Stay or Walk Away

“Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?” Mark 8:17b-18 ESV1

Read Matthew 16:1-12 & Mark 8:11-26

Jesus spent most of His time during His earthly ministry near the Sea of Galilee. “The sea’s location makes it subject to sudden and violent storms as the wind comes over the eastern mountains and drops suddenly onto the sea. Storms are especially likely when an east wind blows cool air over the warm air that covers the sea. The cold air (being heavier) drops as the warm air rises. This sudden change can produce surprisingly furious storms in a short time.”2  In this next account, an “east wind” was blowing, and a storm was brewing, but not in the physical sense.

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Hillside Hospitality

He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd …” Mark 8:1b-2a ESV1

Read Matthew 15:29-39 & Mark 7:31-8:10

Jesus may have been refreshed by pulling away from the busyness of His ministry, and encouraged by the faith of the Syrophoenician woman, but He wasn’t quite ready to head back to Israel just yet. Jesus had another stop to make first. When they realized where He was headed, His disciples probably wished they were going back to Israel, but God had plans for His Son to bring light to a very dark place.

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