Reflective Bible Study

In our last episode, we focused on the trip Jesus takes across the lake and how a severe storm sweeps across the water scaring all the disciples while Jesus slept peacefully. I had not realized the connection between that event and the one we will be focusing in on in this episode, because when we look at how the gospel writers structure this event, the miracle we will be focusing in on in this episode happens when Jesus and the disciples reach land. It is as though Satan did not want Jesus to reach this shore and meet the man who lived there.

But remember, one big theme in all of Jesus’ miracles and ministry is that God is stronger than Satan, and nothing would stop Jesus from making this trip to someone who needed God’s help.

While this miracle is included in three of the four gospels, let’s read it from Luke’s gospel to discover what happened. This miracle is found in Luke, chapter 8, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 26, Luke tells us that:

²⁶ [Jesus and His disciples] sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³² A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. ³³ When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Let’s pause reading here to focus in on what has just happened. When reading this event, it appears as though Jesus has made a special trip across the lake just to meet this demon possessed man, and from the description Luke gives us, there was no way this man would have gone to Jesus. The legion of demons living inside of him would not have allowed it.

However, I bet this man had friends or relatives who wished he would be made well, and in the absence of a family or friend’s prayer, this man had a Creator who loved him very much.

We discover in this passage that when this man was unable to come to Jesus, Jesus makes the special trip to visit him. When we are unable to come to God, God is more than willing to come to us. While we were actively sinning and rebelling against God, Christ came to this earth. This event displays on a small scale what God did through Jesus for all of humanity and we’ve barely scratched the surface of the miracle itself!

Another theme we’ve looked at previously in this year of miracles, is that we cannot trust what comes from a demon’s mouth. However, it is interesting that we don’t read Jesus telling this demon to be quiet. Perhaps this was because there was no crowd around and no one to misinterpret the demons’ message.

When Jesus met this demon, we discover more details regarding what all the demons might have collectively said if given the chance. This legion of demons acknowledges Jesus’ divinity, and then they make the claim that Jesus would send them into the torturous abyss when given the chance.

What is interesting in my mind is where the demons’ get the idea that Jesus would sentence them to torture if He wanted to. I don’t see any hint of Jesus sentencing any demon who He cast out of a person to a place of torture or to an abyss. This then strongly suggests that this is the devil’s lie in the words that are spoken. Satan likes to mix truth and lies, and when we look for the lie, we need look no further than here. While there is a judgment reserved for Satan and His angels, there is no hint anywhere in scriptures that this judgment happened the moment a person was freed from an evil spirit.

Judgment happened when Jesus faced the cross, and another phase of judgment happens when Jesus returns. Neither of these things had happened at the point we are looking at in this event, and that means that we now see a big piece of the devil’s lie.

Through this legion of demons, we learn of a place of eternal torment given to those who reject God. Does this sound like today’s cultural description of hell?

While Satan and his angels have every right to fear a place like this if it exists, if the only places we see scripture describe a place like this is through the mouths of demons, then the very existence of this type of hell could also be an elaborate lie Satan has used to turn God into a villain. God definitely describes a time of judgment in the Bible, but God’s description of this judgment is one that has an end. God doesn’t ever describe a continual judging or condemning of sinners throughout eternity.

(I will point out here that the Old Testament description of smoke continually rising that is oftentimes used in support of a place like these demons describe in this passage simply describes smoke. Smoke can exist after a flame has been extinguished, and a flame that has finished consuming its fuel will ultimately go out. In other words, Isaiah’s concluding remarks only give evidence that a fire has occurred, but not that there is one that is forever burning.)

However, we have hit a place in this episode where we have run out of time. While there are plenty of other things we could focus in on in this passage, instead of trying to rush it into the last little portion of this episode, let’s wait and focus on the last portion of this event in our next episode.

With that said, as we come to the end of this podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Intentionally seek God first and trust Him to keep you safe throughout eternity. When faced with ideas or theories that contradict God’s character or what we can clearly read in the Bible, choose to believe the Bible over what culture wants to push us to think and believe. Culture jumps between fads. The Bible stands as an unchanging anchor that represents God’s love, His character, and His interest in saving you and me for eternity.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and mature into the person God created you to be. Intentionally study to grow closer to God and take your questions to Him and His word. God is more than happy to meet you in the pages of your Bible.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, or chicken out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we’ve moved through this year focusing in on Mark’s gospel, we’ve sped through Jesus’ life and through many of the most significant events so far in Jesus’ ministry. In our passage for this event, Jesus is challenged again because of something His disciples don’t do, and in Jesus’ response, we get the picture He was perhaps a little irritated at these religious leaders, but also that Jesus had a higher opinion of God’s law than these religious leaders.

Let’s read this event and see what we can learn. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us:

¹ Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.

³ The Pharisees and many other Jewish people obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way before eating. ⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

Before continuing to discover what Jesus says in response to this, I want to draw our attention onto this question being a spiritual question more than a health question. While the laws given through Moses encompass not only spirituality, but health, legalities, and more, at this point in the Jews history, everything was being given a disproportionate level of spiritual significance.

I will be among the first to say that there is likely spiritual significance in more parts of my life and habits that I even begin to realize. However, with that said, some instructions have less to do with spiritual health directly and more to do with physical health. I don’t know if these disciples did not ever wash their hands, or if these disciples didn’t wash their hands in whatever way was spiritually significant in the minds of these legalistic Jews.

However, Jesus’ answer draws our attention not only on His heart, but also onto a pretty significant spiritual truth as well. Continuing in verse 6:

⁶ Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

“All of you praise me
    with your words,
but you never really
    think about me.
⁷ It is useless for you
    to worship me,
when you teach rules
    made up by humans.”

⁸ You disobey God’s commands in order to obey what humans have taught. ⁹ You are good at rejecting God’s commands so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Didn’t Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn’t he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ¹¹ But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God. ¹² You won’t let those people help their parents. ¹³ And you ignore God’s commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things that are just as bad.

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn’t make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”

¹⁷ After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and had gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. ¹⁸ He answered, “Don’t you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

²⁰ Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. ²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.

In this lengthy response to this challenge, Jesus calls out the Pharisees and other religious leaders for placing their own rules above God’s direct instructions. While I’m confident that the religious leaders believed both sets of rules were important, in any place where these rules conflicted, they minimized God’s law in place of their customs. While some of what God has said could be seen as unpopular and potentially illegal in our world today, God didn’t share His laws as optional from an eternal perspective.

However, the biggest portion of Jesus’ response comes in contrasting what makes you fit for worship from what is simply a smart thing to do for your health. However, one phrase in this passage stood out to me as we read it. This phrase is found at the end of verse 19: “By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.”

Reading this translation makes me think that all foods are equal, but some of the other translations we regularly pull from frame this phrase better in my mind. Both the New American Standard Bible translation and the New International Version emphasize Jesus’ declaration here that all foods are clean. I can understand why these translators may have chosen to frame this idea as being fit to eat, but it might have been better to say that Jesus simply reframes all foods as spiritually clean.

However, Mark’s gospel is attributing a meaning to Jesus message that I don’t see. Perhaps the original language has a better connection, but Jesus is focused more on spiritual cleanness and fitness for worship and how our food doesn’t change our status or our fitness in God’s eyes. I don’t see Jesus telling us that all foods are now permissible to eat, because history, logic, and any reasonable dietician will tell you that different foods have different health benefits. Some foods are simply better than others, and some types of food should be avoided.

Jesus’ message is that our food doesn’t affect God’s response to our worship. Jesus does not hint or state that all things that go into our mouths are equal from a health perspective.

Instead, Jesus emphasizes that what comes out of our mouths comes from our hearts, and what comes out of our mouths makes us unclean. The things that come out of our mouths reveal our hearts. We could also say that the things we share on social media reveal our hearts as well. In today’s era, our “voice” extends to both what we say and what we write and share. What we choose to communicate to others reveals our heart.

God doesn’t view our online lives and our offline lives as different. God sees everything we do and Jesus tells us here that what we do is an extension of our hearts.

After leaving the crowd and entering the house with the disciples, Jesus reemphasizes the truth that our hearts affect how fit we are to worship God. This also strongly suggests that our worship to God might not be accepted based on the state of our heart.

While it is true that our food affects our health, and our health will ultimately affect our life, which includes our ability to worship, our food does not affect the spiritual state of our heart or God’s love for each of us when we come to Him in worship.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue intentionally seeking God first in your life. Don’t let this passage be a license to ignore what you put into your mouth, but let it be a challenge to be extra aware of what comes out of your mouth, and to be extra aware of what you communicate to others, whether this communication uses your vocal cords, your pen, or even your computer, tablet, or phone. What you say and share with others reveals the state of your heart, and the state of your heart reveals how fit you are to worship God.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself. I don’t know of any better way to help clean and restore your heart than through heartfelt prayer, and studying God’s truth in the pages of the Bible. These spiritual habits have given men and women a solid spiritual foundation for centuries, these spiritual habits can strengthen our spiritual lives, and these spiritual habits have the power clean our hearts as well. Don’t simply assume the Bible says something because you heard it from a friend or read it on the internet. Choose to study it out for yourself because if for no other reason than your eternity depends on it!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!