Mark 6
A Prophet Without Honor
1Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil[b] spirits.
8These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."
12They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
John the Baptist Beheaded
14King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying,[c] "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
15Others said, "He is Elijah."
And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago."
16But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!"
17For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 18For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled[d]; yet he liked to listen to him.
21Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." 23And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom."
24She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?"
"The head of John the Baptist," she answered.
25At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
26The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
37But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages[e]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."
39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Jesus Walks on the Water
45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of evil and cruel men.
5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.
6 From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother's womb.
I will ever praise you.
7 I have become like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendor all day long.
9 Do not cast me away when I am old;
do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
those who wait to kill me conspire together.
11 They say, "God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him,
for no one will rescue him."
12 Be not far from me, O God;
come quickly, O my God, to help me.
13 May my accusers perish in shame;
may those who want to harm me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.
16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
March 14, 2008
Sanctuary
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READ: Psalm 71:1-16
Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me. —Psalm 71:3
A professional athlete built a palatial eight-bedroom home where he lives by himself. His secluded house includes a movie theater, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, and a five-car garage.
The athlete told The New York Times that he doesn’t view the $8 million estate as a monument to success. Instead, he considers it to be a sanctuary from his painful childhood memories of poverty and abuse. The young man is seeking something much deeper than luxury and entertainment. “Got to get my peace,” he said.
All of us know the feeling of being overwhelmed. When the present is daunting and the past is haunting, where can we turn for release? To whom do we go for comfort and peace?
The psalmist wrote: “Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me, and save me. Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually” (Ps. 71:2-3). God was his hope, his trust, and his hiding place in the storms of life (vv.5-8).
E. May Grimes’ poem captures that biblical theme.
A little sanctuary art Thou to me;
O Jesus Christ, beloved, I live with Thee;
My heart has found its everlasting home,
Its sure abiding place where’er I roam.
Few people can afford a mansion, but everyone who knows the Lord can find refuge and peace in His abiding presence. — David C. McCasland
A little sanctuary art Thou to me;
O Jesus Christ, beloved, I live with Thee;
My heart has found its everlasting home,
Its sure abiding place where’er I roam.
When we put our problems in God’s hands, He puts His peace in our hearts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
March 14, 2008
Yielding
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READ:
. . . you are that one’s slaves whom you obey . . . —Romans 6:16
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— "I must have it now," whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. ". . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . ." ( Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1 ).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, "Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like," you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, "He will break every fetter," while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
Mystery Trips
Friday, March 14, 2008
Living in the busy suburbs of New York City, it was always nice to scoop up the family and go for a little Sunday afternoon drive in the country. Just to our north was a beautiful rural area where we often went to wander, explore, or just revisit some favorite places we found. Seldom did I offer the family a detailed advance itinerary. That was okay with two of our kids. Not our oldest son. When I said, "We're going for a mystery trip today," he didn't jump up and down with excitement. In fact, he suddenly went into interrogator mode. "Where are we going, Dad? How long will it take to get there? How long are we going to go there? How long are we going to be there? What time will we get back? Where are we going to eat? What are we going to do there?" Finally, I just turned to the back seat, looked him in the eye, and said those two bottom line words: "Trust me." And we had some great mystery trips!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mystery Trips."
It could be that your Heavenly Father is taking you on a mystery trip right now. You're not sure where He's taking you. You're not sure what's going to happen there. You only know that He's taking you for a ride beyond what you know, beyond what's comfortable and familiar. You're asking, "Father, where are we going? Where are you taking me?" And He looks at you lovingly and He's simply saying, "Trust me, my child."
And although there are all kinds of fears and questions and possibilities, you can relax in the ironclad assurance of Ephesians 1:11, our word for today from the Word of God. It takes off the zoom lens that's all focused on the little dot in front of you and it replaces it with God's wide-angle lens that will help you see the big canvas of your life and of His plan. The picture goes all the way back to before there was even a you - before there was a world. God had His eye on you even then. The Bible says, "In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." Your life is part of a detailed, eternal plan. And when you give your heart to Jesus, God becomes your Heavenly Father and you start to embrace His plan; a plan where He "works out everything" to carry out His perfect will. Your Father doesn't miss a thing.
So you can dare to ride with Him into the unknown, knowing that He loves you and He makes no mistakes. He knows what you need to know, He knows when you need to know it, and He's given you as much information as you need right now. You see a step by taking a step. And you're developing the spiritual faculty that opens up all of heaven's best to you. It’s called faith. In Hebrews 11, God tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God." He defines faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Then He gives an example: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place where he would later receive his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
If you know where you're going, you don't need faith. Besides, Biblical faith isn't in a destination or an outcome. It's faith in a person; a God who knows everything, who controls everything, and who gave everything for you when He gave His Son to die for you. Anyone who loves you that much isn’t going to do you wrong.
If you've never opened your life to Jesus, the One who died to forgive your sin so you could live the life you were created to live, why don’t you begin that relationship today? When you do, you step into the plan you were made for; into the arms of the One whose love you were created for. He’ll forgive every sin that separates you from Him and put you into the flow of the destiny you were put here for. You need to tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
If that’s what you want, I want to invite you to visit our website as soon as you can today, because I’ve tried to put some information there that will very simply explain to you how you can be sure you have begun a relationship with Jesus Christ. The website is yoursforlife.net. Or I have a booklet, Yours For Life, that has the same information in it. You can call toll free for that at 877-741-1200.
Don't be afraid to go with your Heavenly Father on a mystery trip. You don't need to know where you're going. You only need to know who's driving, and that's your Heavenly Father who loves you more than you can imagine.
