Mark 6

Mark 6

First off Welcome back and Happy New Year! I am so glad to get back into the swing of things. With all the abala (busy) ness I missed studying with you gals. I still read but with out you it was different. I dug into Ezekiel and man did God have some things to teach me! But we are back and Mark 6 seems nice to come home to! So here we go!

We see here he leaves after healing the daughter of Jairus and he is going back to his home town of Nazareth. I can say from experience that coming home from a mission trip is hard stuff. You have just had a “mountain top” experience and want to share it and tell of all the GREAT THINGS GOD has done! You want to carry it over to your family and friends but just as you are about to give them the awesome news it seems they start to attack. You are no longer around people who are focused on Christ and on spreading the Gospel but you are just you the older sister the daughter, the grand child. No one really listens to your stories excited about what God is doing in a foreign land. And if they do listen they are in the “real world” and things like that don’t happen there!
Jesus was coming back home and every one knew who his family was had watched him grow up. They only saw him as a normal boy, a carpenter’s son. They had obviously heard about him because they started to mock him power and authority. He marveled at their unbelief. I love the way the King James puts it, he could do no mighty work, save he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. He went through the city teaching and healing but these people could not bring them selves to believe.
Chapter 6 verses 7-13 I read these verses over and over and over. I had a hard time swallowing what Jesus has told his disciples to do. Go and take nothing, not even an extra coat. No money no food, they only needed to be prepared to walk with sandals and a staff. He was telling them to trust and to obey. Isn’t that really the only lesson we need to learn. We grow up singing the song we are taken care of and yet we still have trouble simply trusting God to provide and obeying his commands. We are like sheep just wandering around looking for greener grass. They trusted and obeyed and he worked mightily through them. They preached repentance and cast out demons and healed the sick. And you know what God blessed them. He took care of them. He was true to his caricature. Why do find this so amazing? I’ll tell for one thing there is nothing we can trust here on earth except the Word of God. He is faithful!
Verses 14-29 these verses are so sad. We see this awesome man of God giving his all for Jesus and speaking the truth and was killed for it. I look at John and see a man committed to Christ in such a way that he was willing to fallow his call even unto death. I am encouraged and spurred on by men like John the Baptist.
Verse 31 reminded me that I can become like Martha, busy in good things but I too need to rest, sit at God’s feet and just listen to him. He took his disciples away to the desert to rest. But as we read we see he is fallowed. But Jesus has compassion toward them and so he took time to share with them. He used every moment to do the work of his father. I forget often on my “off days” that I am still a follower of Christ and I still need to be available to minister to people. I need to have more compassion like Jesus. He then feeds them to top it off.
Then he sends his disciples away and he goes and prays, He draws near to his father. Then later after walking on the water and calming the sea he is faced with even more people who have heard of his power and have come to be healed. I love that it says as many as touched him were made whole.
We too can be made whole by his mercy and grace. We too need only to trust and obey and we will be made whole. What a great Chapter! I hope you were as blessed as I was this week. Keep reading and remember to TRUST AND OBEY!