Seeing is believing, as the proverb says. As the proverb says, the only way that one can truly believe is to see. However, we know this to be false. The eye can play tricks on your brain, such as optical illusions. Just because I see a man pull a bunny out of an empty hat does not mean I am a 'believer.' All things require faith in something. The proverb seeing is believing requires faith in your eyesight to reflect

Feeding of the Four Thousand (Mark 8:1-9) In my short time as being a pastor, I have had a few moments of absolute shock and fear as I begin the scripture reading and a sense of Déjà vu comes sweeping across my mind. I think to myself, have I preached or taught this text already. Have I pulled up the wrong sermon notes? Did I print out last week’s bulletin? These moments are often short-lived. When we read the Bible as

We come to a passage that many people seek to skip over. They might do so for various reasons, the use of spit and placing fingers in ears, the connection between bread and being satisfied from the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30) and the bread and feeding of the 4000 (Mark 8:1-10), and finally they might, as I have mentioned before, seek to focus on Matthew and Luke compared to Mark. However, this passage is important for serval reasons. Under the

Mark turns from the handwashing and dietary laws of the Pharisees who questioned Jesus' disciples' cleanliness, of what is clean and unclean. In this literary masterclass, he now writes about the story of the Syrophoenician woman. Up to this point, many people have not understood Jesus and his teaching. The pharisee's thought the law was about having clean hands and not a clean heart. They thought they could enter heaven with their handwashing and diet. However, in today's passage, we

You are what you eat. This saying comes from a French lawyer who lived in 1826, who said, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." Eventually, it became common in English in the 1930s when Victor Lindlahr published a book called "You Are What You Eat: how to win and keep health with diet." Simply, you eat bad food. You will have bad health. Today many people talk about diets. People are willingly or

The structure of Mark is fascinating. One commentator explains that for Mark, "Placing stories together like bricks in a row with little if any editorial cement is not unusual in Mark." The last time Mark mentioned the Pharisees were in Mark 3:6, "The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him." A massive cliffhanger, and then Mark turns quickly to the sea of Galilee voyages. Mark has not mentioned the Pharisees in

Who do you say that Jesus is? The predominate question that needs to be answered. This question is constantly before us as we read the gospel of Mark. Many answers have been given, Son of God (Mark 1:1, 3:11), Beloved Son (1:11), Holy one of God (1:24), a blasphemer (2:7), sabbath breaker (3:6), out of his mind (3:21), son of the most high God (5:7), just a carpenter (6:3), Elijah or Prophet (6:15), John the Baptist raised from the dead

We go from a banquet of people of nobility, military leaders, and other men of status at King Herod's perverse birthday party. We go from the palace to a side of a hill. I am sure Herod had many exotic foods and expensive wine. However, we see Mark explain that Jesus feeds the crowd of 5,000 men. He does not have an exquisite menu but simply bread and fish. Yet, the contrast is that Christ is the shepherd who cares

Mark chapter six continues to show the reality of discipleship. Jesus does not receive honor from those in his hometown, and they are offended by him. Mark continues to explain the reality of those who follow Jesus. Mark 6:7-13 Jesus sends out the twelve disciples, Mark then writes about the death of John the Baptist in Mark 6:14-29. These two pericopes could be viewed as different texts; however, what I hope to show is that Mark deliberately places the story

Mark 5:21-43 Mark chapter five shows Christ's power and authority over all things. In the first half of Mark chapter 5, we saw that Jesus' power and authority was over the strongman of this world. We saw Jesus show his earthy ministry was not just for those who physically descended from Abraham. Jesus went over the other side of the sea of Galilee to cast out the unclean spirit of the man living in the cemetery. He becomes the first gospel