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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes Mark 7:1-15

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes

The Power of a Moment: One Divide Mark 7:1-15

First Impressions:

This passage demonstrates the divide between earning one’s way into heaven and receiving the free gift of redemption. The priests were concerned about their dirty hands; Jesus cleanses dirty hearts. They want to keep the colon clean; Jesus wants to keep the lifestyle clean.

Illustration: The “traditions of the elders” are like most systems of tradition. Who knows why something is done except someone did it and they codified it? I’m reminded of the husband’s conversation with his wife as they were preparing to cook a roast. She cut about two inches off the end before she put it in the oven, and he asked why the waste? She had always done it but called her mom who had always done it and she called her mom. The grandmother confessed her pan was too short for a full roast, so she always had to cut two inches off to make it fit.

Pastor Rick’s Translation (PRT):

Mark 7:1-15

1 Some Pharisees and religious legal experts from Jerusalem got together and came to Jesus.  2 And they watched some of his disciples eating bread with ceremonially unpurified and unwashed hands. 3-4 (After all, the Pharisees and all the proper Jews are very careful not to eat unless they first wash their hands so that they maintain the traditions of the forefathers; and when they come from the market, if they do not wash they do not eat and this is along with other practices they embrace which were passed down like washing cups and cooking pots and dishes and tables.) 5 And the Pharisees and religious legal experts questioned Jesus about the reason why his disciples do not live in line with the traditions of the forefathers but eat bread with ceremonially unwashed hands. 6-7 Then Jesus said to them “Isaiah was right when he foretold about you hypocrites, that ‘these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are absent and far away from me. And further, they worship me in hollow and fruitless ways, teach the rules of men as doctrines.’ 8 They walk away from God’s commands by holding dearly to the traditions of the forefathers.”  9 And he said to them, “You nobly discard the commandment of God just so you can carefully hang on to your traditions.” 10-12 “For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘The one who reviles and abuses his father or mother must perish in his death;” and you further say, “It is taught that when a man says to his father or mother, this gift belongs to God (meaning you say to them ‘it is a gift that you cannot benefit from)’, you no longer allow him the ability to give anything to his father or mother.”  13 “You invalidate and override the Word of God with your traditions that you’ve handled like handcuffs alongside many other things you do like this.” 14-15 Then Jesus called the crowd to pay attention and he said to them, “Listen up, everyone, and get this: There is nothing outside a person that goes inside that can make him unclean. It’s the things that comes out from the inside that make him impure.”

Verse-by-verse Notes:

1:1 Some Pharisees and religious legal experts from Jerusalem got together and came to Jesus.

These religious leaders set the rules. They demanded the respect because they wielded the rod of reprimand. They had a bunch of laws focused on outward behavior and heaven-forbid anyone threaten this power. Then came Jesus.

Got together could be that they colluded; but it could mean that they got together with Jesus. Either way, they got together in Jerusalem and came after Jesus.

They were quite a few miles from Jerusalem (120 miles) and had to wait until the Feast days would allow them to travel. They had plenty of time to think about what they would seek to trap Jesus in. And they got hung up on hand-washing!

This passage is the third in a series of rebukes of the religiosity. The first was about who you could associate with, the second about the Sabbath and worship, and this one about what makes one holy inside and out. The answer to all three is Jesus’ way of turning their world upside down. Hang out with who needs your compassion, hold onto worship all week long, hand your heart to the Father for his holiness.

v. 2 And they watched some of his disciples eating bread with ceremonially unpurified and unwashed hands.

I added “ceremonially” to the mix as this is what the phrase means. They snuck in to a gathering and spotted at least a few of the followers forget to wash up before they sat down. Clean hands is a good thing; making it a provision to being right with God is religiosity. The word is “unclean” – the same word a leper cries out as he or she approaches people.

The word for “unpurified” is “common as in koine.

vv. 3-4 (After all, the Pharisees and all the proper Jews are very careful not to eat unless they first wash their hands so that they maintain the traditions of the forefathers; and when they come from the market, if they do not wash they do not eat and this is along with other practices they embrace which were passed down like washing cups and cooking pots and dishes and tables.)

They had it down to a religious practice – the word actually means “to the fist.” So they wash up all the way to the joint where the fist meets the wrist. They would angle the hands made into a sort of fist so the water stayed on the hands and didn’t pass the wrist (presumably so the unclean-ness wouldn’t trek up the arm.)

And everyone knows that, when you rub shoulders with people in the open market, you’re bound to have the sinfulness of the world rub off on you. Unlike Jesus who took the Good News of the Kingdom to the marketplace.

This was a culture that ate with their fingers; of course the disciples cleaned their hands before they chowed down. But they didn’t do the full ceremonial act; and it ticked off the religious leaders!

Ablutions today are important in Islam. In fact, five times a day unless the ceremonial washing is done perfectly, the prayers are rejected.

The word for cooking pots and dishes is a Latin word that Mark pulls from the Romans – it means a reusable kitchen container, usually made of wood or metal. The clay ones were not reusable and binned.

The word for table means not just the table but the whole of the reclining, eating, banquet “design” – the couch, the cushions, the table, that was for reclining to eat at. Table fits the purpose here, but dining room might be more accurate.

Illustration: The Traditions filled in every nook and cranny that the Law wasn’t specific about. Just like today, legalists among the church take this beautiful symphony of freedom in Christ where there are definite notes of boundaries with open spaces in the score where our walk with the Holy Spirit fills in with the freedom of following Him – and they jam notes to their making or presumption and it becomes a wall of sound that allows no improvising or harmony.

v. 5 And the Pharisees and religious legal experts questioned Jesus about the reason why his disciples do not live in line with the traditions of the forefathers but eat bread with ceremonially unwashed hands.

Their issue wasn’t with anyone else but Jesus, so they attack his leadership of his followers by accusing them of not following (the word means “line up” or match the requirements) the elders’ traditions.

Eating bread was a colloquialism for eating food. But the word is clearly “bread” so I’ll keep it that. It means they ate food.

v. 6 Then Jesus said to them “Isaiah was right when he foretold about you hypocrites, that ‘these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are absent and far away from me.’”

It’s clear that Jesus doesn’t address his disciples for not “obeying” the letter of the legal experts’ laws. He is good with his disciples’ actions. But he has clear issues with the Pharisees and scribes. They might have the right activity based on the OT and the laws; but they are so far removed from God that they aren’t even marked present. They are far from His voice, even as He speaks to them.

Note: we can be close, but inside far away. We can be in the seat, but absent from the room. We can have God’s message go in the ear, but never register in the mind and heart. We can lift our hands, we can make the activity match what others should see if we love God; but our hearts and souls are far away bowing to someone else.

Jesus uses a bit of sarcasm and/or irony here – Isaiah was spot-on to describe you as such. I carry this tone into the sentences following.

Illustration: We can take the actions that “show” people we are Christ-followers, make them a part of our personalities, and they become cover for an empty heart and callous over our hardness toward Jesus. We default to the outward to keep from giving our hearts away to the God who woos us.

vv. 7-8 “And further, they worship me in hollow and fruitless ways, teach the rules of men as doctrines, and walk away from God’s commands by holding dearly to the traditions of the forefathers like ceremonially washing cups and dishes and other such thing like you do.”

Their hearts make the acts of worship hollow and they bring no benefit to themselves, to those they lead, and to the nation they are to serve. They supplant God’s Word with man’s rules. They are so bent toward protecting their power that they chase down Jesus and others for breaking the rules; and that chasing leads them further away from a heart malleable to the Spirit.

v. 9 And he said to them, “You nobly discard the commandment of God just so you can carefully hang on to your traditions.”

Nobly is a bit of sarcasm but he seems to be drawing a sketch of what they project to the people. You act nobly before everyone in your traditions; but you discard God’s intent in His Word.

vv. 10-12 “For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘The one who reviles and abuses his father or mother must perish in his death;” and you further say, “It is taught that when a man says to his father or mother, this gift belongs to God (meaning you say to them ‘it is a gift that you cannot benefit from)’, you no longer allow him the ability to give anything to his father or mother.”

They might say, “you can take your riches and declare “corban” – or “for the temple” – over it; that means you don’t have to support your parents in their need and then can use it for your own or you can leave it to the temple. Then, if the son has a change of heart and wants to reposition his resources to help his parents, the Pharisee will say, “Oh no, your vow sticks. You cannot help your parents with this.”

The one who curses or reviles can also mean abuses them by action and words. And that person doesn’t just “earn” death – he dies the death.

The Pharisees looked backward to Moses as the source of the “unwritten” traditions; Jesus refers to Moses in his written Word from God to contradict and condemn them. The Jewish man would say, according to archeologist’s findings: All that a man may find to his profit in the ossuary is an offering to God from him who is within it.  In other words, if you want to profit from my stuff, you are taking it from God Almighty. Beware!

v. 13 “You invalidate and override the Word of God with your traditions that you’ve handled like handcuffs alongside many other things you do like this.”

The “traditions” was really a body of laws that were said to have been given verbally to Moses from God, but never written down back in the day. And it was passed down as the traditions. It became primary to God’s Word. After speaking so harshly to the Pharisees from all over who had come to trap him, he addressed the crowd directly. Although I believe they were hanging on the words Jesus was saying. And it all started because the disciples forgot to wash up like they were supposed to!

v. 14-15 Then Jesus called the crowd to pay attention and he said to them, “Listen up, everyone, and get this: There is nothing outside a person that goes inside that can make him unclean. It’s the things that comes out from the inside that make him impure.”

He gathered the crowd around him and got their attention.  It’s the heart issue that makes a person need Jesus. Jesus’ call to “pay attention” is in the form of a prophetic declaration to the people of God. Jesus takes the role of teacher and prophet in these fifteen verses.

This really is Jesus’ answer to the original scribal gripe. What makes a person unclean? And he answers this at the level the charge was issued. He answers his disciples before the crowd. The scribes invited this injunction.

Once again, the disciples (Matthew declares it was Peter) don’t quite connect the dots. They were raises on the outward religion as the means for inward cleansing. And they would never, ever eat bacon!

The next eight verses explain what he means about the heart:

  1. It’s not what you eat that corrupts (all food is good).
  2. It’s what we determine to do with what our hearts tempt us with – hatred, lust, greed, pride, foolishness – that makes us unclean.  The thoughts lead to desires that lead to intent that lead to action that lead to darkness that lead to death.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Mark 1:1-8, 6:14-16

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(PRT)Pastor Rick’s Translation:

1 The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, God’s Son: 2 Just as it has been written in Isaiah the prophet, “Look, I send my messenger ahead of you who will thoroughly prepare the way for you. 3 He will be the voice crying in the desert places, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make the neglected, run-down paths straight for Him. 4 John came baptizing in the desert places and preaching a repentance-baptism that leads toward forgiveness of sins. 5  And everyone from the region of Judea and from Jerusalem went out to him and, openly acknowledging their sins, they all were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John clothed himself in camel-hair robes with a leather belt around him, and he lived on locusts and honey from the wilds. 7 And he proclaimed by saying, “The one who comes after me is mightier than me; he is that very one for whom I am not deserving even to kneel and untie his shoe-straps.” 8 “I baptize you in water; however, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark 1:1-8

14 And Herod the King heard the reports for the name of Jesus became well-known; and he considered aloud that John the Baptizer has come back from the dead. It’s by means of this that miraculous powers are active in him. 15 Other people, though, said he is Elijah while others declared he is a prophet like the prophets before. 16 Still, rumor had it that Herod declared that John, who I beheaded, has come back from the dead.

Mark 6:14-16

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, God’s Son:

Mark begins right where the purposes of God intersect with the needs of man. We need a Savior; we need Good News.

Mark is the first to call the Savior Jesus Christ and focuses on divinity right away.

“archae” – It begins. For the word Gospel, it is the news broadcast to bring hope and delight. Mark actually crafted a brand new form of literature when he wrote this: fully historical, but with the purpose of applying the historical to the needs of the hearers; contemporaneous and eternal; blending proclamation and demonstration along with the responses of those contemporaries.

1:2 Just as it has been written in Isaiah the prophet, “Look, I send my messenger ahead of you who will thoroughly prepare the way for you.

1:3 He will be the voice crying in the desert places, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make the neglected, run-down paths straight for Him.”

Isa. 40:3 and Malachi 3:1 combined. This is the only time Mark quotes the prophets on his own (chapter 15 has one, too). It’s common to list only the primary prophet when quoting a combined related prophecy. This shows how sensitive Mark (and Peter, since he was a major source for this Gospel) were to the nations. It was already a movement beyond the borders of Judea and Galilee.

1:4 John came baptizing in the desert places and preaching a repentance-baptism that leads toward forgiveness of sins.

The word signifies that John didn’t just happen. His arrival was epochal. He was The Forerunner. It was a changing of the guards.

1:5  And everyone from the region of Judea and from Jerusalem went out to him and, openly acknowledging their sins, they all were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

This baptism was a “prep” baptism for what the Savior would bring. It was a revival of repentance. It was society-wide with people from every class saying yes to God’s call.

This was a huge call to repent. John was calling “the people of God” to re-enter the Kingdom, re-establish a relationship with the God of the Covenant by turning, confessing and outwardly declaring it with baptism. This was culture shifting.

1:6 John clothed himself in camel-hair robes with a leather belt around him, and he lived on locusts and honey from the wilds.

Kind of like what Elijah wore. He came like Elijah.

1:7 And he proclaimed by saying, “The one who comes after me is mightier than me; he is that very one for whom I am not deserving even to kneel and untie his shoe-straps.”

The servant who got this job is the lowest on the list.

1:8 “I baptize you in water; however, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark 6:14-16

6:14 And Herod the King heard the reports for the name of Jesus became well-known; and he considered aloud that John the Baptizer has come back from the dead. It’s by means of this that miraculous powers are active in him.

Interesting that Herod considered himself loosely a Sadducee. But he was still concerned about the whole “come back from the dead” issue, even though they didn’t believe in the resurrection.

He was guilty of John’s beheading and he as much as admitted his guilt here.

6:15 Other people, though, said he is Elijah while others declared he is a prophet like the prophets before.

And the people agreed that this was God’s retribution against his guilt in beheading a prophet like John.

6:16 Still, rumor had it that Herod declared that John, who I beheaded, has come back from the dead.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes Mark 5:25-34

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This morning at Renovation Vineyard Church I invited one of my favorite communicators to share the message: Lauren Riddei. Lauren is a long-time friend and she and her husband, a called-out servant of King Jesus in his own right, joined us on Aug. 22. Solidly Biblical in her approach and sharing from a personal longing for mercy and hope to pour out on God’s kids, her message is worth the investment. We will have it up on our YouTube Channel later this week; but you can enjoy and be challenged by this message on Renovation Vineyard’s Facebook page at the link: https://www.facebook.com/renovationvineyardsc/videos/137969685160147

PRT (Pastor Rick’s Translation)

vv. 25-26 And a woman was present with a flow of blood who had suffered often at the hands of multiple physicians to no benefit at all; instead, after spending all she had, she was all the worse. And she arrived,

vv. 27-28 After hearing the stories about Jesus, and going into the crowd and approaching him from behind she touched his clothing; for she said under her breath, “If I just touch only his robe, I will be set free from this suffering.”

v. 29 And straight away, in that moment, her flow of blood stopped where it had begun and she knew inside her body that she was healed from this sickness.

v. 30 Then, in that moment, knowing that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched me on my robe?”

v. 31 And his disciples said to him, “Look at this throng pressing against you, and you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

v. 32-34 Then Jesus looked around to discover the one who had done this, and the woman, shaking with awe and knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him; and she told him what really happened. He said to her, “Then, daughter, your faith has set you free; go in peace and be whole from your illness.”

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

vv. 25-26 And a woman was present with a flow of blood who had suffered often at the hands of multiple physicians to no benefit at all; instead, after spending all she had, she was all the worse. And she arrived,

The flow of blood was not only a physical suffering but a spiritual and social scourge. The teaching of the day assumed this was the result of great sin. We have this today, when we pray for someone and then tell them they don’t have enough faith to get healing from God. The Vineyard doesn’t scourge someone, but rather, blesses and deposits mercy and grace, when we pray for healing. Socially, she was an outcast since she couldn’t stop the vaginal bleeding.

She arrived is the word “came” but carries an intentionality to it. She arrived at her intended destination.

Her suffering was not helped by the well-paid doctors; her case was chronic.

vv. 27-28 After hearing the stories about Jesus, and going into the crowd and approaching him from behind she touched his clothing; for she said under her breath, “If I just touch only his robe, I will be set free from this suffering.”

And the reason she arrived at her destination was because the word was out. She heard about Jesus and her faith was such that only a confession of faith under her breath and a swipe at his robe ignited God’s grace and healing. The word means she said, but I read it be mean either in her mind (which it doesn’t say) or aloud, but under her breath. The word for “heal” has to do with being freed from the oppression of an illness.

I can’t find in Mark’s passage that it was the “taliths” or fringes of his robe. If this was so, it means that she was already nearly prostrate when she was discovered, and then she fell down at his feet again; however, Luke and Matthew note the fringe or hem.

v. 29 And straight away, in that moment, her flow of blood stopped where it had begun and she knew inside her body that she was healed from this sickness.

The word is literally, “the plague.” This disease had scourged or plague her due to its duration and many ramifications.

v. 30 Then, in that moment, knowing that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched me on my robe?”

Jesus knew inside that power had left him as a demonstration of the Good News of the Kingdom, just as much as the woman knew inside her body that the flow had stopped “at the source” as the original hints. He knew someone had touched him and his robe. This was a deep healing to the very core of every place this scourge had touched. And he affirmed this deep healing with a word: “daughter” – meaning daughter of the Father, daughter of Israel, one who is beloved.

v. 31 And his disciples said to him, “Look at this throng pressing against you, and you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

The disciples weren’t scornful; they just didn’t imagine what Jesus felt that they didn’t. The throng did what it did, it thronged. The woman did was she came to do, she touched.

v. 32-34 Then Jesus looked around to discover the one who had done this, and the woman, shaking with awe and knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him; and she told him what really happened. He said to her, “Then, daughter, your faith has set you free; go in peace and be whole from your illness.”

Mark’s word is rich here. He turned around, looking and searching for the one. The assumption is that his eyes finally fell on the woman who had been healed.

I chose “awe” because of the context. The word means fear, afraid, etc. But, in light of what had just happened. She knew. She was quite aware of what happened. She may have been afraid that Jesus, a man, would be angry that an impure woman (due to the flow) had touched him. I still would go with awe. And she shook with it and fell at his feet. Reminiscent of Simon Peter after the message from the boat in Luke 5. It says he was afraid and fell at Jesus’ feet. She is painted as a timid, fearful woman; it could be that she was very brave, full of faith that Jesus and only Jesus could heal her.

She told him “the truth” – what really had just happened. I can imagine she couldn’t get the words out rapidly enough.

Jesus not only acknowledged her healing, but her status change, too. Go in peace means go with your life radically altered for the good. Go in shalom, fully in a new way with God.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Mark 5:21-24, 35-43

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

First Impressions:

The Jerusalem team of legal experts had passed judgment on Jesus. He was a threat to their traditions and their power. When power is threatened, power becomes an adversary. When traditions are threatened, traditions become the default. Either way, truth is drowned out.

Apparently, the verdict from the legal experts had not trickled down. But it’s amazing how our approach to faith and to the Father shifts when trouble or tragedy happens.

Amazing in that the synagogue ruler was certain that God would give him a gift through the healing Jesus brought.

Amazing, too, that he was not deterred in that Kairos moment when Jesus’ desire met his willingness to believe, in spite of:

  • The messengers’ news.
  • The crowd’s pressures (do you think perhaps that’s why Jesus only took a few into the moment.
  • The mourners’ wailing (some in the community were professional mourners who earned income bringing the show home when it comes to mourning.)

v. 21 Jesus came back across the Sea of Galilee to the area of Capernaum. He had just traveled with the express intention to save the Gadarene who was gripped by demons.

vv. 22 – 24 Jairus was one of a group of elders or rulers in the local synagogue. He couldn’t have helped but to know people who had earlier been healed by Jesus. Luke reminds us that this was not only his little girl, but his only daughter. The life was ebbing out of her so rapidly that it was as if she was already dead (Matthew’s perspective.) Luke probably got the verb best: she lay dying with no hope of recovery. Jesus was quick to respond with compassion and attend to the matter right then. In spite of the “thronging” – that’s the verb – of the crowd, Jesus moved forward.

v. 35 – 36 Don’t trouble the Master with a wearying journey, since the little girl had passed. Jesus overheard the news and assured him she would be okay. This narrative beautifully captures the potential ebb and flow of faith. Something bad; God encourages. Discouraging word; Jesus assures. People without faith scoff; the Father directs toward the Kairos moment.

v. 37 Jesus often chose a few within the Twelve or paired them up. We will look that this a couple of weeks in Mark 5:6ff. The pattern seems to be 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s. That’s a good pattern for disciple-making. In this case, in part, he wanted the crowd to thin out and Jesus left most of his followers behind on the road to Jairus’ home so they could proceed, and this spiritual leader could believe.

v. 38-40 But even with the thinning of the tumult of the street crowds pressing and calling out with every need possible, when Jesus with Peter, James, and John and Jairus, arrived the mourners had already set up in strategic places to make the most impact with their wailing. The English language isn’t the only one to use onomatopoeia (like scuttlebutt or murmur) – this Greek word sounds like it means: alaladzontas means wailing. Clearly not people of faith as they made their living off the need for congregant mourning; they not only discouraged faith but laughed in its face. They jeered at Jesus. And the voice of the enemy could be heard in this solemn moment with laughter and jeering when faith is needed. Since the poorest of Jewish families were expected to have at least two flute-players and one wailing woman, a synagogue ruler probably hit the motherlode of mourners!

What does he mean with he says she only sleeps? This is the same thing he said to Lazarus’ sisters. He puts what we consider as the finality into perspective of eternity. In the light of the eternity, our separation from our loved ones is miniscule. If we are and they are a part of the people Jesus is building into a Kingdom, there is only a moment between the departure and our reunion from heaven’s perspective.

They went “where the child was.” We, as people of the Kingdom, often have to go where the hurt is, where the person is grieving, or, in this case, the room where death was – and take faith and hope and compassion. Our typical desire is to keep our distance with an attitude “I can pray from the comfort of my whatever” – Jesus moves us to be where He wants to bring the Kingdom. We have to leave the comfort zone to enter the Kairos moment when the Father’s will, and the willingness and obedience of people, capture the miracle and the signs and wonders of heaven.

vv. 41-42 Talitha cumi. To korasion egiere. Little girl, you arise. Aramaic, to Greek, to English. (Affectionate and in the language and tone of a little child, Jesus takes her hand – sweetie, get up now.) This was the miraculous sign like Lazarus and the young boy on the funeral bier, that declared to the heavenlies: The Kingdom of God is come and the final sting is removed from the enemy’s weaponry. Her spirit connects with the command of the Savior, and she obeys and arises.

The word for “astonished” is a double word. They were greatly amazed (mega-amazed). They were riveted in their place. Eyes in the room turn from the little girl to the daddy and momma, then landed back to Jesus. Faith as small as a grain of mustard, in the right subject, and the right Kairos moment, can do “the impossible.”

v. 43 Food for strengthen and food to display she was no ghost or phantasm. Keep it quiet for now.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Mark 4:30-34

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(Pastor Rick’s Translation)

v. 30 Then Jesus said, “What can we compare the Kingdom of God to, and what illustration can we draw a parallel with?”

v. 31-32 It’s like the mustard seed, the smallest seed in all the world, when it has been sown in the earth, it springs up and becomes bigger and taller than all the plants in the garden and produces great branches so that the birds of the sky can perch under its shade.

v. 33 And with many parables and illustrations like this, he taught them the word to the level they were able to understand.

v. 34 Indeed, he did not speak to them unless it was with parables; however, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything. (PRT)

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

First impressions:

The village of Capernaum was rich with illustrations: both agrarian and fishing became his canvas. Here, and elsewhere, we see Jesus picking up the images of seeds, weeds, planting and reaping. The one seed is significant in the Good News because of:

  • Potential – The Good News spreads because of the power resident inside it
  • Portability – The Kingdom goes everywhere because we represent Him everywhere.
  • Possibility – Seeds multiply.
  • One person, one invitation, one prayer, one truth shared.

v. 30 Then Jesus said, “What can we compare the Kingdom of God to, and what illustration can we draw a parallel with?”

Parallelism. Compare, illustrate. The word means to lay alongside another thing. Hence, parallel. Jesus wants us to understand the Kingdom of God. It is not like an earthly kingdom that needs a great army, huge budget, great egos; it is an invisible kingdom made up of many who are willing to die, to risk, to lose themselves for the sake of the King.

v. 31-32 It’s like the mustard seed, the smallest seed in all the world, when it has been sown in the earth, it springs up and becomes bigger and taller than all the plants in the garden and produces great branches so that the birds of the sky can perch under its shade.

“small as a mustard seed” was already a known comparison – anything small might be called this. In the south, knee-high to a grasshopper or sparse as hen’s teeth might fit.

Jesus here is turning a common phrase into an unforgettable principle. With God’s presence, even the smallest act in His name is sufficient to bring hope.

The seed dies.

The mustard seed isn’t the tiniest seed of all creation; but it is the smallest that a gardener in the region would plant. And for the gardener’s effort, a ten or twelve foot bush would grow with branches, shade, and sturdy trunk.

Birds of the heavens. Shadow is the word, but shade is what an animal might search for in the heat and sun.

v. 33 And with many parables and illustrations like this, he taught them the word to the level they were able to understand.

Keep in mind that this is not the “faith as a mustard seed” comparison. This is clearly a Kingdom comparison. The small, the unassuming, the invisible in willing obedience to the King grows to fill the skies.

Jesus, in John 16 even said to his own disciples, “I have many more things to share with you, but you can’t take it all in.”

Here, when talking with the crowds, he used illustrations alongside truth to draw them into understanding at the level they were able to. Keep in mind, the Holy Spirit had not come yet; it was the Presence of the Kingdom and the masterful teaching of the Rabbi-King that brought understanding and faith bloomed when it could.

v. 34 Indeed, he did not speak to them unless it was with parables; however, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything.

When Jesus withdrew with his disciples, his own, he explained. The word is epiluo – more loosing, he untangled the meaning, he unraveled the perplexed thoughts they had. He made sense of it all.