Making Surprisig Moves in the Gospel of Mark

In a previous post, I covered some key issues and insights from Jesus on how we truly become defiled.  Believe it or not, Jesus was pretty direct with what He said.  He didn't leave much wiggle room for other interpretations (Mark 7:1-23).

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  That's been pretty standard practice for Jesus during this whole study, hasn't it? I would think so.

Along with that, we had a short survey entitled Who is Jesus? that numerous visitors and subscribers joined in to share their opinions. FYI: we're still taking responses throughout this week.  The results are as follows so far:

• 89% of respondents said that King Herod believed Jesus to be John the Baptist.  That comes from the king's own personal paranoia about John in Mark 6:14-29.
• 56% of respondents found it insightful that the Greek woman's daughter was healed, while 22% of respondents selected the woman's response to Jesus' reluctance to help.  See Mark 7:24-30.
• 44% of respondents were amazed at Jesus' methods for healing the deaf and mute man, while 33% were amazed at the people publishing the report despite Jesus warning against it.  See Mark 7:31-37.

We are moving on to chapter 8 now.  We will hear about signs, predictions and other challenges in this chapter.  Jesus will make some literal moves that may surprise us, too.  Look at where He goes with His disciples.  Bethsaida and Caesarea Philippi take them away from the far west and back along the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.  Literally, Jesus is making moves and so are others who seek a sign from Him.