Jesus - The Truth and the Proof of the Gospel: Mark 8:1-26

The
Pharisees demand Jesus to perform a sign in Mark 8:11 to test him. The
Pharisees want Jesus to prove He is indeed God’s Son as He claims, the blessed
Messiah. But Jesus will give no such sign (Mark 8:12). I fear the Pharisees
demand for a sign is to close to our cultures desire for proof. But what proof
would be enough? What are we looking for? What were the Pharisees looking for?
If we are honest, there is no proof that would cause someone to believe in
Jesus.
Two
passages point to what the Pharisees may have been looking for. In John
6:30-36, 40-41, the Jews demand a sign from heaven. Something like the manna
that God sent from heaven to feed the people of Israel during the Exodus. But
Jesus responds in John 6:40-41 and says, “I am the bread that came down from
heaven.” Jesus is saying He is the sign. Similarly we can look at Luke
11:29-30. Here Jesus relates himself and his ministry to Jonah. He is the sign
of Jonah to the current generation. Again, Jesus claims to be the very sign the
Pharisees seek and yet as John 6:36 says the Jews have seen him and yet they do
not believe. Their hearts are hard. And so are the hearts of our generation.
If
you are looking for proof-positive that Jesus is who He says He is, you will
never find the lynchpin you are looking for. Sure, there is plenty of evidence
that makes belief in Jesus not only intellectual responsible, but probable. It
is the hardness of our hearts that keeps many from embracing Christ. Instead of
looking for more proof, look within and examine your heart. Jesus claims to be the truth and the Proof
of the Gosepl. John 6:40 tells us that anyone who looks to Christ and believes
in him will have eternal life. Jesus is the truth of the Gospel. Furthermore,
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, all the fullness of God can be seen in
Him (Colossians 1:15-20). Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself. He is proof of
a loving and saving God that has entered our world in human flesh. Look no
further than Christ.
It
is interesting to note that miracles never beget faith in the first eight
chapters of Mark. Rather, faith in Jesus begets miracles. Jesus asks the same
of us. Believe in Me and see if I don’t do amazing things in your life and in
your world.
Finally,
Jesus does something pretty amazing in Mark 7 and 8. Mark throughout chapters
1-8 wants to show through Jesus ministry and life that he is the Christ and he
wants the reader to respond in repentance and belief in Christ (Mark 1:14-15).
In Mark 4:10-12 Jesus explains the purpose of his parable teaching quoting
Isaiah6:9-10. Here He says that the secret of the kingdom of God has been given
to the disciples and yet there are others outside that will neither see nor
hear the truth. However, throughout Mark 1-8 the disciples have shown nothing
but misunderstanding and a minimal to absence of faith in Christ. But notice
what Jesus does in Mark 7:31-37 and Mark 8:22-26. Surrounding a passage that
highlights the disciples lack of understanding are two important miracles; the
healing of a deaf man and the healing of a blind man. Notice that these
miracles occur right before Peter’s confession of Christ in Mark 8:29. I
believe these two miracles show us in the midst of the disciples lack of
understanding Jesus is healing the disciples and bringing about faith. Their
eyes and ears are being opened to hear the Gospel.
Will
you allow your ears and eyes to be healed by Jesus so that you can confess him?
*I
cover many other points and ideas found in Mark 8:1-26 in my full sermon.
Particularly, I take a small excurses discussing epistemology, which is
basically the study of ‘how we know what we know.’ I take a brief look at the
idea of ‘witness’ being one of the foundational aspects of how we obtain
knowledge. If you have found this brief excerpt interesting I encourage you to
listen to the whole sermon.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
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