Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
Jesus had a large group following him for 3 days with nothing to eat. They were in a desolate place so there wasn't any way to feed them all. It turned out they had 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. He blessed them and passed them around, at the end they had 7 baskets full left over.
The Pharisees Demand a Sign
The Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus to test him. He says he will give no sign and leaves.
What about all the miracles he is doing?
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
Jesus and his disciples realize they have only one loaf of bread. Jesus says to watch out for the bread from Herod and the Pharisees. The disciples still say they don't have enough bread. Jesus reminds him that he just fed a bunch of people, twice, with barely any bread at all. They don't seem to get it and he seems upset.
Is he telling them to shut up because he can summon food whenever they want?
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
A blind man asks to be healed, Jesus takes him outside of the village and spits in his eyes. He asks if he can see, the guy says he can but it is blurry. Jesus lays hands on him again and now the guy can see. Jesus tells him to go directly home and not to go back to the village.
Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ
Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is. They reply John the Baptist, Elijah, and "one of the prophets". Then he asks who the disciples say he is. They reply "you are the Christ". And he said to tell no one about him.
This makes no sense to me. Aren't they telling everyone about him? Isn't that what this whole thing is about? I feel like I missed something here.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
Jesus says he will be rejected by those in power and be killed and rise from the dead 3 days later. Peter took him aside to rebuke him and Jesus called him Satan. He gathers a crowd and tells them they should grab a cross and follow him. "whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it."
Seems a little harsh to Peter to me
Then he told them "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."
This last bit was mark 9:1 but it seemed to go with this story so I put it here. Again, Jesus pretty explicitly said that the end will come soon. I still don't know how people follow this 2000 years later. Is he speaking poetically and not literally? If so, how do you determine what in the bible is poetic and what is not?
If Jesus was speaking of the Transfiguration when He said that they would see the Kingdom, and thus He Was not discussing the end of time, then it makes sense; that's my take on it.
ReplyDeleteSelf sacrifice and laying down your life to follow Jesus is what Jesus is asking of followers of His; You are correct in that Jesus is asking for a lot, but what you will receive back is way more than what you give up.
Oh, you are right, I made this mistake before, I can tell because the link in google to the wikipedia page on kingdom of god is already purple.
ReplyDeleteI see the mistake I made. The line is "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death" and my brain goes "ah ha, those people must be dead, this makes no sense". But that is incorrect, because it goes on to say "...until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power"
ok, so now the important question is "what is the kingdom of god?" Again, it sounds at first like heaven, but that doesn't seem to be what it is supposed to mean. It seems that it is a nation (or nations I guess?) that is under the protections of God, or the love of God, or something. It's still a little confusing to me, but the important thing is, it is not supposed to be the end of the world, but it is a "kingdom" here on earth that is worshiping God, or modeled after God's law, or something.
Interesting, I'll have to keep this in mind in future and try to make sure I don't make the same mistake again.
Thanks Sue :)