Category: The Living Bible (TLB)

Whole Pumpkin Planted in Ground – November 2021

Mark 4:26-29 (TLB) (26) “Here is another story illustrating what the Kingdom of God is like: “A farmer sowed his field (27) and went away, and as the days went by, the seeds grew and grew without his help. (28) For the soil made the seeds grow. First a leaf blade pushed through, and later the heads of wheat formed, and finally the grain ripened, (29) and then the farmer came at once with his sickle and harvested it.”

You Have Authority

At the very end of the Gospel of Mark (Mark 16:16-17), after Jesus’ resurrection and before He ascends to Our Father, we see Jesus giving His disciples final instructions.

Those Who Believe Shall Use My Authority

(16) Those who believe and are baptized will be saved. But those who refuse to believe will be condemned. (17) “And those who believe shall use My authority to cast out demons, and they shall speak new languages. (emphasis mine)

We see Jesus at His Last Supper, telling His disciples,

Anyone Believing in Me shall do the Same Miracles I Have Done, and Even Greater Ones

(John 14:12-13) “In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask Him for anything, using My Name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. (emphasis mine)

Let’s take a look at four more passages, that bring this truth to light.

He Spoke to the Fever

In Luke 4:39, we see Jesus speaking to Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever, (39) Standing at her bedside He spoke to the fever, rebuking it, and immediately her temperature returned to normal, and she got up and prepared a meal for them! (emphasis mine)

He Spoke to the Storm

In Luke 8:24, the disciples are out in the boat with Jesus, (24) They rushed over and woke him up. “Master, Master, we are sinking!” they screamed. So He spoke to the storm: “Quiet down,” He said, and the wind and waves subsided and all was calm! (emphasis mine)

And I Know You Have Authority to Tell His Sickness To Go – and it Will Go!

The Centurian knows it in (Matthew 8:8-9), Then the officer said, “Sir, I am not worthy to have You in my home; and it isn’t necessary for You to come. If you will only stand here and say, ‘Be healed,’ my servant will get well! I know, because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave boy, ‘Do this or that,’ and he does it. And I know you have authority to tell his sickness to go—and it will go!” (emphasis mine)

How They Praised God for Giving Such Authority to a Man

In Matthew (9:8), we see some men bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus. Jesus was amazed at their faith! (8) A chill of fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen right before their eyes. How they praised God for giving such authority to a Man (Jesus)! (emphasis mine)

If we believe, we can, and we are to use His authority. We are to speak. We are to rebuke. Do we?

Who Was He? Was this Mark the Evangelist?

Mark 14:50-52 (TLB)

Meanwhile, all his disciples had fled. There was, however, a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he escaped, though his clothes were torn off in the process, so that he ran away completely naked.

Commentary

Who was he?

An interesting tidbit here. As Jesus is arrested, after being betrayed by Judas, but before He is led before the Chief Priests, the above passage appears. Only in the Gospel of Mark. 

Who is this?

Scholars believe it is Mark himself, the author of one of the three Synoptic Gospels, and it appears only in the Gospel he wrote.

We see John Mark elsewhere in the Bible:

In Acts, Chapter 12:4-11, when Peter escapes during the night, after being double-chained, and heavily guarded (of course with God’s help) he goes to the house of Mary, mother of John, whom they call Mark (Acts 12:12)(ESV).

In Acts12:25 (ESV) – And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. 

And in Acts 13:5 (ESV) – When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

Further, In Acts 13:8 (ESV) – Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

Acts 15:37-39 (ESV) – Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,

Back on good terms with Paul he appears in Colossians 4:10.

In 2 Timothy 4:11, we see both Luke and Mark – Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

In Philemon1:24 we see Paul sending greetings from Mark, Luke, and others.

Peter calls Mark his son in 1 Peter 5:13. I read elsewhere he became Peter’s right hand, indispensable to him.

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

 Mark 10:46-52 (TLB)

(46) And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. (47) When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (48) “Shut up!” some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted the louder, again and again, “O Son of David, have mercy on me!” (49) When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “You lucky fellow,” they said, “come on, he’s calling you!” (50) Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus. (51) “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “O Teacher,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” (52) And Jesus said to him, “All right, it’s done. Your faith has healed you.” And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!

Commentary

Jesus always listens. Let that be a lesson for us. Jesus says, “Tell him to come here (v49).”

He (Bartimaeus) yanked off his old coat and flung it (v50). For Bartimaeus, THIS.WAS.A.DONE.DEAL! Going to Jesus was a simple formality. His faith was so large. Beyond large. To imagine we could have his faith. He knew it would happen. He didn’t think to himself, maybe I should keep the old coat just in case. The coat was gone. Finished. no more.

Jesus asks various questions when He heals. Here, He says, “What do you want me to do for you (v51)?”

Bartimeaus responds, “I want to see (v51)!” 

Jesus obliges, “All right, it’s done. Your faith has healed you (v52).”

INSTANTLY (v52).

Bartimaeus was a new man. He had a new life to begin.

Jesus, You are so beautiful. 

He healed them all (Matthew 15:30)!

“Follow Me (John 1:43)!”