Day 155: Jesus is Lord (2023)

00:04: Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a Year Podcast,

00:07: where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture.

00:10: The Bible in a Year Podcast is brought to you by Ascension.

00:13: Using the great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation,

00:17: discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.

00:21: It is day 155 we are on day 2 of our second Messianic checkpoint.

00:25: We are reading from Mark's Gospel chapters 3 and 4.

00:28: We're also praying today from Psalm 20.

00:31: As always, the Bible translation that I am reading from is the revised standard version, the second Catholic edition.

00:35: And I'm using great adventure Bible from Ascension.

00:37: If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year.

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00:45: Someone once told me that if you're using the HALOWAP, you can't subscribe.

00:49: You just keep checking the HALOWAP, which is news to me and great.

00:53: That way you can just keep ignoring what I'm saying because you're committed deeply internally

00:57: and that's wonderful. But as I said, it is day 155. We are reading Mark's Gospel,

01:03: chapters 3 and 4, and we're praying Psalm 20.

01:08: The Gospel of Saint Mark, chapter 3, the man with a withered hand.

01:13: Again, he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand,

01:17: and they watched him to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him.

01:22: And he said to the man with a withered hand, come here. And he said to them,

01:25: him, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?

01:32: But they were silent, and he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness

01:36: of heart and said to the man, �Stretch out your hand.� He stretched it out, and his

01:41: hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians

01:46: against him, how to destroy him.� A multitude by the sea. Jesus withdrew with his disciples

01:53: to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed, also from Judea and Jerusalem,

01:58: and Ijumia, and from beyond the Jordan, and from about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude

02:02: hearing all that he did came to him.

02:05: And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him.

02:10: For he had healed many so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.

02:14: And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him, and cried out, you are the Son of God.

02:20: He strictly ordered them not to make him known.

02:24: Jesus appoints the Twelve.

02:27: And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those whom He desired, and they came to Him.

02:32: And He appointed Twelve to be with Him and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.

02:37: Simon, whom He surnamed Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James,

02:42: whom He surnamed Buwanergies, that is, sons of Thunder, Andrew, and Philip, and Brotholomew,

02:49: Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Altheos, and Thaddeus, and Simon the

02:54: Candonian, and Judas Ascariot, who betrayed him. Jesus and beelzable. Then he went

03:02: home, and the crowd came together again so that they could not even eat. And when

03:06: his friends heard it, they went out to seize him for they said, he is beside

03:09: himself, and the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, he is possessed of

03:13: beelzable, and by the Prince of demons he casts out demons. And he called them to

03:18: him and sent to them in parables.

03:21: How can Satan cast out Satan?

03:23: If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand, and if a house is divided

03:28: against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

03:31: And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is coming to an end.

03:38: But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.

03:43: Then indeed he may plunder his house.

03:46: Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter.

03:51: But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of any trunnel sin.

03:58: For they had said, he has an unclean spirit.

04:02: The true Convert of Jesus and his mother and his brethren came, and standing outside, they

04:07: sent to him and called him, and a crowd was sitting about him, and they said to him,

04:12: your mother and your brethren are outside asking for you."

04:15: And he replied,

04:16: "...Who are my mother and my brethren?"

04:18: And looking around on those who sat about him, he said,

04:21: "...Here are my mother and my brethren.

04:23: Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

04:29: Chapter 4

04:30: The Parable of the Sower

04:32: Again he began to teach beside the sea,

04:34: and a very large crowd gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea,

04:39: and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

04:42: When he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them,

04:46: Listen, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

04:54: Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang

04:59: up since it had no depth of soil, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away.

05:06: Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

05:12: And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and hundredfold.

05:21: And He said, He who has ears to hear, let Him hear.

05:27: Explanation of the parable.

05:29: And when He was alone, those who were about Him with the twelve asked Him concerning the

05:32: parables, and He said to them, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.

05:38: But for those outside, everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive,

05:43: and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn again and be forgiven."

05:48: And he said to them, "...Do you not understand this parable?

05:52: How then will you understand all the parables?

05:54: The sower sows the word.

05:57: And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown.

06:00: When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them.

06:05: And these in like manner are the ones Sona Panraki-Ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately

06:10: receive it with joy, and they have no root in themselves.

06:13: But endure for a while, then, when tribulation or persecution arise on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

06:21: And others are the ones Sona among thorns.

06:24: They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the delight enriches,

06:28: and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

06:34: those that were sown upon the good soil, are the ones who hear the word and accept it

06:39: and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

06:44: Elamp is not hidden, and he said to them,

06:48: �Is Elamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?

06:53: For there is nothing hidden except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light.

06:59: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

07:03: And he said to them,

07:04: Take heed what you hear.

07:06: The measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.

07:11: For to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

07:19: A parable about seeds.

07:21: And he said,

07:22: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground and should sleep and

07:27: rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow.

07:31: He knows not how.

07:32: The earth produces of itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

07:37: But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.

07:43: And he said,

07:44: With what can we compare the kingdom of God or what parable shall we use for it?

07:49: It is like a grain of a mustard seed, which when sown upon the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.

07:56: Yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large

08:01: branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

08:06: The use of parables.

08:08: With many such parables, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

08:13: He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

08:19: Jesus calms a storm on the sea.

08:21: On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side,

08:27: leaving the crowd, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat.

08:31: And other boats were with him.

08:33: And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that the boat was already filling.

08:38: But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him and said to him,

08:43: �Teacher, do you not care if we perish�� and he awoke, and rebuked the wind, and

08:48: said to the sea, �Peace, be still��.

08:51: And the wind ceased, and there was great calm�.

08:55: He said to them, �Why are you off the coast?

08:57: afraid. Have you no faith?" And they were filled with awe and said to one another,

09:03: who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

09:11: Psalm 20, Prayer for Victory to the Choirmaster, a Psalm of David.

09:17: The Lord answer you in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob, but protect you. you.

09:22: May He send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion.

09:27: May He remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices.

09:32: May He grant you your hearts, desire, and fulfill all your plans.

09:36: May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God, set up our banners.

09:41: May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

09:44: Now I know that the Lord will help His anointed, He will answer Him from His holy heaven with mighty victories by His right hand.

09:51: Some boast of chariots and some of horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

09:57: They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand straight.

10:02: Give victory to the King, O Lord.

10:05: Answer us when we call.

10:10: Father in heaven, we give you praise and thanks, and we just honor you and love you for

10:15: the gift of your Son Jesus and for the gift of knowing.

10:20: Here is his teaching, here is his heart, here is your heart because he is the word of the Father.

10:26: And when we see him, we see you, Father in heaven.

10:30: And so we thank you.

10:31: Thank you for every one of these moments that we get and every one of these clips, I guess,

10:36: images we have of Jesus here in Mark's Gospel.

10:39: Thank you for Mark.

10:40: Thank you for Peter who taught Mark this and thank you.

10:43: Thank you for you, Lord God, because you are deserving of all thanks and all praise and everything.

10:49: name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Amen.

10:53: Okay. Couple of things to highlight. We just have two chapters today. Obviously, we have

10:56: chapters three and chapter four. One of the things I want to just kind of go through and maybe

11:00: make a couple of quick points. The first is, here is the story of the man with the Withered Hand.

11:04: This is in chapter three, right? Right? It's a story right away. He's a man with a Withered Hand

11:08: who comes into this synagogue and again, it's on the Sabbath. And we're going to talk about the

11:11: Sabbath in just one second. But Jesus, he knows that the elders, the people are in charge,

11:16: are we looking around at him because they want to see him break the rule, break the law.

11:22: And it says, Jesus asks them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save

11:27: life or to kill? Now you know this because you've been journeying through the Bible for the last

11:31: 155 days. And so you know that in the old covenant you can save life on the Sabbath. This is a

11:36: real thing. It says then to this, it says, but they were silent. And he looked around at them

11:41: with anger. I just think that whenever I come up on this, this scripture, it happens quite

11:46: often that we read Mark's Gospel chapter three, this story, that when Jesus looks at them with

11:52: anger, I just think, what would that be like? Because it's just so convicting. It's so

11:57: convicting that these people, they know the truth, they know the right thing, they know the

12:01: right answer, but they were silent. It wasn't that they gave the wrong answer. It is that

12:06: they were not willing to give the right answer. It's not that they told a lie. They just weren't willing to tell the truth.

12:12: Jesus looked around at them with anger.

12:14: And I just think, man, gosh, that is just so powerful.

12:18: And it's so convicting.

12:20: Because how many times?

12:21: I can say how many times?

12:22: Yeah, I didn't lie, but I didn't speak the truth when it was needed, when it was necessary,

12:27: when I was being asked directly, hey, do this now.

12:31: How often not only lying dishonors the Lord, but how often not speaking the truth when

12:36: it needs to be spoken, can dishonor the Lord.

12:38: That's just a heavy thing to pray about, to reflect on and to acknowledge as true.

12:44: The next quick thing about the Sabbath that I just wanted to highlight is, I was reading a commentary by Dr. Mary Healy.

12:50: She's just phenomenal.

12:51: I think I mentioned her yesterday.

12:53: And she says, you know, all these, all these healings, all these things that happen on

12:56: the Sabbath that Jesus keeps getting accused of, why wouldn't he just avoid the Sabbath?

13:00: Why would he, is it seems like he's almost intentionally doing this kind of provocation on the Sabbath?

13:07: I mean, he could have done it the day before, he could have done it the next day, why on the Sabbath?

13:11: And she posits and puts forth the idea that actually Jesus is doing this intentionally,

13:16: because remember yesterday he said, is the Sabbath made for man or man for the Sabbath?

13:20: Jesus, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Basically, Jesus is revealing His Lordship by exercising

13:28: His Lordship on the Sabbath day. He's undoing the effects of sin and He's inaugurating a new creation

13:35: by which humanity is restored to the fullness of life that God meant from the beginning.

13:39: And this is what Dr. Healy had said, that Jesus thereby fulfills the original purpose of the Sabbath,

13:44: which is to bring humanity into communion with God. So that's why Jesus is spending this time

13:48: healing and doing these works on the Sabbath. It's not just I'm breaking rules for breaking rules

13:54: sake. It is I'm revealing my very identity and I'm demonstrating the whole purpose of the Sabbath,

14:01: with which is to bring humanity into covenant,

14:03: right back into covenant, back into communion with God himself,

14:07: which is just, oh, I'm like, oh, that's good to know.

14:11: Another thing to highlight is that Jesus talks about the sin against the Holy Spirit.

14:15: He says, all blasphemies, all sins can be forgiven

14:17: except for the sin against the Holy Spirit.

14:19: And that has given rise to so many people wondering,

14:21: okay, so how do I make sure that I don't commit a sin

14:24: against the Holy Spirit, which is great

14:25: because it means that you don't want to have an unforgivable sin.

14:28: But what is the unforgivable, you know, the quote, quote, unforgivable sin.

14:31: The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

14:34: And the church has come down to realize that and declare really clearly that the sin against

14:39: the Holy Spirit is any sin that we do not allow God to forgive.

14:44: That's it.

14:45: That's what it is.

14:46: It's not a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in terms of saying something negative or saying

14:48: something blasphemic, saying a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

14:53: But what it is is ultimately any sin that we refuse to surrender to the Lord for his mercy.

14:59: The Catechism says, there are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately

15:04: refuses to accept his mercy by repenting rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.

15:11: And such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

15:15: So keep this in mind, is that any sin can be a sin against the Holy Spirit, but there's

15:19: not one thing that is like I did this now it's unforgivable.

15:22: It basically means I need to bring everything to the foot of the cross.

15:26: to bring everything to the Lord Jesus and allow him to give me his redemption, allow him

15:32: to forgive me. Now, the second to last point is there's a section here we just read that talked

15:37: about the brothers of Jesus. And it's important for us to understand because the church tradition

15:42: from the very beginning is that Mary remained a virgin for her entire life. That Jesus was her

15:47: only and always was her only child. And now we talked about this a little bit, but I want to want to remind us.

15:53: Up there, this doesn't just come out of nowhere.

15:55: This doesn't come from a desire for Mary to be a virgin for a whole life.

15:59: This comes from actually the text.

16:01: In fact, when it says, you know, you might say in your Bible, it says his mother and his

16:05: brothers arrived in the translation that we use the Revised Ender version, it says

16:09: brethren, which is more helpful in some ways.

16:11: Why?

16:12: Because the word that's used for brother is the word the Greek word Adelphoy.

16:15: Adelphos is singular for brethren or for relative.

16:19: Adelphoi can mean brothers, yes, it can mean siblings.

16:22: Like I have my brothers, Mark and Matthew,

16:24: but also can mean cousins, it can mean uncle and nephew

16:28: because we've seen this in other times in the Bible

16:31: where a lot and Abraham are Adelphoi,

16:34: but we know that they are not brothers, not siblings.

16:37: They are uncle and nephew, but they're Adelphoi, they're relatives, they're Kinsman,

16:41: and that is the word that's used here.

16:43: And so when you read the Bible and it says,

16:45: Jesus is brothers to automatically just assume

16:48: All that means his siblings, that's actually incorrect.

16:51: In fact, the early church never believed this.

16:53: In fact, in the third fourth century,

16:54: there was a man named St. Jerome.

16:55: St. Jerome had translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek

16:59: into the language of the people into Latin.

17:01: And at one point, some people were coming to St. Jerome

17:04: and saying, hey, you need to write an article

17:07: because there's this one guy he's teaching that Mary had,

17:09: that when it says the brethren of Jesus,

17:11: that it means the brothers, the siblings of Jesus,

17:14: you need to write a reputation against this belief.

17:18: in St. Jerome, here a third fourth century.

17:21: This is so interesting.

17:22: He said, there is no need to write a refutation

17:24: against this person because no one would pass,

17:26: no one in the right mind would possibly believe that Jesus actually had siblings.

17:31: And they said, well, no, but if you don't write

17:33: a refutation of this person who's positing this idea

17:36: that a Delphoy should be translated sibling or brother,

17:39: then people will think that maybe he's right.

17:41: And so then St. Jerome put pen to paper and wrote a refutation of this.

17:45: The early church was unanimous in understanding

17:48: that Adolfoie simply meant relative or kinsmen and not and not sibling.

17:54: In fact, the Bible goes on to explain

17:56: and demonstrate almost I would even say prove

17:59: that the people who are referred to as Jesus's, quote unquote, brothers are actually the sons of another woman.

18:07: For example, we recognize that Mark is not referring to full siblings of Jesus.

18:11: This is indicated by his later mention of James and Joseph as sons of a different Mary.

18:16: He says that in Mark chapter six,

18:18: verse three and in chapter 15, verse 40.

18:21: You also see in Matthew's Gospel.

18:22: And that's just really remarkable.

18:24: Not only that, but we'd recognize that

18:27: at the end of the Gospel of John,

18:29: we heard this last time we were reading through a messianic checkpoint,

18:32: is that Jesus from the cross gave his mom

18:35: to the care of John, the beloved disciple.

18:38: And then John took her into his home.

18:40: This would be unthinkable if she had other sons who could care for her.

18:43: It would be absolutely unnicable if Mary had other sons that could care for her.

18:48: So the unanimous tradition of the church is that Adolfoie refers to Jesus' cousins,

18:54: his relatives, his kinsmen, and not to his siblings because Jesus didn't have siblings

18:59: because Mary was always, perpetually a virgin.

19:02: Now, okay, there's that point there.

19:05: Made the point last thing.

19:07: I said that was the second to last, this is the last.

19:09: And it's actually the last thing we heard basically in chapter 4.

19:13: Jesus calms the storm. It says that they were filled with awe and said to one another,

19:17: who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him? And this is so important because the

19:23: whole point of the gospel in so many ways is to establish the identity of Jesus. It's

19:28: just an identity of Jesus. And what they're going to discover is what the demons already

19:34: know. You are the Holy One. You are the Son of God. They already know this in some way.

19:40: that he or she apostles, and they are filled with fear and awe and are asking the question, who then?

19:46: Who then possibly could he be?

19:48: And that's the question that Jesus ultimately answers with every miracle that question

19:52: Jesus ultimately answers with the resurrection that he is, the Lord God, the maker of heaven and earth.

19:58: And he is the Word of the Father, the eternal Son of the Father, and he truly is God.

20:02: He truly is God.

20:04: And man, just so grateful.

20:06: grateful that Jesus was sent to us from the Father that He came forth from the Father

20:10: to be our redemption, to be our salvation, and to make us into adopted sons and daughters of the Father.

20:20: As we continue our journey, a couple more days, a messier next checkpoint.

20:22: We got a few more, which is great.

20:24: We have finished chapters three and four.

20:25: We're going up to chapter 16, and so we have a number of days to continue to watch Jesus

20:30: to listen to Him and to just walk with Him.

20:33: So let's pray for each other

20:34: that we continue to walk in faithfulness,

20:36: that we continue to walk in joy and in hope and in love,

20:39: and that we continue to be the men and women

20:42: that God has made us to be.

20:43: So let's pray for each other.

20:44: I'm praying for you, please pray for me.

20:46: My name's Father Mike.

20:47: I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

20:49: God bless.