Friday, May 22, 2009

MkITN I, Verses 12 - 45

12. And immediately, the pulsating force of this same Holy Spirit from within virtually forced Him out into the wild...driving Him to go to a desert place, both physically and spiritually, where He could experience complete and total solitude.

13. And for forty days and nights He was out there alone, being tested in His thoughts by the Adversary...exposed to the elements and the wild beasts. But, during the entire trial period, angels took care of him.

14. Now after John was arrested and put in prison for confronting Herod about his adulterous relationship, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,

15. Saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is here now...as accessible and close to you as your own hand! Change your mind...rethink everything...and believe completely in a message of good news...the good news of the Gospel!"

16. One day, as He was walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew skillfully fishing with nets. Their expertise made it obvious that they were professional fishermen.

17. And Jesus, taken by their command of the art of fishing, said to them, "Hey...let me cast this vision to you...come with Me and be My disciples, and I will make a new kind of fisherman out of you! I'll show you how to catch people for the Kingdom of God, using the same methods and ability that you currently have at your hand."

18. And the persuasiveness of His words, the presentation of this concept, and the perfection of the timing of it all caused them to drop what they were doing right then and there, and start following Him, no questions asked.

19. He then went on just a little farther down the beach and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were in their boat putting their nets in order and mending them.

20. And, being equally impressed by how diligent and detailed these young men were in their work, He called out to them, making the same offer. And, as the other men had done, they abandoned what they were doing, leaving their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed Him.
21. Their first destination together was Capernaum, and the Sabbath came while they were there, so Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

22. The people who came that day were amazed at His manner and delivery, because He taught them as One who had authority...as One who made a real connection with the Scriptures, and who understood the purpose and intent of the Law within the context of the big picture. This was remarkable to those who regularly attended, because the men who typically spoke there sounded nothing like this.

23. As Jesus was delivering His message, a man in the synagogue who was under the control of a rebel spirit began to cry out,

24. "What do you want from us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to terminate our tenure, and to put an end to our rule so that You can set up Your Kingdom? I know who You are...You are the Holy One of God!"

25 "That's enough! Stop being so loud and obnoxious...and stop interrupting My teaching session!" said Jesus sternly. "In fact, I want you to come out of him right now!"

26. And the spirit was reluctantly obedient to Jesus' authority, shaking the man violently, and coming out of him with a shriek.

27. Well, this encounter just amazed the people that much more, and they asked each other, "What is this all about? Not only does He teach with fresh revelation, He does so with complete confidence! And He openly converses with those from the spirit world, even giving them orders...and they recognize and confess His lordship over them, and bow their knees to Him!"

28. And it goes without saying that the news about Him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
29. As soon as they left the synagogue that day, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.

30. Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her.

31. So He very matter-of-factly went to her, took her by the hand, and just helped her up. And with this simple gesture, the fever left her, and she immediately felt so much better that she insisted on making dinner for all of them, and on serving it herself.

32. That evening after dinner, many local people who had received word that He was in the neighborhood brought to Jesus those who were sick and/or were under the influence of a rebel spirit.

33. Eventually it seemed as though the whole town had gathered at the door of His hostess' home,

34. And Jesus went right into healing mode, curing many who had various diseases. He also expelled many rebel spirits, but He wouldn't permit them to say anything, because they knew too much. They recognized who He was, immediately, and so He wouldn't allow them to publicly say things about Him that He, Himself, wasn't ready to say.
35. And, even though this went on for several hours, very late into the night, He was up before the first light of dawn. He left the house and went off to a solitary place where He could pray.

36. Simon and his companions got up a little while later and went out to look for Him,

37. And when they finally found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is already looking for you this morning!"

38. Jesus replied, "Then let's go somewhere else...to all the nearby villages...I need to preach in each of them also, because that's why I have come into this physical dimension."

39. So they began to travel throughout Galilee, and He preached in their synagogues, and dismissed any rebel spirits that He encountered from their respective assignments.

40. In one of the villages a man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."

41. Jesus was indignant. "What do you mean 'If I am willing'? I am always willing!" But to show that He was also able, He reached out His hand to the man and simply said, "Be clean!"

42. And immediately the leprosy left him, and his diseased skin was completely cleansed.

43. But Jesus sent him away with a strong warning.

44. He said, "Look...I really don't want you to tell anyone about this. Just go and discreetly show yourself to the priest, and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."

45. But the man did just the opposite...the rebel spirits in the area did exactly as they were told, but the local people usually did not. The man went out and began to talk freely to everyone he met about his miracle, spreading the news everywhere. And, as a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly because the crowds were becoming uncontrollable. From that time on He had to stay outside in lonely places. And even then the people still found Him, and came to Him from everywhere.

13 comments:

Northern Light said...

Oh, I love the story of the FISHER (of) MEN, every time! here goes...

12>> HS forced Him out into the wild.....complete & total solitude (how NICE that really can be if we would slow down...and just "be")

13>>forty days & nights, alone, tested by Adversary..elements & wild beasts...ANGELS took care of Him. (Man, I love my Angels !)

14>>John is in "big" trouble...now here comes Jesus, preaching the Good News ! ( Good News stands )

15>>"change your mind....rethink everything...(boy oh boy, that's an awful lot for us to grab onto most of the time)

16>>as He walks along, he sees fishermen, and notices they are quite learned and adept at what they're doing......HE likes this, HE can use these guys for what HE wants "caught"......Hey there Simon & Andrew...and so it goes..(Fisher of Men, I get excited thinking of the awesome task)Oh, and no questions asked.....WOW

17>>now a father and two sons and hired help seems like quite the commitment, the business that keeps the family afloat. ( hey, guess I couldn't resist the "boat & water" reference) The fact that these two brothers just stopped what THEY were doing and left the family business AND THEIR FATHER behind, with the hired help, always seemed more of a shock to me. I wonder, was Zebedee just standing there quietly, in disbelief, or was he like my dad or I would have been yelling, "Hey boys, get back to work, talk to that fella later, we have work to do........get back over here, I'm not kidding now". ( What a presence and awesome personality Jesus must have had to make men leave their boats, their lives, their families, after just meeting him in that instant. Who of us can imagine ?)

Waiting for more.........

Peace,
Northern Light

Anonymous said...

Northern Light,

This is good stuff in response to the MkITN entry. It is exciting to see how well the spirit of the writer is caught in this also. It seems that Jesus started this day to catch fish and translate them into fishers. An interesting thing to me about this is that it shows the principle of exponential return in that Jesus caught humans who became catchers of other humans who became catchers of other humans and so on.

I like your honest approach to verse fifteen and I agree. I do love the truth presented in "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is here now...as accessible and close to you as your own hand! Jesus made that point in most of His ministry and no matter who wrote about it from their own view this truth does the same thing every time. It challenges the one recieving it to become proactive with their own life and use what they have be it great or small to give more strength to the whole Kingdom. This is also the wisdom applied by those who have given themselves to the telling of this good news to others and just like the Love that it represents it does not fail.

This brings to mind a service in which Bishop used a net to make this point clear and then passed it around to the whole congregation that was present that day. That speaks the same way about the catch becoming catchers. It is my observation that Bishop's catch/congregation are very good at catching and most of them are not even aware they are doing that, they simply live the good news with their lives and that becomes the net for yet a greater catch.

I agree that Jesus was the originator of divine charisma as you mentioned in your observation of seventeen here. That same Spirit is what has directed humanity from the earliest days of our expressions to know that Spirit. There have been humans all through recorded history that tapped into this energy and even though some of them seemed to be wicked in their application of the control they gained in the use of it, the Spirit itself would win the day toward helping humanity to become stronger and increase in our understanding of the Love that the Spirit was conveying.

I can tell by the anointing on this that Bishop is definately plugged into that same Spirit and with his improved view that is both a generational blessing and a divine gift to him, is accomplishing much good in the Kingdom that is continually on the forward advance.

Izumi/JOY said...

What I like about v.12 is this: The same Holy Spirit that caused John to do somersaults in the waters of Elizabeth's womb, manifested and was absorbed into Jesus.

Both men were in the water when Jesus was baptized. (wonder if there were others)

Was there was an impartation of John's desert prowess when Jesus was submerged?

A Voice was significant in each man's earth sojourn.

Northern Light said...

Anon 9:21am

I know about that awesome day you had the net and the boat and the nets were cast. Unfortunately for me, it was not a DVD that was easily captured, and therefore I only could appreciate it from the still photos Bishop posted ( TY ) and from the awesome response all those ITB blogged about for quite some time.

Yes, I wish I was ITB, or that the DVD was available........but I "felt" it from the eloquent bloggers........loved every one !

Peace,
Northern Light

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Hey, NL...Lisa requested prayer for your daughter on the prayer blog...I'm assuming she's OK...

Northern Light said...

Hey Bish,

Thank you for asking about Leci. She actually is admitted to the hospital and specialists will be doing more testing this weekend to determine if she has Crohn's Disease, something of that nature, or if it's just severe effects of a bad week of flu symptoms. We'll find out soon.

p.s.. enjoyed the tweet bantering with you and P. aveery and donald, or was it Dennis(?)yesterday, as I was sitting in the ER (came thru on my phone)...I tried to enter in, but realized that I couldn't because nobody follows me...:(
(Rollerwhee on Twitter) ha

Peace,
NL

P. Avery said...

NL, the hidden coin of twitter is unprotected updates.

Pamela said...

The only word I can say is BEAUTIFUL.

Will we pick up "our Nets" the gifts God has given us to speak or what specific talent(s) God has given us to show how awesome and wonderful He is. We may not be fishermen but God has given us our individulized gifts to do the work of the Kingdom in our unique and magnificant way.

As we enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend REMBER HIS ULTIMATE SACRIFICE. Thank you Jesus for your undying love for us and making the way for us to seek the Father and All His Glory. Love you Guys, Pamela

Donald said...

Help me out here Bishop.
In a couple of the translations of the Bible I have, verse 41 indicates that Jesus was motivated or acted out of compassion or pity, but MkITN as well as the TNIV says that He was indignant and practically upbraided the leper for asking Him if he was willing.
How can the different versions have such a contrast?
And by the way, I'm only just now getting caught up on all this reading.

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Well, first of all I'm glad to know that someone is reading it...

And you're right...I've read it in every version that I have, and most of them say it that way...the reason I opted to shade the meaning a little differently is because of the context, seeing how the man in the next verse completely disobeyed Jesus' request...

If you spend a lot of time in different translations, you find many things like this...for example, the Psalmist in the KJV said, "I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help...", but some translations say "Will I look to the hills for help? No! My help comes from the Lord!" These are really two opposite statements, and yet they end up saying the most important thing...that God is our helper...

As far as my stuff goes, remember that I am doing a paraphrase, and not a translation (although, it could be argued that every translation is technically a paraphrase, because even when words are defined, they still have to be interpreted...)

But the real point I would make is that I easily see Jesus being simultaneously indignant and compassionate, because I perceive compassion as the underlying force behind every one of His emotions...

That's all I got...thanks for noticing...

Donald said...

Thanks.

I loved your explanation. Keep up the great work.

Northern Light said...

6 am...

word ver : wheausp

I see it (groggily) and read it as
WHATZ UP ????

Maybe watching movies 'til 2:30am has something to do with that !

Peace,
NL

Izumi/JOY said...

I like the contrast in v.13. Except for the company of wild beasts, Jesus was alone in thought-wilderness. (interesting paradox - the manger scene)

17. I apologize, but, the words, "art of fishing" kinda makes me laugh. (in an Olympics-synchronized-reel-cast cartoon bubble, way.)

Love that dialogue. Particularly when Jesus tossed out the, "let me cast this vision", line. By v. 18, I can almost see Him standing in the sand saying, "Here, toss me your cares. That's right. Good. Now, catch this."

v.19 - "putting their nets in order and mending them" causes me to reflect on God's nature of reconciliation.

v. 22 - "...the men who typically spoke there sounded nothing like this."

Precisely.

If you never grew up around fishermen, you missed out on some excellent life lessons.

Most of 'em exaggerate (kinder word for lie) - the ones I've met, at least. If they tell you they didn't have a bite all night - check the baskets - probably full.

If you agreed to meet at the reservoir at 6 AM, don't sleep. Just grab your lantern and hike over to the point at midnight.

You'll recognize some by the coffee grounds under their fingernails.

Night crawlers, mealworms, crickets, snails, flies, grubs, livers, gizzards - they'll use just about anything. Corn, blueberries, wadded-up Wonder Bread & chunks of Velveeta cheese.

Tip: If we say sinkers - use spinners. And, don't forget the oil and cornmeal.

No wonder Jesus considered fishing an art. No wonder He the dug His disciples.