing to give You the attention that I choose to give?"
Armenianism is an apt description here of the unregenerate attitude on the part of too many in Christ's Church - that we who come to church are doing Him a favor. And just because we have come, He has certain obligations towards us. Let us be careful and understand who the God of heaven and earth really is. Then let us explore His plan for our salvation and give Him the awe and worship He so greatly deserves. Amen.
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Cole, Alan. |
Tyndale New Testament
Commentaries: |
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Keener, Craig S. |
The IVP Bible Background Commentary:
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"Bringing the Light of the Reformation to Scripture" (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995) |
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B2b40.htm |
21 Jul 00 |