What’s With the End of the World?

 

Mark 13:1-4, CEB - As Jesus left the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What awesome stones and buildings!”

Jesus responded, “Do you see these enormous buildings? Not even one stone will be left upon another. All will be demolished.”

Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What sign will show that all these things are about to come to an end?”

 

Mark 13, along with it’s parallels in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, has been called “The Little Apocalypse.”  This is because it speaks of the end of the world.  Traditionally, people tend to respond to this chapter in one of two extreme ways.  Some, who note that the end of the world has not come in over two thousand years since these words were spoken, simply choose to ignore it.  Others try to “match up” the events mentioned by Jesus with events in their current time as a way to be certain that the end is near and Jesus will return any minute.  Neither of these approaches to this chapter are very helpful.  Over the next few reflections, we will pursue a different path.  By paying attention to some of the details, we can both take the message seriously in every set of circumstances and also keep it all in healthy perspective with the rest of the gospel. 

                Although vs. 1-4 are the text for today, my encouragement is to read the whole chapter today at least once.  Make some notes to yourself about what questions this “Little Apocalypse” poses for you.  Ask God to use this chapter to speak into your life and our world circumstances right now.  In the coming reflections, we will hopefully address some of those questions specifically.

 

Questions:  What are your opinions regarding the “end of the world?” How does this Mark 13 speak to those opinions?

 

Prayer:  Lord, it seems that every generation believes that the world is ending soon.  Help us find a healthy and Holy Spirit-inspired perspective on what is happening around us and the larger world.  Help us to see ourselves and the world as you do.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray your way through Mark 13.  As you read it again, Let the verses guide your words and questions to God. 

 

Song: End of the World – R.E.M.

(I Couldn’t Resist!)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsxavPANO8s

A Stark Contrast

Mark 12:35-44, CEB - While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “Why do the legal experts say that the Christ is David’s son?  David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool.’ David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ so how can he be David’s son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.

 

As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”

Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money.  One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny.  Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury.  All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.”

 

Jesus’s final teaching in the Temple targets the legal experts and leaders with which he has been sparring.  He does so by first pointing out a discontinuity in the legal experts position concerning the Messiah.  Two centuries later, the point is a bit confusing to us where it probably was not to Jesus’s audience that day.  The experts position was that the Messiah would be a descendant of David.  Jesus seems to cast aspersion of this notion by quoting David himself in Psalm 110 where David refers to the Messiah as my Lord.  Jesus asks the rhetorical question, “David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ so how can he be David’s son?” The confusion for us is that Matthew and Luke Gospel take great pains to point out that Jesus, the Messiah, is indeed a descendent of David.  Furthermore, this contention is crucial because it fulfills multiple prophecies.  It seems that Jesus, in this story recalled in Mark, contradicts this notion. 

I’m not convinced that Jesus is actually contradicting this.  I think (and I do stress that this is only my opinion) that what Jesus was trying to point out is that you can use scripture to support or refute any notion you want.  I believe the language used elsewhere in Mark supports the notion that Jesus does see Himself as both as David’s son and David’s Lord/Messiah.  He is taking something his students believe as true and proof-texting scripture to improperly “contradict” it as an example of something foolish anyone can do.  I see support for this opinion in the fact that, from this illustration, Jesus launches His attack on the religious leaders for their hypocrisy when it comes to the scriptures.

Specifically, he mentions the fact that they have used their influence and authority to take advantage of widows who trusted them to steward property on the widows’ behalf.  Jesus is calling out the fact that they have used a scriptural responsibility to take care of widows as the very basis for exploiting those widows for their own gain.  They do so all the while parading around in their expensive robes and elite “sacred” jewelry.  This criticism reaches a climax with Jesus noticing a widow putting all she has into the Temple treasury.  The irony of her giving all she has in support of and trust in the institution that is exploiting people like her is almost too much to take.  Jesus identifies the religious leaders as the principle perpetrators of this gross injustice. 

Lest we too quickly distance ourselves from the abuses and hypocrisy of the leaders Jesus is condemning, it behooves us to remember that almost every long-established religious institution has fallen into such abuses including the Christian church itself.  The reason this teaching is in the gospel of Mark is that Mark’s audience, the early Christian church, needed to hear it.  The twenty-first century church needs to hear it as well.

Scripture is not to be manipulated to suit the ends of those trusted to represent it.  It is neither to justify our own opinions or behavior.  Twisting the words of scripture to serve self-centered outcomes is gross injustice and worthy of the strongest condemnation.  The aim is to have the heart of the generous widow, who exceeded to “prescribed-by-law” amount to be contributed to God.   She follows scriptural teaching and then exceeds it. 

The last point to be made here is that the widow’s sacrifice of all directly foreshadows the sacrifice of all that Jesus will make just days from this event.  He will give his very life for greater good of humanity.  Every story in Mark from this point on will highlight this sacrifice as the basis for Jesus’s Messiahship. 

 

Question:  Have you ever seen scripture “used” to support something you knew was wrong?

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, illumine your teachings for us in a way that keeps us from using them for self-serving reasons.  May we see spiritual abuses where they are present and call it out whenever we have the opportunity to do so.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for Bishop Tom Berlin, our new United Methodist Bishop in Florida as of January 1.

 

Song:  Have Thine Own Way – Adelaide Pollard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CYI1zgiWzc

Prime Directives

 

Mark 12:28-34, CEB - One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord,  and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself.  No other commandment is greater than these.”

The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him.  And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

This is the last question posed to Jesus by the religious leaders and experts in the temple and Mark uses it to highlight Jesus’s most important teaching.  More accurately, it is a summary of all His teaching.  Another noteworthy aspect of this exchange is that it is a positive conversation between Jesus and the legal expert, which is rare in all the gospels.  In Mark it is the only positive exchange. 

To the question of what is the most important of all the commandments, Jesus combines quotes from Deuteronomy and Leviticus to arrive at what I have often summarized as “love God and love people.”  However, when we’re looking at the specific text, it’s important to note some unique details to Mark.  First, Jesus begins His answer by quoting the Shema (“Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord”).  Jews since the second century BC have quoted this confession of faith twice daily.  It grounds Jesus answer in the everyday life of a person of faith and links what will be the Christian faith to the Hebrew faith of old.  It also affirms that both the Hebrew faith and the Christian faith are monotheistic.  There are times when the Christian faith is accused of being polytheistic (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  Jesus’s quote of the Shema refutes that accusation. 

Another important detail concerning Jesus’s quote of the Torah is that Jesus adds “mind” to the list in Deuteronomy of things with which we are to love God.  It brings to mind the 20^th century Paul Tillich’s definition of theology (loving God with the mind”).  The faith that Jesus invites us to is not one that requires us to leave our brain at the door.  This idea is strengthened by the fact that this theological discussion that Jesus is having with the legal expert ends with Jesus proclaiming, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

The core of the Judaic (and Christian) faith, according to Jesus is three loves – love of God, love of people, and love of self.  Love of self is assumed in Jesus’s statement, but it is still important.  Where love of self is lacking, love of others becomes strained, if not impossible.  Both love of self and others though, comes after love of God, which is our prime directive.   

Love God and love people is simple, but far from simplistic or easy.  We can do a thousand beneficial things without love and miss the point.  This is the “not far” of Jesus’s final statement to his questioner.  It’s not enough to know the centrality of love in following Jesus.  Love is a verb.  As such, one cannot possess the love Jesus speaks of, only practice it.  We love God and people by the many things we do and refrain from doing each day.  As soon as we stop actively practicing love, we have strayed from the Kingdom. 

 

Question:  Thinking about your actions over the last few days, how have you actively loved God, self, and others?

 

Prayer:    Lord, because You love us, we can love ourselves, return our love to you,  and extend that love to others.  Give us eyes to see the specific opportunities we have to actively love today. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:   Pray for people experiencing chronic pain today.

 

Song:  Luv is a Verb – DC Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRfFuhrdGKM

Absurd Question with Profound Answers

Mark 12:18-27, CEB - Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman; when he died, he left no children.  The second married her and died without leaving any children. The third did the same.  None of the seven left any children. Finally, the woman died.  At the resurrection, when they all rise up, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”

Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you are wrong, because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power?  When people rise from the dead, they won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like God’s angels.  As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read in the scroll from Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. You are seriously mistaken.”

 

                To understand this third consecutive challenge to Jesus by the religious leaders (this time the Sadducees), we need to understand that the question posed to Jesus is particular kind of a question.  It is called “boruth,” literally translated “vulgarity.”  It is a scoffing question meant to mock the person questioned.  Even to us, it seems to pose a ridiculous situation where one woman is married to seven brothers as each brother passes away and leaves her a widow.  Mark points out an additional detail that betrays the disingenuousness of the Sadducees.  They don’t even believe in resurrection of any kind, yet they are asking Jesus about it.  They aren’t even trying to get Jesus to say something wrong or controversial.  They are trying to shame Him publicly with a question that has no relevance to anything important. 

                As Jesus always does, he turns the table on them.  He flatly calls them wrong in their disbelief in resurrection and uses the only scripture the Sadducees acknowledge as authoritative to point out their error.  If God is called “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” by those scriptures.  The tense used is present, assuming those named patriarchs are among those that still live.  God is the God of the living, not the dead.  Furthermore, the issue of marriage in heaven is put in proper perspective, for our heavenly lives transcend earthly matters such as marriage.  The relationship that holds all together in heaven is the relationship we all have with God.  While the truth of this is partially experienced here on earth, the full glory of this incredible unity available through our shared relationship with God awaits us on the other side of this life.  While who we were married to on earth will not be unimportant, it will be gloriously surpassed by the relationship all will share with Christ. 

                As a pastor, I have often offered the comfort to surviving spouses that their separation from their primary partner in life by death is not permanent.  I believe that with all my heart.  We will be reunited with those we love in eternity that we all share in Christ.  I have also had the opportunity to speak to those who have lost a spouse to death when they find themselves, as an appropriate time later, wanting to marry again.  I assure them that they are not forsaking their departed spouse in marrying again.  It will not be awkward when someone who has outlived multiple spouses when they are all together in eternity.  The Love that holds all of them transcends all the previous conventions in a new reality where marriage is no longer necessary.  Angels don’t marry in eternity and neither will we.

                I get that this concept is more than a little bit difficult to wrap one’s mind around, for I struggle to wrap my little mind around it.  But the point that I try to hold onto as I struggle with it is that God has got how eternity works all figured out.  While I find it hard to imagine a reality without marriage, God does not.  God has something even better worked out.  I work to trust God for those things that will forever be beyond me in this life.  I invite us all to do that as well.

 

Question:  Are there other matters of eternity that you are aware of that defy human understanding and yet invite us to trust God anyway?

 

Prayer:  God of all, Your love, grace, and provision is enough to sustain us for eternity.  Help us to trust in that truth in the midst of our incomplete human understanding of true reality.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who have been affected by the multiple mass shootings in the last month.

 

Song:  We’ll Understand It Better By and By – Bishop Carlton Pearson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpu_ygjKmo  

God and Taxes

Mark 12:13-17, CEB - They sent some of the Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap him in his words.  They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you’re genuine and you don’t worry about what people think. You don’t show favoritism but teach God’s way as it really is. Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay taxes or not?”

Since Jesus recognized their deceit, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a coin. Show it to me.”  And they brought one. He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” His reply left them overcome with wonder.

 

                Having been bested by Jesus in the first challenge concerning authority, the Pharisees join forces with Herodians (Jewish supporters of and colluders with Herod, the Roman-appointed governor) to try and trick Jesus into saying something either chargeable under the law or unpopular with His supporters.  They ask Jesus about a hot-button issue at the time which was the taxation of the occupying Romans.  The Roman was extremely unpopular almost everyone and there were Zealots among the Jews who defiantly refused to pay it.  The Herodians, on the other hand, benefitted from their cooperation with the Romans and some of them were both civic and religious leaders.  They would have loved to have Jesus quoted as supporting NOT paying taxes to Caesar.  He could then be charged with rebellion and dealt with as a traitor to the Roman government.  However, if Jesus clearly advocates paying the taxes, his own followers will be displeased.  The Pharisee-Herodian alliance sees this question as a win either way.

                Jesus is aware of what they are trying to do (their ruse is quite obvious) and his answer once again avoids the trap.  The answer also gives Mark’s readers a decision framework to work from when making decisions concerning the sometimes competing claims of civic duty and faith in God.  After asking his questioners to produce a Roman denarius, he gives the following principle.

                “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

We should note here that the fact the questioners are able to produce a denarius within the walls of the temple exposes their hypocrisy.  Jewish Oral law prohibited coinage with anyone’s image upon them to be carried in the Temple.  Everyone present would have known that because everyone was subject to the coin exchanges outside the Temple to facilitate adherence to this law.  The leaders are visibly in violation of their own law concerning money when asking Jesus about the proper use of it. 

Jesus doesn’t instruct people to pay taxes or not pay taxes.  His answer makes some assumptions:” (1) paying taxes to governmental authorities is necessary to serve the common good and (2) while #1 may be true, a faithful follower of God will always consider what should be given to God.  I like the way Lamar Williamson summarizes Jesus instruction here:

“The guidance offered is not that of a quick and unequivocal answer. Rather than give a direct answer in an oracle from God, Jesus uses an object lesson from everyday life and expects us to use our discipline common sense.  He does not simply tell us what to do, but suggests how we ought to think about our decision.”  (Williamson, p. 220)¹

While other New Testament writers talk more extensively about navigating matters of civic and religious life, this is one of the few places where we hear straight from Jesus on the subject.  The principle we get from Jesus here is that we are to use all the resources of our faith and our acumen as citizens to make honorable decisions that have integrity.  This might mean making different decisions on different occasions should the details demand it.  While it can be frustrating not to have a black and white pronouncement to follow in these matters, what Jesus gives us is a responsibility to exercise all of our theological and moral resources to act justly in each situation.  In most cases, “Caesar” is due at least something because “Caesar” is charged with the common good and needs resources to accomplish it.  Civil disobedience may sometimes be warranted, but it is not to be untaken lightly and before one has carefully weighed all the options. In all cases, what is due to God is always our first concern and responsibility.   

 

Question:  What is the relationship between what you give to governments and what you give to God?

 

Prayer:  Lord, our first citizenship is that in the Kingdom of God, but we are also subject to earthly authorities.  Gove us wisdom to navigate both allegiances in a way that serves the common good and honors You above all else.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:   Pray for all public servants of the common good today.

 

Song:  Taxman – Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsFRMTbhOn0

The Gloves are Off

Mark 12:1-12, CEB - Jesus spoke to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip.  When it was time, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants his share of the fruit of the vineyard.  But they grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.  Again the landowner sent another servant to them, but they struck him on the head and treated him disgracefully.  He sent another one; that one they killed. The landlord sent many other servants, but the tenants beat some and killed others.  Now the landowner had one son whom he loved dearly. He sent him last, thinking, They will respect my son.  But those tenant farmers said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’  They grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

“So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.  Haven’t you read this scripture, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?”

They wanted to arrest Jesus because they knew that he had told the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

 

Jesus continues his challenge to the religious leaders at the temple with the telling of this story which is obviously about them.  Almost complete scholarly interpretation makes the following connections between the parable and reality:

God = Landowner

Vineyard = Israel

Tenant Farmers = Religious leaders

Servants sent to tenants = Prophets

Son = Jesus

The parable is both convicting and prophetic.  The religious leaders knew the story was told against them and they do not try to argue.  In fact, they proceed to continue down the path that the parable predicts; they set out to throw the Son/Jesus out of the Vineyard/Israel and kill him. 

                Jesus’s commentary on the parable is the centerpiece of this passage.  The “vineyard” will be taken away from the “tenants” and given to others.  Mark makes it obvious that those “others” are the church formed after Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascension.  Jesus then quotes Psalm 118 to make a further connection with the parable and further prophecy on what is about to happen.  The Stone/Son that was rejected has become the Cornerstone.  The Lord will make the crucified Jesus the center of the in-breaking Kingdom of God. 

                The takeaway for the twenty-first century church is that those who lead Jesus’s church are now the tenant farmers.  If they are not good stewards of the vineyard/church, the same fate should be expected as the first-century temple leaders;  the vineyard will be handed over to others.  The message is to be good stewards of all that God has given us influence over and be faithful in offering fruit back to God.  The church provides our spiritual (and in some cases, even physical) livelihood, but its purpose is to provide a harvest for God.  We forget or forsake that at own peril.

 

Question:  How effective is the church where you belong at producing a harvest for God?  What is your role in that purpose?

 

Prayer:  Lord of the Harvest, as leaders and laborers in Your Vineyard, give us clear awareness of the fruit You expect to see from the investment You have made in us.  Forgive us for the ways in which we have strayed from Your purposes.  Give us the wisdom and strength to be good stewards of all that you have given. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for two specific people today.  First, pray for someone you know you can learn from right now.  Second, pray for someone you can help right now.

 

Song:  Cornerstone – Hillsong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izrk-erhDdk

A Question in Response to a Question That’s Actually the Answer

Mark 11:27-33, CEB - Jesus and his disciples entered Jerusalem again. As Jesus was walking around the temple, the chief priests, legal experts, and elders came to him. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?”

Jesus said to them, “I have a question for you. Give me an answer, then I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.  Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”

They argued among themselves, “If we say, ‘It’s of heavenly origin,’ he’ll say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’  But we can’t say, ‘It’s of earthly origin.’” They said this because they were afraid of the crowd, because they all thought John was a prophet.  They answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.”

 

                Jesus and His disciples come back to the temple to do some teaching and are met by the religious leaders who are looking for a way to discredit Him.  His influence has become a threat to their own.  So they ask a question, not because they want a real answer, but because the question will stir up the crowd no matter how Jesus answers it.  Even if Jesus simply refuses to answer, He will appear to the crowd as evasive.  This would undermine His authority as well.  Instead of answering or refusing to answer, Jesus offers a deal.  If the leaders can answer His question, then He will answer theirs.  The fun part about this is that the question Jesus asks is the same kind of question as the one posed to Him.  The leaders’ credibility will be undermined no matter how they answer.  The huddled discussion they have elaborates on why this is the case.  They realize they have been beaten at their own game, so they relent by saying, “we don’t know.”    

                This is the beginning of a very intense conflict that will play out throughout the next chapter of Mark between Jesus and these leaders.  Of course, the eventual result is Jesus hanging on a Roman cross.  However, the issues raised by these conflicts are essentially important.  After all, it is important to answer, “by what authority” Jesus conducts His ministry. And if we are paying close attention, Jesus’s non-answer is a brilliant answer to the authority question.  Mark, is trying to point this out in his account.  By asking the leaders about the baptism offered by John, Jesus is, in effect, answering the authority question.  Great irony is discovered when we realize that the leaders own “strategy meeting” points out why.  Jesus’s authority is confirmed when John baptizes Him.  As Jeus comes up out of the water, the voice of God proclaims from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I dearly love.” (Mark 1:11)  If these religious leaders (the same group that will condemn Him to death in just a few days) admit that John’s baptism was of heavenly origin, then they would also answer their own question about Jesus’s authority.  The leaders care nothing about that; they care only that Jesus’s authority has come to challenge their own and they will not have it. 

                As I have said at least a couple times before in our journey through Mark’s gospel, we more properly hear the message Mark wants us to hear when we put ourselves in the place of the religious leaders.  Instead of making them the villains who we could never be like, we would do well to ask ourselves how Jesus’s authority impinges upon our own. 

 

Question:  If Jesus is indeed Messiah and Lord of all, what claim or authority does He have on our lives?

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, we admit that is hard to submit to Your authority sometimes, because in doing so, we have to let go of our own authority and power.  Where we are blind to this, point it out for us. Where we are too stubborn to relent, make us humble.  You are God and we are not.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for religious leaders at the highest levels of authority today (Bishops, District Superintendents, etc)

 

Song:  Stubborn – Michael English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTAnVc1HDFE

Who's First in Forgiveness?

Mark 11:25(and 26), CEB - And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have something against anyone, forgive so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your wrongdoings.”

 

Right away, you will notice that I did not include v. 26 in today’s reading even though I mention it in the heading.  This is because v.26 is not in most of the manuscripts from which Mark is translated.  The scholarly consensus is that it was added later by a scribe who thought that it belonged there for some reason that of which we are not aware.  In any case, I defer in most cases to scholarly consensus, so I have not included v.26. In any v. 25 is difficult enough.

Reading it a face value, this verse could be taken to mean that God’s forgiveness of us depends on our first forgiving others.  And making that assumption also assumes that we somehow have the power to extract God’s forgiveness through first forgiving others.  We do not.  God is always first in forgiveness.  If God does not freely choose to forgive us, we remain unforgiven.  So if we can’t manipulate God’s forgiveness with our own, what does this saying mean?

Though God is first to offer forgiveness, we’re not really capable of fully understanding or receiving that forgiveness until we offer it ourselves.  To understand forgiveness more fully, we have to experience both sides of it – the side of the forgiven and the side of the forgiver.  We are more inclined to hold on to offenses until we realize that letting go of offenses actually frees us even more than it frees the offender.  When we relinquish the need to retain others sins against us, we become more free to more fully embrace the reality that our sins have also been relinquished by God.  Just as we learn more about the fullness of love by loving, we learn more about the fullness of forgiveness by forgiving.  To love is to forgive and to forgive is to love.

 

Question:  What have learned about forgiveness by forgiving?

 

Prayer:  God, it feels counterintuitive to choose forgiveness until we have done it many times.  But as we do it, help us experience the fullness of how in character it is for You to forgive us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to place on your heart a person that you need to forgive today.

 

Song:  I Forgive You – Kelly Pickler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFC20P25mZ4

Praying in Faith and Faithful in Prayer

Mark 11:20-24, CEB - Early in the morning, as Jesus and his disciples were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered from the root up.  Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look how the fig tree you cursed has dried up.”

Jesus responded to them, “Have faith in God!  I assure you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’—and doesn’t waver but believes that what is said will really happen—it will happen.  Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you.

 

                As we noted in our last reflection, Mark uses the story about the fig tree as metaphor for the fruitlessness of the Temple and its leaders.  In today’s reflection, it serves another purpose.  The day after Jesus condemns the confronts the money-changers and Temple leaders, Jesus and His disciples are walking by the tree Jesus had cursed the day before.  Peter notices aloud that the tree has withered and dried up.  Jesus uses the observation as an object lesson on prayer.  His words bear repeating:

“Jesus responded to them, “Have faith in God!  I assure you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’—and doesn’t waver but believes that what is said will really happen—it will happen.  Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you.”

These words from Jesus have been woefully misused over the years.  Jesus is not saying that we can ask for literally anything and it will be done.  As we have discussed, hyperbole (purposeful exaggeration) was a common oral and literary device used by Rabbis in Jesus’s day.  No one since these words were uttered have cast a mountain into the sea (and you know there have been people to attempt it).  Jesus’s point here is that the combination of faith and prayer is very powerful.  This combination accomplishes miraculous things that would otherwise be impossible. 

                When we pray with faith in Jesus, we bring the power and authority of Jesus into the equation.  Prayer is not a way to control this power and authority, but rather it creates a partnership.  We invite Jesus to be involved in the issues we are facing.  This is important because way too often, we don’t invite God into our affairs.  Many people tend toward two approaches in which neither is healthy or effective.  Either we actively work to accomplish things on our own and exclude God or we just let things happen as they will, not really believing that we can have any effect on the outcome.  The first is a lack of prayer and the latter is a lack of faith.  Jesus invitation is to engage both.  Prayer invites Jesus to be involved and faith trusts that doing so changes what is possible.  The miraculous becomes more commonplace for people who live engaging this powerful combination.

 

Question:  When have you witnessed the miraculous as result of faith-filled prayer?

 

Prayer:  Lord, You know the challenges I face right now.  I invite you into a partnership in facing them.  I believe that You getting involved will make all the difference! Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Invite God into “the impossible” in your prayers today.

 

Song:  All Things are Possible – Hillsong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GQwqnwVeSk

More Than "Hangry Jesus" Talking to a Tree

Mark 11:12-19, The Message - As they left Bethany the next day, he was hungry. Off in the distance he saw a fig tree in full leaf. He came up to it expecting to find something for breakfast, but found nothing but fig leaves. (It wasn’t yet the season for figs.) He addressed the tree: “No one is going to eat fruit from you again—ever!” And his disciples overheard him.

They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text:

My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations;

You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.

The high priests and religion scholars heard what was going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.

At evening, Jesus and his disciples left the city.

 

A humorous made-up word that is used often right now is “hangry,” the combination of “hungry” and “angry.” It refers to the irritability sometimes experienced by someone who is hungry.  In today’s scripture, we witness Jesus appearing to be hangry Himself.  He’s hungry. He sees a fig tree, so He thinks breakfast is served.  Finding the tree empty of anything edible, he curses the tree saying, “No one is going to eat fruit from you again – ever!”  As we’ll find out in the scripture for next time (caution…spoiler alert), the tree is indeed cursed and can no longer bear fruit.  In just as moment. we will talk about this seemingly silly encounter between Jesus and the fig tree, for Mark includes the story for an important reason.  But for now let’s move on to what happens next.

After denouncing the tree, Jesus walks into the temple, where his denouncing will continue.  He encounters those buying and selling.  Without an extensive history lesson here, it should suffice to say that required sacrifices to be offered at the temple were being sold under the direction of the chief priests and temple leaders.  The merchants took great advantage of the those required to purchased sacrifices, for there was no competition and the people who had often traveled great distances, were forced to pay inflated prices.  Many could scarcely afford it, but made the purchase anyway because they felt they had no choice.  Jesus sees this and unleashes a flurry of righteous anger upon the merchants and the religious leaders who contracted them.   In condemning them, Jesus quotes the prophet Jeremiah twice. 

The significance of this event cannot be overstated.  In condemning the temple leaders, Jesus is attacking the heart of the entire Hebrew system of religion.  And he’s making that attack standing in the Temple, the sacred space established as the center of the religious system.  Mark is writing the account of the incident after the temple has been destroyed.  Recalling this event in hindsight, Mark now sees that what Jesus was doing here was leveling His final indictment at the corrupt and spiritually bankrupt institution.    Just as Jesus’s words proclaim the fruitlessness of the fig tree, He now proclaims the same about the temple and its leaders. 

Jesus’s intent is clearly understood by the leaders, for they immediately begin to conspire to get rid of Jesus.  They realize that if Jesus is allowed to continue, their very existence is threatened.  The cosmically thick irony here is that their “getting rid of Jesus” is what marks the downfall of the Temple they want to protect. 

When we read this account in the twenty-first century, we need to place ourselves in the place of the religious leaders and system that Jesus is condemning.  If we can be vulnerable enough to do so, we can hear Jesus speaking into our own religious practices that miss the mark of biblical ideals.  Sometimes, fund-raising takes way too prominent a place in our modern-day churches.  Sometimes, those of lower socioeconomic status are taken advantage of by slick and savvy merchants who claim to “just be offering a needed service” but are really in it for the money.  Sometimes, we have allowed our religious practice to stray so far from the original purposes established by God that the church Jesus started resembles the Temple Jesus condemned in very unflattering ways.  It’s all too easy to let Jesus’s confrontation be only for first-century Judaism, but to do is to miss the prophetic voice of Jesus that persists still. 

 

Prayer:  Jesus, forgive us Lord for any way in which we have strayed from the ways you have taught us to practice our faith.  Show us the places where we have focused on the wrong things.  Point us toward true faith, worship, and service of Your Kingdom. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people that you know that have left the church.

 

Song:  Lord, Have Mercy – Robin Mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdJhiktkydY    

A Day of Everything and Nothing

Mark 11:1-11, CEB - When Jesus and his followers approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Jesus gave two disciples a task, saying to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘Its master needs it, and he will send it back right away.’”

They went and found a colt tied to a gate outside on the street, and they untied it.  Some people standing around said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”  They told them just what Jesus said, and they left them alone.  They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it, and he sat on it.  Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields.  Those in front of him and those following were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!”  Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.

 

                Jesus and His disciples arrive in the Jerusalem area and they stop at Bethphage/Bethany on the Mount of Olives.  Jesus arranges for his disciples to procure a donkey for the entrance into Jerusalem proper.  Entering the city on a donkey both fulfills messianic prophecy and dramatically reinterprets it at the same time.  Yes, Jesus is the long-awaited savior, but the salvation He brings is vastly different from all expectations.  There is much less pomp and circumstance in Mark than in the reports of the other three canonical gospels.  There is no mention that the branches laid before Jesus are palms.  Religious leaders whom Jesus will clash with are not mentioned as they are in other accounts.  People are indeed shouting their acclamations about Jesus, but there is no sense that anyone beyond this relatively small crowd has noticed.  When they arrive at the Temple, there is not much going on and it was late in the day.  So Jesus retires for the night back to Bethany.  As we will see, the real drama in Mark doesn’t begin until the next day.  For now, Jesus’s disciples have had an encouraging, if not misleading day.

In Mark, “Palm Sunday” is the calm before the storm.  Tomorrow, Jesus will harshly confront the money-changers  in the Temple, prompting authorities to begin plotting against Him.  This will set in motion the chain of events that have Jesus hanging on a cross before week’s end.  But for now, on this day, the mood among the disciples is celebratory.  Jesus is the Messiah who has arrived as prophets foretold that He would.  Jesus’s authority is established and recognized in a surprising way in the procurement of the donkey.  Jesus has repeatedly warned them about the trouble that is coming, but that trouble is not here yet.  It is a day to just be and enjoy being a follower of Jesus.  It is a gift. 

I have come to appreciate such days over the years.  There have been many times in the past when I knew trouble was coming, but before it arrived, there were times gracious celebration and gratitude.  They served as a confirmation that God was with me and they helped me be a bit more prepared before the turmoil arrived.  I have to admit that, in the moment, I often missed the blessing.  I was often too stressed to realize until later that the moment was a gift until much later.  But after this happening dozens of times over the course of my life, I have learned to recognize these serendipitous moments more frequently.  When I have been able to do that, the gift more fully served the intended purpose – to allow me to regain composure and prepare for what is next.

My encouragement today is to look for and welcome provided respites and celebrations when they come.  Especially in seasons of stress and difficulty, it is important to keep breathing and find ways to maintain composure. God is faithful to provide what we need when we need it, but the process works better when we learn to recognize the provision for what it is.  Celebrate the acclamations that come even when they are short-lived and/or few-and-far-between.   Welcome a day of nothing in a season full of stormy weather.  Trouble may indeed be coming, but God will get you ready if you allow it.

 

Question:  What do you normally do when you encounter a “calm” before a storm you know is on its way?

 

Prayer:  O God, you are an ever-present help in times of trouble.  Help us recognize the ways in which You seek to sustain us and prepare us for all that is to come.  We need Your provision; we count on Your faithfulness and grace.  We trust You; help us trust You even more. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are fighting chronic illness and pain.

 

Song:  Needtobreathe (ft. JohnnySwim) – Forever on Your Side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKoHZkIGMnM

What Would YOU Say if Asked This Question?

Mark 10:46-52, CEB - Jesus and his followers came into Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, together with his disciples and a sizable crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, Timaeus’ son, was sitting beside the road.  When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!”  Many scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy!”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him forward.”

They called the blind man, “Be encouraged! Get up! He’s calling you.”

Throwing his coat to the side, he jumped up and came to Jesus.

Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.”

Jesus said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” At once he was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus on the way.

 

                Poor Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus as the entourage passed him on the road out of Jericho is perceived by most as an annoyance, the cry of a crazy fool who the people of Jericho had learned to ignore.  They try to silence Bart but this causes him to shout even louder.  He gains the attention of Jesus who doesn’t ignore him.  Jesus calls Bart to come to him.  Though this seems like an insignificant detail, what it signifies is that this is not only a healing story; it is a call story.  Mark confirms this when he reports that Bart “began to follow Jesus on the way.”  The first takeaway from this story is that God sees potential and value in people the rest of us often wish would be quiet and fade into the background.

                The question Jesus asks Bart is the same one that he has just asked the disciples in the preceding story – “what do you want Me to do for you?”  Mark puts these stories together to draw a distinct contrast between the vainglorious request of the “insider” disciples and the deeply personal and heartfelt request of the “outsider” Bartimaeus.   While the disciples ask for elevated status, Bart asks for the chance to see.  As we notice this contrast, we could consider the same question from Jesus, “what do you want me to do for you?”  How would you answer?  What is the deep desire of your heart?  This story invites us to consider what we would ask Jesus for more than anything else?  Further, the story invites us to examine the nature of that desire – does it represent a deep need or is the desire more shallow? 

                As we have heard Jesus say before in this gospel, He proclaims to Bartimaeus, “your faith has healed you.”  Jesus doesn’t do anything special like touch Bart’s eyes of say some special prayer.  He proclaims that Bart’s faith has enabled him to receive healing from God.  Returning to your answers from the last paragraph, do you have faith that God can provide the needed response to your deepest need?  Your faith IS the most important ingredient in the equation. 

                And finally, we return to the reality that this is a call story.  Bartimaeus is healed and immediately follows Jesus.  It may be assumed that Bart is present for the events that occur over the next week, the last week of Jesus’s life before being crucified.  Bart has a new life and mission upon being healed by Jesus.  This is signified by another easily overlooked detail in the story, something that happens even before Bart is healed.  When Jesus called for Bartimaeus, the text says, “throwing his coat aside, he jumped up and came to Jesus.”  People who were disabled like Bartimaeus in Jesus’s day were often given “a beggar’s coat” that gave them permission to beg for their livelihood.  When Jesus calls for him, Bart throws his beggar’s coat aside.  He has faith that this call from Jesus means that his begging days are over.  He now has a new mission.  He is a new man. 

 

Question:  Of all the possible insights from this story, which one strikes a need in you in this moment?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, thank you for the call that you have for each one of us.  Help us be clear about our deepest need right now.  Gove us the faith to trust you with that need and expect that you will provide in a way that strengthens our ability to follow you more nearly.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know with physical challenges today.

 

Song: El Shaddai – Amy Grant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qJMl95lb9k

Epiphany (Post from Steve Garnaas-Holmes)

           Magi from the East came to Jerusalem,

           asking, “Where is the child

           who has been born king of the Jews?

                           —Matthew 2.1-2

 

The magi did not find the holy child in Jerusalem,

but among peasants, in a little town like all the towns

they had just passed through.

 

On my morning walk the icy rain whispered,

the dead leaves under the ice proclaimed,

my breath shone.

 

What if the divine unveiling awaits you,

the revelation ready to astound you

in every little ordinary thing?

 

A plant on a windowsill,

a child in the hallway may reveal to you

what words can’t convey.

 

Not spoken but given,

not a theorem but a presence,

not wisdom but being.

 

For Jesus it was lilies, and birds,

a stranger’s daughter, muddy Jordan water

and the air above the water.

 

What if glory hides, poorly disguised,

in a stone, a door, a question,

a word, a look, a silence?

 

Your heart is already searching,

the world is already holy,

the child is already here.

 

Encouragement for today:  Watch for God to show up in the ordinary things today.

 

Prayer:  Lord, we are so often waiting for burning bushes when you come to us in all that we take for granted.  Give us to sensitivity to experience you in the mundane details of our life today and every day.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time praying for your closest friends today.

 

Song:  Light of the World (Sing Hallelujah) – We the Kingdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWeXVnRm6R8

Ambition and the Kingdom of God

 

Mark 10:35-45, NIV - Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

“We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.  Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

After being told several times, the disciples are finally beginning to believe that bad things are going to happen to Jesus when they get to Jerusalem.  It even seems that they begun to embrace the counterintuitive idea that somehow, Jesus’s death is part of the plan.  But our passage for today shows us that these same disciples still are fairly clueless about the true nature of the kingdom.  Two of the inner circle, James and John, ask to be named Jesus’s #1 and #2.  The other disciples get upset with James and John, but most likely, this is because James and John sought openly what they desired privately – a prominent place in the kingdom Jesus will usher in.

                Jesus takes this moment to teach about the true nature of God’s kingdom.  Greatness is this kingdom is not achieved by gaining position, power, or influence.  There is nothing inherently wrong with those things, but the real currency in Jesus’s kingdom is service to others.  The greatest is the servant of all. 

                This is not a foreign idea to modern followers of Jesus.  Most Christians have heard this concept most of their lives; we are people who put other people first.  But James’s and John’s ambition are not foreign to us either.  We are still drawn to position, power, and influence.  At the very least, most of us want to be respected and enjoy a favorable reputation in the community.  Though Jesus was humiliated, shamed, and rejected by all established authorities, His followers still find it hard to accept when the same happens to them.  Jesus is saying there that there is greatness in this embracing of the life of a servant. 

                It’s important to remember that all but one of the twelve original disciples were martyred for their faith.  John, the only one who died of natural causes, was exiled and suffered greatly.  They all followed Jesus’s lead and led others by becoming a slave to all.  But in this passage for today, we see that it took them a while to get there.

 

Questions:  Where are we in relation to embracing our role as servants of all?  To what extent do our ambitions still get in the way?

 

Prayer:  God of us all, give us clarity about the nature of Your kingdom and our role in it.  Help us embrace our identity as servants. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the leaders of the congregation where you worship

 

Song:  Brother – Needtobreathe (ft. Gavin Degraw)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRSLz_KgUsM