"That Mary"

 "(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiper her feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)" (John 11:2 KJV) 

  ""She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed."" (Matthew 26:12-13 NLT)

 So, last night Pastor Rick shared and taught on Mark 8, explaining how this specific chapter is the turning point in the Book of Mark, as the disciples begin to start being made aware of who Jesus really is, and what He was about to do. Up to this point, Jesus' was ministering for three years, from this point on, this will a fraction of that time, before Jesus ascends up into Heaven. 

 Mary was really one of the few people that really understood what Jesus said, as He explained what would be taking place, how He would be killed, and why it was that He needed to die. At this point of Mark's Gospel, the disciples were still clueless as to what He spoke about, especially the part about Him raising up from the dead! 

 As Rick shared, he shared about the feeding of the five thousand, which were mostly Jews, and then the feeding of the four thousand, which were Gentiles; showing how the remnant bread filled twelve baskets when the five thousand were fed, and seven baskets when the four thousand were fed. Interesting enough, I heard another message by Pastor Jon, where he spoke about the significance of 12 and 7, as the 12 is reference towards the Kingdom of Heaven, while 7 is referenced towards the Kingdom of God.

 Just a thought, but the timetable is set towards the clock of Israel, but the trigger is pulled based upon the completion of the Gentiles. Just food for thought, because time is something that God has created for man, based upon His creation of the earth, the heavens included; yet, the Kingdom of God does not have any time associated with it, whatsoever!

 Anywho, this ointment, which was poured on Jesus, was said to have been worth a year's wages, which was quite a lot of money. There was quite a fuss made over the waste of something that was worth so much, which was why Jesus said what He said in the Scripture quoted above. 

 As Rick closed out his message last night, he used the portion of Mark 8:14-21 to explain something that we are all too familiar with: God's abilities and our expectations! It doesn't matter how many times God provides for our needs, when we are in need, we still get concerned and worry how God is going to meet our needs! 

 There was twelve of these guys, and they forgot to bring bread in the boat; yet they only had one loaf! They were so afraid that they were going to go hungry, because they only had one loaf! It would just be so funny if it wasn't so ridiculous! By the way, the way Pastor Rick explained it, the twelve baskets that were gather after feeding the Jewish crowd, were small personal baskets, as in, one for each of the disciples.

 Amazingly, the seven baskets filled after feeding the crowd of Gentiles were large baskets, big enough to hold a person in, more than enough to feed them again! Like it was never-ending! Weird, isn't it...

"As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod." At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, "Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don't you know or understand even yet? Are you hearts too hard to take it in? You have eyes - can't you see? You have ears - can't you hear? Don't you remember anything at all? When I feed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterwards?" "Twelve," they said. "And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?" "Seven," they said. "Don't you understand yet?" he asked them." (Mark 8:15-21 NLT)