Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 14 Jesus Anointed at Bethany There is a huge juxtaposition in this passage. On the one hand you have a woman who came to anoint Jesus with an expensive perfume from an albastar jar. On the other hand, you have Judas agreeing to betray Jesus for an amount of money we later learn is only 30 pieces of silver.  One woman gave an extraordinary and sacrificial gift to prepare him for his burial, and one of his own disciples  took a small amount of money for his betrayal. John’s account of this incident (John 12:1-8) tells us that this was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha. When a guest arrived for a meal, it was customary to anoint the guest’s head with a dab of oil. Here, this woman went much farther than the customary greeting. She poured the entire contents of an alabaster flask of very costly oil on the head of Jesus.  This was a wonderful, perceptive act of Mary. Jesus just rode into Jerusalem as a King – and should...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 13 The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times There are a couple of things going on here, as Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple. There was the actual temple in Jerusalem, which went back to King Solomon. Over the years it was rebuilt by Zerubbabel, after it lay in ruins from the Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C. And King Herod greatly rebuilt it into a magnificent structure and one of the wonders of the world in Jesus' time.  This is the temple where people made an annual pilgrimage to bring their sacrifices to the Lord. This is where the high priest once a year went into the holy of holies to meet with God. This is the place where the innocent lamb of God was offered as atoning sacrifice for the people's sins.  When Jesus says that not one stone will be left, this literally was fulfilled in A.D. 70 when the Romans demolished the city and the temple not leaving one stone in place.  It is said that at the fall o...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 12 The Parable of the Tenants As Jesus neared the cross, he continued to teach the people in parables. In this case, he had a specific purpose to show the chief priests, Pharisees, and elders how they were going to treat the Son, whom the Father loved. In the parable a man buys a Vineyard and rents it out to some tenants. In the Old Testament, Israel is referred to as the Vine of God. (See Isaiah 5:1-7) They were supposed to bear fruit for the nations to show them Yahweh was the one true God. But they didn't and so God sent his servants, the prophets, to warn them of the judgment of God. But they beat some of them up and killed others. Finally, God sent Jesus to warn them and they killed him. This was prophesed in Psalm 118, when it says the stone the builders rejected was the cornerstone, meaning Jesus was the key piece that held the kingdom together. When they rejected him, the building collapsesd around them. The people of Israel would receiv...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 11 Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King The Jewish people would never have expected Jesus to come riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey. But the people now following Jesus understood it and formed a parade in front of and behind him. They shouted phrases from the Old Testament, which were linked to the Messiah. The word "Hosanna" means " God saves or delivers".  It was a proclamation of praise.  A donkey was a common animal, which one might call a " beast of burden".   This once again showed Jesus' humility and was symbolic that he would carry our burdens on the cross.  This was not Jesus' first trip to Jerusalem, as we learn in John, he was there for many other Jewish feasts.  On this day, they lavished attention and honor on Jesus. They used their clothes as a saddle for Jesus and as a red carpet for the colt He rode on. Considering the expense and value of clothing in that day, this was generous praise. - Guzik...

Click Here to Read or LIsten to the Mark 9 - One Year New Testament Divorce Divorce was just as much of an issue in Jesus' day, as it is in ours. The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking him about it. On the one hand if he said it was okay, they would accuse him of going against God's Word in Genesis, " What God has joined let man not separate ". But if he said it was wrong they would cite Moses' exception for divorce in the Mosaic Law.  So rather than walking into the trap Jesus exposes the real problem. The key thing the Pharisees asked was, " Is it lawful to divorce a woman for any reason. " When Moses gave provisions for divorce, the men in Jesus' day abused the privilege and found all kinds of reasons to divorce their wives. Like any legalistic interpretation of God's law human nature will try to exploit the loopholes.  Instead Jesus focuses on the heart. Jesus focuses on God's intention for marriage and the sacramental nature of God ...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 9 The Transfiguration As Jesus journeys to the cross, he reveals more of his glory to three of his inner circle of disciples, Peter, James, and John. He knew they would be the leaders of the church and wanted to give them more confidence he was truly the Messiah. God reveals things to us at different times and in different ways to remind us He in charge, and He will provide for us. Notice Peter is so blown away, he wants to build a tabernacle around Jesus and the prophets Moses and Elijah, but as soon as he asks this Jesus appears again in human form. As in his baptism, the Father commends Jesus as His Son, whom He loves. Jesus gave them this experience only, and He told them to not discuss it until He had risen from the dead. When Peter saw Jesus in His glory, he must have said to himself: “This is good. This is how it should be. Forget this business about suffering, being rejected, and crucified. Let’s build some tabernacles so we can live this wa...

  Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 8 Jesus Feeds the 4,000 This story is similar to the feeding of the 5,000 we just read. Some of the elements are the same. Jesus had compassion on people in need. He was concerned if they didn't get something to eat, they might be in trouble. When faced with such an overwhelming need, he turned to his disicples to see what they could come up with, which was a only few loaves and a few fish. Once again, he gave thanks to the Father when he broke the bread, all ate, and were satisfied. They even had leftovers, a sign that when God provides we have more than enough. Jesus did the miracle, but he asked the disicples to participate by handing out the bread. The same happens today. Jesus does the miracle, but we get to participate in it as his disicples did. The Pharisees continued to try and diminish what Jesus had just done. Perhaps they were looking for a "flashier" sign. The passage says Jesus was deeply grieved by their unbelief and s...

Click Here to Read or LIsten to Mark 7   That Which Defiles The Pharisees were all about externals. Jesus called them "whitewashed tombs". On the outside they looked clean, but on the inside they were like a rotting corspe. The presenting problem today was the disciples were eating their meals before ceremonially washing their hands. In this situation they mistakenly applied the Law that the priests were to wash their hands before they went into the temple to offer sacrifices. Jesus called them on it by saying,  “ These people honor me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain;  their teachings are merely human rules.’  You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions. ” There was nothing they were doing that had any spiritual significance. Importantly their hearts were far from God. As we know throughout scripture God is always looking at the heart. When Samuel picked David to succeed Saul as ...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 6 A Prophet Without Honor We learn in this passage Jesus had at least four brothers and more than one sister. Since Joseph is not mentioned at all after the birth narratives, we can probably assume he died some time in Jesus' childhood. Since we know that Jesus was the oldest, it helps explain why he might have had to work at a young age as a carpenter. The word "carpenter" in Jesus' day didn't mean he only worked with wood. The word is "tekton" in the Greek, which meant he probably worked with stone as well because stone was a much more common building material.  This gives new meaning to when Jesus said to Peter, " You are the rock on which I will build my church !"  Because of his humble upbringing, the people in his hometown could not accept him as a rabbi. Even though they were amazed at his teaching and miracles, they were still "offended" by him, Jesus could only "marvel" at their ...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Matthew 5 Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man I love the title of this story. Jesus "restored" this man. He restored him to the man God intended him to be. The devil came to " steal, kill, and destroy ", but Jesus came to give life and life abundantly. Notice the supernatural power the man had as a result of the demon who possessed him. He could break steel chains. Though he broke the chains of outer bondage, his inner soul was in bondage to a more heinous foe. The man would hurt himself and cut himself day and night. The devil's main ploy is to lead us into self destruction.  It is interesting that many young people "cut" themselves today. We call them "cutters". My strong intuition is that this is demonically driven. If the devil cannot outright take our lives, he would want us to destroy ourselves, which he does in many ways today. Drugs, alcohol, a life of crime.  This story is interesting because the demo...

Click Here To Read or Listen to Matthew 4 The Parable of the Sower Today Jesus teaches one of his most famous parables to the crowds who are gathered on the beach. He gets creative to widen his audience by going out in a boat, so he can address more people. This parable is also called the "parable of the four soils". Importantly Jesus focuses on why some people understand the truth hidden in the parable and some do not. In this case even the disciples did not get the meaning of the parable, and Jesus had to explain it to them.  One of the most curious things he says regarding this is,  He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,  “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,  and ever hearing but never understanding;  otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ This quote is from Isaiah 6:9-10, which is part of Isaiah's call to go and preach to Israel even though the...

Click Here To Listen to or Read the Lesson Jesus Heals on the Sabbath Jesus knew the Pharisees' agenda was against him. He knew what was in a man's heart. Therefore, when a man showed up at the synagogue with a diseased hand, the Pharisees were waiting to see what he would do. Once again he had to set straight their skewed thinking about the purpose of the Sabbath.  In His question to the religious leaders, Jesus emphasized the truth about the Sabbath: there is never a wrong day to do something truly good.  - Guzik Jesus knew what was in their hearts and it made him really angry to think that these men who were supposed to be shepherd's of God's people were more concerned about trapping him than having mercy on this poor man. Not only was Jesus mad at them, but in turn they were enraged at him and from then on began to plot with the "Herodians" to kill Jesus.   “ The Herodians were not a religious party; they were a group of Jews who were sympathetic to King H...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 2 Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man There are a lot of different variables at work when Jesus heals. They all reveal different aspects of God's kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven through Him. In this case because of the crowds four men lowered their paralyzed friend into Jesus' presence through a hole cut in the roof. Jesus heals the man because of THEIR faith. Now this could certainly include the man himself, but Jesus sees the extent to which his friends went to bring him into his presence. They would not have gone to all that trouble unless they had faith.  In what ways do you exhibit unusual faith like this? What are some crazy things you have done in faith for yourself or others? Also, Jesus connects physical healing with the forgiveness of sins. While physical healing is important to all of us, at the end of the day 100% of all us die. All physical healing is temporary, whereas spiritual healing through the forgiveness o...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Mark 1 John the Baptist Prepares the Way Today we start the gospel of Mark, the shortest gospel at only 16 chapters. Mark's gospel moves along quickly from scene to scene from Jesus' life. Mark is often called the "secret gospel", because some of the meaning of the parables is concealed from the audience but revealed to the disciples. Mark usually is considered the earliest gospel written, probably some time between 60 and 70 A.D. Both Mathew and Luke's gospels take many of the stories from Mark and then add their own emphases. Whereas Matthew uses the phrase "the kingdom of heaven", Mark uses the phrase "the kingdom of God. Most commentators say that Matthew omits the term "God" because of the strict prohibition in Mosaic law of using the Divine Name.  John the Baptist comes from a long line of Old Testament prophets who spent time in the desert fasting in silence and solitude. John had also taken the Nazir...