This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 4–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 3:28-30 Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
I tell you with certainty, people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven, but is guilty of eternal sin.” For they had been saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
When many people read about blaspheming the Holy Spirit, they worry because it seems to them as if blaspheming the Spirit might be as simple as a false accusation or shouting a curse word. However, this eternal sin is more complex than lies and curses. It is true that the verses here are referring to the rumors and accusations that the scribes had been spreading about Jesus having an unclean spirit, but the subject that Jesus opens up with them has more to do with the fact that they had to have known and been convicted by the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Messiah promised from the scriptures, and yet they knowingly rejected that conviction. They were choosing not to listen to the Spirit speaking to them. They were blaspheming the Spirit before they ever opened their mouths to lie about the spirit who was working with Jesus.
In our discomfort over the sin against the Holy Spirit, it is easy to overlook the first sentence of this passage, but that would be a mistake. This verse is actually a promise. We will be forgiven our sins, and we will be forgiven our words. We need to examine this verse to understand the contrast between blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and speaking blasphemies. Shouting out cuss words against God will not cause a permanent separation between us and the Spirit. The eternal sin is to remain separate from God. The Spirit living in us connects us to Jesus. By denying the convicting voice of the Spirit and refusing to repent, we reject any connection to Jesus. It is only through our connection to Jesus that we are saved. Thus, the sin that cannot be forgiven is the refusal to be connected to Jesus through the Spirit.
The book of Acts presents the actions of the Spirit again and again. Always, the Spirit is reaching out to people, convicting them of sin, and drawing them into the love of God. The Spirit reveals God’s messages and provides signs and healing to increase the likelihood of teaching skeptics to believe in the one true God. The Holy Spirit is as full of love for us as the Father and the Son. Thus, He does not get impatient and leave. We cannot accidentally hurt His feelings so that He becomes offended and deserts us. The only way that we can be separated from Him is the same way that the Bible shows us that we can be separated from Jesus. We reject Him until we are beyond God’s ability to reach us. The Spirit is the only method that God can use to reach our inner minds and hearts. When we cannot hear the convicting voice of the Spirit anymore, God has no other means of bringing us to repentance and union with Him.
There are always people who harden themselves so that God cannot reach them through the Holy Spirit. Just as Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not listen to the word of God delivered by Moses, a person can become so hardened that he or she becomes deaf to God. The only voice that these people hear is the sound of their own selfish desires. However, we do not know which people have closed their ears to God’s voice. On the outside an unrepentant sinner and a hardened sinner look the same. God knows the difference, but we cannot see into people’s hearts and minds. For this reason, we must simply keep treating all people with love, and let the Spirit worry about planting the seeds that will result in a connection to Jesus.
DAY 5–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 3:31-35 Who are my Mother and my Brothers?
Then his mother and his brothers arrived. Milling around outside, they sent for him, continually summoning him. A crowd was sitting around him. They told him, “Look! Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then looking at the people sitting around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus’ brothers (at least two and maybe more) have brought Jesus’ mother with them on a mission that would interfere with Jesus’ ministry to the world. By comparing scripture to scripture, we can see the kind of interactions that would likely have happened if Jesus had arranged for the brothers to enter. In John 7:3-5, the brothers feel like they have the authority to instruct Jesus about His ministry. “His brothers therefore said to him, ‘Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.’ For even his brothers didn’t believe in him” (John 7:3-5). Thus, we see a pattern of disbelief and attempts to push Jesus into the wrong actions out of the wrong motives.
The only reason for the brothers to have brought Mary is because they knew that on their own, they did not have the kind of authority that Jesus would listen to. Earlier in chapter three of Mark, it said that some of Jesus’ friends or family believed that He had gone crazy. Mary would have known that Jesus was not insane and that He was doing His Father’s work. She had learned her lesson when Jesus was twelve years old, and He had reinforced that lesson at the wedding in Cana. However, in the Middle East of that time and even of today, grown sons can order their mother around, so she had no choice but to accompany them on their wrong-headed mission.
Some commentators say that these were his younger brothers, and they accuse those who believe that the men were stepbrothers (sons of Joseph by a prior marriage) of being influenced by the idea of the eternally virgin Mary; however, these commentators in their arguments display a bias inherited from their own cultures, which differentiate greatly between stepmothers and blood mothers. Most western languages present step-relatives as somehow more distant than relatives by blood, but this was not true in the societies of Jesus’ day. The majority of ancient cultures did not make a linguistic difference between mother and stepmother, or even between sister and sister-in-law. In fact, older women are called aunt or mother or grandmother in many of today’s traditional cultures, as well as most ancient cultures. Thus, these men would have been considered Jesus’ brothers regardless of whether they were Mary and Joseph’s sons or simply Joseph’s sons. One piece of evidence that supports the stepbrother scenario is the tone of the brothers’ actions and words. They act like they think that they have the right to tell Jesus what to do. Even in modern western societies, it is unusual for a younger sibling to order an older brother or sister around; however, in the Middle Eastern culture of both today and ancient times, the norm is that older brothers have the right and responsibility to command their younger brothers’ obedience. Joseph would have been alive until after Jesus was twelve, so he would have been a barrier between the brothers and Jesus, but after his death, the brothers would have believed that they were now in charge. The brothers probably had an idea that they would just waltz right in and start arguing with Jesus. They were confident that they not only had the right and duty to take the actions that they were doing, but also had the privilege to treat their brother however they chose.
Some translations simply say that the family was standing outside and calling to Jesus or that they sent Jesus a message. One Bible version says “Milling around outside, they sent for him, continually summoning him” (ISV). From these translations, we can tell that Jesus was inside a building, and there was a crowd surrounding the building. We can picture the brothers with Mary in tow continually moving around the crowd trying to force their way through and being pushed back by onlookers who refused to give up their places near Jesus. The brothers probably then got more and more frustrated resorting to claiming their family relationship to gain entrance. The crowd most likely did not believe them thinking that these men were lying in order to gain an advantage. Finally, word would have reached Jesus that His family was there. The messenger must have been surprised by Jesus’ response.
At first glance, it might seem that Jesus was not only rudely disrespecting His family, but that He was also hurting and rejecting them. However, if Jesus had let them in and shown them the respect that His culture said was due to them, they would have caused a scene that would have interfered with the message that He was giving to the world. There was one goal that Jesus never let anything interfere with. That was doing His Father’s will. Thus, Jesus said the words that would avoid the problem while sending a message to His mother and brothers about who had top priority in His life. He made a point of looking at the people sitting around Him before stating that they were His brother, sister, and mother because they were doing God’s will. This is a promise that Paul repeats in Romans. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:14-15).
Jesus is not exhibiting a rejection of family here. Instead, He is inviting us to be adopted into His family–to be His brother and sister sharing His Father’s love. He is inviting His listeners to be loved by His Father, just as He is loved–as a true son or daughter. This is why from the times of the very first church, believers referred to each other as brothers and sisters. When we forget that our fellow church members who are seeking to do God’s will are our family, our brothers and sisters, Satan can come in and defeat us. We may have differing opinions, but we must always realize that we have one Father and that we have the same Spirit living in us making us family.
DAY 6–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 4:1-9 The Parable of the Sower
Then Jesus began to teach again beside the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while the entire crowd remained beside the sea on the shore. He began teaching them many things in parables. While he was teaching them he said, “Listen! A farmer went out to sow. As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and ate them up. Others fell on stony ground, where they did not have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once because the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they did not have any roots, they dried up. Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes came up and choked them out, and they did not produce anything. But others fell on good soil and produced a crop. They grew up, increased in size, and produced 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.” He added, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”
The sower spreads his seeds everywhere, but not all of the seeds grow well. The growth habit depends on the type of soil and the environment. Since the seeds are the gospel and the sower is God, we can understand that we are the recipients of the message. There is no problem with the seeds/message. The problem lies with us. Will we receive the gospel and nourish it so that it grows, or will we allow the message to wither away? The choice is up to us.
The seeds by the path are eaten up by birds. This part of the parable represents people who hear truth, but it does not have a chance to sink in. They are like teenagers with earbuds in their ears so immersed in their music that they are unaware of what is happening around them. In other words, these people are so focused on non-spiritual things that they cannot even hear the beauty of the gospel that is being presented to them. Their lives are so surrounded by Satan and his distractions that the seeds of God’s truth do not get a chance to stay and grow inside of their hearts. The message goes into one ear and out the other. They have no idea that they have received a powerful message from God because they have walled themselves around with Satan’s distractions. Other people in this group by the path are like Dory the Fish from the movie Finding Nemo. They receive the message and get excited over it and then forget about it because that is what they do with everything in life. They do not differentiate the gospel message as something different from the latest movie or a new pair of jeans.
The next seeds fell in rocky soil, sprang up quickly, and were scorched by the sun because they did not have a deep root system. The people represented by the rocky soil are like inflexible rusted-up machinery. They start to follow the truth, but as soon as there is a problem, they leave it. They have so many stiff parts inside of them that they simply refuse to change and allow the truth to transform them. They choose not to be pliable and give very little place for the truth in their lives. Their rocky, inflexible mindsets crowd out the truth with their prejudices and rejection of new ways of thinking. They want the message, but on their own terms. They value the truth, but only if it will stay in one little section of their hearts and not bother the rest of their beliefs.
The third group of seeds fell on ground that was full of thorns and did not produce fruit. Unlike the rocky ground people, the people on thorny ground are too flexible. They love the gospel message and allow it to grow, but they also bring in a multitude of other concerns and amusements into their lives. They do not realize that overvaluing these worldly activities and worrying about success will eventually crowd out their love for Jesus. They cannot produce anything of heavenly value because they do not nourish the plant of truth growing in their lives. They want everything and achieve nothing worthwhile.
Finally, there were seeds that fell on the good ground. The people who are represented as good ground are flexible enough to let the seeds grow and take root. They allow God to transform them from barren dirt to flourishing fields. They accomplish this by being protective of the message that they have received. They choose to get rid of anything that endangers the growth of the truth in their lives. They are only twenty-five percent of the seeds sowed, but their production is so abundant that these seeds produce many more seeds than the amount that the sower started with. Thus, while God’s sowing might seem wasteful because of those who reject the message or let it be lost, in the end, He receives an abundant harvest among the one fourth who receive His words.
The parable of the sower demonstrates the extravagance of God. He gives His message to all of us whether it will grow or be lost. God gives us all a chance. God does not want any person to perish, so He makes sure that we all receive the truths represented by the seeds. For many of us, those truths come from the Bible, but there are others who have never heard or read the scriptures. God does not leave them to perish for lack of knowledge. The Spirit whispers to them of God’s love and convicts them of sin. Those who listen receive more truths. Those who let the Spirit’s guidance slip away, will be judged by the light that they have received. Even among these people the principles of the parable apply.
With such an extravagant, loving God, we are fools if we let Him slip out of our lives because of worthless amusements, inflexible worldly loyalties, or the cares of this world.
DAY 7–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 4:10-20 Explanation of The Parable of the Sower
When he was alone with the Twelve and those around him, they began to ask him about the parables. He told them, “The secret about the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything comes in parables so that ‘they may see clearly but not perceive, and they may hear clearly but not understand, otherwise they might turn around and be forgiven.’” Then he told them, “You don’t understand this parable, so how can you understand any of the parables? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others are like the seeds sown on the stony ground. When they hear the word, at once they joyfully accept it, but since they don’t have any roots, they last for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall away. Still others are like the seeds sown among the thorn bushes. These are the people who hear the word, but the worries of life, the deceitful pleasures of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word so that it can’t produce a crop. Others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops—30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.”
Jesus had been training the disciples and attempting to teach them to think on a deeper, spiritual level. His words in this passage imply that the story of the sower is one of the easier parables for people to understand. Unfortunately, the disciples only saw a story of a farmer and did not comprehend the deeper meaning. Since Jesus taught a lot of lessons using parables, they knew that there was a spiritual lesson but were not sure what Jesus wanted them to learn.
After having heard the story all our lives, the meaning seems obvious, but without that Christian cultural background, we would probably be confused also. The key to understanding a parable is context. If the listener lacks background information about the key components of the parable or about the speaker’s usual messages, even a simple parable can be impossible to interpret. However, the disciples had been with Jesus long enough to know that He was always speaking within the context of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus felt that they should have known Him well enough to be able to figure out the message of the parable.
Jesus said that He taught in parables so that people would hear the message and not understand. He was quoting Isaiah in this passage:
He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).
On the surface it may sound as if Jesus were saying that He was manipulating the people so that they would fail to understand, but the reality is that Jesus was not setting people up for failure. He wanted people to come to Him, so there had to have been a good reason for Him to speak in parables. Part of the answer may be the audience. Jesus contrasted the disciples with people on the outside of His immediate group. Many of these people were still on the fence about whether to choose Jesus or not. They were still uncommitted. Thus, they were not ready for the deeper truths of the kingdom of God. Even if they had understood on a shallow level, they would not have understood that there were far more levels of spiritual meaning in the truths that Jesus preached. If Jesus would have spoken directly to them, the spiritual lesson would have gone in one ear and right out the other. Another dimension is that Jesus was having to explain a foreign culture—the culture of heaven—to people who had few points in common with God’s kingdom. These were provincial people with little experience outside of their own little world. Jesus used parables to try find a connection between the people and heaven. Unfortunately, it seems that many of the people still could not understand.
Parables have limitations. There are differences between real-life experiences and the symbols that represent life in the parable. One difference between the parable of the sower and real listeners of the word is that people can be transformed from one kind of ground into another. In other words, the people on the path can be moved to good ground. Sometimes, the Spirit works on people little by little until their hearts become softened to receive messages from God. Other times, God may allow a traumatic event to come into someone’s life and loosen the soil so that the seeds of truth can penetrate their hearts and minds. The people among the thorns can be moved to good ground. Again, there are times when the persistent Spirit of God will remind the busy listener that it is time to stop and communicate with God. He works like the slow dripping of water on a rock that eventually wears it away. At other times, God may cause useless activities to be stripped away by distressing circumstances that some people might look upon as punishments. However, the discerning follower of Jesus will see that these crucibles were really God’s blessing so that the bounty of the harvest could grow in their lives. Finally, the people of the rocks can be moved to good ground. These people who receive the word with excitement but then soon forget the lessons learned need to immerse themselves in the study of the Bible. They need to choose to pray when they do not feel like it. The Spirit has done the initial work in planting the word in their hearts, but they need to let Him come further into their lives. Having good soil means incorporating the lessons of Jesus into our lives rather than leaving them on the surface of our minds. Head knowledge is not enough. We must give Jesus permission to go deeper and deeper into our hearts by choosing to spend time with Him and choosing not to close off any part of our lives to His Spirit. The seeds of life can only grow in us if we let Him create good soil for His messages to take firm root and penetrate to all parts of our beings.