They’re Just Words. . .

James 3:1-12 - Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

 

Continuing with James challenging teaching today, we come to a challenge to teachers themselves.  Of course, my ears perk up because even in what I am writing at this very moment, I am seeking to teach.  James would have me think very carefully about even proposing to do so.  And athirty-three years after I taught my first Sunday School class of 3^rd-5^th graders at First UMC of Deland, I still think of James words nearly every time I open my mouth to instruct or write words aimed at guiding others.  I often also think about what Fred Craddock, one of my preaching heroes, said one time in a chapel service I attended.  I don’t remember his exact words but he suggested that it was dangerous to propose to speak on behalf of God without a healthy does of fear and trembling. 

At the heart of James warning about teaching is a lesson for all, not just teachers.  Our tongue is perhaps the most dangerous part of our body.  Our whole life is affected by the words that come from our mouth.  Our words can bless and heal but, all too often, they curse and wound.  Our words can lead;  they can calm an uprising or inspire an insurrection.  Perhaps the most disturbing thing that James says about all this is that there is no remedy for the double nature of our tongue; “it cannot be tamed.”  And after seeking to be someone who prides themselves on carefully chosen words since my youth, I have to say James is right.  I still marvel at what sometimes slips out of my mouth.  What was I thinking?  I wish I had a solution, but the tongue is indeed untamable. 

So what do we say?  What is the lesson here?  I believe it is reverence and mindfulness.  First, we need a reverence for words because they matter.  They matter in profound ways that we are still unable to understand fully.  You may flippantly think that what you say in any given moment doesn’t matter, but you would be woefully mistaken.  All of our words are important. Listen and meditate on some of the witness of Proverbs:

                Proverbs 11:9 “Evil words destroy one’s friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.”

                Proverbs 11:12 “It is foolish to belittle a neighbor; a person with good sense remains silent.”

Proverbs 11:17 “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.”

Proverbs 15: 1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but hard words stir up anger.”

Proverbs 15:4 “Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”

Proverbs 16:24 “Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”

Proverbs 18:4 “A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.”

Proverbs 18:20 “Words satisfy the soul as food satisfies the stomach; the right words on a person’s lips bring satisfaction.”

Proverbs 20:15 “Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies.”

Proverbs 25:18 “Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.”

The second thing we need in relation to words is mindfulness.  The times I am surprised by the words that slip out of my mouth are the times I was not aware of the process of the words forming on my tongue.  It was as if I just was letting the words happen instead of participating in the process.  While it is true that our tongues will never be fully tamed, this does not mean we have no ability to control our words.  Being aware of our emotions and our thoughts (my definition of mindfulness) better prepares us to control our words.  When we are  aware of the rage mounting within us, we can choose to channel that in another way rather than lashing out with our words.  Even if is appropriate to express the anger with words, our mindfulness and our reverence for words can temper that anger in a way that it has a better chance to accomplish something helpful rather than hurtful. 

So let us have a healthy respect and reverence for the power of words.  Let us develop a growing awareness of the swirling currents within us that produce those powerful words.  And let us ask God pour His Spirit into our spirit so that our words are influenced by the currents of God’s will.  I’ll finish with a quote from Brennan Manning:  “In every encounter we either give life or we drain it; there is no neutral exchange.”

 

Question:  How often does it happen that you are surprised by the words that come out of your mouth?

 

Prayer:  If anyone can tame our tongue Lord, it is you.  “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14) Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for reverence for words and mindfulness of what should and should not be said to begin to temper the rhetoric of our elected leaders and influencers. 

 

Songs:  I couldn’t choose between two songs today so you get two:

Speak Life – TobyMac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeBv9r92VQ0

 

Power In The Words – The Green

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JC-di8CjCY

Show Me What You Do and I’ll Show You What You Believe

James 2:14-26 - What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?  Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.  And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.  You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?  As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

 

Today, we encounter the heart for which the book of James is known – the importance of action over against faith.  James is obviously responding to someone or a group of someone’s that have pontificated on the importance of faith alone.  James believes there is a danger in taking that idea to the extreme and seeks to offer a corrective.  However, I don’t believe James is trying to denigrate the importance of faith as he talks about works.  In my opinion (and I’m not alone), James is actually trying to make an important point about faith itself.  Genuine faith in someone or a certain belief will naturally inform what you actually do.

I’m sitting in a chair right now at my desk.  When I sat down in this chair, I was acting on a belief that I have that this chair will hold me and will not dump me on the floor.  I’m sitting at this desk writing this devotional because I believe that you and others will read it (If I didn’t believe anyone was reading this, I wouldn’t waste my time).  I am currently working to prepare for our worship service this week.  I have faith that others have been preparing as well (PowerPoint, communion, music, etc) so that we will have a meaningful worship service Sunday morning.  So you see, my faith directly informs what I do and what I don’t do.

James is simply trying to get us to think more carefully about what we actually believe and he believes the best way to do that is to look at what you do.  If you believe God is the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the entire universe,  it makes sense that worshipping God would be a priority.  If you believe Jesus taught and showed us how to lead a life of abundance and impact, it would make sense that you would actually work at living into the ways He did.  If you believe sin is not just something that God doesn’t like but is actually harmful to you and others, then it would make sense that you avoid what God has clearly identified as sin.  If you only say that you believe those things and those “beliefs” never change the way you act, James is simply being bold enough to suggest that you might not actually believe those things.  I would agree.

There is an equal danger of overemphasizing action over against faith.  The apostle Paul argues that case eloquently, but that message is for another day.   For now, I encourage us to take a look at what we do each day and what we choose not to do each day.  This leads us to our questions for the day.

 

Question:  What do our daily actions and inactions say about what we actually believe?  Is there any gap in between what we say we believe and how we are willing or unwilling to act on that belief?

 

Prayer:  Lord, we believe in you. Help us in our unbelief.  Show us where we lack integrity between our proclaimed faith and our daily decisions/actions.  Amen.

 

Song:  Screen Door – Rich Mullins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJgpU-43CD4

Unchecked Anger

 James 1:19-27

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,  because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.  Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror  and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

 

                It seems like there are plenty reasons to angry these days.  Rampant inflation makes our incomes run out quicker. White hot political divisions persist on almost every issue of any substance.  It doesn’t help that it is likely that a former president will be criminally charged soon.  Children we know now fear going to school while all wonder what solutions might be effective.   The list of reasons to be angry could go on for pages.  In the midst of all this, we need to hear the words of our scripture for today again:

 

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

 

I have to confess that I am often tempted to begin to writing about my anger with the intention of “venting” my anger on social media.   Each time, I would hear the words of James above.  In times of feverish anger, it is more important to “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” because my “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” 

 

“The righteousness that God desires.”  From the lips of God, “righteousness” is a relational word.  Literally, the translation of the word righteousness connotes “right relationship.”  Human anger does not produce right relationships.  What does produce right relationships, James reminds us, is listening, slow measured speech, and refraining from destructive anger.  So instead of publishing my anger, I have tried to listen to people to which I really don’t want to listen.  This is really hard.  What I have learned is that careful listening and slow measured speech is in terribly short supply right now in others and in me. What is needed more than anything right now is more listening and less unfiltered anger.  That is true not only of our political leaders on both sides of the aisle, but it is true of our families, our churches, and all of our relationships.  When we are tempted to lash out, we need to listen.  When we are feeling like we want to hit something, we need to listen.  It is this listening that can provide the path to righteous action, action that can produce stronger relationships.  We have choices about how we treat those we relate to in our own relational circles.  If more people could engage in patient careful love-infused conversations, we can eventually have an effect on what happens in more public arenas.  It was spirit-filled, listening, and loving Christians that had an effect on transforming the Roman Empire and eventually converting the Roman Emperor. 

 

This is always one of the tasks and responsibilities of Christ-followers.  Listening is how we get to the heart of any matter.  This is true everywhere and anywhere. 

 

Question:  Where could you in this moment, benefit at least one of your relationships by committing to listening more than you are now?

 

Prayer:  God, help us commit ourselves to deeply seeking to understand and only after doing so speak with the intention of being understood.  Help us to use not just the ears on our heads but the ears of our heart.  Help us hear more clearly than anything your voice.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for law enforcement officials and leaders as they seek to keep the peace and keep people safe in the coming days.

 

Song: Underneath, by Alanis Morrissette (I share the lyrics today, because I believe they are very insightful)

 

Look at us break our bonds in this kitchen

Look at us rallying all our defenses

Look at us waging war in our bedroom

Look at us jumping ship in our dialogues

 

There is no difference

In what we're doing in here

That doesn't show up as bigger symptoms out there

So why spend all our time in dressing our bandages?

When we've the ultimate key to the cause right here

Our underneath

 

Look at us form our cliques in our sandbox

Look at us micro-kids with both our hearts blocked

Look at us turn away from all the rough spots

Look at dictatorship on my own block

 

There is no difference

In what we're doing in here

That doesn't show up as bigger symptoms out there

So why spend all our time in dressing our bandages?

When we've the ultimate key to the cause right here

Our underneath

 

How I've spun my wheels

With carts before my horse

When shine on the outside springs from the root

Spotlight on these seeds of simpler reasons

This score born into form, starts in my living room

 

There is no difference

In what we're doing in here

That doesn't show up as bigger symptoms out there

So why spend all our time in dressing our bandages?

When we've the ultimate key to the cause right here

Our underneath

 

Link to song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVfz74FayzM

Consider it Pure Joy?

James 1:2-8 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

 

This text has been one of my favorites since I was a teenager.  It is one that I return to whenever I find myself in crisis and/or difficulty.  As you can imagine, it’s come to the forefront of my mind many times over few years.  The opening phrase, “count it all pure joy…” always trips me up.  “Pure joy” has never been the phrase I have used to describe periods of trial.  I guess I’m not that spiritually mature.  It is always much later that I can look back on the time of trial and take joy from it.  But here’s the key to that;  in the moment that I realize that I am in the midst of trial, I need to resolve that it is an opportunity for growth and joy to happen.  I may not be especially joyful about it at that moment, but the resolve to be open to the growth makes future joy possible. 

I am aware that many of you are in the midst of trial right now as well.  I know that, even if you are not personally, chances are that someone you care about is..  We have many who are fighting cancer.  We know families that financially are on the verge of losing everything.  There are other trials that we are not even aware of at this time.  In addition to that, I am aware that there are many trials ahead of us in the coming days, weeks, and months.  I know it is hard, but I ask you to open your hearts to the possibility that, as these trials confront us, joy is not only possible but can be expected on the other side.  As Psalm 30:5 says, “weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”  Count on that. Expect it. Look for it. God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.

 

Question:  How have you experienced strength and blessing coming out of trial in the past?

 

Prayer:  God, you can take any trial and squeeze joy out of it. Do that for all of us who are in the midst of trials this day.

 

Prayer Focus:  Though we are effectively emerging from the COVID pandemic, 1.1 million people died since January 2020.  Pray for all those families today who are still grieving this unimaginable loss. 

 

Song:  Graves Into Gardens ft. Brandon Lake | Live | Elevation Worship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwX1f2gYKZ4&list=PLRZlMhcYkA2HCg8PZnI1EaqcnIhU-Kd3T&index=3

The Letter of James

James 1:1 - James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

 

Today we begin a new journey through the letter of James.  James was published right around 50 A. D., so it is less than twenty years after Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension.  It should be noted there is no New Testament yet (that would not happen until the 397 AD); no gospels had even been written at this time, so James is the first set of writings to begin to be circulated among Christians that will eventually become a canonical book in the New Testament.  James is the first.

 

James is the earthly brother of Jesus and a giant of a figure in the first few decades of Christianity after Jesus’s resurrection.  However, as time passes, the book of James becomes less popular and influential as Paul’s writings surge in influence.  Martin Luther wanted to exclude the book.  It isn’t really until the beginning of this century that James begins to become influential again in mainstream Christianity. 

 

As the opening verse above states, this letter is written to the “twelve tribes” of Israel.  James is writing specifically to Jewish Christians.  This is one of the reasons that this letter will not be as popular later as it is very Jewish.  James advocates continuing to observe Torah law (1^st five books of Old Testament) and stresses the importance of works more than he does faith.  To the early Christian church that is becoming more and more Gentile in nature, James’s writings begin to fall out of favor.

 

But I am so thankful for the Book of James!  In my early days of my faith journey, it was one of my favorite books and continues to be today.  His plain and direct speech and his stress on the importance of works is a voice I need to hear.  So I hope you will hear the voice of God through us hitting the highlights of James over the next few days.

 

Question:  Have there been times in your life when you ended up reading or listening to someone who you did not want to hear from, but it ended up being exactly what you needed to hear?

 

Prayer: God, speak to us in the coming days in strong and convincing ways.  We want to grow in the way of Christ.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for leaders of both political parties as they have weighty matters before them over the next several days.

 

Song:  Promises (feat. Joe L Barnes & Naomi Raine) - Maverick City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5m09rqOoxE&list=PLRZlMhcYkA2HCg8PZnI1EaqcnIhU-Kd3T&index=1

The End of Mark . . . Again.

Mark 16:19-20, CEB - After the Lord Jesus spoke to them, he was lifted up into heaven and sat down on the right side of God.  But they went out and proclaimed the message everywhere. The Lord worked with them, confirming the word by the signs associated with them.

 

                We come the ending of all endings of Mark today.  It is a summarization probably borrowed from other sources in order to wrap up the gospel in a nice tidy way.  This ending certainly does a better job of that than the original ending (verse 16:8), which leaves great uncertainty.  Jesus ascends into heaven and his disciples begin carry out the mission.  This ending is descriptive of the time after the original gospel was finished, so in that way, it is appropriate. It also likely gives us glimpse into the early second century after Jesus’s death.

                It references a church that is fully focused on its primary mission of proclaiming the good news of Jesus.  This is a great reminder to the church of the twenty-first century which often becomes distracted by other more superfluous matters.  This ending also references a church fully connected to the power of God as they experienced signs and wonders amidst their efforts to further the mission of Christ.  This also serves as a guiding principle to current congregations that often operate as if it all depends on the human being involved to “make” the mission of the church happen. 

                Both reminders are also instructive to individual Christians.  As followers of Jesus, we are part of a calling that is bigger than our individual concerns and livelihoods.   Our lives are supposed to be a reflection and witness to the resurrected Messiah Jesus.  Additionally, the power for us to do that does not originate in us, but in the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us.  We rely on God more than we rely on our own power and intellect. 

                As we come to the end of our journey through the Gospel of Mark, I pray it has been good one for each of you.  I pray that God has used these reflections to spur you forward in your faith and calling.  I pray that your understanding and appreciation for scripture has grown and you feel more connected to the church to which Mark is a faithful witness.  I also pray that this journey has strengthened your commitment to connect with scripture regularly, whether it is through a devotional commentary like this or through other means.  Finally, I pray that you will be blessed through your daily practices of scripture and prayer.  To that end, I leave you with a benediction from scripture that has meant a lot to be since I was a teenager.

 

Questions: How are you personally connected to mission of the church?  Do you rely on the power of God to fulfill that role?

 

Prayer/Blessing:  "May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace,

both now and forever more." Amen.

 

Song:  Priestly Blessing – James Block

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

Condemnation, Snake-Handling, Drinking Poison, Healing, and Faith

Mark 16:15-18, CEB - He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned.  These signs will be associated with those who believe: they will throw out demons in my name. They will speak in new languages.  They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them. They will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

 

There are a handful of things that I wish Jesus did not say and a couple of them are in these few verses above. However, Jesus did say them and so I have to take them seriously.  I’d like to ignore them, but to do so, I would have to be the kind of person that only hears what he wants to hear.  That leads to the first thing above that I wish Jesus did not say; “. . . whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned.”

                We face condemnation when we don’t believe.  I wish Jesus didn’t say that because there have been times when I didn’t believe.  Some of those times, I was mad.  I encountered realities that I did not like and I held them against God.  I turned away.  I encountered suffering that seemed impossible to look at, much less bear, and I held it against God.  Of course, there were other times when what I came to discover about God made me uncomfortable, so I resisted the invitation to believe.  I remember those times of my life as the worst seasons of my life.  So I can tell you from these experiences that despite wishing Jesus had not said it, we are indeed condemned by a refusal to believe.

                We are created by God wired for belief in God.  We thrive when we live in belief and, like a car without a battery, we become stuck and unable to function in the way we were created. To be accurate, we condemn ourselves when we don’t choose to believe.  It is not God being offended and turning away from us, but vice versa. 

                Now for the other thing I wish Jesus didn’t say:

                 “They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them”

                This has led to people dying from snake bites and/or drinking poison.  This has led to people turning away from the church when they see Christians doing stuff like that.  It seems so obvious that Jesus did not mean for His followers to tempt God by brazenly handling snakes and drinking poison, but that hasn’t stopped people from taking these words literally.  Christianity cults have emerged sporadically since the time this passage was published that build their whole existence upon doing dangerous things like picking up snakes to prove they are among the people who believe. I shouldn’t have to say this, but this practice was not what Jesus had in mind when He said the above words. 

                I have witnessed many miracles when I or others should have died or at least been seriously injured, but they were somehow saved.  I believe that God does protect believers in ways that I cannot describe or explain.  But that does not mean that we should carelessly put ourselves in danger so as to “show off” God’s protection and healing. 

                The point Jesus was making was that, since we are wired for faith, we can accomplish amazing, sometimes even supernatural things when we live with implicit belief that God is with us.  When we cut the faith connection, we live in the condemnation of a life with God’s power at work in us.  Miracles are often the blessing of those who choose to believe, but you don’t have to demonstrate miracles to prove that you believe.  Christianity is not magic show.  It is simply faith-filled living. 

 

Questions:  How does it make you feel when you see others “showing off” their faith?  Have you eve found yourself doing that?

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, forgive my moments or even seasons of disbelief.   Help me to trust you for protection and healing without me ever becoming boastful about it. Keep me humble Lord. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for other Christians whose beliefs seem very different from yours today.

 

Song:  House of Miracles – Brandon Lake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26C02Xb9_vI

Putting Doubters to Work

Mark 16:14-16a, CEB - Finally he appeared to the eleven while they were eating. Jesus criticized their unbelief and stubbornness because they didn’t believe those who saw him after he was raised up.  He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature.

 

                You’ll notice that there is an overlap between the scripture passage for last time and the one for today.  This is because I want to point out a surprising connection.  Jesus scolds His disciples for unbelief, but then charges these sorry unbelievers to proclaim the very message they didn’t believe?  Yes. Yes He did.  And it wasn’t for lack of a better option.

                I have a strange affinity for people who struggle to maintain the “hope bias” I talked about last time, probably because I tend to be one of them.

“But you’re a preacher, Eric!” you might say. 

Yep, I am.  I hesitantly “signed up” for that job just over three decades ago.  I did so with serious doubts about how it would go.  Let me say that again in case you might have missed it.  I responded to a call to be a pastor with serious doubts that the results of that decision would go well.  Possibly even more surprising than that, thirty years later, I still sometimes battle doubts about how it’s going. 

I can confidently say I have been pastor to people who seem to struggle way less with doubt than I do.  They make faith-filled leaps with their life just knowing that God will make good on promises.  They trust God implicitly in the worst possible circumstances and they remember God is the source of blessing in the best circumstances.  They inspire me.  They really do.  I thank God that I have people like that in my life.  But if I’m truly honest, they also sometimes intimidate me and make me feel bad about my doubts. 

My little brother Jeff was one of these faith-filled people.   He died a few months ago after nearly a year-long battle with cancer.  As I write this, he would have been 51 two days ago.  This may seem a bit crazy to say, but Jeff’s journey with cancer was an inspiring thing to watch. While I know he had seriously bad days, his attitude was always intentionally positive.  The treatments he underwent were aggressive, but he weathered them amazingly well, even maintaining his vigorous work-out every day.  He continued to serve in his church and serve in other ways outside the church.  He was an encourager to people who were going through similar journeys to his own.  Watching him, I couldn’t imagine him not beating this cancer. 

On multiple occasions during that year, Jeff repeated a statement to me that I know he shared with many others as well.

“Eric, I will be healed, either here or in Heaven.” 

What is profound to me now about that is that Jeff had a faith that trusted God was at work in him no matter what happened.  His bold trust inspired me and others too numerous to count.  I’m not naïve enough to think that Jeff didn’t sometimes struggle with doubts.  However, I feel pretty confident that he navigated those struggles better than most, certainly better than his older brother.  

Please don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here.  I’m not having a pity party for my faith. God has granted me enough faith to get me this far. What I want you to hear is that, for some reason, God called me to be a pastor knowing full well that there were more faith-filled options.  Jesus charged these eleven remaining disciples to lead a world-changing movement knowing full-well that they had just fully doubted that the resurrection had occurred despite being told by reliable sources that it was true.  God puts bold-faithers like my brother to work building of the Kingdom of Heaven, but God also has work for the rest of us for whom faith is a constant struggle. 

If you struggle with implicit, no-matter-what trust, you are NOT off the hook. There’s work to be done.

 

Question: What would you do if you had more faith?  Do it anyway.

 

Prayer:  Pray for people who will spend today fearing for their lives.

 

Song: I Won’t Back Down – Johnny Cash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8i5NLyXZdc

More Endings to Mark

Mark 16:9-14, CEB - After Jesus rose up early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.  She went and reported to the ones who had been with him, who were mourning and weeping.  But even after they heard the news, they didn’t believe that Jesus was alive and that Mary had seen him.

After that he appeared in a different form to two of them who were walking along in the countryside.  When they returned, they reported it to the others, but they didn’t believe them.  Finally he appeared to the eleven while they were eating. Jesus criticized their unbelief and stubbornness because they didn’t believe those who saw him after he was raised up.

 

                These additions to Mark read like summaries of other works, which is why most scholars believe that they are indeed summaries from other gospel accounts and the book of Acts.  Today’s selection above likely is a combination summary from multiple other sources.  The editor was faithful to themes found earlier in Mark, most notably the highlight of the disciples tendency toward disbelief.  In the Gospel of John, Thomas is the resident skeptic, but here all of the disciples are confronted, eventually by Jesus Himself.  To the extent that we identify with the faltering disciples, we hear the intended message of this editor of Mark.  It is also seems likely that Mark would approve. 

                There have many times in my life where it seemed easy to believe.  In the wake of a miraculous healing, which I have witnessed multiple times, it even seems silly NOT to believe in the power and plan of God.  When everything is going my way, I feel sure that God surely is actively blessing me.  When evil is defeated in dramatic fashion, faith is a natural posture.  Mountain-moving faith is such times seems way more attainable.

                Unfortunately, such times do not represent the whole of our experience.  Relationships fail and it seems God is nowhere to be found.  It’s quite difficult to see the activity of God in earthquakes where tens of thousands of lives are lost and many more have their entire lives torn apart for the foreseeable future.  When the disappointments keep coming one after another. . .when children precede their parents in death. . . when the unthinkable personal tragedy strikes. . . in all these times, even a mustard seed’s amount of faith seems like a tall order. The disciples were having one of those moments.

                Even when they are given the news that what Jesus promised has indeed happened, they are stuck in their fugue state of disbelief.  I have to confess that I can relate.  Part of what happens here is human tendency to want to confirm and justify our current feelings.  Psychologists call this confirmation bias and it can be very powerful.   We want to confirm that we are right to feel the way do, even when we are confronted with evidence to the contrary.  This phenomenon is the reason why conspiracy theorists don’t let go of their false beliefs even when clear facts should convince them to do so.  This has happened to me more times than I can count.  None of us are exempt.

                The disciples are forced out of their disbelieving bias by the resurrected Jesus in the flesh.  It would awesome if Jesus would do the same thing for us, but at least for me, it hasn’t happened yet.  So how do we snap our of it when we find ourselves stuck in unbelief.  One of the practical suggestions from psychology to combat confirmation bias is to develop the habit of questioning your assumptions when you are assuming you are right.  The spiritual term for this is humility.  Further, as followers of Jesus, we should have a strong bias towards hope.  This is why Jesus scolds the disciples for their faithlessness.  They of all people should have had at least a healthy active bias towards belief because Jesus had never let them down before and He promised them that He would be raised. 

                While it may not seem like it sometimes, we have no less reason to have a hopeful bias.  We, the Christian church, stand in a line of two thousand years of God’s faithfulness and kept promises.  Through the severest of persecutions, through long periods of decline and darkness, and through impossible challenges, God keeps delivering the church and its people to new life and vitality.  Empires, dynasties, and seemingly unstoppable tyrants have come and gone, but the church keeps finding itself sustained and renewed.  God is always faithful, so our bias should be hope in all circumstances.  More on this next time.

 

Question:  Have you ever been the victim of confirmation bias?  How does it interplay with your faith?

 

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, install a bias of hope within our souls that persists in all circumstances.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who do jobs we could never see ourselves doing. 

 

Song:  The Blessing – Angelica Bias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wUlFCe-55A

First Additional Ending to Mark

Mark 16:9a, CEB - They promptly reported all of the young man’s instructions to those who were with Peter. Afterward, through the work of his disciples, Jesus sent out, from the east to the west, the sacred and undying message of eternal salvation. Amen.

 

                In the last reflection, we noted that verse 16:8 was almost certainly the original ending of the Gospel of Mark.  In the church’s current version there are at least two or three additions that were most likely added in the second century AD after the other three gospels (and the book of Acts) were published and distributed.  The support for this claim is that it seems some of the details from those other sources were collected and tacked onto Mark.  Rather than completely dismiss them, we can gratefully receive them as a faithful witness to us from the church of the second century after Jesus’s time on earth.

                This first addition to Mark above seeks to deal with the discomfiting ending of the original gospel, which ends with the witnesses to the resurrection saying nothing to nobody. 

“Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” (Mark 16:8)

While the women might possibly have remained quiet for a time, the other gospels give testimony to the fact that the primary witnesses of the resurrection were indeed these women.  They eventually told people. 

                The second half of this new short ending echoes the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20:

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.”

Whoever was responsible for this addition wanted to make sure that the early church was clearly committed to this primary directive of Jesus to share the news of the Gospel with all peoples.  To be clear, this is in keeping with Mark’s concern in chapter 13:10, which states,  “first, the good news must be proclaimed to all the nations.”

                The fact that the editor felt the need to include a reminder of the primary mission of the church at the end of Mark just a couple of generations after the great explosion of the church’s mission in the first century is telling of how quickly the church seems to wander off-mission and begin to focus on less critical matters. 

                In our own day, culture wars, political wrangling, and protection of the status quo have left the church needing to be reminded again of what the main thing should be – the core gospel message that salvation is now accessible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The church is not primarily a social club, holy huddle, or even a philanthropic organization.  The church is the primary vehicle God has chosen to continue the mission of Christ.  Where disciples are not being made, the church is not the actually the church. 

 

Questions:  In the church where you are most associated, what is the most important thing based on the way it spends time and resources?  When was the last time you were witness to a person beginning to follow Jesus for the first time?

 

Prayer:   God, forgive us for all the time, energy, and resources we expend on things that have no eternal significance.  Show us what Your mission looks like in our neighborhood and give us courage, discipline, and wisdom to engage it with our heart and lives. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for churches around the world facing persecution right now.

 

Song: Reach One More – Rich Muchow

This first link is Rick Warren telling the story behind the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud0-7vo6tZE

This is the actual song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeFR4WhEzTY

The Resurrection In Mark

 

Mark 16:1-8, CEB - When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus’ dead body.  Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb.  They were saying to each other, “Who’s going to roll the stone away from the entrance for us?”  When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. (And it was a very large stone!)  Going into the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right side; and they were startled.  But he said to them, “Don’t be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.   He has been raised. He isn’t here. Look, here’s the place where they laid him.  Go, tell his disciples, especially Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.”  Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

 

                Today, after a long and painful journey through the extensive suffering, death, and burial of Jesus, we finally get to celebrate the resurrection.  Just as He said multiple times, the news has finally been shared with the same women who witnessed Jesus crucifixion and death.  Notice, however, that even though they have been told over sand over Jesus will be raised, their expectation that morning was that they would be anointing a dead body with prepared spices.  They expect that this will be their last service and kindness to Jesus.  The message that Jesus’s predictions have come true, and He has indeed been raised apparently completely undoes them.     

“Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”

The original Gospel of Mark ends with the above sentence.  Mark 16:9-20 were all added later out probably because this ending was so unsatisfactory.  The women flee out of terror and dread and tell no one what they have seen and heard.  The original gospel ends with fear, not celebration. 

                The other obvious difference between Mark and other three gospels in the New Testament is that there is no appearance of the resurrected Christ.  There is only the news that He has raised given by a divine messenger.  This too was unsatisfactory to later readers of Mark, so the added ending in vs. 16:9-20 also list multiple encounters with the risen Christ.  Because these endings are found in the current version of the gospel, we will work through them in coming reflections.  But for now, let’s continue to dwell on the unsettling original ending.

                What I like about Mark ending his account here is that it matches up with most people’s original encounter with the resurrection.  It is perhaps the hardest part of the gospel to embrace.  Resurrection is an outlier of our experience.  Certainly, we have many modern-day examples of people being brought back from the dead through heroic medical interventions and/or rare environmental conditions.  However, these events usually occur minutes or, at the most hours after the heart stops beating and almost never involve the kind of incredible trauma that  cause Jesus’s death.  Jesus is raised after at least two full 24-hour periods of being dead with no medical intervention.  He is lying in a tomb.  Just like the women, embracing that kind of reality requires us to overcome some fear and dread that we are latching on to false hope.  It would be also be understandable that in this time of uncertainty, we would say nothing to no one. 

                If indeed Mark intended to end his account here, it seems we are left, like the women in the resurrection account, to wrestle with how we can embrace the good news of the resurrection.  It also leaves open the possibility that we could have our own “encounter” with the risen Christ. 

 

Question:  Do you have any memory of your first reaction to the news that Jesus was raised from the dead?

 

Prayer:  Risen Christ, help us experience for ourselves the reality of Your victory over death.  Overcome our fears and doubts, so that we may become witnesses to the resurrection.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus: Pray for people you know who do not have a relationship with Jesus.

 

Songs:  Resurrection Medley – Willow Creek Community Church

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05LVkdMX7Kw    

Why Does Jesus Have to Die?

Mark 15:42-47, CEB - Since it was late in the afternoon on Preparation Day, just before the Sabbath,  Joseph from Arimathea dared to approach Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a prominent council member who also eagerly anticipated the coming of God’s kingdom.)  Pilate wondered if Jesus was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him whether Jesus had already died.  When he learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, Pilate gave the dead body to Joseph.  He bought a linen cloth, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been carved out of rock. He rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.  Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was buried.

 

                In the reflection on Jesus’s death, we noted that one of the issues Mark was addressing was the rumors shortly after Jesus’s death that Jesus didn’t actually die.  This matter continues to be addressed in the recording by Mark of the specific details of the burial of Jesus’s body.  Furthermore, this account of the burial also confronts other rumors that Jesus’s body was stolen which would explain the empty tomb three days later.  These “theories” persist even in our time thousands of years later. 

                The custodian of the body was Joseph of Arimethea, a member of the Sanhedrin.  This was the same Sanhedrin that played a critical role in having Jesus crucified.  Joseph had opposed the plan, but kept his belief in Jesus secret until this point. This why his action of asking Pilate for the body was described by Mark as “bold.”  His allegiance to Jesus would no longer be a secret.  He is a case study in brave faith in the face of dangerous opposition. Thank God for people like this lesser-known Joseph. 

                Once again, the death is confirmed to Pilate by a Roman Centurion before the body is released to Joseph.  Joesph handles all the burial arrangements quickly before sundown when the Sabbath began.  Nothing could be done after that.  The tomb sealed with a large rock (it’s size is noted in Mark 16).  This was witnessed by the two Mary’s. 

                Why is Jesus’s death so important?  The quick and easy answer is resurrection isn’t resurrection without a real death.  The resurrection is not a conspiracy, elaborate hoax, or outright deception.  The victory over death is only victory if the death really happened.  But the importance of Jesus’s death goes much deeper than this.  It speaks to the deeper and more relevant question?  What does Jesus’s death accomplish?  This is what theologians call atonement.  To make the question even more precise, how does Jesus’s death save us?  Perhaps millions of pages have been written on this very question, so I begin by saying  that I offer no definitive answer.  This theological debate concerning atonement continues today and I have no aspirations to somehow “solve” it.  I simply share my most basic and overarching convictions about.  I invite you to read others’ opinion on this core question of Christian thought and practice.

 

                First, this was a sacrifice to end sacrifices.  We are meant to look upon God’s Son being violently and crudely murdered on a Roman cross and see just how hopeless our proclivities as human beings are.  If humans would sacrifice even the very Son of God for others’ sins, who would not be submitted to the same?  Christ’s battered body and His shed blood are meant to convict humanity of intractable guilt.  This is why we remind ourselves of these details every time we conduct the sacrament of communion.  We can’t be delivered from these proclivities until we see them exposed for what they are in graphic detail.  This why all four gospels all include them. 

                Next, I see in Jesus’s death the limitless nature of God’s love for humanity.  God voluntarily makes a shocking sacrifice instead of simply condemning humanity for its intractable sin.  We are meant to see this and turn from our self-destructive ways.  When we do so, we find God waiting to help us live a different love-driven life.  As more of humanity is brought into this way of living, the world is transformed and redeemed. 

                Taken together, Jesus’s sacrifice exposes the root problem of our world and offers an alternative path of redemption and deliverance.  Jesus submits to death to expose just how corrupt and unjust humanity has become.  Jesus’s opponents meant to scapegoat their own violence by sacrificing Him.  His death, however, served to accomplish the opposite.  They, and their system of scapegoating, is condemned.  The nail in the proverbial coffin of this system is driven when Jesus’s rises from death.  Death is defeated along with all the “dealers” and “systems” of death.  A revolution began on the day Jesus died.

                The revolution continues even now this new approach to humanity’s flaws is lived out by others.  Gandhi submitted non-violently his oppressors to expose the evil of their regime. Gandhi may not have been a Christ follower, but he emulated Christ’s approach to injustice.  Non-violence becomes the very vehicle to expose and convict the perpetrators of violence.  MLK championed the same approach to resist the injustice of systemic racism.  Countless examples of from history abound.  Heroic love and a refusal to respond to sin with more sin is the how the world is changed.  We are invited to join the revolution. . . the revolution that began when Jesus really died.

 

Question:  How do you understand Jesus’s death to be an essential part of how we can be saved?

 

Prayer:  God, we unknowingly, and sometimes knowingly, participate in systems of scapegoating and death.  You died to help us see that truth clearly.  Show us the way forward.  Deliver us from habits that simply exchange one sin for another. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are imprisoned unjustly for crimes they did not commit.

 

Song:  Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me) – Casting Crowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqrqPGt11bA

Jesus Dies

Mark 15:34-41, CEB At three, Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you left me?”

After hearing him, some standing there said, “Look! He’s calling Elijah!”  Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, and put it on a pole. He offered it to Jesus to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down.”  But Jesus let out a loud cry and died.

The curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “This man was certainly God’s Son.”

Some women were watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (the younger one) and Joses, and Salome.  When Jesus was in Galilee, these women had followed and supported him, along with many other women who had come to Jerusalem with him.

 

                Today, we reach the point in Mark where Jesus dies.  Surrounded by strangers (no disciples present in Mark’s gospel), enemies, and contingent of Roman soldiers, Jesus makes His last statement lamenting God’ seeming absence. Then, with an agonizing guttural cry, He breathes His last breath.  Even this last statement is misunderstood by those present, making the loneliness even more profound.  I invite you to spend a few moments meditating on those last moments from Jesus’s point of view.  This is difficult, if not painful to do, but it helps us grasp the depth of the gift God gave us in this moment. 

                Mark, as well as other gospel writers, note that in this moment, “The curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.”  Whether this physically happened of not, what is being conveyed is that, in the moment of His death, Christ’s achieves a monumental achievement.  Before this moment, only the High Priest could safely enter (and even then, only once a year) the most sacred part of the Temple, the Holy of Holies.  This small inner sanctum of the Temple was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and the section was walled off by an enormous curtain wall.  This is where God was believed to be present.  By declaring this curtain wall “torn in two,”  Mark is announcing that no intermediary (ie…the High Priest) is needed to access the presence of God.   Christ’s sacrifice makes it possible now for anyone to approach God directly. 

                Mark makes sure to highlight the fact that the only person present to recognize that this is an incredible, world-shifting event is a Roman centurion.  He does so by marveling, “this man was certainly God’s Son.”  This only magnifies what we just noted about anyone being able to have a direct relationship with God, for even a Roman soldier now has been given the spiritual sensitivity to recognize that everything has now changed.  Others, who are looking for Elijah to show up, have missed the import of the moment altogether. 

                Finally, we have the women, standing off at a distance, who have watched all this take place.  It is surprising and significant that Mark even mentions this detail, but He does so for important reasons.  First, these are the witnesses to the fact that Jesus actually died.  It was not a trick or a hoax.  Real people saw Jesus die.  Rumors persisted even to the time of Mark’s gospel first being circulated that Jesus’s death was somehow staged or faked.  Mark puts these rumors to rest with eyewitness testimony.  The fact that the witnesses are women makes the same point that John makes in multiple other ways in his gospel.  No longer are women on the sidelines of religious life.  Their testimony is a crucial part of the sacred scriptures now.  This will change the status of women forever.  We can trace the embrace of women clergy and other central leadership in the church back to this moment.

                Spend some time contemplating these aspects concerning the moment of Jesus’s death.  Compose your own prayer today in response to that time of reflection.

 

Questions:  What questions do you have about the death of Jesus?

 

Prayer:  I encourage you to write your own prayer for today based on your experience of this passage.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for women in leadership of all kinds today.

 

Song:  Were You There – Andrea Thomas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpSScICWJ9M