Tag: demon

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Phariseest of Them All?

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 3:22-30

As we’ve been reading through the gospel of Mark, perhaps you’ve been struck by the various groups of religious authorities.  Mark tells us about the Pharisees, Herodians, scribes, chief priests, elders, and Sadducees.  Have you ever wondered why they are in a story about Jesus?  Afterall, why not just tell us about Jesus and his miracles?  Every story needs a protagonist and an antagonist.  Jesus is obviously the protagonist and, together, the various religious authorities form the antagonist.  As Mark has been telling his story, he has made it clear that Jesus has authority over the world.  He has authority over disease, demons, nature, and even the law.  And, by implication, Jesus has authority over all other religious authorities, which is why they hate him and seek to destroy him.

The urban dictionary way of saying it would be Jesus is the hero and the religious authorities are the villain.  

There’s another purpose for including the various religious authorities, in order to give you a mirror so you can see yourself.  It’s impossible for us to see our blindspots, unless someone else points them out to us.  One of the best ways to point out blindspots is to tell a story in the third person, hoping the listener sees himself or herself in the characters.    

When we read Mark’s gospel, we are to see ourselves in the characters of the religious authorities.  In other words, Jesus is the hero and we are the villain.  Mark’s gospel story is a mirror, showing us what we look like at times.  To riff off the witch in Snow White, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the Phariseest of them all?”

Jesus is constantly showing us his authority over all life and we are constantly challenging him, just like the scribes and Pharisees.  He lays claim on our lives and we seek to evade him.  He shows love to the unlovable and we get hung up on some trivial point of our manmade “law,” missing the forest for the trees.  He is getting all the attention and we’re getting jealous.  He heals and we inflict pain.  He forgives and we judge.  He shows mercy and we demand revenge.  He makes friends with outcasts and losers and we say he’s gone mad.  He casts out unclean spirits and we accuse him of being too cosy with the devil.

That’s where our passage is taking us today in Mark 3:22-30 and I want you to see yourself in it.  “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons” (Mark 3:22).  They also said, “He has an unclean spirit” (30).  At first, you might not be able to see yourself, but step closer to the mirror, and really look.  

Think about a car.  Let’s say you were convinced a particular car had a bad engine, would you buy it?  Of course not!  You wouldn’t trust it to take you where you needed to go.  Likewise, the religious authorities were convinced Jesus had a bad engine, thinking he was powered by a bad or unclean spirit.  They didn’t buy him and surely didn’t trust he could get them where they needed to go.  

Can you see yourself yet?

In response, Jesus told them “all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29).  

Make no mistake, you will be forgiven for every single sin you have ever done or will do.  “All sins” means all sins!  However, there’s one particular sin that never has forgiveness, and that’s to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.  What does this mean?  It means you think Jesus is powered by an evil engine.  You don’t think he will take you where you want to go.  You think he can’t provide forgiveness and does not have authority over life.  If we think he can’t do what he says he can do, to put it simply, then he won’t.

I love how Jesus tells his life story, turning himself into a streetwise tough guy.  “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  Then indeed he may plunder his house.” (Mark 3:27).  In just a couple of sentences, Jesus tells us he’s like a thief, who breaks into a house, ties up the musclehead bouncer in the corner, and then steals all his stuff.  That is the narrative of life Jesus is asking us to embrace.  Jesus Christ broke into our evil world, has bound the devil, and is reclaiming all hostages.  He might not be doing it exactly like you or I would do it, but he is doing it.  

He may be staying out late with prostitutes and getting drunk with government officials, but he is doing it.

Again, can you see yourself, yet?

Let me point out where we are located in the story, in case you missed it.  Verse 22 says, “And the scribes…came down from Jerusalem.”  They “came down” to accuse Jesus, because they thought they were above him.  They thought he was below them.  They thought they knew more than he did.  They wouldn’t run the world the way he was running it.  Can you relate?  

Think about your life, are you happy with how God is running it?  Or are you envious of others?  Do you buck at what’s going on at home?  Grumble at your life situation?  Do you think you know better than Jesus?  Do you look down upon him?  If we’re being honest, most of us feel that way at some point.  

By default, we are all Pharisees, until the Spirit convinces us of our sin (instead of us accusing the Spirit of His sin). 

Remember, all sins will be forgiven, no matter what you’ve done, who you are, or how many times you’ve done it.  But the only sin that cannot be forgiven is to believe in your heart that Jesus is driven by pure evil and cannot take you where you need to go.  Jesus can forgive you, Jesus will forgive you, Jesus loves you, and Jesus is causing all things to work together for good, whether it looks like it or not (Romans 8:28).  

“Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24).                

The Breakdown

  1. In what areas do you tend to judge others the most?  Keep track throughout the day and write them down.  What does this show you about yourself?  What can you learn?
  2. Be honest, do you doubt Jesus’s plan for your life?  Why or why not?
  3. What does Mark 3:22-30 teach you about yourself?  About God?  About others?
  4. Go to the mirror and honestly ask it, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the Phariseest of them all?”

Top Ten F-Words to Diagnose the Insanity of Jesus

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 3:13-21

This is our 20th devotional in the gospel of Mark!  True, we’re only at chapter 3, but sometimes it’s best to go slowly through the things that are most important in life.  Our verses today pause the action, giving us time to catch our breath and reflect.  The passage includes a list of the twelve apostles of Jesus, along with some other interesting tidbits.  We learn that Jesus’s family didn’t believe in him or support his mission.  “And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21).  His own family thought he was insane!  Why?

The Holy Ghost Notes would like to present to you, for the first time ever in biblical devotional literature history, “The Top Ten F-Words to Diagnose the Madness of Jesus.”  Please enjoy responsibly!

10. Fame

Doesn’t everyone want fame?  High social media stats, to be well known?  Not Jesus!  Jesus told everybody, including demonic spirits, not to tell anyone about him or his awesome miracles.  He did not want any fame whatsoever, but only to help the needy.  Surely he must be crazy!

9. Followers

Take a look at his followers.  None were educated and all were subordinary working class men, a few of which were hated by their communities.  Put another way, Jesus picked all the losers for his dodgeball team, like any fool would do. 

8. Friends

His chosen, closest friends were the scum of society, notorious, dirty sinners.  He partied with those who could give him nothing in return.  They provided no social standing, material possessions, emotional support, or intellectual inspiration.  Only a madman would choose these no-good friends. 

7. Foes

Don’t you want the approval and acceptance of the leaders of society?  Not crazy Jesus!  He made enemies out of the well-to-do, respectable, educated community leaders of his day.  Jesus easily could have won them over to be his friends and allies, but he wanted them to be his foes. 

6. Family

His biological family didn’t support him, but Jesus didn’t let this get under his skin.  Instead, he chose a handful of listeners in an ordinary crowd to be his new mother and sister and brother (Mark 3:34).  Everyone knows we can’t choose our families, but Jesus must not have gotten the memo.  

5. Fasting

You know that one weird family that doesn’t participate in Halloween or Christmas?  Jesus was that guy.  On one of the biggest holy days of the year, Jesus didn’t fast like everyone else, risking his neck with the religious leaders and his standing in the community.  But then, on an ordinary day, Jesus fasted from food so that he could spend time with more people (Mark 3:20)!

4. Feasting

When he was supposed to be fasting, Jesus was feasting with tax collectors and sinners.  When questioned about this, Jesus told the authorities their day of fasting was like a day of feasting at a wedding celebration to him!   He got everything backwards. 

3. Foreshadowing 

Starting here in Mark 3:19, Jesus begins to foreshadow his death.  After picking the disciple named Judas, we’re told, “…and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”  Jesus purposefully picked a traitor to be on his team, whose purpose would be to hand Jesus over to death.  Jesus will talk about his looming death frequently now, like any other nut. 

2. Father

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, making God his Father.  Not only did people think he was an inflamed narcissist, but also they suspected his theological chops.  Only a crazy person would say that divinity could birth humanity.  But Jesus insisted that God was his Father. 

1. Forgiveness

Along these lines, perhaps the most outrageous claim of this madman was he could forgive the sins of the whole world.  For Jesus to do this, he would have to be both God and human; he would have to be the Judge, the judged, and the judgment price, all wrapped up into one perfect person. 

The prevailing way to deal with a guy like Jesus is to say, “He is out of his mind.”  But the thoughtful way, the dangerous way, is to use one more F-word, which is faith.  Faith, after taking a long look at the world around us, says, “No, we are.” 

The Breakdown

  1. What does the average person think about Jesus?  Do you think it lines up with who he really was? 
  2. What surprises you about Jesus? 
  3. How does Jesus turn our world upside down and how is he calling you to live your life differently? 

Maybe Your Church Needs More Demons

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 3:7-12

After Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees and Herodians held an official meeting to decide how best to destroy Jesus.  Jesus caught wind of their plot, so he and his disciples withdrew to the sea for protection.  But the crowds knew how to find Jesus.  It’s amazing to see how fast and far Jesus’s influence had spread.  By this time, people were coming from all over to see him: Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, Tyre, and Sidon (Mark 3:7-8).  “When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him” (Mark 3:8).

In a crowd that large, it’s inevitable there will be those with unclean, demonic spirits.  In fact, in any crowd, including today, there are those with unclean spirits.  How do they react to Jesus?  “And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’” (Mark 3:11).  In order to maintain as low a profile as possible, so he could minister as long as possible before the authorities caught up to him, Jesus strictly ordered the unclean spirits not to make him known (Mark 3:12). 

So What’s up with Demonic Confessions? 

Have you noticed that so far in Mark’s gospel, the boldest and most accurate confessions of who Jesus is have come from demons?  Let’s recap.  In Mark 1:24, a demon said to Jesus, “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”  Then in Mark 1:34, Jesus forbade some other demons from speaking about his true identity as the Son of God, “because they knew him.”  And now, here in chapter three, many more demons are crying out loudly, “You are the Son of God” (Mark 3:11).  In fact, no humans in the story have yet to give such clear and consistent testimony to the identity of Jesus. 

Darkness knows who Jesus is.  Think about that for a moment.

Ranking the Key Characters

If we were to rate all characters so far in the story, concerning their knowledge and witness of Jesus, the ranking might surprise you.  Using a scale of 1-10, let’s make one the lowest, those who don’t recognize Jesus’s true identity at all; and, let’s make ten the highest, those who know for certain that Jesus is the Son of God.  (I’ll be honest, I’m just making a judgment call on these numbers, based on the evidence so far in Mark’s gospel; nonetheless, I think these are good, educated guesses.)

  • The Pharisees, scribes, Herodians, and other religious leaders—1
  • The disciples—4
  • The crowds (and all those who wildly flocked to Jesus)—5
  • Tax collectors and sinners—7
  • John the Baptist—8  
  • Those Jesus healed from disease—9
  • Those Jesus healed from demons and unclean spirits—10

Let’s summarize.  The Pharisees and religious leaders were completely out of touch with reality.  The disciples were slowly beginning to pick up on the truth.  The crowds were quicker to realize who Jesus was, as evidenced by how they were pursuing him.  The tax collectors and sinners, no doubt because of their great need, knew Jesus was a great Physician.  John the Baptist knew who Jesus was, though he had his struggles, asking Jesus at one point, “Are you the one to come or shall we expect another?” (Matthew 11:3).  Those who had already been healed of disease, the paralytic, man with the withered hand, and Simon’s mother-in-law, were convinced of Jesus’s true identity.  Finally, the demons themselves had no doubt about Jesus’s identity and couldn’t refrain from confessing his divinity; in fact, Jesus had to order them to put their constant testifying chatter on pause. 

Drawing a Few Conclusions

Here are a few observations from this ranking.  First, the more “religious” you looked on the outside, the less you knew who Jesus actually was.  Second, the harder and darker your life got, the greater your knowledge of Jesus.  Third, the darkness and all therein knew exactly who Jesus was.  Fourth, it took the actual disciples longer to understand who Jesus was, compared to those with darker, harder lives.   

Go into Your Darkness

So how can knowing these things help you?  The principle is this: the deeper into your own darkness you go, the more you will learn of Jesus Christ.  Does this surprise you?  The more you learn and understand your own evil, your personal, unclean spirits, the more you will come to know Jesus Christ in all his majesty and love, if you only look for him. 

For in the darkness, there is constant chatter about Jesus Christ. 

We know this experientially, too.  Think about your worst moments, when evil and darkness overwhelmed you.  As you think about those moments, think about Jesus, too.  The closer to evil we get, the greater our sense of the divinity of Jesus Christ.  When things are really bad, we know that Jesus is really good.  We will confess Jesus the Christ more easily in our worst moments than in our best. 

Don’t disdain your darkness, for it holds a precious testimony of Jesus. 

In contrast, the more out of touch with your darkness you are, the less you will be able to see and identify Jesus in your life.  You’ll be like the Pharisees, who believed they had no sickness, so they could not see the identity of the Great Physician at all.  Another way of setting up our ranking is with the terms “truth” and “deception.”  On one end of the scale, the demons could clearly see the truth; on the other end, the Pharisees were blinded by deception. 

When you enter your darkness honestly, humbly, and openly, you’ll begin to see Jesus Christ clearer and clearer.  If you avoid your darkness, cover-up your darkness, deny your darkness, or project your darkness onto something/one else, then you won’t be able to see who Jesus is at all.  You’ll think he’s just another Pharisee, with little to offer you.

The Church and the Demonic State

The church today needs more people who are willing to look at, acknowledge, and embrace the evil within themselves, and less who walk in superficial religion, pretending they’ve found the answers, have it all together, and claim not to struggle with personal, persistent demons.  The true enemy of the church is not darkness or evil, but hypocrisy.  It always has been.  We can see Jesus in the darkness, but he will remain unseen in the artificial glow of our jerry-rigged, pasty self-righteousness.  Demons make Jesus known, but Pharisees won’t.  Surely Mark wishes us to see this ironic truth and apply it to the church today.

If your church isn’t experiencing Jesus as much as you’d like, then maybe it needs more demons—or, at least, recognize the ones that are already there.

The Breakdown

  1. What are your darkest struggles? Can you name them?  Be thorough and honest. 
  2. Where would you place yourself on the scale?  Why?
  3. What are you afraid to talk about with others?  Here’s a principle to learn: whatever you can’t talk about, has power over you.  Remember, Jesus loves honest sinners, but he has less patience for hypocrites. Remember, exposing your darkness to trusted leaders is a gift to the church.