Author: Norm

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 8:1-9 “I have compassion for these people…” (Mark 8:2) Matthew tells us this is a second feeding miracle (Matthew 14:15-21; 15:29-31). He also tells us that this occasion was with non-Jews (Matthew 15:21,29-31). Jesus does not view Canaanites as dogs (Mark 7:24-30). The word ‘compassion’ was related to a person’s guts (bowels, inward parts). This…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:31-37 Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.” (Mark 7:33) I don’t know: this what I say when asked, ‘why finger in ear and spit in mouth?’ Aside from being weird and gross, it was also effective, it worked. But I don’t think…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:24-30 “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (Mark 7:27) This hardly seems a Jesus-like thing – or a God-like – thing to say. Calling someone a dog was an ancient insult, before domestication they were considered dirty. It was a common way of…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:20-23 “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come.” (Mark 7:21) The ‘heart’ is the spiritual command center in each person. It is the inner me, where I think and feel and choose. We cannot locate this ‘inner me’ in a body part, it is tied…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:14-19 “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.” (Mark 7:19) I was going to write about ‘unclean foods’ (Leviticus 11:1-23, Deuteronomy 14:3-21). But looking closer at this verse, I learned the actual Greek: ‘purifying all the food’. Since there is no punctuation, the words follow what proceeds. — “into the belly and going…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:9-13 “You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” (Mark 7:13) Think of some of the hard teachings of Jesus. Forgive those who hurt you, turn the other cheek, love your enemy? These are just a few of many hard teachings that we prefer not to…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:6-8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’” (Mark 7:8, quoting Isaiah 29:13) God is not impressed by our outward behaviours when they do not reflect inward truth. Jesus comes to release us from religion, to restore us to relationship. To love God with our whole…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:1-5 “Saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.” (Mark 7:2) Jesus does not teach His disciples to follow religious rituals or traditions. These practices develop over time for a specific religious purpose. Hand washing symbolized the need for forgiveness and the need for spiritual…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 6:53-56 They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. (Mark 6:56) Can we appreciate how desperate sick people were at that time? No hospitals, medicines or pain-killers, limited understanding of basic healthy living. We take our healthcare for granted, and…

THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 6:45-52 “After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.” (Mark 6:46) Jesus did not walk on water because of His God-nature. Having emptied Himself of His God-ness, He was human like us (Philippians 2:6-7). Rather, He was human like we were supposed to be, like Adam before sin. God put…