Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 8, Peter made his great confession, saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the anointed one!” Jesus responded by telling the disciples he will be rejected and crucified. 

This offended Peter. He thought Jesus was on a trajectory to success, not crucifixion. So he took Jesus aside and said, “No way. God’s anointed one doesn’t get crucified. He becomes king.”

Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You have no clue what God is doing. You’re speaking from a human perspective” (Mark 8:33). 

Ouch. Whiplash. One moment Peter speaks the revelation of God about who Jesus is, the next moment he’s giving Jesus advice from hell. This is almost as chaotic as American politics.

I present three comments about this story. 

1. The word on the street was that Jesus is Elijah or John the Baptist or a prophet. Until this point in Mark’s gospel, only God and the demons understand who Jesus really is. But finally, finally, a former fisherman clues in and says, “You are the anointed one. You are God’s man at the centre of history.” But two minutes later, Jesus is saying to that man, “Get behind me, Satan.” Did Peter understand or didn’t he? 

2. Peter’s confession comes right after the story of the blind man Jesus healed in stages. He touched the man’s eyes, and the man saw people like trees walking. Then Jesus touched him again, he had 20-20 vision. 

Similarly, when Peter declared Jesus to be the anointed one, he was seeing, but not clearly. He was correct that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, but he sure didn’t comprehend what that meant.

3. This is an interesting glimpse into Peter’s spiritual development. And into mine. 

It’s helpful to get a flash of revelation about who Jesus is, but understanding how this plays out isn’t as easy. One day I see Jesus as the world’s savior, the next day he seems absent from the mess of wars and weather and chaos on earth. Where is God’s anointed one today? What is he doing? 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, you have touched our eyes and we see people like trees walking. We see Jesus on the cross and in the tomb and out of the tomb. But current events don’t seem to change under his kingship. Every day we see social chaos, corrupt kings, and natural and man-made disasters. 

Where is the Jesus who saves from sin and promises heaven? What does it mean for us to be disciples of the anointed one and to enter his kingdom? 

Touch our eyes. Help us lose our expectations for the kind of savior we want. Help us participate in the mission of the one who was crucified, was raised, and will soon return.  

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 8, we consider Peter’s great revelation about Jesus. But first, some background. 

In the Old Testament, people were anointed with oil for important jobs.
– Moses anointed Aaron as high priest (Ex 29:7).
– Samuel anointed David as king of Israel (1 Sam 10:1, 16:13).
– God called Cyrus, king of Persia, his anointed one, and Cyrus let the exiles return to Jerusalem (Isa 45:1).
– The prophet Daniel predicted a future anointed one, a new king of Israel (Dan 9:25-26). 

What word do you think the Old Testament uses for all these anointed ones? It uses the Hebrew word “mashiyach” which English borrows as our word messiah. Think of it this way: high priest Aaron a messiah. King David a messiah. Cyrus of Persia a messiah.

After Alexander the Great conquered the world, Greek became the universal language of trade and scholarship. So the Israelites translated the Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint version. But there was a problem. Greek didn’t have a word for “anointed one”. 

Solution? The translators invented a new word by creating a noun out of the Greek verb anoint. 

Their word was christos, which became our English word Christ. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, this made Aaron and David and Cyrus all christs. In the New Testament we meet Jesus Christ, Jesus the Anointed One. 

Now, back to Mark 8, where Jesus asked his disciples, ”Who do people on the street say I am?”  

They replied, “People say you’re John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet” (Mark 8:28). 

Then Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” And Peter said, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29) 

Strangely, in my Bible Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” Translators had to decide whether to use the Greek Christ or the Hebrew Messiah translate Peter’s words into English as the anointed one.

Confusing? What does it all mean? 

It means Jesus was special. God’s power and wisdom rested on him, as it did on Aaron and David and Cyrus. 

It also means God’s promise of a Messiah in the Hebrew Old Testament, or a Christ in the Greek version of the Old Testament, was fulfilled in Jesus. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, we have long believed you are special. God called you his son. You took up the job of priest that Aaron didn’t finish, and the job of king that David began, and the office of prophet that Daniel honored. 

We confess with Peter that you are the one specially anointed by God–the Messiah, the Christ. You are the new prophet, the new priest, the new king. Be our king. Teach us to live in your kingdom. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today, I point to an interesting pattern in chapters 7 to 9 of Mark’s gospel. 

In Mark 7, after feeding 5,000, Jesus walked on water and stilled a storm. The disciples were so astonished at his power over the storm that Mark comments, “Their hearts were hard. They didn’t understand about feeding the 5,000” (Mark 6:52).

Then Jesus got into an argument with the Pharisees about clean hands and clean hearts. Again the disciples didn’t understand, and Jesus said to them, “Are you so dull?” (Mark 7:18). 

Next, Jesus healed the daughter of a Gentile woman who asked him for crumbs under the Jewish table, and he healed a man who was deaf and mute. 

What an interesting sequence of stories. Throughout, the disciples have no clue what Jesus is up to as he feeds the 5,000, stills the storm, and teaches about clean hands and clean hearts. They are deaf to his message and blind to his mission. But the woman? The one who wanted crumbs from under the table? She understood, and so did the deaf and mute man who received healing. 

So . . . why doesn’t Jesus heal his disciples too, by helping them hear and understand his message. Why doesn’t he heal their blindness and deafness? 

In the next sequence of stories, Mark repeats the pattern. 

This time, Jesus fed 4,000 and argued with Pharisees. Later, he warned his disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. The disciples still didn’t get it. “Is Jesus talking about yeast because we didn’t bring enough bread?” they asked (Mark 8:16).

Jesus replied, “Don’t your eyes see? Don’t your ears hear? There were lots of leftovers when we fed the 5,000 and the 4,000. This isn’t about bread. Don’t you understand?” (Mark 8:21). 

Then Jesus met a blind man, healed him just enough so he could see people like trees walking, and touched his eyes again to give full eyesight. 

That completes the second pattern. Jesus fed a crowd, argued with Pharisees, dealt with disciples who didn’t see or hear or understand, and then healed a blind man. 

I sympathize with the disciples. I’m not much better than they in seeing a connection between feeding 5,000 and walking on the water. Or a link between feeding 4,000 and warning about the yeast of the Pharisees. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, we are like your disciples. We hear the stories we have always heard, and live the lives we’ve always lived, and see the things we have always seen, and we fail to understand the life of faith you teach. 

What is the meaning of your miracles? Does healing a blind person mean you can heal our inner blindness? Does healing the deaf mand mean you can heal our spiritual deafness? 

O Jesus, open our eyes. Unstop our ears. Loosen our tongues, until we see and hear and speak for you. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

As we move through Mark’s gospel, we encounter a couple strange miracles.  

When Jesus met a deaf mute, he put his fingers in the man’s ears, took them out, spat on his finger, touched the man’s tongue, looked to heaven, sighed, and said, “Be opened.”  It worked! The man’s ears were opened and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:35).  

Weird, eh? 

Jesus did most miracles with a word or simple action. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law by taking her hand and helping her up (Mark 1:31). He healed a leper with a touch and the words, “Be clean” (Mark 1:41). He healed a paralytic by commanding, “Get up. Take your mat. Go home” (Mark 2:11). 

So why, this time, did Jesus stick his fingers in the man’s ears and spit and sigh? 

Mark 8 has another unusual healing. This time Jesus spat on a blind man’s eyes, touched them, and asked, “Do you see anything?” 

The man replied, “I see people. They look like trees walking” (Mark 8:24). 

Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes again, completely healing them.  

John’s gospel also tells about an unusual healing. Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud, applied it to a blind man’s eyes, and told him to go wash in a pool (John 9:6-7). He did and his sight was restored.  

That’s three times Jesus healed with saliva. I wonder why. And I wonder why Matthew and Luke didn’t mention this in any of their stories about Jesus. Perhaps they too found it odd.   

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, I’m not sure why you used your saliva to heal. But it’s a profoundly human action. Not like the God of creation speaking the universe into being. More like a man in a body of clay, using saliva and simple words.  

I think you are teaching us that healing can be a process. Like the man who was halfway healed so people looked like walking trees. Like the man with mud on his eyes, stumbling to the pool to wash. Like the man with your fingers in his ears. 

How often we hear but fail to understand. We see, but our vision is muddy.  

O Jesus, heal us. Help us hear, and understand, and obey your voice. Give us clear vision and true hearing and intelligent speech as we journey through life’s impediments.   

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today in Mark 7, let’s look at Jesus’ encounter with a Gentile woman. Back then, Jews called Gentiles “dogs”. Do you think Jesus will follow this cultural norm? Surprisingly, he does.  

The woman said to Jesus, “Please drive a demon out of my daughter” (Mark 7:26). 

Jesus replied, “It’s not right to take children’s bread and toss it to dogs.” Ouch.

Some commentators soften Jesus’ statement by saying he didn’t use the word for vicious wild dogs. No, they assert, he used the word for pet dogs. Other commentators have it that Jesus wasn’t calling the woman a dog, but was testing her faith by communicating that his main mission was to Israel, not Gentiles.

I respond: Did Jesus need to call people “dogs” to clarify his mission? To me, the dog reference is harsh no matter how you interpret it. I don’t want to be compared to dogs–wild or tame! 

Jesus said, “It’s not right to take a child’s bread and toss it to dogs.” My take? That Jesus was really good at reading people. He and the woman both knew that Jews considered Gentiles as dogs. But she wasn’t on a mission to change the culture or get more respect. All she wanted was: Please heal my daughter! 

So when Jesus made a comment about dogs, instead of taking offense, she flipped it to her advantage. “Even dogs under the table get the crumbs children drop,” she said (Mark 7:28). 

And Jesus responded, “Good answer. I grant your request. Your daughter is healed” (Mark 7:29). 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, we are flooded with cultural stereotypes and false ways of thinking about people. Teach us to ignore cultural and racial and gender slurs. Like the woman who ignored the label “dogs”, may we be slow to take offense and quick to tell you what we need.  

Teach us to love people across cultural and racial barriers, across divisions of education and gender and status and politics. Speak your healing words to us, and through us to everyone we meet. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Where does sin come from? Did the devil make you do it? Was it your own idea?

Today in Mark 7, consider Jesus’ answer. 

Pharisees didn’t understand why Jesus was so relaxed about long-standing Jewish traditions, so they said to Jesus, “Our religious tradition requires hand washing before eating. Why don’t your disciples follow this tradition?”

 Instead of answering their question, Jesus got angry and lit into them.  “You’re a bunch of hypocrites,” he said. “Your traditions don’t honor God. Here’s an example: If your parents need something you have, but you don’t want to give it to them, you simply declare it dedicated to God. Then you don’t help your parents with it. Do you think God wants you to dedicate your stuff to him? Or does he want you to use your stuff to help your parents?”  

Jesus addressed the crowd. “It’s not what goes into you that makes you dirty. It’s what comes out of you” (Mark 7:15). Really? What if I consume alcohol, nicotine, pornography, and social media? Those things going into me from outside don’t make me dirty? What’s with that?

Jesus explained, “Washing your hands doesn’t make you clean because it’s not dirt on the outside that makes you dirty, it’s dirt on the inside.” Bad behavior is a symptom of a heart that wallows in evil.

Jesus said, “From inside, from your heart, come evil thoughts, immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly” (Mark 7:21-23). 

Listen to what Jesus said. Does he mean that when I lower a bucket into the well of my heart, it comes up brimming with bad behavior? Is he saying my heart is rotten, a snakepit that corrupts and poisons everything I do? 

Hardly an optimistic picture of the human heart. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, the commandments forbid bad behavior. Murder. Lying. Stealing. Adultery . But you say bad behavior is brewed in my heart. How can I change my heart? 

It’s still January, but our New Year’s resolutions have failed. Our self-discipline has fallen into the ditch. Our bookshelf is heavy with self-help books, but they aren’t much help. 

You say the problem is bigger and deeper than our behavior. Our hearts are tangled in self-interest, slaves to forces we don’t understand, infected with diseases we can hardly name. 

O Jesus, wash our dirty hearts. Give us new minds, new spirits, new hearts that will overflow with love instead of evil. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Mark 6 records one of Jesus’ most famous miracles, feeding thousands with five loaves and two fish. 

But first, a different story about hunger. Once, when Jesus finished a 40-day fast, the devil suggested, “Since you’re the son of God, solve your hunger by turning stones to bread.” Jesus said, “No thanks. People don’t live just by bread, they need God’s words” (Mat 5:2-4). 

But in Mark 6, Jesus fed the crowd with a miracle. Five loaves and two fish became a feast for 5000. So . . . why didn’t Jesus do for himself what he did for the crowd? 

Here are three suggestions. 

1. The stones-to-bread miracle was the devil’s idea. Jesus didn’t trust suggestions from that source.

2. Turning stones to bread is weird. Time and erosion turn stones to sand, not bread. But nature multiplies food. Fish breed more fish; wheat produces more wheat. Jesus respected nature. He didn’t do unnatural things like making bread from stones. 

3. Remember Adam and Eve eating forbidden fruit in the garden? Their action clearly said: we can manage our own lives just fine without advice from God. They used God’s gifts in a way that disregarded their relationship with the giver. Didn’t work well for them, did it? 

The serpent from the garden showed up in the New Testament to invite Jesus to make the same statement . . . to use his miracle-working power to manage his own life, disregarding his relationship with God to feed himself. 

Jesus didn’t fall for it. He said, “People should attend to bread and to God’s word.” His whole life–hunger, miracle-power, mission–were gifts from God. Jesus used the gifts to honor his relationship with God.  

Notice that before the miracle of loaves and fish, Jesus had compassion on the crowd, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:32-56). The people needed the words of God that Jesus taught and the meal Jesus provided. 

They enjoyed his teaching, but lunch? That was special. It’s a good day when someone else picks up the tab. After lunch, the crowd fell quickly into the Adam-and-Eve trap. They wanted to manage the situation, to make Jesus king, and they suggested he could by supplying another miracle meal. They wanted to use Jesus as their gravy train (John 6:14-15, 25-35).  

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Eat my flesh, drink my blood” (John 6:51). 

“Too weird,” said many followers, and they left (John 6:60-66). 

The 12 disciples didn’t understand the miracle either. A short time later, when Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm, Mark tells us that the disciples were amazed by the new miracles because they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hard (Mark 6:52). 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, thank you for your compassion for the crowd. We too are like sheep without a shepherd. Teach us the words of God and feed us with daily bread and spiritual food. 

Help us understand the miracle of the loaves and fish, to see that you provide all the gifts we need–bread and teaching and safety in the storm. Soften our hard hearts. 

Help us to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the word of God you speak to us (Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent). Live in us and through us. Teach us not to define our own mission in life, but to participate in the work you are doing in the world. Help us not to live the self-managed life, but the life of walking with you. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 6, Jesus sent his 12 disciples on a ministry tour. There was no fundraising–Jesus told them to travel without food or money or extra clothes, and to enjoy whatever hospitality was offered along the way. They preached, drove out demons, and healed the sick. 

I find it surprising that the disciples were ready for this ministry. Until now, the only thing we’ve heard about their spiritual development is Jesus’ comment on a stormy night, “Have you no faith?” 

But here they are, embarking on an amazingly successful  experience of faith and ministry. 

Perhaps our spiritual development is like that of the disciples–slow and faltering, until one day Jesus trusts us with ministry.

Meanwhile, King Herod heard stories about Jesus and wondered. “Who is this man?” Someone suggested Elijah, someone else a prophet, and some said “It’s John the Baptist raised from the dead” (Mark 6:14-16). 

Mark explains why Herod adopted the John the Baptist theory. 

It started with Herod’s complicated love life. He got a divorce and his step brother got a divorce, and Herod married his step brother’s ex. John the Baptist stepped forward and told Herod that this violated Old Testament marriage laws. Time for John to be cautious . . . Herod’s wife, Herodias, did not like a prophet interfering in her love life. She convinced Herod to throw John into prison. 

Then at Herod’s birthday party, Herodias’ daughter danced for the guests, pleasing Herod, who offered her any gift she wanted–up to half his kingdom. She consulted her mother who said, “Ask for John the Baptist’s head on a platter.” Not your average mother, I think.

So Herod beheaded John to please his wife and stepdaughter. But he didn’t feel good about it. When he heard about Jesus, he thought John the Baptist had come back from the dead to remind him of his sin.

After this brutal story, Mark resumes the disciples’ ministry story. They reported to Jesus everything they did and taught, and then left with him to get some rest. 

Two comments on this string of events.

1. John’s ministry ended in martyrdom, but the disciples’ ministry so far has been full of miracles and exorcisms. Hard to predict where following Jesus might lead you. 

2. We don’t learn much from Mark about how the disciples grew and matured as they followed Jesus. We know that early in the story, Jesus criticized the disciples for lack of faith. Near the end, Peter denied Jesus three times. Between these bookends, Mark tells us almost nothing about their spiritual formation. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we feel the horror of Herod beheading John the Baptist. But brutal violence continues in our world. School shootings in America, genocide in Sudan, unrestricted warfare in Gaza and Ukraine. 

But your mission on earth continues. As when John was in prison and the disciples preached and healed and drove out demons. Jesus too was teaching and healing. 

Make us disciples of Jesus. Help us grow spiritually, like the disciples did. Teach us to see and follow your heart, to hear and obey your voice, to love you all our life, to be faithful to you in death. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 6, Jesus arrived in his hometown and taught in the synagogue. 

His audience was amazed, but not in a positive way. They asked dismissive questions. 
1. This man is a carpenter. Why does he think he can teach? 
2. This man is weird. Where did he get power to do miracles? 
3. This man is not so special. We know his mother and brothers and sisters, just your  average family.

The hometown people couldn’t make the leap from the ordinary kid they grew up with to the extraordinary person Jesus had become. To them, he was still just the neighborhood carpenter. 

I’ve felt that way about some of my high school classmates. They were ordinary types, nothing special. I was the extraordinary one who got good grades. But in the long run, some of them have been very successful in ministry and life and business. It’s me who’s struggled to achieve even ordinary. 

Jesus responded to people’s disdain with a saying. “A prophet is honored everywhere, except at home” (Mark 6:4). Gospel-writer Mark says Jesus had to be content with just a few minor healings before he left town. 

And—listen for it—Mark says Jesus was AMAZED at their lack of faith. It’s the only time in the gospel Jesus was amazed. 

Here’s a question. I wonder sometimes if Jesus is amazed at my lack of faith. 

Let’s pray. 

Our Jesus, we are like the people in your hometown. We live ordinary lives, ruled by  routine. Even the stories about your miracles and healings have become ordinary to us. 

Break into our lives we pray. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear the extraordinary in your life. Help us wonder at your teaching and long for your healing and hope in your salvation. Fill us with awe at the creation you sustain, at the words you speak to us, and the example you set for us. 

May your presence make our ordinary lives extraordinary.

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube