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March 24 - Mark 8 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday, it's the 24th of
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  March. And I am delighted that you have
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  joined me because we have reached the the central moment.
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  We have reached this hinge, this turning point in the gospel of
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  Mark. The first half of Mark kind of
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  races through at this frenetic pace, all these different things
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  happening in the life of Jesus. And the whole time, nobody
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  really gets it. Nobody understands who Jesus is.
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  And so Mark shares this interesting, peculiar story
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  about this kind of healing gone wrong when Jesus heals this
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  blind man, but he still can't see clearly until Jesus comes
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  back a second time to make this healing stick and work properly.
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  And that is this metaphor for the fact that people just cannot
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  see who Jesus is. And it's in the very following
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  section where finally someone for the first time in the
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  Gospel, announces that Jesus is the Messiah.
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  And from that point on, the rest of the gospel slows and settles
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  into Jesus teaching about his mission, his death, and his
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  resurrection. So let us take together this
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  final dash and then settle in as we read together Mark Chapter 8.
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  About this time, another large crowd had gathered and the
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  people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and
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  told them. I feel sorry for these people.
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  They have been here with me for three days and they've nothing
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  left to eat. If I send them home hungry,
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  they'll faint along the way, for some of them have come a long
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  distance, his disciples replied. How are we supposed to find
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  enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?
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  Jesus asked, How much bread do you have?
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  7 loaves, they replied. So Jesus told them all to sit
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  down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves,
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  thanked God for them and broke them into pieces.
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  He gave them to his disciples who distributed the bread to the
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  crowd. A few small fish were found too.
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  So Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute
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  them. They ate as much as they wanted.
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  Afterward, the disciples picked up 7 large baskets of leftover
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  food. There were about 4000 men in the
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  crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten.
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  Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples
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  and crossed over to the region of Dalmanatha.
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  When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and
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  started to argue with Him, testing him.
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  They demanded that He show them a miraculous sign from heaven to
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  prove His authority. When he heard this, he sighed
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  deeply in his spirit and said, Why do these people keep
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  demanding A miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not
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  give this generation any such sign.
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  So we got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the
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  other side of the lake. But the disciples had forgotten
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  to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread
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  with them in the boat. As they were crossing the lake,
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  Jesus warned them, Watch out, beware of the yeast, of the
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  Pharisees and of Herod. At this they began to argue with
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  each other because they hadn't brought any bread.
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  Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said.
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  Why are you arguing about having no bread?
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  Don't you know or understand even yet?
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  Are your hearts too hard to take it in?
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  You have eyes, can't you see? You have ears?
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  Can't you hear? Don't you remember anything at
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  all? When I fed the 5000 with five
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  loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you
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  pick up afterward? 12 they said.
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  And when I fed the 4000 with 7 loaves, how many large baskets
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  of leftovers did you pick up? Seven, they said.
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  Don't you understand yet? He asked them.
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  When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man
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  to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him.
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  Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the
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  village. Then spitting on the man's eyes,
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  he laid his hands on him and asked, Can you see anything now?
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  The man looked around. Yes, he said, I see people, but
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  I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking
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  around. Then Jesus placed his hand on
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  the man's eyes again, and his eyes were opened.
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  His sight was completely restored and he could see
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  everything clearly. Jesus sent him away saying,
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  don't go back into the village on your way home.
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  Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the
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  villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he
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  asked them, Who do people say I am?
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  Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say
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  Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.
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  Then he asked them, But who do you say I am?
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  Peter replied, You are the Messiah.
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  But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
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  Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer
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  many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the
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  leading priests, and the teachers of religious law.
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  He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from
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  the dead. As he talked about this openly
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  with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand
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  him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked
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  at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter.
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  Get away from me, Satan, he said.
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  You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not
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  from God's. Then calling the crowd to join
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  his disciples, he said, If any of you wants to be my follower,
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  you must give up your own way. Take up your cross and follow
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  me. If you try to hang on to your
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  life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for
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  my sake and for the sake of the good news, you will save it.
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  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose
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  your own soul? Is anything worth more than your
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  soul? If anyone is ashamed of Me and
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  My message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man
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  will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of
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  his Father with the holy angels. Oh Jesus, we see you clearly and
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  we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the Messiah.
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  You are the Son of God. You are God himself, present in
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  the very beginning, in creation, throughout time and into
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  eternity. You are the Most High, You are
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  our Saviour, and you have made everything right.
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  So we proclaim this truth and give us a spirit of boldness
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  that we would never be ashamed to speak the truth of you and
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  who you are and what you mean to us, because the world
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  desperately needs to know you and what you have done for the
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  world, what you have done for each of us.
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  Transform us, use us, your beloved children, and we pray
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  all of this in your wonderful name, Jesus, Amen.