Mark 4:1

Mark 4:1 says, And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.  At this time, Jesus once again began to teach, this time by the seaside.  He taught wherever He was and so should we as Christians. Sometimes we seem to worry more about where we believe we are told that we cannot teach the gospel than we do about why we don't do so where we are.  The multitude once again surrounded Jesus, and He got on a ship to continue teaching them.  It would be wonderful if people were that interested in hearing the teachings of Jesus today.  We don't often have to find a way to keep from being overrun by those wanting to hear the gospel.  Verse two adds, And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, We are told that Jesus taught them many things by using parables, which I have heard defined as earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.  When people hear them, I believe that they have to look to God for the deeper or moral understanding.  Just like the parables, the gospel is very simple, but we have to look to God to truly understand it.  The truth of the gospel is that Jesus Christ was born without sin, lived a perfect life, was unjustly crucified for the sins of all mankind, was buried and rose again the third day so that anyone who accepts the salvation that He thereby made available will be saved.  We have to accept this by faith for it to be more than just a story. Verse three states, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:  Jesus shared a very simple parable, and at this point. He left it at that without explanation, so I will simply post these verses without looking at the meaning.  Verse four adds, And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.  Verse five continues, And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: Verse six says, But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.  Verse seven adds, And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.  Verse eight continues, And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.  Verse nine concludes, And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.  What He said was very logical, and we could conclude that all seed sown do not meet the same fate, and that only some bear fruit.  For many people, this is all they will understand, because they do not look to God for the true meaning.  Just as Jesus said, those who have ears, I believe attuned to God's guidance, will hear and understand the parable.  What we must first understand and accept in order to truly understand this parable or any other is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was born, lived, was crucified, buried and arose to bring forgiveness of sin to all who put their faith in Him. 

Mark 3:31

Mark 3:31 says, There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.  Jesus's brothers and mother did not come to Him but called for Him to come to them.  No matter how important we may feel that we are in life, we must always come to Jesus and never expect Him to come to us.  No matter why they called Him to come to them, they were asking Him to leave His calling to follow their calling.  We should never ask God to endorse what we feel is our calling and leave the work that He is doing in the world.  Verse thirty-two adds, And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.  The multitude around Jesus told Him His mother and brothers were there. The multitude then become focused on Jesus's brothers and mother.  Our focus should never be on anyone but Jesus Christ and His teachings and calling if we are Christians.  It is too easy to let the world distract us, especially if it seems to be for a good reason.  Verse thirty-three continues, And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?  Jesus then asked the crowd who His mother and brothers were.  A relationship with Jesus Christ is never based on a physical relationship, but a spiritual one.  Verse thirty-four states, And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!  This is why Jesus looked at the crowd and declared they were His mother and brothers.  Verse thirty-five concludes, For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. Jesus then expanded on that by saying that whosoever did the will of God was His brother and sister and mother.  He did not say that anyone who did the will of God was His Father though, because He had only One Father.  Though some people elevate Mary to some morally superior position, Jesus Himself said she was spiritually the same as everyone else.  It was by doing the will of God that she was a part of the family of God.  If you would be a part of God's family, you must do the will of God, which begins by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, and if you haven't, there will never be a better time to do so. 

 

Mark 3:27

Mark 3:27 says, No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.  This is a continuation of Jesus's response to those who accused Him of casting out devils in the name of the Devil. He said no man would attempt to rob a man who was in his own house, especially a strong man, without first binding the man.  When Jesus enters into the house of someone under the power of sin or Satan the author of sin, He will first bind the source of the power of sin.  He certainly would not do this if He were representing Satan or was under his power.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: Jesus then said that all sins could be forgiven, even blasphemy against Jesus Himself, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  This is crediting the work of the Holy Spirit to some other source.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to first call everyone to salvation, and if anyone is willing to attribute salvation to any other source, thereby being guilty of blasphemy, they cannot be forgiven. Verse twenty-nine continues, But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation  We cannot attribute the works of God to Satan and hope to be saved. Verse thirty concludes, Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.  Jesus said this in response to the religious leaders claim that He had an unclean spirit empowering Him.  We need to be careful that we do not attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to anything else, especially when it comes to His call to salvation. 

Mark 3:20

 Mark 3:20 says, And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  Verse twenty-one adds, And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.  Jesus was swamped by people, so much so that they couldn’t even eat bread.  When His friends heard of this. they went out to Him, saying He was beside Himself.  If people get too caught up in doing God’s work under the power of the Holy Spirit today, they may be called insane also.  Verse twenty-two continues, And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.  The religious leaders accused Him of acting under the power of Satan.  Verse twenty-three declares, And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?  Jesus then asked them how could Satan cast out Satan.  He would be working to defeat himself.  If we are accused of being crazy or under the influence of Satan as Christians, we need to try to reason with them, but they likely still won't listen. Since God is the author of truth, and they don't believe in Him, why should they listen to us. Verse twenty-four adds, And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. This is why we as Christians must be united in our work for Christ. If we fight against each other, we cannot stand for God.  Verse twenty-five continues, And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  This is also why we cannot serve the world and God at the same time.  If we try to do so, we will fall.  Verse twenty-six concludes, And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.  Jesus said if He were to be casting out devils in the name of the Devil, that the Devil would be divided against himself and could not stand.  This applies to Christians as well, and even to nations. 

Mark 3:13

Mark 3:13 says, And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.  Jesus once again went up to the mountain to escape the crowd, and He called to go with Him those that He would.  Fortunately, Jesus calls everyone to come apart from the world with Him, though not all respond, and unfortunately some who claim to do so are not sincere in accepting Jesus's invitation.  Verse fourteen adds, And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,  Verse fifteen continues, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:  There on the mountain, Jesus ordained the twelve disciples, who were to both be with Him during His ministry and to go out and preach the gospel and heal the sick, especially those who were spiritually sick, and to cast out devils.  We as Christians are called apart from the world to be in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but we are also called for a purpose, and that is to spread the gospel to everyone that God gives us an opportunity to witness to.  We may too often want to be called apart from the world instead of going out into the world to share the gospel.  The world is never going to be improved by accepting the gospel if Christians withdraw from it more and more.  Even if the world is full of devils, we as Christians should not be afraid to go out into the world.  Verse sixteen states, And Simon he surnamed Peter;  Verse seventeen adds, And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: Verse eighteen continues, And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,  Veres nineteen concludes, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.  The disciples are then named, with a little more information given about some of them.  We are told Simon was surnamed Peter, though Mark didn’t give us the reason why.  We know of the later works of some more than others, but they were all equally called and commissioned, even Judas Iscariot.  Some people would say that Judas had no choice but to betray Jesus, but I believe that he was called just as sincerely as the other disciples, but he allowed his own desires to keep him from fully committing to Jesus, just as many people today profess to following Jesus, but never totally put Him above their own selfish desires.  Jesus still calls those whom He would to Himself, and that is everyone, though not all accept His call.