January
12th
Some
want to follow Christ
19:
And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow
thee whithersoever thou goest. 20: And Jesus saith unto him, The
foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of
man hath not where to lay his head. 21: And another of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22:
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Christ
stills the storm
23:
And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24:
And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that
the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25: And his
disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we
perish. 26: And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of
little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and
there was a great calm. 27: But the men marvelled, saying, What
manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
Christ
- the demon possessed
28:
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the
Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of
the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
29: And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with
thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us
before the time? 30: And there was a good way off from them an herd
of many swine feeding. 31: So the devils besought him, saying, If
thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32:
And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went
into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran
violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the
waters. 33: And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into
the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the
possessed of the devils. 34: And, behold, the whole city came out to
meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would
depart out of their coasts.
A
Scribe offers to become a disciple of Christ, but Christ describes
the conditions of following him, which is that he will have no fixed
abode. (being a disciple of Christ was not the same as being a
christian. Being a disciple was a very common practise. John had
disciples as did the religious leaders. It was equivalent to going to
theological school today) Another person asks Christ if he will allow
him to go and bury his father first but Christ says quite simply –
let the dead bury the dead. Christ was saying leave the affairs of
this world behind no matter how pressing. Christ was forever moving
forward and it was up to his disciples to keep up. On the lake Christ
demonstrates his power over nature. Next Christ demonstrates his
power in the supernatural realm. Its one thing to control nature, but
quite another to control super-nature. The demons make a foolish
request and Christ grants them permission. The whole city was
gathered around Christ not to learn but to ask him to leave. How sad.
- What was the scribe wanting to do?
- Why did Christ say let the dead bury their dead?
- What are the differences between the calming of the storm and the deliverance of the demoniac?
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