Steve Ngai (危 志 荣)

The Way of the Cross
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? 37 Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? 38 If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Note:
v34 – There are 3 conditions to be Jesus’ disciples:
1. Deny yourself – is different from self-denial.
2. Take up your cross.
3. Follow Jesus.

v35 – You can’t gain resurrection life without dying first.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Note:
v31 – this was predicted in Isaiah 53:3-12.

v32 He spoke plainly about this – This was an unbelievable shock to anyone expecting or hoping that Jesus was the national and political messiah. It is as if a presidential candidate announced toward the end of his campaign that he will go to Washington to be rejected and executed.

v32 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. – Peter’s intent was love for Jesus, but he was unwittingly used of Satan. Peter is a perfect example of how a sincere heart coupled with man’s thinking can often lead to disaster.

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

Note:
Why Jesus asked them this question? It is not because he wants approval or compliment from men. Not that Jesus doesn’t know. Maybe because he just wants to find out. Or another reason could be he wants to use this way to let all the disciples know who he really is. Maybe some disciples do not have in mind yet that Jesus is the Messiah.

How I can apply this is I can also ask question periodically to get feedback.

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”

Note:
Jesus follow up on what he did. He make sure this blind man’s vision completely restored before sent him home.

v23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
v26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”
One of the reasons why Jesus did so is Bethsaida, the people in this village has the unbelief problem. Jesus also mentioned before that he could not do much miracles because the people’s unbelief. And, he advised him not to go back to the village maybe afraid that he will be influenced by the people in the village to become unbelief. The power of influences of the whole village can be very strong.

I need to also remind myself what types of people I always hang around with. If I always hang around with people who bring negative influences, then sooner or later I will be like one of them. One comes to my mind now is futsal group I joined.

This is one unusual way Jesus heals this blind man. There are many ways God help us. God has unique ways to meet our needs. Sometimes, the way God used is beyond our imagination like what happen in this passage. Why God use unique way instead of normal way? No one knows. Maybe this teach us that our God is a creative God, another quality for us to praise God. And we should also learn from Him to think out of the box for the solutions sometimes.

Adam Clarke has an interesting perspective on this: “It is likely that this was done merely to separate the eyelids; as, in certain cases of blindness, they are found always gummed together. It required a miracle to restore the sight, and this was done in consequence of Christ having laid his hands upon the blind man: it required no miracle to separate the eyelids, and, therefore, natural means only were employed – this was done by rubbing them with spittle.”

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

Note:
v15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

Key verse of this passage. Yeast “puffs up” just like pride (1 Co 8: 1 – “But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”). When our knowledge increase, the temptation to be proud is also increase (http://www.findingsteve.net/chart_diagram_pride.asp)

Another thoughts I have is about influence. Jesus warned the disciples to be careful. I think Jesus knows how influential these Pharisees and Herod. Both Pharisees and Herod were holding very high position in both authority and politically. Pharisees were more on the religious world.

I think as normal citizen, we can be easily influenced by those high authority people. It could be our parents, our boss, our church leader, our prime ministry. But, we should be careful because the influence from them can be both positive and negative. Sometimes we don’t realized that we are under negative influence.

Proverbs 13:20 – Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
1 Co 15: 33 – Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”