June 24th

June 24th -- Mark 1:16-39 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:16-39&version=NLT)

Go read the passage, please!

Now, out of all the whole passage, there's one minor thing that I noticed, that I want to point out. At the end of verse 34 it says "But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak." He didn't let the demons talk because they would say who he is. So the question is, why did he not want them to know? I mean, you'd figure he'd want everyone to know so that they'd believe him, right? Anyone who heard it from the lips of a demon that he had cast out would probably believe in an instant at that. That wasn't the point, though. Jesus wants us to believe because of faith - NOT because we have seen soooooo much proof, that we've seen it as validly "proven" in our own eyes as the truth. If you have "proof" then where's the faith? Not so important anymore. And that's a problem - we NEED that faith. Also, I mean, Jesus wanted to be our MESSIAH, NOT our town magician-type guy. He didn't want to be some sort of spectacle for anything, because he wanted to come to offer us salvation. If he was casting out demons who were calling him the son of God and the Messiah, then he would have ended up with a huge fan club instead of the loyal followers he got. Essentially, we weren't yet meant to know his identity, and the devil was trying to use his demons to mess that up. Fortunately God's greater than the devil EVERY time, and so Jesus was able to silence those demons. So yes, Jesus wanted it to stay a secret, but yes, it was for a reason. Yes, though, it is still cool that he was casting out demons... or I think it's cool, anyways.

That's all! God bless! Shalom!