The Mood Has Changed. . .

Mark 9:42, The Message - “On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.

 

In the last reflection. We saw Jesus sticking up for newer believers that doing powerful things in Jesus’s name, but who were not part of the group Jesus had chosen.  Now, in our text above, Jesus builds upon that instruction with a warning.  If you cause these new believers spiritual harm, there will be consequences and they won’t be pleasant. 

This is a Jesus that makes us uncomfortable.  He uses harsh language and is issuing threats.  The suffering promised to those who harm the vulnerable is worse than being drowned.  He stops just short of Dirty Harry’s “go ahead punk. . . make my day!”  This is not the Jesus we’re used to hearing.  This isn’t “peace I leave with you” Jesus. It isn’t “neither do I condemn you” Jesus or “blessed are the meek” Jesus.  You hear Jesus talking this way and you can’t help but give pause.

And that’s the point.   When it comes to protecting the vulnerable, Jesus is deadly serious.  Don’t harm them or you WILL be sorry.  The intensity of the warning should stop us in our tracks and return readily to memory when dealing with those who are the most vulnerable among us. To the extent that we have power, position, or authority, we should use it protect those who don’t. 

To be clear, Jesus is not promising to drown those who don’t heed His words.  His warning is purposely exaggerated to express the intensity of the heart of God for people who are vulnerable.  But neither is the warning and idle threat.  When you exploit, bully, or otherwise harm the vulnerable, you have set yourself against God.   It is not a road you want to go down. 

In the next several reflections, we will see that Jesus’s harsh language and imagery doesn’t end here.  It serves as a corrective to the overly passive and milk-toast characterization of Jesus that has become very popular in our day.  If the Jesus we know doesn’t challenge us, than it is not the Jesus of scripture. 

 

Question:  List your top 5-10 adjectives to describe the Jesus you know.  How does your list compare to the Jesus we’ve encounter in Mark so far?

 

Prayer:  Lord, too often, we get it backwards. We make You into our image instead of vice versa.  Forgive us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for Pray for people in the path of deadly winter storms right now.

 

Song:  I Wonder as I Wander – Harry Connick Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45khRvRfJOE

Jesus “Brand” Violation?”

Mark 9:38-41, NLT - John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.”

“Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

 

This passage is a part of a larger section that extends through the rest of Mark 9, but we are going to break it up into a few reflections.  There are several important messages in the larger section.  So we’re going to “chunk” it into smaller sections.

In the chunk above, the disciples notice that others are operating under the name of Jesus that are not part of the group that Jesus chose.  They are casting out demons in Jesus’s name.  The disciples have a valid concern, for the “outsider exorcists” have no official accountability to Jesus.  They could do things or say things that depart from the core of Jesus’s teaching.  This was a common issue in Hebrew circles where multiple Rabbis operated in the same area.  The disciples of each Rabbi were always careful to not say anything that would be contrary to the teachings of their leader and they would be protective of anyone else who invoke their Rabbi’s name.  This is what is going on here.  The disciples are letting Jesus know that His “brand” is being violated. 

Jesus’s answer must have been rather surprising.  However, He does make an important distinction that could be easily missed.  Jesus stipulates that if someone “performs a miracle in my name,” they are an ally.  Don’t stop them.  He goes further: 

“Anyone who is not against us is for us.”

What Jesus is doing here is blurring the line between insiders and outsiders.  Jesus is starting a movement, not a new club.  He is ushering in a surprising new expression of God’s kingdom on Earth.  It is a kingdom that is accessible to all through the name of Jesus.  If someone has a demon cast out in Jesus’s name, it signifies that they have tapped into the power of God’s kingdom.  If they so much as give a cup of water to support the cause, they are a welcome expression of that kingdom.   They should be embraced, not discouraged.  They should be rewarded, not penalized. 

This should cause us to be careful about who we determine to valid Jesus followers in our day.  There are tens of thousands of denominations in the world that invoke the name of Jesus as their teacher, leader, and Messiah.  While there would be a wide variety of opinions on just about every issue, it is the name of Jesus that we all share.  This is the reason that the Apostle Paul, many years later, would make the following statement when responding to similar concerns:

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.   (Philippians 1:15-17)

In a time when denominations of Christians are fragmenting, we should not make assumptions about which ones constitute the “true” or “authentic” expression of Jesus’s kingdom.  The more important questions are, “are people being delivered from evil?” and “is the name of Jesus being preached?”  To see the fragmentation another way, there are currently tens of thousands of unique witnesses to Jesus that could reach tens of thousands of unique kinds of people.  If people find their way to Jesus, who cares who gets the credit?

 

Question:  Have you ever caught yourself discounting the authenticity of others’ Christian faith because they expressed it in a different way than you are accustomed?

 

Prayer:  God, deliver your church from tribalism and divisive behavior.  Help us celebrate when people come to you and experience the miraculous, no matter whether it is through our chosen group or someone else’s.”  To God be the glory!  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to bless people you know who attend a different church than you do.

 

Song:  It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – Josh Groban

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uYmUtQogI4  

What Greatness Looks Like

 

Mark 9:30-37, NLT - Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there,  for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.”  They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?”  But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.  He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

 

                The disciples, who are still struggling with what Jesus has been saying many times about His death, are afraid to ask Him to say more.  Maybe it’s because He has just chastised them for having so little faith (Mark 9:19).  Maybe it’s because they really don’t want to hear more about a possibility that seems so hopeless to them.  Maybe it’s a combination of reasons. Nevertheless, they remain silent instead of asking for more clarification. Mark highlights the difference between Jesus’s desire to teach them and His disciples lack of desire to learn more.

                Jesus allows them to percolate and talk amongst themselves for a bit until they arrive at the house where they are staying in Capernaum.  The disciples are surprised and embarrassed into silence to when Jesus (aware of their private discussion) asks them what they’ve been discussing.  He doesn’t pile on the shame concerning their argument about who is greater, but uses the moment to teach them what they were reluctant to ask about earlier. Jesus schools them on the nature of true greatness:

                “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Driving the point home, Jesus welcomes a child into their midst.  He equates welcoming the child with welcoming Himself. Children in first-century Judaism were NOT welcome in such a discussion between grown men and so the comparison of Jesus to a child would have been quite jarring.  Children had no status or ascribed greatness, yet Jesus compares Himself to them.  While many will reject the status or greatness of Jesus just as they would a child, will the disciples (or we) do the same? 

                The miracles, healings, and exorcisms have been plenty since the beginning of Mark, but from here on out, they will be few and far between.  Instead there will be one difficult teaching after another all aimed at making the true nature of Jesus’s greatness known.  It isn’t His wonder-working that makes Jesus the greatest among them; it is His willingness to be a servant to all.  Even when that means He will be rejected, suffer, and die, He submits His all to all for the sake of all. 

 

Question:  How do you define greatness? 

 

Prayer:  Jesus, teach us how to live the life of greatness, as defined by You.  Amen.

 

Song:  Be Born in Me – Francesca Battistelli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsXOP7aQeqQ

O Come All Ye Faith-FULL. . .

Mark 9:14-29, CEB - When Jesus, Peter, James, and John approached the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them and legal experts arguing with them.  Suddenly the whole crowd caught sight of Jesus. They ran to greet him, overcome with excitement.  Jesus asked them, “What are you arguing about?”

Someone from the crowd responded, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, since he has a spirit that doesn’t allow him to speak. Wherever it overpowers him, it throws him into a fit. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and stiffens up. So I spoke to your disciples to see if they could throw it out, but they couldn’t.”

Jesus answered them, “You faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I put up with you? Bring him to me.”

They brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a fit. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been going on?”

He said, “Since he was a child. It has often thrown him into a fire or into water trying to kill him. If you can do anything, help us! Show us compassion!”

Jesus said to him, “‘If you can do anything’? All things are possible for the one who has faith.”

At that the boy’s father cried out, “I have faith; help my lack of faith!”

Noticing that the crowd had surged together, Jesus spoke harshly to the unclean spirit, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you to come out of him and never enter him again.”  After screaming and shaking the boy horribly, the spirit came out. The boy seemed to be dead; in fact, several people said that he had died.  But Jesus took his hand, lifted him up, and he arose.

After Jesus went into a house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we throw this spirit out?”

Jesus answered, “Throwing this kind of spirit out requires prayer.”

 

                Of the three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) that include this story, Mark’s is the longest account.  That can create the temptation to get bogged down in the details (which is actually kinda fun for me).  The danger in that is to miss the forest for the trees.  The thread that runs through the entire story is faith vs. unbelief.  The story opens with Jesus and his inner circle of three (Peter, James, and John) returning to the other disciples who are arguing with the experts in the law.  The argument seems to concern the disciples inability to cast out a demon in a boy brought to them.  When Jesus finds this out, he is obviously frustrated and He says exactly why.  They are faithless.  Let me say this another way to be clear.  The boy’s demon was not exorcised because they didn’t have the correct interpretation of the law (which is what they were arguing about).  The demon continued to torture the boy because they lacked faith. 

                The next conversation takes place between Jesus and the boy’s father.  This conversation also leads to the issue of faith.  The father is pleading to help his boy, “if you can.”  Jesus is much more compassionate in His response here, for the father here has not been witness to the hundreds of miracles that Jesus’s disciples have.

                “‘If you can do anything’? All things are possible for the one who has faith.”

The father’s response is one of my favorite statements in the entire bible.

                “I have faith; help my lack of faith!”

                The father did have some measure of faith.  After all, he took the time to bring the boy to Jesus’s disciples and then to Jesus, even after Jesus’s disciples were unable to help.  What is particularly striking about the father’s faith is that it is faith that recognizes that more faith is needed.  It is faith seeking more faith.  It is after this faith is expressed by the father that Jesus commands the demon to leave the boy never come back. 

                This leads us to the closing conversation in this story – the private conversation later between Jesus and His disciples about why they could not cast out the boy’s demon:

                Jesus answered, “Throwing this kind of spirit out requires prayer.”

The word “prayer” here, in the larger context of the story, means much more than uttering some words in God’s direction.  It is a way to talk about the same “faith looking for more faith.”  We pray, not simply to get God to do something, but more to intentionally express our dependence on God for all that is beyond our power and/or control.  We pray to connect with the God is already doing something about the situations for which we pray.   

                There was a saying that was used quite often when I was growing up to describe the deeply spiritual saints among us.  We would say something like, “Oh Dan, he’s a man of great prayer” or “Judy is certainly a prayerful woman.”  We didn’t say this to describe the beauty of their public prayers.  We said to speak to their deep dependence on God that was evident in how they approached everything in their life.  It is this kind of living that demons flee from, for they know they are outmatched.  It is this kind of faith that sees miraculous things happen.  May we all aim for that.  We believe. . .help our unbelief!

 

Question:  Can you point to tangible ways that you are working to grow your dependence on God right now?

 

Prayer:  Lord we believe! Help our unbelief! Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for political prisoners held in prisons all over the world right now.

 

Song:  O Come All Ye Faithful – Third Day

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

You Won’t Understand Until This Happens

Mark 9:9-13, NLT - As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.”

Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?”

Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt?  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.”

 

                The inner circle of disciples (Peter, James, and John) just had perhaps the most profound spiritual experience of their lives, witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus upon a mountain top. They have witnessed the return of Moses and Elijah to earth to confer with the transfigured Jesus. Now, Jesus has told them to keep quiet about what they have seen.  While this seems unusual, Jesus does allow for them to share about it after Jesus has been raised from the dead.  This condition for sharing holds the key to understanding why Jesus forbids them to share. 

                The disciples were fully convinced that Jesus was the Messiah for which Israel had waited for dozens of generations.  While they were convinced of that truth, they only thought they understood it.  Jesus knew that, in order for them to understand the nature of His messiahship, they would have to be on the other side of the resurrection.  Jesus’s messiahship can only be understood to any degree through his life, his death, and his resurrection.  Though Jesus has told them multiple times about his suffering, death, and resurrection to come, they still do not believe it will happen.  That’s why they are still baffled by his talk of “rising from the dead.”  They quickly change the subject to Elijah. 

                Jesus knows they won’t accept the coming events until after they have happened, but it will help them to understand when they remember what Jesus told them (multiple times) before all the terrible events began.  So Jesus allows them the grace to change the subject to Elijah.  The answer they ask for is simple.  The return of Elijah is for the preparation for the Messiah.  John the Baptist was that Elijah, though Jesus doesn’t say that plainly.  It is implied in His answer.  What Jesus does make plain is that way John was treated is a foreshadowing of how Jesus Himself will be treated.  John was rejected and killed; Jesus will be rejected and killed.  After that is all over, they will be more able to grasp the true nature of God’s plan for the Messiah.  Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection will somehow usher in God’s kingdom for the entire world – a plan that is still unfolding to this very day.  The same is true of life’s greatest truths.  They only become accessible through the lens of suffering.  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus provide this ultimately clarifying lens.  We shall know the Truth (His name is Jesus) and the truth shall set us free.   

 

Question:  Take some time today to reflect on what you have learned and been able to perceive only because you first had to suffer. 

 

Prayer:  Jesus, we seek You as our messiah, but we too often misunderstand Your ways.  Help us embrace the suffering we inevitably encounter in life as the very key that can unlock deeper understanding, perception, and faith.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Think of people whose names trigger anger in you.  Pray for God to bless them today. 

 

Song:  In the Bleak Midwinter – Susan Boyle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_dO91hQhkU  

Don’t Talk About Things You Don’t Understand

Mark 9:1-10, The Message - Then he drove it home by saying, “This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force.”

Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus.

Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing.

Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the clElijah, Mosesoud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.”

The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus.

Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. “Don’t tell a soul what you saw. After the Son of Man rises from the dead, you’re free to talk.” They puzzled over that, wondering what on earth “rising from the dead” meant.

 

Today’s text, recounting what has been called the Transfiguration, is both incredibly important and inescapably mysterious. What are we to make of this supernatural revelation of glory and visitors from the Hebraic Hall of Fame?  I’ll start by saying, like so many before me, offer no definitive answers.  I’m not even sure such definitive answers are possible.  And maybe that’s part of the message.

                First, Jesus only allows three disciples to go with Him – Peter, James, and John.  The number three is important, because in Jewish tradition, three witnesses are needed to confirm the veracity of an event.  Jesus obviously wants this revelation to be part of the gospel that is proclaimed about Himself, even though He tells the three of His inner circle to not proclaim anything about this event until after the Resurrection.  More on that later. 

                Another important detail is that this event takes place on a mountaintop.  The two visitors from the past, Moses and Elijah, are familiar with mountaintop revelations.  Moses receives the Ten Commandments upon the peak of Mount Sinai.  Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal with a dazzling display of God’s power on Mount Carmel and a few days later, has God whisper a revelatory encouragement to him in a cave up on Mount Horeb (also called Sinai). Moses represents the Law, Elijah the prophets, and Jesus, the fulfillment of both. Mark doesn’t specify which mountain this cosmic huddle takes place on, but to report that it occurred atop a mountain is enough.  The mountain signifies the importance of the revelation.

                As we have said in earlier reflections, Mark’s overarching purpose in writing the gospel is to proclaim and expound upon the conviction the Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.  This event, right in the center of the gospel, has several confirmations.  The presence of Moses confirms several Old Testament allusions to a “prophet like Moses” will come.  The presence of Elijah confirms traditions that Elijah would reappear before the rise of the Messiah.  The audible voice of God is heard from the cloud, confirming Jesus as the Son of God.  Jesus is physically highlighted by the glory/presence of God (Hebrew “shekinah”) All of it takes place atop a mountain, recalling multiple mountaintop revelations from Jewish history.  And it will be confirmed, after Jesus’s resurrection, by Jesus’s three most trusted inner circle leaders. 

                While all of those details seem clear enough, it still doesn’t boil the experience of the Transfiguration down to an answer to the question, “what is the meaning of this mysterious event?”  That’s the thing about mysterious otherworldly experiences;  trying to reduce them to a expedient takeaway misses the point.  Sometimes, all you can do is acknowledge that you have experienced something powerful and holy.  If there is a takeaway, it’s gratitude that you got to be there.  Perhaps Peter should have stopped with after he utters, “Rabbi, this a great moment.”  Sometimes the great moment is the gift.  I’m praying that each of you who reads this has a moment this season that just leaves you grateful you were there. 

 

Question:  Have you ever had a moment that was impossible to explain, but you knew it was a gift?

 

Prayer:  God, deliver us from the notion that we need to be able to explain something in order to be thankful.  Help us embrace Your mystery.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  List and thank God for 10 people you are glad that you know.

 

Song:  Quick note: the church pictured in this video is the “The Church of the Transfiguration,” a church built on the traditional site celebrated as where the Transfiguration took place.  It is so high, that clouds often form inside the church.

Transfiguration – Brian Wren

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJec8-pfVQk

Living "Not-to-lose"

Mark 8:34-9:1, NIV - Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

 

There is a piece of wisdom in sports that is the negative restatement of the popular saying, “play to win.”  I first heard it from my baseball coach when I was 12 years old.  My team, the Dodgers, were in the Jacksonville city tournament and we were one win away from being in the championship game.  About halfway through the game, we were 2 runs ahead.  I think the possibility that we might be on the cusp of being in the last game for the Jacksonville city title set in and we had a nervous and shaky inning where our opponents got a run.  We were now only one run ahead and we were feeling the pressure.  Coach Ramsdale gathered the team at the edge of the dugout and made the following statement.

“You all are here because you are a talented team that has played to win all season long;  but right now, you’re playing not-to-lose.  There is a big difference between those two ways of playing.”

Playing not-to-lose.  When you play that way, you are more concerned with avoiding mistakes than playing to the best of your ability.  The goal becomes protecting your lead instead of doing what got you the lead in the first place.  Worst of all, playing not-to-lose is way more stressful than playing to win because you become worried about what might happen in the future instead of being focused on what IS happening right now.  Generally, playing not-to-lose ends up being a losing strategy. 

                I know it’s a sports metaphor, but playing not-to-lose in life is also a losing strategy, as Jesus is trying to drive home in the passage above. If you spend your whole life trying not-to-die, you end up not really living.  If you become consumed by what will happen after your life is over, you miss the life right in front of you.  Jesus is trying to explain to the disciples (who don’t want to hear it) that He is going to be killed and rise again.  But He isn’t going to be stopped by fear of what will happen to Him; He is living to win, not living not-to-lose.  Jesus invites all who follow Him to live the same way.  To close out this reflection, read the same passage above, but this time in “The Message” version:

Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?

“If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”  

Then he drove it home by saying, “This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force.”  (Mark 8:34-9:1, The Message)

 

Question:  I what ways do we live “not-to-lose” rather than living knowing that we have already won?

 

Prayer:  God, thank you for offering us eternal life and eternal victory over darkness.  Knowing that victory is already secured, help us to live in ways that embrace present sufferings and make sacrifices for Your inbreaking Kingdom instead of protecting what we have. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for students (primary, college, graduate schools)  you know today.

 

Song:  Lose My Soul – TobyMac (featuring Kirk Franklin)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coHKdhAZ9hU