Looking for Jesus according to Mark

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JLG

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1) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark1: The Sabbath begins and Jesus goes into the synagogue to teach people. They are astounded as they listen to him because his teaching is made with authority, quite different from the scribes.

- Knowledge vs Ignorance!

- Imagine you were there!

- What a privilege!

- What would you have done?

- Listening to a man with an incredible knowledge!
 

JLG

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2) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 2: Jesus forgives the sins of a paralytic. Some scribes think he is blaspheming because God is the only one who can forgive. Knowing what they think, Jesus asks them why they think so and he asks what is easier to cure the paralytic or to forgive his sins. And the paralytic gets up and walks and they glorify God!

- Thanks to Jesus’ miracles, the religious leaders get all the evidence necessary about Jesus but they don’t care, they only try to oppose him!

- Jesus knows who they are and what they think!

- And he takes care about people and he cures them whereas the religious leaders don’t care about the people, they are just selfish, they only think about their own interests!
 

JLG

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3) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 2:

- Jesus and his disciples are dining with tax collectors and sinners!

- The scribes and the Pharisees don’t understand!

- Jesus explains that he came for sinners just like a physician must cure those who are ill!

- Knowledge vs Ignorance

- What are religious leaders good for? Nothing? Useless? Predators? Out of reality? They live in their own bubble? Lead people to destruction? Blind?
 

Matthias

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Do you recognize and acknowledge a distinction between good religious leaders and bad religious leaders?
 

JLG

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Do you recognize and acknowledge a distinction between good religious leaders and bad religious leaders?
- That's a difficult question!

- In the Bible, there is a majority of bad ones!

- Jesus used to oppose them again and again!

- Religious leaders can often be compared to politicians!

- The majority is mainly interested in power!

- They like to make speeches!

- They like the first seats!

- Power usually brings corruption!

- Look at Jesus' answers in the Gospels!

- Today it is difficult to know who is who!
 
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Matthias

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- That's a difficult question!

- In the Bible, there is a majority of bad ones!

- Jesus used to oppose them again and again!

- Religious leaders can often be compared to politicians!

- The majority is mainly interested in power!

- They like to make speeches!

- They like the first seats!

- Power usually brings corruption!

- Look at Jesus' answers in the Gospels!

- Today it is difficult to know who is who!

Is it really so difficult if we test the spirits?
 

JLG

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- In fact, the question is easy to answer depending on the tack!

- When you teach something which is corrupted, you can't be a good teacher!

- If you can't be a good teacher, you have only religious leaders which are political leaders!

- But it has nothing to do with God's word!

- Moreover, power corrupts!

- There is no good king!

- There are only kings working for their own interests!
 

farouk

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- Religious leaders can often be compared to politicians!

- The majority is mainly interested in power!

- They like to make speeches!

- They like the first seats!

- Power usually brings corruption!

- Look at Jesus' answers in the Gospels!

- Today it is difficult to know who is who!
@JLG Sobering comments, indeed.....

Oh for the heartfelt simplicity of Spirit-led Acts 2:42 activities....
 

JLG

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- Well, it implies that everybody must do one's part!

- You can't wait for the others!

- Ande follow the example of the Bereans!
 

JLG

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4) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 2: During the Sabbath Jesus’ disciples pluck heads of grain from the fields!

- Then the Pharisees tell Jesus it is not lawful!

- But he tells them about David and his men who ate bread which could be only eaten by the priests because they were hungry!

- And he ends the discussion by saying that the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath!

- God gave many laws to the Israelites to show them they were unable to respect them and it happened to such an extent that the promised land they received from God was taken away from them and they lost everything! They were completely and totally rejected as a people but not as individuals because individuals can be faithful to God! Moreover, since Israel became a nation again, it has always been at war!

- Jesus lives in the present, the religious leaders in the past!
 

JLG

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5) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 3:

- Jesus enters into a synagogue!

- There is a man with a withered hand!

- They want to know if he is going to cure the man on the sabbath!

- They are looking for a way to accuse him!

- What a powerful verse! Then again we see the HUGE difference between Jesus and the religious leaders! He listens to his heart always being ready to help people by teaching them or curing them whereas religious leaders look for their own interests, they have no hearts, only thinking about what they can get, being selfish and calculating!
 

JLG

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6) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 3:

- Jesus asks them if it is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill!

- But they keep silent!

- Thus they show insensibility!

- Jesus looks at them with indignation!

- And he cures the man!

- And the pharisees hold council with the followers of Herod in order to kill him!

- Is that not clear, there is no excuse, they show who they are and their followers are also responsible, they can’t say as Adam said accusing Eve but he followed her so he is as guilty as her or even more! Well, Jerusalem was destroyed and the inhabitants had to pay a very high price! But history keeps on going and people never understand!
 

JLG

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7) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 3:

- Then he goes into a house, and again the crowd gathers, so that there are not able even to eat a meal.

- Another big difference, serving God with PLENTY OF ZEAL which is perpetual motion and life itself like a devouring and consuming fire!
 

JLG

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8) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 3:

- The scribes say Jesus expels the demons by means of the ruler of the demons.”

- How is it possible to be so ignorant? Through man’s tradition? And they can see all his miracles! How is it possible? Unfortunately, everything can happen in this world again and again!
 

JLG

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9) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 4: Then he adds: “Let the one who has ears to listen, listen.”

- How do they want people to listen to them if they are not able to listen themselves!

- Jesus is able to speak and listen at the same time that is why he goes directly to the point!

- It is hard to learn how to listen carefully but it is easy to speak for nothing!

- In fact, first it is necessary to listen carefully and second you can speak meaningful words!

- The reverse doesn’t work!

- It is the same when studying, you need to penetrate deeply the context, otherwise you will only bring what is superficial!
 

JLG

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Jesus explained why, here.

As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.””

(Mark 4:10–12 NAS95)

- My answer :

- Ok !

- Let’s compare the apostles and Paul !

- They had the privilege to live with him 24 hours a day !

- They were from different origins !

-Jesus used a progressive teaching to help them understand !

- But they didn’t understand his message till his death !

- Paul was a Pharisee !

- He had a good knowledge of the Bible !

- He thought he was doing what was right !

- And he was doing it with all his heart !

- But he was wrong !

- So Jesus put him on the right track !

- Then he went straight ahead never going to the left or to the right !

- The 12 had a small territory !

- Paul had the world as territory !

- The Jews thought they were special but they couldn’t understand !

- And they could see his miracles !

- Now think about the army officer, how he could understand but he was not a Jew ! (Matthew 8:5-13)

- Now think about the Phoenician woman, how she could understand but she was not a Jew ! (Matthew 15 : 21-28)

- Now think about the samaritan woman and the inhabitants of her city, how they could understand but they were not Jews ! (John 4)
 

JLG

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Jesus or any of His disciples would be banned on most internet sites today.

- My Answer:

- How right you are!

- Humanity is so far away from God!

- Jesus could repeat the same he told the Pharisees to today’s religious leaders!

- And to his followers!

- And to the political leaders who say they are religious when it is interesting to get votes!

- And to the businesses and to all who are destroying our environment!

- And to the people who are described in 2 Timothy 3:1-7 which is a big part of humanity!
 

JLG

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2 Timothy 3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Yes and the point I was trying to make is that we are ALL GUILTY, none of us are innocent. In the parable of the Pharisee and a tax collector, it was the tax collector who admitted his guilt and humbled himself before God. He was the one that was justified. We can only judge ourselves. God does not give us the ability to judge others.

In Heaven everything is out in the open. They have nothing to hide or conceal. People do not talk about you behind your back there.

- My answer:

- Of course, we are all guilty!

- But we can’t keep quiet!

- As Christians, we have the responsibility to speak!

- As individuals, we are not important!

- We may die tomorrow!

- But God’s Word must be told and people must be warned!

- But when we comment the Bible, we are supposed to speak according to what God and Jesus say!

- Adam and Eve were condemned!

- The devil and the demons were condemned!

- The Israelites and the Jews as two people were condemned!

- I am not speaking about individuals!

- Because we have examples of faithful servants among them!

- The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned!

- When the flood came, humanity was condemned!

- Religious leaders were condemned!

- When religious leaders are supposed to bring people closer to God!

- So if they bring them away, they are condemned!

- When translators don’t translate properly God’s Word, can we say you do a good job?

- When people are supposed to represent God and they don’t do it properly, can we say you do a good job?

- When Jesus comes back, he will judge people, don’t we have to warn them to prepare for that?

- Or can we say it doesn’t matter?

- What does 2 timothy 3 say?

- We all have to work hard!

- It’s not going to be peace and love!

- When it’s too late, it’s too late!

- It’s when there is still time that we have to do something!

- WE must act so God and Jesus will remember us when time is over!

- Think about the false prophets who told the Jews Jerusalem wouldn’t be destroyed!

- The city was destroyed twice!

- And look at Israel today, it has always been in war!

- of course, humanity is in war!
 

JLG

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10) Jesus vs the religious leaders

Mark 4:

- Jesus tells about receiving more when we have and being taken away when we have nothing!

- Religious leaders have nothing to offer, they lead people to destruction: that’s what we find in the Bible!

- But if they have nothing to offer, it means that those who follow them won’t receive anything from them except destruction! So we must be careful to what we do if we don’t want to pay the price!

- Think about what happens when parents don’t educate their children and look at the world today: the result is clear!