Grace Community Church of Ramona Podcast

I hope by this time in our study of the Gospel of Mark we are realizing that Jesus and His 3 1/2 years of public ministry were extremely controversial. Many were looking for the promised Messiah; but that Messiah was completely human. Jesus' claim to be deity - to be a God-Man - was outrageous, blasphemous.

The leaders of Judaism spread the idea that Jesus was demon possessed and was performing miracles by the power of Satan (3:22). His family believed Him insane (3:20-21). The people of His hometown Nazareth insisted He was nothing more than a commoner (6:1-6).

There were three additional explanations about Jesus that were popularly believed.

In this study we discover that Jesus traveled to His hometown of Nazareth, a tiny village in the hills west of the Sea of Galilee. This was His second ministry trip. Luke recorded the first - it did not go well (Luke 4:16-30). His boyhood friends, the neighbors He grew up with and worked for as a carpenter, the elders of the synagogue were so infuriated by His teaching they attempted to murder Him by throwing Him off a cliff!

Perhaps the rejection of His people in Nazareth contributed to Jesus' decision to set up His base of operations on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee at Capernaum. While in Capernaum we discovered that Jesus' own family came from Nazareth determined to take control of Him because they were convinced He was out of His mind (Mark 3:21, 31-34).

Perhaps a year after His first ministry visit, Jesus returned a second time to try and reach His people.

The Gospel of Mark reveals that Jesus treats adults as ... well ... adults. That is, Jesus holds people accountable for their actions. To those who come to Him with an open heart and mind, Jesus responded with grace and healing and compassion. But to those who were unreceptive and close minded Jesus responded with correction and rebuke. In this passage we see both as Jesus ministered to a desperate father and a desperate woman.

Having calmed the squall (4:39) Jesus and His disciples reached the east side of the Sea of Galilee and went ashore in the country of the Gerasenes inhabited primarily by Gentiles (non-Jews). Soon after debarking they were accosted by a wild man described in verses 2-5.

Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand (1:15). He claimed the authority of God to forgive sins and to govern the Sabbath (2:1-12; 23-27). The Kingdom of God was at hand because Jesus was both the promised Messiah and the Son of God possessing the authority and power of God to establish the Kingdom. Jesus came offering the promised Messianic Kingdom to His people, Israel, but their response was mixed.

The crowd viewed Him as a healer, His family thought Him insane, the leaders of Judaism accused Him of being demon possessed (3:7-30). Only a few were open to His claims - those He appointed apostles and a few from the crowd whom Jesus likened to "good soil" (3:13-19; 4:20).

Jesus is the Master Teacher. Often He is praised for His vivid and memorable parables. But what we discover is that Jesus taught in parables to actually hide truth. Parables were a rebuke against spiritual disinterest and opposition.

Let's put Mark 4 in context. John Mark recorded Jesus' claims to deity in chapter two and then in chapter three recorded four responses to those claims. The first response,the response of the crowds, was one of spiritual indifference. The crowd came from all over Israel to be healed and delivered. Jesus' claims and teaching were less important to them than His power to heal and deliver.

Barangonan - What's Our Purpose?

-Identify/Train Elders
-Provide adequate resource material to the believers on Barangonan
-Local believers are taught basic Bible study principles
-Connect the local church on Barangonan with other indigenous churches in the area

In our previous study of Mark 2:1-3:6 we discovered that Jesus said and did some outrageous things. Jesus claimed authority to forgive sins and then validated His claim by healing a paralyzed man (2:1-12). What makes His claim outrageous is that only God has authority to forgive sins so without question Jesus was claiming to be deity.

He recruited to His team and enjoyed table fellowship with a Jewish tax collector, the lowest of the low in Jewish society (2:13-17). He disregarded conventional rules of piety (2:18-22) and He claimed authority over the Law of Moses and its Sabbath law (2:23-3:6). These things were radical then and they’re radical now because if they were true about Jesus then, then they’re true about Jesus now.

How did the people at that time respond to Jesus’ claims and actions? The peoples response is exactly what John Mark is showing us in Mark 3:7-35. First, he reports the response of the crowd who poured into Capernaum from all over Israel.

As Jesus' ministry expanded, so did His claims which set Him on a deadly collision course with the Pharisees and the Jewish religious establishment. In the course of healing a paralytic, Jesus claimed authority to forgive sins.

The Gospel of Mark starts with Jesus' public ministry, not His birth. Since John Mark was writing to gentiles, not Jews, there was less need to prove Jesus' lineage as legal heir to the Davidic Throne.