Mark
7 – 8
Verses 7:18 & 19 are one of those verses that get my
interest:
18 Do
you mean you don’t understand this one either? Whatever goes into people from
outside can’t defile them 19 because it doesn’t go into their
hearts. Outside things go through their guts and back out, thus making all
foods pure.
Think about it you have a nation that has
taken some great guidelines and made the hard and fast sins. Jesus is here to
point out that it’s not a sin to eat outside the Hebraic Law, but rather a sin
to become legalistic and ignore God in the process.
As you know I am a big fan of the food
laws. I believe God passed them to the Israelites and it protected them in
epidemics. If you look at history the Jews were not affected by the “Plague”
mainly because of their dietary and cleanliness laws. God does map out what’s
best for our system, but does not say it’s a sin to go outside that diet. He is
just giving us a way to live life to the full.
Starting at verse 8:14 there is a great
story about food. The disciples are concerned that they forgot to buy
provisions for their journey. In verse 8:17-19 Jesus asks:
Don’t you remember
when I broke the five rounds of flatbread among the 5,000? Tell Me, how
many baskets of scraps were left over?
And remember this was just after feeding
4000 just before and having 7 baskets of scraps. How soon they forget. Was that
miracle a parlor trick or was it God providing? It’s hard to believe that they
would question God’s provision, but they did! How many times have you been
there and forgot that God provides? Let me count the ways!!
In verse 8:29 Jesus asks Peter who He is:
Jesus (pressing
the question): 29 And who do you say that I am?
Peter: You
are God’s Anointed, the Liberating King.
Think
about Peter and this statement. He dropped everything and has followed Jesus as
one of his closest confidants. Yet he still puts his foot in his mouth and gets
things wildly wrong. In this case he “nailed it” with the answer. We all can
see a little bit of Peter in our lives. We make rash statements and decisions,
only to be correct in private later.
Because
of this, Peter is the apostle that most everyone can relate to in their life.
We do not have it perfect. I still read the Bible and learn new stuff, you’d
think after 30 years of doing this I’d have it down! That is the problem with
Satan, he will attacks us on all sides and keep on hitting us. We have to stay
in the word and study His will in our lives always!
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