Mark 4-5
Mark 4 is a chapter about some of the Parables that Jesus taught. Jesus explains his reasoning for using parables in his teachings in Mark 4:11-12: Jesus wants the words to be common so that those who do not get it will not understand the message; but, those who are receiving the message of the Kingdom of God will accept and understand the message Jesus is teaching. Perhaps this is another attempt to "disguise" his wording so that He will not be condemned so soon. Jesus was not necessarily afraid to die and He certainly did not dumb down His message. Rather, he knew His time to die had not yet come and there was no reason to persuade it to come any sooner.
Jesus tells three parables about the coming Church (Kingdom of God=the Church) : The Soils, The Seed, The Mustard Seed. Using common everyday examples, Jesus mixes in a heavenly message for the people to understand. The Church is not going to be accepted by everyone, every time (Parable of the Soils); The Church WILL grow and when it has grown to the right stage, it will be harvested (Parable of the Growing Seed); The Church will begin small but will grow exponentially in size and/or a little faith goes a long way (The Parable of the Mustard Seed).
After sharing the lesson about faith, Jesus and the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee in a small boat. Along the way a great storm which threatened to capsize the boat blew up and Jesus slept through the storm. With great fear, they reached out to awaken Jesus and He quieted the storm. This storm challenged their faith. Storms in life challenge our faith too. We should reach out to Jesus in those times.
Mark is filled with Jesus healing people. Mark 5 lists three healing accounts. The first, he removes the demons from a man and moves them to the herd of pigs. The man had evidently been worshipping at the alter of other gods and been possessed by demons. This is a real occurrence. Satan will seek out and possess those who will do the most damage for him. For this man, a "legion" of demons made home in his soul. A "legion" is a military term for a group of soldiers. In fact, it measures the largest group of soldiers numberings from 2,000-6,000 soldiers. This group of demons was thrown into a group of pigs numbering 2,000 pigs. This man had really been into some demonic worship!
The second and third healing accounts listed occur in the same event. The woman had been constantly dealing with vaginal bleeding for 12 years. It has caused her to be considered "unclean" by Jewish standards and would have to live outside the city gates. She would be separated from her family during this time. She would have lost a tremendous about of blood. No doctor could help her. But Jesus did!
As this healing occurs, Jesus was on his was to heal a Roman official's daughter who was dying. They even caught word along the way that she had already died. This is no problem for Jesus, what was dead, He gave new life to! Jesus always presents new life doesn't He?
Psalm 18 is a cry of rejoice to God on behalf of King David. He is King of Israel at this point. This Psalm is written some point after the death of Saul and after the oppression of David has ceased. I began my morning prayer to God with the words of David in verse 1: "I love you, O Lord, my strength." What follows are five military descriptions of God: 1) Rock-something immovable you can hide behind that serves as protection; 2) Fortress-a place of regular safety; 3) Shield- something you can carry to stand between the enemy and yourself for protection; 4)Horn of salvation-a symbol of might and power, the horn was used in time of conquest or victory; 5) Stronghold-the victory is in sight and your enemies are pushed back. Although David looks to God for His victory, there obviously was a time (as we've read in previous Psalms) that David did not thing he as going to live-Psalm 18:4-5 expresses thoughts that death was near. However, David remained faithful and obedient (18:20-23) and God saw His faithfulness through. It is awfully tempting to give up on God when times are difficult. Sometimes when life gets the best of us, we give up on God, on the Church, on other Christians, and just go about it all on our own. David serves as an example to us that THAT is the exact moment we need to trust in God's faithfulness even more!
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