Daily Lesson for Thursday 1st of August 2024

After the disciples return from their mission, they go with Jesus to a remote area on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee to rest. But a large crowd of 5,000 people arrives at the location before them. Jesus sees that they are like sheep without a shepherd. He teaches them the entire day.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

In the evening the disciples recommend sending the crowd away to find food, but Jesus tells them to feed the crowd. The ensuing dialogue (Mark 6:35-38) illustrates that the disciples are thinking in human terms about how to solve the problem. However, Jesus resolves the problem by miraculously feeding the large crowd with just five loaves and two fish.

Characteristics of this story play into the popular concept of Messiah in Jesus’ day. The expectation was that the Messiah would liberate Israel from her enemies and would bring in righteousness and peace. A large number of men in a desert setting would carry with it military overtones of revolt (compare with John 6:14-15; Acts 21:38).

This notion is strengthened by the reference to Jesus’ seeing the people like “sheep without a shepherd,” a partial quotation from Numbers 27:17, where Moses asks God to appoint a leader for Israel after him. This phraseology about a shepherd for God’s people appears elsewhere in the Old Testament, typically with reference to Israel’s lack of a leader or king (compare with 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Chronicles 18:16; Ezekiel 34:5-6).

Yet, Jesus does not meet their false expectations. Instead, He sends His disciples away and dismisses the crowd. And, rather than lead a rebellion against Rome, what does He do? He retreats to a mountain to pray—not what the people were expecting.

In place of the popular view of the Messiah as a king who liberates Israel, He comes to liberate people from the bondage of sin. His walking on the water displays to the disciples that He is, indeed, the Lord of nature. But He does not come to rule but to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-05-a-different-kind-of-messiah/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Dr. Thomas R. Shepherd, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “The Beginning of the Gospel.”

<

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-miracles-around-the-lake-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/

View an in-depth discussion of Miracles around the Lake in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.  
Click on the image below to view the video:

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-miracles-around-the-lake-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 31st of July 2024

Usually when a small-town person becomes popular, people back home bask in the attention. Not Nazareth. They were offended and surprised at Jesus’ success as a teacher and healer. His shift from being a builder to a teacher seemed hard for them to accept. There also may have been some animosity that He did most of His miracles in Capernaum (see Luke 4:23). And He had already had a disagreement with His family (Mark 3:31-35).

Image © Providence Collection from GoodSalt.com

This is the third sandwich story in Mark (see lesson 3). The mission of the Twelve Apostles in taking the message of Jesus everywhere stands in sharp contrast with the imprisonment and silencing of the Baptist. The disciples are told to travel light and depend on others for support. This strategy actually makes missionaries dependent on the people they serve, which helps bond them to those who need their message.

But the Baptist had no such bond with Herod and his family. John’s death is told in shocking detail as the plotting Herodias takes advantage of Herod’s ambivalence and lust. Herodias’s daughter seems to add to the scandalous plan by the grotesque request that the Baptist’s head be delivered on a platter.

The silencing of the clarion voice of the Baptist occurs at the same time as the Twelve Apostles proclaim repentance, just as the Baptist did. John’s death foreshadows Jesus’. John is put to death, buried, and reported as risen from the dead (Mark 6:14-16,29), as Jesus would be (Mark 15:1-47 and 16:1-20). These parallel stories point toward a coming crisis for Jesus and His followers.

(1)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-05-rejection-and-reception/

Something always bothered me about the story about Jesus calming the storm, and why Jesus asked His disciples where their faith was? I thought they were showing faith when they asked Him to calm the storm. Then one day it finally dawned on me. Let’s take a look. 

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:35-40 NLT

First it is important to notice that it was Jesus’ idea to cross the lake. Many times we are following Jesus’ leading, but when things start to go wrong and we run into problems we start doubting our calling. I remember when I was living in Texas and got the call to be a Bible Worker in Florida. Everything seemed to be working out perfectly, so I felt it was God’s will to go. While I was in the middle of what I considered to be a smooth transition, my aunt said something that surprised me. She said, “You are going to run into problems in Florida. But God will still be with you.” Her words proved true. Without going into detail– not everything went as smooth at first,  as I thought it would. But God was with me and got me through those storms, until finally I was sailing on peaceful seas.

When Jesus calls us, He is well aware of the storms ahead. Sometimes He calls us into the storm. The question we need to ask ourselves, is not “Will everything work out smoothly?” The only question we need to ask ourselves is, “Did Jesus call me?” 

This leads me to why Jesus asked the disciples about their faith after He calmed the storm. I always thought they were  questioning if He could calm the storm but that clearly was not the case. They knew He could calm the storm. That is why they were calling on Him. I believe what Jesus was really asking was, “Don’t you have any faith? Why did you need me to calm this storm? Why couldn’t you just ride this storm out with me?” 

If Joseph had never been sold and betrayed by his family, his dream of being a ruler never would have come true. If Naomi’s husband and sons had never died, she never would have gone back to her homeland with Ruth, where Ruth became an important role in the lineage of the Savior. If the early church had never been persecuted, it never would have had to flee to spread the Gospel in foreign lands. Often the storms of life  get us to where we need to be. Sailboats move by the wind, and if there is no wind, there is no progress. Instead of asking Jesus to calm every storm that comes our way, we need to have the faith to ride out the storm with Jesus and have enough faith to let Jesus take us wherever the storm needs to take us. 

A while back a friend shared with me an experience where his family abandoned him as a very small child by the side of the road. It was heartbreaking. As an adult my friend asked Jesus where He was when his family abandoned him at such an early age. He told me God opened his eyes, and immediately he relived the scene where He was abandoned, except this time He saw Jesus walking beside him on the side of the road, smiling at him with love. Not too long after that I went through a stressful situation, nothing like being abandoned by family or friends, but to me a storm nonetheless. As I prayed about my “storm” one morning, I remembered my friend’s testimony. This may sound silly, but I just spent a few moments imagining myself in the boat with Jesus in the middle of the storm. I imagined Jesus and me just sitting together in the bottom of the boat smiling at each other, while the boat was tossed about on the waves and the disciples were all freaking out. I imagined Jesus smiling and winking at me, assuring me everything was going to be okay, and there was no reason to freak out with the disciples. This gave me peace in the middle of the storm and, of course, everything worked out fine in the end. 

Recently I was on an airplane that hit some turbulence. I and many of the other passengers have experienced turbulence on a plane before, so it did not alarm any of us. We just kept listening to our music and reading our books. I reminded myself I should stay just as calm when life hits turbulence. I should remain calm, and just ride out the storm with Jesus. Having enough faith to believe Jesus can calm the storm is one thing. Having enough faith to not ask Jesus to calm the storm, and just ride it out with Him is even greater.

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/do-you-have-enough-faith-not-to-ask-jesus-to-calm-the-storm/