back to indexGospel of Mark 5-30-2012
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Get started in the Gospel of Mark. So let's pray. 00:00:03.780 |
Father God, we thank you again so much for this evening and just allowing us to come tonight, Lord God, to study your Word. 00:00:14.060 |
We know, Lord, your Word is valuable, it's worthy of much praise, it provides us so much wisdom and guidance and comfort and 00:00:27.600 |
a lot of different things, Lord God, that aids us in our love and our pursuit for you. 00:00:32.200 |
And so God, I pray that our study tonight and through the Gospel of Mark may 00:00:37.280 |
really aid us in that endeavor, that as we study more about our Lord and Savior, that we would 00:00:47.160 |
beyond measure, that we would have a greater understanding of our salvation, and that ultimately, Lord God, 00:00:55.480 |
that this study may pay dividends, Lord God, in the form of 00:01:02.520 |
using this to minister to others, to share the Gospel with others, to encourage other brothers and sisters who may not attend our church. 00:01:13.240 |
really pay much dividends from our study tonight. And so God, we again thank you for this time, and we pray these things in your name. Amen. 00:01:26.640 |
So just like we've done before, and just like you have in your notes, 00:01:31.280 |
the next slide is the same. We're gonna go over a review. 00:01:40.120 |
but I'm beginning to see more and more that that's not going to be possible in the near future. 00:01:45.440 |
But you know, so we just start off again with Mark chapter 1. 00:01:49.560 |
We have the battle cry, the baptism of Christ. 00:01:54.200 |
Again, that's where the heavens are kind of torn open, where God says, "This is my beloved Son, whom I am well pleased." 00:02:04.880 |
initiation of the battle against Satan and his evil forces. We have the beginnings in Mark chapter 1, 14 to 45, where again, 00:02:15.880 |
just Christ teaching in the synagogues and performing many miracles. 00:02:24.400 |
just a rise of opposition from various people, whether it be the religious leaders at that time, or even 00:02:34.120 |
And so we have that. We also have the rise of the opposition, the parables. 00:02:50.600 |
Next part, yeah, and then we're now in the middle of the four withdrawals that 00:02:55.840 |
constitute Jesus's ministry in Galilee. And so we covered a lot so far. 00:03:12.480 |
Again, the outline of Mark is pretty simple. It's based upon geography. 00:03:17.160 |
I'm just gonna call on random people to give me answers to these empty boxes that are lonely and are in need of some 00:03:23.400 |
words. So chapter 1, verse 1 until verse 13, where is Jesus? 00:03:32.920 |
Judea, excellent. And chapter 1 through 14 until the end of chapter 9, where is Jesus? 00:03:46.200 |
Galilee, excellent. Yes, the majority of Jesus's ministry in the Gospel of Mark happens in Galilee. 00:03:56.920 |
The turning point. Thank you, Sharon. And chapter 11, 00:04:02.040 |
verse 1 until the end of chapter 16, where is Jesus? 00:04:17.200 |
it's very easy to outline the Gospel of Mark. 00:04:22.080 |
keep emphasizing this is so that when we actually go through the Gospel of Mark, let's say in another 00:04:27.320 |
sermon series by Pastor Peter, you guys will have an idea of where he is and what kind of events are taking place and whatnot. 00:04:41.440 |
the part of the Gospel of Mark where he's in Galilee. And within Galilee, we could break down that section into four 00:04:47.800 |
other sections, subsections, called the four withdrawals. And we cover the first two 00:04:53.440 |
on the previous two weeks, and tonight we're covering the third withdrawal. 00:05:02.800 |
So just an outlook of what tonight's lesson is going to be like. 00:05:08.640 |
We'll be covering the meeting with the Syrophoenician woman. We're gonna be going to the return to the Decapolis. 00:05:14.480 |
The second great feeding, and also the failed tag team. 00:05:18.640 |
The failed tag team. So, as you guys can see, I titled these myself. So 00:05:26.720 |
sometimes my experience, my background comes out. So I like WWF back then. Failed tag team. What's wrong with that? 00:05:35.680 |
All right. So we'll go on to the first section and we'll talk about the meeting with the Syrophoenician woman in 00:05:49.360 |
"Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when he had entered a house, 00:05:55.080 |
he wanted no one to know of it, yet he could not escape notice. 00:05:58.240 |
But after hearing of him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at his feet. 00:06:05.560 |
Now the woman was a Gentile of the Syrophoenician race, and she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 00:06:11.560 |
And he was saying to her, 'Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to 00:06:18.640 |
But she answered and said to him, 'Yes, Lord, 00:06:21.080 |
but even the dogs under a table feed on the children's crumbs.' 00:06:25.020 |
And he said to her, 'Because of this answer, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.' And 00:06:30.200 |
going back to her home, she found a child lying on the bed, the demon having left." 00:06:38.080 |
again, within the ministry of Galilee, there's like these 00:06:41.000 |
little markers that we find here indicating his withdrawal. 00:06:45.280 |
Verse 24 makes it clear that he's now leaving 00:06:48.240 |
Galilee and going to the region of Tyre. And the reason why he's going there is so that he could possibly 00:06:55.480 |
disciple his disciples more, because of the burden of ministry that's taking place. He wants to maybe go off to somewhere quiet, 00:07:04.760 |
somewhere where he could actually spend more intentional time with his disciples. 00:07:09.440 |
But as we take note in verse 24, he entered a house. We don't know whose house that is, 00:07:15.520 |
but we know his intentions. He didn't want anyone to know that he was there, but he cannot escape notice. 00:07:21.040 |
And so, what we want to take note is the fact that, 00:07:24.240 |
again, the fame of Jesus' ministry is already spreading into even the Gentile regions, 00:07:36.680 |
That particular detail is unique because it's found only in the Gospel of Mark. 00:07:42.680 |
Okay, so you won't find that in the Gospel of Matthew that also 00:07:55.720 |
the event in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 and 28, 00:08:00.760 |
because that sheds more light into this incident with the Syrophoenician woman. 00:08:04.960 |
So if you guys could turn there with me to Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 and 28. 00:08:17.040 |
And we read here, "Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 00:08:24.840 |
And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, 00:08:29.600 |
'Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David. My daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.' 00:08:37.200 |
And his disciples came and implored him, saying, 'Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.' 00:08:42.880 |
But he answered and said, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' 00:08:48.280 |
But she came and began to bow down before him, saying, 'Lord, help me.' 00:08:52.800 |
And he answered and said, 'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' 00:08:58.800 |
But she said, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master's table.' 00:09:03.560 |
Then Jesus said to her, 'Oh woman, your faith is great. It shall be done for you as you wish.' 00:09:13.880 |
we take these two accounts and there are some major, major differences. 00:09:18.320 |
There are major, major differences between these two accounts. 00:09:24.720 |
we have the Syrophoenician woman, the Canaanite, the Gentile, 00:09:28.840 |
coming up to Jesus and calling him the son of David. 00:09:32.840 |
Calling Jesus the son of David. And again, that's unique because that's again a Jewish term that's indicating the Messiah. 00:09:40.560 |
So clearly this Gentile woman has some sort of background with 00:09:47.040 |
She understands Israel's history, looking for the Messiah, awaiting for the Messiah's return. 00:09:57.640 |
But we also take note that in verse 23, Jesus didn't answer her. 00:10:02.040 |
And that's not, that's not there like by accident. 00:10:06.160 |
That's exactly how Jesus responded to this Canaanite woman. He ignored her. 00:10:12.280 |
Now you can imagine, right, what kind of audience is the Gospel of Mark written to? 00:10:27.000 |
So you can imagine like if Mark had put in this detail of Jesus ignoring Gentiles, 00:10:34.400 |
that it wouldn't be, it would be probably more detrimental to the purpose of the Gospel of Mark than anything else. 00:10:43.360 |
again, there are reasons why these details are being left out of Mark's Gospel. It's because of who he's writing to. 00:10:50.520 |
It's not saying that these are two different accounts or anything like that or one's dependent upon the other. Rather, Mark just had a different purpose. 00:11:01.480 |
and obviously we have the disciples coming to Jesus saying, you know, answer her request or whatnot or get her out of here. 00:11:08.080 |
But again, these are details that indicate again, who is Mark writing to? 00:11:15.480 |
And so clearly the reason why there's differences in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew is because of the audience. 00:11:43.120 |
details her as being a Gentile and a Syrophoenician. 00:11:47.680 |
Again, he really wants to emphasize that this woman that's coming to beg 00:11:58.840 |
We even know more clearly that in Matthew, again, in Matthew's account, 00:12:05.040 |
that she's a Canaanite woman. And again, we know from Old Testament history that 00:12:13.240 |
destroyed, killed by the nation of Israel. But 00:12:20.800 |
Israel wasn't fully obedient and because of that there's still some Canaanites still living. And as a result, we have this woman coming here 00:12:30.040 |
as a, as a, as a, an opponent of Israel for so long coming to the Jewish Messiah asking for help. 00:12:39.600 |
And again, there's a lot of tension here because of that. 00:12:44.680 |
Historically, Jews did not like Gentiles at all. They didn't want to deal with them. They didn't want to be around them. 00:12:54.360 |
again, this is a really, really unique situation here that we see. 00:13:04.320 |
why is this not working? Oh, Jesus describes her or as Gentiles as dogs. 00:13:13.880 |
this could be seen as like something that's derogatory. I don't know about you guys, 00:13:20.280 |
but when you guys first read dogs, were you guys kind of offended by that? 00:13:23.720 |
Did it seem like a derogatory term to you guys? 00:13:29.200 |
Because we're, you know, we're all, you know, what's up dog? You know. 00:13:33.920 |
Again, back then, Jews used this term in a derogatory way. They used dogs in a derogatory way. 00:13:45.760 |
wasn't in that sense. It's rather more in a sense of like a little dog or like a, like a household pet. 00:13:53.520 |
It was like a term of endearment that Jesus was using to describe 00:14:02.480 |
And so when we see the word dogs there, it's not like he's being inconsiderate or mean, 00:14:06.560 |
but rather he's using it a term of endearment for her. 00:14:13.000 |
he uses the word dogs, and I think he also uses the word dogs because he wants to test her. 00:14:21.560 |
Jesus is not, Jesus, as we see throughout the Gospel of Mark and even in the other gospel accounts, that 00:14:31.520 |
He'll do things on purpose to see like, what is your genuine intention in coming to me? 00:14:36.800 |
And so even though Jesus used this term dogs like a household pet or as a term of endearment, 00:14:43.560 |
he's also using this term as a way of testing this woman's faith. 00:14:48.600 |
And the way the woman responds is very unique because she is not offended. She is not 00:14:58.840 |
upset that the fact that she's called a dog. Rather, 00:15:15.640 |
Jesus said to her, "Because of this answer, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter." 00:15:20.960 |
And going back to her home, she found a child lying on the bed and a demon having left. 00:15:27.200 |
So again, we see that Jesus' ministry to the Gentiles is growing. It's happening. 00:15:32.240 |
Great things are taking place and the Gentiles are responding in faith. 00:15:39.160 |
So that's the incident with the Syrophoenician woman. That was just really quick. You guys have any questions about that? 00:15:54.840 |
In ministry two. And so again, we're seeing that Jesus' ministry is becoming more towards the Gentiles. 00:16:03.840 |
And again, this all adds more evidence to the fact that Mark wrote his gospel to a Gentile audience. 00:16:10.560 |
So we go to verse 32, which I just read, "They brought to him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty." 00:16:22.000 |
It was a man with a speech impediment. He wasn't mute. I think some 00:16:26.540 |
Bible translated as like mute, but that really isn't the case. 00:16:31.240 |
He just had a speech impediment because he was deaf. And because he was deaf for such a long time, he began to lose a sense of 00:16:37.560 |
speaking. I think some translators call it like he was stammering, like stuttering. 00:16:42.720 |
He just wasn't speaking clearly enough. And so these people brought this man to Jesus 00:16:56.120 |
Because instead of healing Jesus right there in front of the crowds, 00:16:59.360 |
it says that Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself. 00:17:04.360 |
And so here's like a private encounter with Jesus that this deaf man has. 00:17:16.960 |
you know, special compassion for this individual and wanted to 00:17:20.600 |
show him that compassion in a more private setting instead of in a crowd. 00:17:25.440 |
Perhaps he knew the intentions of this man's heart, 00:17:28.400 |
that he was really looking for a Savior. We don't know. 00:17:31.600 |
But for whatever reason, he took him aside. He wanted a private, he wants a private moment with this individual. 00:17:41.720 |
he put his fingers into his ears and after spitting he touched his tongue with the saliva. 00:17:50.680 |
this indicates that at this time, Jesus clearly knew what was wrong with him. And 00:17:56.720 |
seeing the compassionate side of Jesus is really being evidenced by him really 00:18:03.840 |
communicating with sign language at this time. 00:18:06.440 |
Like he wasn't just like gonna speak to him because obviously he was deaf, 00:18:10.640 |
you know, and so he communicated with sign language. 00:18:13.120 |
He wanted to show him like, I'm gonna heal your deafness and I'm gonna heal your speech impediment. 00:18:20.360 |
And so again, we see the compassion of Christ, 00:18:26.080 |
not just designed to just heal people left and right and to say, okay, next in line, next in line, rather, 00:18:38.600 |
And we see in verse 34, "And looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, he said to him," 00:18:48.800 |
that is be opened. I mean, I don't know how to pronounce that word, but I'll try my best. 00:18:59.880 |
And again, Mark is coming into play translating for his Gentile audience what that word means. 00:19:07.480 |
And we see in verse 35, "And his ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was removed." 00:19:12.640 |
He was no longer stammering. He was no longer stuttering. Rather, he was speaking clearly and he could hear clearly now. 00:19:18.880 |
And we see in verse 36, "And he gave them orders not to tell anyone, 00:19:23.120 |
but the more he ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it." 00:19:30.240 |
they were more widely continuing to proclaim it is because they were utterly astonished. 00:19:38.680 |
saying, "He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." 00:19:47.360 |
in the Gentiles' eyes, this is a remarkable thing. 00:19:52.920 |
They do not have Old Testament prophecies of someone coming who's gonna heal the sick, 00:19:59.120 |
you know, heal the blind and heal the deaf. They didn't have any of that. 00:20:04.680 |
Rather, they're just experiencing it for the first time. 00:20:12.320 |
I think one thing that the Gospel of Mark does really well is capture the response by the people. 00:20:23.160 |
reminding us of the astonishment that people have after Jesus 00:20:28.640 |
performs a miracle. Even the disciples are like, you know, amazed when he calms the great storm. 00:20:37.920 |
that Mark includes in his Gospel, I think as a reminder 00:20:42.240 |
for those who are reading it, that we too need to be astonished at the work of Jesus Christ. 00:20:47.560 |
We too need to be amazed at the salvation work that he's done for us. 00:20:55.920 |
You know, if we lose sight of the, if we ever lose sight of like the astonishment factor in our own salvation 00:21:02.000 |
and the way God has answered prayers in our own lives, 00:21:04.640 |
I don't know, I think it might be an indication of heart issues that might 00:21:12.000 |
need addressing because I don't think we can ever lose sight of the astonishment that we have in Christ. And so, 00:21:21.400 |
I think even if like non-believers are astonished by the miracles done by Jesus Christ, I mean how much more should believers be astonished 00:21:28.240 |
at the salvation that Christ purchased for us? 00:21:34.320 |
that's what we have here with the return to the Decapolis. 00:21:58.620 |
sorry I have to repeat this question, but why did Jesus 00:22:02.020 |
commission the former demoniac to spread the news of what the Lord has done 00:22:18.940 |
We can ask that when we're in heaven to Jesus. 00:22:22.540 |
But I think it might fall in the same line as the reason why he told the Jews not to 00:22:28.300 |
tell others of what he's done for them, especially with the leper, for example, in the earlier parts of Mark. 00:22:34.700 |
It's so that he won't be impeded to do ministry in the towns and in the cities. 00:22:40.180 |
Remember, do you guys remember like after he healed the leper and he was doing all these things, 00:22:44.020 |
it's like there's a great crowd that was around him and that it kind of forced him to be at the Sea of Galilee because 00:22:54.380 |
hindered his efforts to go into the villages and towns to 00:22:58.020 |
to teach and to also perform miracles and stuff. 00:23:03.300 |
So I think that's one of the reasons why he may have done that, but it's not explicitly clear in the scriptures, but 00:23:17.020 |
All right, moving on to chapter 8, we're getting closer to the turning point. 00:23:22.780 |
So in chapter 8 verse 1 through 10, we have the second great feeding. 00:23:29.620 |
And it starts off by saying, "In those days when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, 00:23:37.140 |
Jesus called his disciples and said to them," and again that phrase "in those days" is an indication of where Jesus is. 00:23:48.060 |
He's still surrounded by Gentiles. He's not surrounded by Jews, he's surrounded by Gentiles. 00:23:53.380 |
And we know that also because in Mark chapter 15, 00:24:06.180 |
well, I'm sorry, that was just a cross-reference as to the account that's 00:24:10.580 |
that we're here. So anyways, that's the same passage that describes the same event. 00:24:19.460 |
And we find that it's similar to the first great feeding that we read in Mark chapter 6, where he read, where he fed the 00:24:26.380 |
5,000, but there are differences. There are differences that we find between these two events. 00:24:33.340 |
Jesus even notes these as two distinct events, right? In Mark chapter 8 verse 19 and 20, 00:24:42.860 |
you know, "They're on a boat and they forgot to bring bread," and then Jesus rebukes them saying, 00:24:47.540 |
"Having eyes do you not see and having ears do you not hear and do you not remember 00:24:51.420 |
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" 00:25:00.020 |
"And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And he said to him, "Seven." 00:25:06.580 |
And he was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?" So again, even Jesus views these two events as distinct. 00:25:16.740 |
say that like it's the same event, but told in two different areas of the Gospel of Mark. 00:25:21.380 |
But again, if you've ever faced that kind of question or faced that kind of 00:25:29.820 |
this event, just keep reading the Gospel of Mark and the answer will be there like on the next page. 00:25:35.540 |
So it is two distinct events. Let's just leave it at that. 00:25:38.980 |
And we also take note that one of the differences that 00:25:45.140 |
makes these two events distinct is that Jesus initiates with the disciples to feed the masses. 00:25:52.180 |
Remember in Mark chapter 6 that the disciples kind of run up to Jesus and like, "Jesus, like you're teaching too long. 00:26:00.340 |
send them away or else they're gonna like, there's nothing here, you know, how can we feed them?" 00:26:05.080 |
But we see in Mark chapter 8, it's Jesus who comes to the disciples. 00:26:10.760 |
He calls them over and he says to them, "I feel compassion for the people 00:26:14.580 |
because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 00:26:18.820 |
If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way and some of them have come from a great distance." 00:26:27.180 |
And so we see here that it's not the disciples that come up to Jesus, 00:26:31.100 |
but it's Jesus that calls the disciples to basically say, you know, "Feed the masses. Feed them." 00:26:41.660 |
I mean, I think it's really unique because Christ expresses compassion 00:26:46.940 |
for the Gentiles, you know, but when he was with the Jews, he didn't really like, 00:26:55.140 |
I guess maybe he expressed the same compassion, but it's unique that Jesus would initiate that when he's surrounded by Gentiles. 00:27:01.140 |
You know, again, the Jew and Gentile relationship is very, very rocky. 00:27:06.460 |
It's not, they're not at peace with one another, they despise one another, 00:27:10.980 |
and yet here Jesus is surrounded by these Gentiles and here he is just expressing compassion upon them. 00:27:19.420 |
And he's moved by compassion because of their physical needs. 00:27:27.340 |
And his disciples answered him, you know, he called them and told them, like, "Go feed them." 00:27:33.940 |
They answered him, "Where will anyone be able to, where will anyone be able 00:27:38.500 |
to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?" 00:27:43.620 |
And so again, you know, we read verse 4 here and kind of run into a problem. 00:27:52.220 |
There's two different views that commentaries have argued. 00:27:56.180 |
Some people have argued that this is like, they take this 00:28:01.580 |
question that the disciples leave with Jesus in verse 4 as like, it's an expression of their humility. 00:28:07.980 |
You know, they learned their lesson from before. They realize that they're powerless. 00:28:12.420 |
And so they're coming before Jesus and they're saying, 00:28:14.580 |
"Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?" 00:28:23.100 |
admitting that they're powerless, that they cannot feed these people. 00:28:30.260 |
Now the second view is, this is just more evidence of the lack of faith of the disciples. 00:28:41.060 |
Clearly from your notes, you can see where I stand. 00:28:46.500 |
You know, some people may take this and be like, "Aw man, give the disciples some slack." 00:28:51.940 |
You know, like, they've learned their lesson, okay? 00:28:53.940 |
But it's pretty clear that they didn't. And this again is more evidence of the lack of faith that the disciples had 00:29:01.580 |
with Jesus. They like forgot. They forgot that Jesus fed the 5,000 previously. And yet, 00:29:09.260 |
when they come to 4,000, they just forgot. And again, like, that's not out of the ordinary. 00:29:15.700 |
That's not a reach. I don't think I'm milking the text. 00:29:19.020 |
Because I think for all of us here, we've at times have forgotten 00:29:22.860 |
just the way in which God has worked in our lives. You know, the way he may have answered our prayers, maybe in the way in 00:29:29.260 |
which he's opened opportunities for us to be blessed or to even like share the gospel with other people. 00:29:36.340 |
We're prone to forgetting too. So I don't think it's far-fetched. I don't think it's milking it. 00:29:41.580 |
I think, again, verse 4 is clear evidence of the lack of faith by the disciples. They forgot. 00:29:46.820 |
And so again, it goes in line with just how the disciples are portrayed in the Gospel of Mark. 00:29:57.980 |
go between. Like, one minute they're like on target. 00:30:01.220 |
They're on, you know, they're spot-on. And then the next incident, like, they're kind of wavering and they just kind of forgot. 00:30:07.220 |
And so here we have the disciples doing that as well. 00:30:15.860 |
Jesus, you know, continues his dialogue with his disciples and he says, "How many loaves do you have?" And he said, "We have seven." 00:30:24.020 |
"How many fish?" "Oh, that, no, no, sorry. Seven, right?" 00:30:27.260 |
And so he asked the people to sit down and take in his seven loaves. He gives thanks and he breaks them. 00:30:35.220 |
They also had a few small fish and after he had blessed them, he started passing out the small fish. 00:30:40.460 |
And verse 8 is very similar to what we saw in Mark chapter 6, "And they ate and were satisfied." 00:30:47.220 |
And he picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 00:30:51.860 |
And we see in verse 9 that about 4,000 were there. 00:30:55.900 |
In Matthew's account, it says 4,000 were there too, but it also said not including women and children. And so 00:31:14.500 |
How much time passed between the first and second? 00:31:19.180 |
I'm not quite sure. I know some time has elapsed. I don't know what, how much. 00:31:37.980 |
I'll email everyone the answer once I find it, but. 00:31:40.660 |
Actually, I remember reading in a commentary, 00:31:45.140 |
because see Mark is not written in like strict chronological order. 00:31:58.460 |
And then the feeding of the 5,000 happened. It could be that. 00:32:05.540 |
Chronologically speaking, like if you consider all the miracles of Jesus and what took place. 00:32:34.140 |
Yeah, I'll tell you later. I just, I'm not sure. I think clearly the Gerasim Demoniac event happened first. 00:32:40.020 |
I just don't know how long it took for Jesus to get back to the Decapolis when he returned. So. 00:32:54.020 |
It's not as controversial as last week, so. All right, moving on. 00:33:01.820 |
So after, after he fed the 5,000, we see in verse 10, 00:33:11.660 |
"And immediately he entered the boat with his disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha." 00:33:21.260 |
And so we see here, I got this, I just got this map here. In Matthew 15 verse 39, if we go back there, 00:33:29.380 |
it's also called Magadan, Magadon. And so we see here that he kind of left this region of the Decapolis right here. 00:33:36.420 |
And he basically traveled northwest to this region right here. 00:33:41.060 |
So he's going back to Capernaum, going back to Galilee. 00:33:47.300 |
And so he's going back to kind of like his headquarters area. 00:33:55.500 |
And while he returns back to his headquarters, he is confronted by, 00:34:02.420 |
well in the Gospel of Mark, one set of religious leaders, the Pharisees. But we find in, 00:34:09.620 |
in Matthew's account in Matthew chapter 16 verse 1, that it's not just the Pharisees that came up, but the Sadducees that came up as well. 00:34:22.500 |
this tag team that we see here being developed is a big deal. 00:34:26.180 |
Because the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they like, they hate each other. They're at odds. 00:34:31.820 |
Religiously and politically, they're at odds with one another. 00:34:36.140 |
They hated each other, you know, the Pharisees view the Sadducees as sellouts, Sadducees view Pharisees as like just like religious nuts. 00:34:44.740 |
But they're at odds with one another. And yet here we see in Matthew that they come together. 00:34:51.620 |
They have a common enemy. And that's something that's unique 00:35:01.300 |
all kind of oppositions to truth will come together to tag team together to overthrow or undermine truth. 00:35:07.740 |
But we see the Pharisees and the Sadducees come together. And again, with the Pharisees, this is something like, this is not new for them. 00:35:20.860 |
the Pharisees teamed up with the Herodians. You guys remember the Herodians? 00:35:24.660 |
They're like the followers of Herod. They like, they love him. 00:35:28.060 |
Like they kind of went all in with their family line of Herod. 00:35:33.540 |
So it's nothing new that the Pharisees were teaming up with other people to kind of like go against Jesus. 00:35:46.420 |
they began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 00:35:51.620 |
And so clearly these Pharisees and Sadducees were well aware of the Old Testament. 00:36:02.660 |
It might be probable that they're asking for a sign from heaven kind of similar to Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14. 00:36:22.900 |
"And he kept looking in the night visions and behold with the cloud of heaven, 00:36:25.900 |
one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to give and to 00:36:33.460 |
him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve him. 00:36:39.900 |
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." 00:36:45.660 |
So they wanted a sign from heaven, a clear indication that Jesus is the Messiah. 00:36:54.820 |
Mark adds, you know, some further detail here kind of indicating the heart of the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they came up. 00:37:02.380 |
Saying that, you know, they came up to test him. 00:37:05.940 |
In some of your translations, it might come off as "tempt." They came to tempt Jesus. 00:37:12.540 |
What they're attempting Jesus to do is to put him in a dilemma, right? They want to put him into a dilemma, you know, by 00:37:20.420 |
by asking this question, you know, "Can you give us a sign from heaven?" Because, you know, if Jesus did 00:37:26.980 |
accept their challenge and, you know, in their minds, they were sure that he wasn't gonna, he wasn't able to do it, 00:37:35.820 |
But if Jesus chose not to reveal a sign from heaven, 00:37:40.780 |
then the crowd would kind of view that as like, "Oh, maybe he's not really the Messiah." 00:37:45.220 |
You know, they're trying to put him in like in a dilemma, in a lose-lose situation. 00:37:50.180 |
And we see that many times with the Pharisees and Jesus. They always, Pharisees are always trying to put Jesus in a lose-lose situation, but 00:37:57.260 |
but Jesus is not a loser. So he does not lose 00:38:16.900 |
Jesus responds in verse 12 by sighing deeply first in his spirit. 00:38:26.820 |
is repeated before in Mark chapter 7 verse 34, when he is sighing deeply because of the hardness of the hearts of 00:38:36.740 |
Oh no, sorry, that's not the, sorry, that's the deep sigh with 00:38:46.100 |
But he did give a loud sigh when he looked at the hearts of the Pharisees earlier in chapter, in the Gospel of Mark. 00:38:55.580 |
And so he sighs deeply and gives them a response and basically says to them, 00:39:01.260 |
"Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." 00:39:10.020 |
again, we want to get a fuller account of what's going on. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 4, 00:39:15.580 |
he mentions that there will be no sign except for the sign of Jonah. 00:39:22.140 |
again, because Mark's audience are full of Gentiles, they probably wouldn't understand what the sign of Jonah was. 00:39:28.140 |
But what we have here in Gospel of Matthew is the fact that Jesus is saying, "My sign to you will be my resurrection," 00:39:39.860 |
And so after giving them this response, in verse 13, 00:39:49.140 |
it just simply says, "Jesus leaves." Leaving them, he again 00:39:55.940 |
embarked and went away to the other side, which again leads us into the fourth withdrawal, which we'll cover next week. 00:40:11.740 |
instead of engaging with the Pharisees and Sadducees with like a discussion or debate, he rather, he just leaves. 00:40:19.340 |
He doesn't spend any more time with them. He just leaves 00:40:28.300 |
And so this failed tag team made an attempt to 00:40:42.820 |
Because we're at the end, so feel free to ask more questions. 00:40:47.580 |
Questions or encouragement. One thing that I did last week 00:40:56.860 |
what are things that you're thankful for in regards to the Gospel of Mark? 00:41:01.740 |
I'm thankful for the fact that Jesus could feed the 4,000 with just a bunch of bread and fish. 00:41:11.220 |
speech impediments because sometimes I might have one with my lisp. 00:41:19.980 |
hang out with Gentiles because I'm a Gentile. 00:41:24.100 |
What are you guys thankful for in regards to the study of the Gospel of Mark? 00:41:34.060 |
kind of astonishment did you guys have when you guys read tonight's reading? 00:41:43.060 |
This is being recorded guys. Awkward silence is killing me right now. 00:42:04.900 |
I guess just after looking at the passage with the Syro-Phoenician woman, 00:42:09.180 |
Jesus definitely took the time, even though he wanted to focus on the ministry of Jesus first, 00:42:20.980 |
but he definitely took his time to show grace to this woman who was a Gentile, 00:42:27.780 |
And then I think it eventually transferred more into the second reading. 00:42:33.780 |
Right, so Jason's grateful for the fact that Jesus was willing to take time to address the needs of a Gentile woman whom, 00:42:40.780 |
again, he really had no business to heal, but in his sovereign plan and in his compassion he did heal 00:42:48.780 |
or answer the requests of the Syro-Phoenician woman. So that's what Jason's grateful for. 00:43:06.060 |
I was really encouraged by what you said about how he approached the death and almost healed him. 00:43:13.060 |
I always wondered why he did that. I haven't heard that it was a form of titan-wish to approach him in that kind of compassionate, thoughtful way. 00:43:28.060 |
I feel like it does remind me that Jesus looks at me as an individual, not just like a part of the situation. 00:43:42.060 |
Right. All right. Tonya's grateful for the fact that Jesus saves individuals. 00:43:55.060 |
I'll take one more and then we'll finish the recording. 00:44:02.060 |
It's like going to the dentist right now. Grace. 00:44:08.060 |
I just like how it was suggested that the 4,000 people, I mean, there were like 7 people who lost their sons, but it's not like they had thousands of options. 00:44:23.060 |
So I think he is like a part of the situation. 00:44:28.060 |
Right. Grace is thankful for the fact that Jesus is not wasteful and he gives exactly what we need at the right time in regards to just various blessings in our lives. 00:44:42.060 |
All right. I appreciate your participation. Feel free to talk next time. 00:44:46.060 |
Yeah. You know, just give me a heads up. I know we're all Asian here. Most of us are Asian here. 00:44:51.060 |
But, you know, feel free to talk. All right. We'll end here and there you go.