Adopting The Mind Of Jesus / Part 1

REACTIONS OF JESUS IN MARK’S GOSPEL
Adopting The Mind Of Jesus – Part 1

We have little control over what happens around us. Our reactions seem to reflect our past experiences and expectations. What do you feel when you visit the sick? What moves within you when you see real poverty and misery? How do you react towards Christians who do things differently from the way you do them? Our emotional reactions to such circumstances reveal our underlying value system. What emotions did Jesus display?

Of the four gospel writers, Mark is perhaps the one who best captures some of the emotional reactions of our Lord. These emotions provide a window into His heart. They show us what is important to Him and what He disapproves of. They expose His value system. As we know, John Mark, the likely author of this gospel, was not one of Christ's 12 disciples. As a young man he must have lived in Jerusalem with his mother, Mary (Acts 12:12,25). He probably saw some of Christ’s miracles and enjoyed some of His teaching. He was impressed enough to run out at night to witness Jesus being arrested (Mk. 14:51-52). How much of Christ’s passion did this young man see before he was chased away?

Although we usually associate John Mark with Paul, his uncle Barnabas and his failure in a missionary journey (Acts 12:25; 13:5,13; 15:38-39), there is evidence and tradition to suggest a strong link between John Mark and Peter. When released from prison, Peter immediately went to the house of Mary, Mark’s mother, where believers were praying for him. Later we find Mark with Peter in Rome, and Peter referred to him as “my son Mark” (1 Pet. 5:13). Peter provided so much material found in Mark’s gospel that it was called Peter’s gospel by some ancient writers. Although Peter mellowed in his latter years, his impulsive character was very different from that of our Lord. He must have noticed that Christ’s feelings and reactions were often at odds with his own. Christ had a different value system.

Let’s explore seven of Christ’s reactions in the Gospel of Mark.

1. Jesus reacts to a needy world.
Before Mark finished chapter one, a leper fell before Jesus pleading: “If you are willing, you can make me clean” (Mk. 1:40 NIV). Living in Colombia, a third world country with crippling unemployment, we daily receive requests for financial help. It is emotionally draining. I would prefer not to see so many needs. But Christ felt compassion – and not just enough to drop the leper a coin. He was “filled with compassion.” What followed was not a cold response but a response driven by compassion: “Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing’ He said. ‘Be clean!’” (Mk. 1:41).

Later, on His way to the sea of Galilee, he met “a man that was deaf and could hardly talk.” His friends begged Christ to heal him. Our Lord empathized with this deaf man and the anguish of his friends: “He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him ... ‘be opened!’” (Mk. 7:32-35). It is painful to live in this fallen world. Our Lord feels our pain.

When a group is large, and the needs even larger, we can feel numb and respond with indifference. Christ was tired. He tried to get away with his disciples to a quiet place to rest. Yet a large crowd discovered them. Could Jesus see in the crowd faces that would later yell, “Crucify him”? Didn’t He know crowds are unreliable, and that many follow out of curiosity? Yet look how He reacted to the crowd: “When Jesus ... saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk. 6:31-34). He felt their spiritual and material need. When dealing with another crowd, He explained to his disciples, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way” (Mk. 8:2-3).

A few months ago I lent a sister a commentary on Ephesians written by a Western author. After a few weeks I asked what she thought of it. She said it was discouraging: “It gave me the impression that our blessings are all in the heavens and promised for the next life; that Christ is not concerned that we are behind in our rent, that our bakery suppliers have cut their credits, that my son is sick in bed. We need Christ’s blessing now too!” Are you currently going through a difficult period? Christ knows the pain, frustrations and injustices in this world. His heart swells with compassion as he identifies with our needs.

2. Jesus reacts to spiritual bondage.
Mark’s is a gospel of action. It depicts Jesus on the move. But every action has a reaction. We find opposition to Christ and His work in every chapter (except the prophetic chapter 13). This opposition came from two sources: satanic activity and Jewish religious technocrats. In nine chapters we have references to demons, evil spirits or Satan. Mark describes more demon activity than do the other gospels. We find Satan tempting Jesus, taking the Word out of hard hearts, and speaking through Peter. We read of evil spirits talking, shouting, shaking people, throwing one to the ground, gnashing teeth, taking away speech, making one rigid, causing violence and giving extraordinary strength. Mark makes reference to demons confined to a man, a woman, a child, an area and to animals. Christ expels evil spirits – sometimes from a distance, and sometimes face to face with them. Some evil spirits are able to speak, and some have a name and will of their own.

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with all this evidence of satanic bondage. Many civilized and cultured Christians have developed theological models to limit this uncomfortable phenomena to a distant past. But much of it is still evident in pagan cultures today. With the current rapid migration of third-world people to North America and Europe, I suggest that any Christian group engaged in evangelizing and helping emigrants, will soon encounter similar strange activity. Only when we gain their confidence will they begin to talk about it. Does this make us feel: motivated by a new challenge; afraid to encounter the unknown; angry to have our comfortable theological framework questioned; nervous about personal danger?

How did Jesus feel? He did not focus on Himself. He did not focus on the evil spirits. He had “mercy” on the demon-possessed man (Mk. 5:19). His ministry in freeing those in spiritual bondage did not go unnoticed. Some referred to it as a “new doctrine” or “new teaching” (Mk. 1:25-27). Others, who could not deny the positive effects but disliked the whole messy business, claimed that Christ Himself had an evil spirit (Mk. 3:22,30). Yet those who lived the agony of spiritual bondage flocked to Him (Mk. 1:32-34). With my limited experience in this area, I suggest that mercy (not curiosity or a love for controversy) should be the driving force to getting involved in these issues. In fact, without a deep sense of mercy towards those who suffer such bondage, very few of us will ever attempt to help. Helping those in spiritual bondage find freedom in Christ is not comfortable.

3. Jesus reacts to religious technocrats.
We find a broad representation of Jewish religious life in this gospel – priests, high priests, Pharisees, Scribes Sadducees, elders and Herodians – each with a different theological slant, but happily united in opposing Jesus. At the beginning of the gospel the opposition is mainly theological, testing Jesus on issues such as: who can forgive sin (2:7), why Jesus ate with sinners (2:16), why His disciples were not fasting (2:18), and what you can and can’t do on a Sabbath (2:24). One Sabbath, Jesus had a sick man before Him. Would He wait one day before healing him to avoid confrontation with the strict Jews? Jesus did not deny that the Sabbath was given by God, but referred to the reason for this law: “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (2:27). Should He heal this man on the Sabbath? The Jews remained silent. How did Jesus feel about the attitude of these righteous technocrats? Jesus “looked around at them in anger and, (was) deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts” (3:5). These are very strong feelings. Then, before their disapproving eyes, He healed the man.

The Pharisees felt threatened by Christ’s provocative behavior. They joined the Herodians (the political wing of religious Jews) to plot “how they might kill Jesus” (3:6). Elimination of non-compliers is a common response by frustrated religious technocrats.

The opposition increased. They began to discredit Christ’s character: they accused him of being possessed by Beelzebub (3:22). These religious technocrats followed Jesus around with the Law in one hand and their good traditions (“We’ve always done it this way”) in the other, analyzing everything Jesus did, said or allowed. One day some of His disciples began eating without washing their hands. Of course it’s a good idea to wash hands, but for the technocrats it had become law. Mark devotes 23 verses (7:1-23) to explain Jesus’ perspective that externals can never make the believer unclean. What is inside a person is what defiles him. The inside reality is always more important than the outside.

Then the teachers of the Law tried using prophecy to discredit Jesus: “Elijah must come first.” Since Elijah has not yet come, Jesus can’t be the Christ (9:11-12). Then came the institutional argument: In Jerusalem they asked him, “By what authority are You doing these things?” (11:27-28). The chief priests were descendants of Aaron, a God-ordained line of authority. But who is this Jesus – a freelance enthusiast, an independent guru?

Searching for evidence to accuse Jesus, they asked about divorce (10:2) and the rightness of paying taxes to Caesar (12:14). I am sure the Lord did not mind the questions. It was their judgmental, hypocritical attitude that frustrated Him. They had made up their minds that He was not the Christ, and no evidence to the contrary would change their position. Instead of rejoicing at the feeding of the 4000, “the Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply” and denied their request. Then He “left them, got back in the boat and crossed to the other side” (8:11-13). Jesus resisted these Pharisees and distanced Himself from them. Perhaps this was an example of how His followers should deal with persistent religious technocrats.

A legalistic frame of mind is contagious. Religious technocrats pat each other on the back and thank the Lord that they are not as loose as others. It’s a self-righteous club that feels burdened to go around, like Pharisees, “testing” others. While in the boat, Jesus warned His disciples against this highly reproductive, parasitic fungus: “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees” (8:15). We should also take this warning seriously.

By Philip Nunn

Next month look for the conclusion to this series.