More Important Than Serving the Poor?

Mark 14:1-11, CEB - It was two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and legal experts through cunning tricks were searching for a way to arrest Jesus and kill him.  But they agreed that it shouldn’t happen during the festival; otherwise, there would be an uproar among the people.

Jesus was at Bethany visiting the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. During dinner, a woman came in with a vase made of alabaster and containing very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke open the vase and poured the perfume on his head.  Some grew angry. They said to each other, “Why waste the perfume?  This perfume could have been sold for almost a year’s pay and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me.  You always have the poor with you; and whenever you want, you can do something good for them. But you won’t always have me.  She has done what she could. She has anointed my body ahead of time for burial.  I tell you the truth that, wherever in the whole world the good news is announced, what she’s done will also be told in memory of her.”

Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to give Jesus up to them.  When they heard it, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he started looking for an opportunity to turn him in.

 

                There is an awful lot to say about this passage, so I will try to economical in my highlights.

                First,  The passage begins and ends with the conspiracy to stop Jesus permanently.  In the beginning, it is the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus’s known opponents since His ministry started three years ago.  At the end, they gain the help of one of Jesus’s closest friends.  The implication here is that any of us on the continuum between friend and foe are capable of betraying the One who would save us.     

                In the middle, we have the controversial story an extremely expensive gift lavished on Jesus. He is anointed with perfume that is worth a year’s wages.  Most Christians have heard this story before and know that Jesus defends the woman’s incredible, if not wasteful gift.  But before we side too quickly with Jesus, I invite you to hear the legitimate protest.   What is your income in a year?  Hold that figure in your mind for a moment. Have you ever given someone a gift worth that amount of money just to show your love for them?  To put this in perspective, the average engagement ring given in America costs 4% of the annual salary of the person who gives it.  Also keep in mind that the woman would have been able to take care of her and/or her family for a year by selling this perfume instead of offering the gift.  To say that this is an extravagant gift is an understatement. 

                So why does Jesus defend the gift.  Jesus gives us a couple of clues in His answer.  First, he highlights that it is her choice to give the gift (She has done what SHE could).  The disciples don’t get to decide what is done with this woman’s resource; she does.  Second, Jesus points out that this is a once-in-history opportunity.  The compulsion to help the poor never ends.  This moment of uncalculated love on the woman’s part has marked a moment that will only happen once in history – the death of God’s Son.  There are rare moments where we have an opportunity to do something beautiful out of love that transcend conventional wisdom about counting the cost.  The extravagance of the gift is not the point.  The love that doesn’t care about the extravagance is.  Obviously, on almost all occasions, supporting the poor would be a better choice than wasting expensive resources on a fleeting gesture. We are reminded here though that we should not judge someone whose heart is driven by only by selfless love.  This woman’s gift foreshadows the unthinkable gift that Jesus Himself is about to give her and all the rest of us.   

                Jesus’s death is made even more imminent because Judas, the friend and pledged disciple of Jesus, helps the authorities do what they could not do easily without him – arrest Jesus discreetly so as not to attract the attention of the crowds of people gathered for Passover.  The fact that it is Passover further intensifies the cosmic symbolism of a sacrifice being given to save a people.  Jesus will become the forever sacrifice for all of us.  This rich and poignant story marks the beginning of Mark’s account of that sacrifice. 

 

Questions:  Two sacrifices are highlighted in this passage:  the sacrificial gift of the unnamed woman and the sacrifice about to be made by Jesus.  As you consider the striking comparison between them, how does what you have offered to Jesus compare? 

 

Prayer:  Dear God, may our hearts be guided by Your presence within us as seek to care for those in need and express our love to You.  May we not shy away from sacrificial giving of ourselves and our resources for Your purposes as we respond to Your sacrificial love for us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the congregation where you worship as they prepare for the Lenten season.

 

Song:  Lead Me to The Cross – Hillsong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuR3jXrIiNQ

What Will We Doing When He Shows Up?

Mark 13:33-37, CEB - Watch out! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming.  It is as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert.  Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come,whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak.  Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping.  What I say to you, I say to all: Stay alert!”

 

                As the “Little Apocalypse” of Mark 13 draws to close, Jesus drives home the main point with a simple parable which foreshadows what is about to happen.  The owner of the household (Jesus) is about to leave his servants (disciples) in charge.  They are to attend to their duties conscientiously knowing that the owner is coming back.  Not knowing when, they have to be always watchful to see His return.  They do not want to be caught not doing their job.  Vigilance is key!

                Constant vigilance, however, is also very difficult for humans.  We are easily distracted.  We get bored. We get tired.  We get lost. We lose our focus.  Sometimes, we even lose hope.  This is even more challenging when the vigilance we are to maintain has been charged to us by another. I am way better at staying focused on what I want to do than a task given to me by someone else.  What about you?

                What is the work that God has given you to do?  How’s it going?  If Jesus showed up later today, what would be your reaction?  Spend some time today thinking about these questions. 

 

Prayer:  Lord, forgive me for getting distracted, bored, tired, lost, and/or unfocused.  Renew my hope.  Make it clear what my focus should be at this point in my life and help me stay alert. Amen,

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who life situation has changed recently in a significant way.  Pray for a fruitful transition.

 

Song:  I Wish We'd All Been Ready - DC Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu_fm0oedGU

Appropriate Urgency

Mark 13:28-33, NLT -  “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.  In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that his return is very near, right at the door.  I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.  And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert!

 

                We talked last time about what theologians have called the “delay of the Parousia,” which is a fancy way to say the delay of the Second Coming of Jesus.  In the text above, Mark’s gospel proclaims that “, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place.” Obviously, that generation did “pass from the scene” before Jesus returned.  Two thousand years later, we are still waiting. 

                Because of this scholars and theologians have made countless attempts to explain this delay.  I have spent collective hours reading these words written by people way more qualified than I to make such an attempt at resolving this problem.  Nonetheless, I am not overly convinced that any explanation is satisfactory.  This is one of those places where I have concluded, for the moment, that we may never know exactly what Jesus means here until we can ask Him someday.  I have a quite a list forming of such questions that have been gathered over my half-century of living. 

                I do have to say though, that this issue, the delay of the Parousia, is not at the top of my list.  After all, Jesus clearly states that though it seems imminent, no one knows and will ever know except God when it will happen.  If I cannot know when it will happen, then all I can do is be prepared now for when it does.  This is what Jesus says is the point; “And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard!” Live with watchful and expectant hope. . .this is our proper approach to life even two thousand years later. 

 

Question:  What would you do differently if you honestly expected the Second Coming to happen as soon as tomorrow?

 

Prayer:  Lord, forgive us for our nonchalance concerning Your expected return.  Install in us a holy urgency about how we should live.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus: Continue to pray for the nation of turkey as more than three times the number of people killed on 9/11 have been killed by this earthquake.

 

Song:  Soon and Very Soon – Birmingham Community Gospel Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5KIwGk_gAY

The Return of Jesus

Mark 13:24-27, NLT -  “At that time, after the anguish of those days,

the sun will be darkened,

    the moon will give no light,

the stars will fall from the sky,

    and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory.  And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.

 

                I remember as a child in Sunday School learning about the details in the reading above.  Someday, Jesus will appear in the sky and everyone will see Him.  His army of angels will gather all us Christians from everywhere an take us to heaven to be with Him forever.  I also remember constantly being reminded that this could happen any day.  Even now, decades later, I think about those images anytime I take time to notice the clouds and sky.  I find myself rehearsing what I was taught all those years ago; “it could happen any day.”  I also think about the fact that Jesus’s followers have been doing the same thing I’ve been doing for two thousand years now.  Someday, we will all be together with Jesus. 

                Jesus used imagery from the prophets Isaiah and Daniel to paint this picture of His return.  In Revelation, we have another version of how the return of Jesus will happen that uses quite different imagery.  Other visions of the return of Jesus have been offered throughout the New Testament as well. Even more writings were offered that never made it into the Bible. Though the details across all of these accounts vary greatly, they all end with the same result.  Jesus and all His people will be gathered together.

                Even as a child, I wondered how everyone all over the world could see Jesus in the clouds at the same time.  But to think that way misses the point.  The point is that we all get to be together with Jesus someday.  This is where history is headed no matter what it might seem like in our uncertain times.  Though I still think about Jesus every time I look toward the clouds, I don’t care if the result comes about in exactly that way.  I just work at reminding myself about the end of the story.  I work at trusting that the God who will bring it all about is moving it toward that glorious ending. 

 

Question:  What is the picture that you hold in your head and heart regarding the return of Jesus?

 

Prayer:  Lord, come quickly.  Help us to trust you in the meantime and be ready when You come to gather us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the people of Turkey in the wake of the disastrous earthquake a few days ago.

 

Song: The Great Day – Michael W. Smith

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo_BPNEGBgU&t

“Abomination That Causes Desolation”

Mark 13:14-23, NIV - “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out.  Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.  How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!  Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.

“If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.  At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.  For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

 

                We continue our uncomfortable journey through “The Little Apocalypse” that is Mark 13 with some graphic descriptions of the things Jesus says are coming in the near future.  Remembering that Mark is written in the time when those terrible things have happened, we can understand how these words would offer comfort to those experiencing unprecedented suffering.  To describe these coming events in a way that His hearers would understand, Jesus recalls a prophecy from the Old Testament Book of Daniel.  The term “abomination that causes desolation” is a direct quote from Daniel that most scholars believe refers to the practice of the Greek King Antiochus IV began of offering pagan sacrifices in the Hebrew Temple.  To bring this event in history to mind would serve to describe another heinous violation of the Temple of God that is to come, namely the Temple’s utter destruction in AD 70. 

                At the time that happened, Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem and laid siege to the city for many months.  It was a time when things got so bad people had begun to resort to rampant crime and even cannibalism.  Eventually, the entire city was burned to the ground including the Temple.  The early historian Josephus reported that a million people died during that siege, although more modern historians question that figure.  In any case, it was a time of “distress unequaled from the beginning” that was seared into the psyches of Mark’s first readers in the same way the 20^th century Jewish Holocaust would be in the minds of those who lived through it.  Jesus said it would have been even worse if God had not directly intervened to “cut short those days.”  A confirmation of this truth is that Jesus had taken care to warn them before it happened so that they would be more prepared when the time came. 

                The message here to Mark’s early readers is that God has not abandoned them.  Though the time is unequivocally evil, God will preserve God’s people.  There is life on the other side of this terrible time.  Over the couple of centuries since Mark’s gospel was written, Christians have gained similar reassurance from Mark 13 in times of great suffering.  The same comfort can be gleaned from Jesus’s followers in the present and the future. To say it another way, I’ll borrow a similar reassurance from Jesus recorded in the book of John:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

                We currently live in a time when the Church has been decimated by a combination of a global pandemic, in-fighting about hot-button cultural issues, seismic shifts in technology/politics/culture and many other systemic causes.  Churches are closing at an unprecedented rate in America and people are understandably concerned for the future.  Though times are not as dire as first-century Jerusalem, the same hope offered by Jesus then is available now.  God is not “surprised” by these events.  God has tried to warn us and prepare us.  God will be with us through all of it no matter how bad it gets.  We will never be abandoned by our God.  More on that next time.

 

Question:  What would you imagine it would be like to live in a time of great distress like that of the first-century inhabitants of Jerusalem?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, these warnings are hard and even scary at times to read, much less full understand.  Help us gain a sense of your reassuring presence in the midst of our life’s darkest times.  Help us cling to the truth that when everything else in our life fails, You are still God. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia.

 

Song:  Jesus, I Have My Doubts – John Foreman

This is a playlist of two videos; if you click on it, it will play both in succession.  The first is a helpful introduction that explains the thoughts behind the lyrics. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGir8S9zAgY&list=PLWJPPes3ocEMVOYSX3XOcxFTj82YRWfBa

Not Winning Any Popularity Contests

Mark 13:9-13, CEB - “Watch out for yourselves. People will hand you over to the councils. You will be beaten in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me so that you can testify before them.  First, the good news must be proclaimed to all the nations.  When they haul you in and hand you over, don’t worry ahead of time about what to answer or say. Instead, say whatever is given to you at that moment, for you aren’t doing the speaking but the Holy Spirit is.  Brothers and sisters will hand each other over to death. A father will turn in his children. Children will rise up against their parents and have them executed.  Everyone will hate you because of my name. But whoever stands firm until the end will be saved.

 

                Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, people who live according to the way God leads consistently run into resistance and often open hostility from others, even others who claim to be people of faith as well.  Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery.  The people Moses led constantly grumbled against him.  Saul tried to kill David multiple times.  Job’s own wife told him to “curse God and die.”  And the prophets . . . not a one of them escaped open resistance.  Some have even tried to create an axiom that asserts that you’re not doing the right thing if you’re not encountering resistance.  I’m not sure this statement holds true all the time, but I am quite convinced that if you consistent follow God’s leading, you WILL, at some point, encounter people who at least question your direction.   

                So Jesus’s words above should not be surprising at all to people familiar with the history from which Jesus springs.  What is surprising is that Jesus get specific.  Family members will turn on each other, even parents against their own children.  Believers will be brought before councils and even rulers to give an account of themselves.  What is even more surprising is that Jesus instructs his followers to welcome such trials as an opportunity.  When else, after all, would a normal citizen get to witness to their faith before a king?  The resistance encountered presents previously forbidden chances to move the mission forward.  Mark does not include Matthew’s great commission, but it is here in this passage; “First, the good news must be proclaimed to all the nations.”  Resistance and hostility actually serve that mission.

                Jesus also includes two important encouragements in these instructions.  First, when those unforeseen opportunities present themselves to give an account of your faith, the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say.  So instead of crumbling under pressure, we trust and expect that our words and actions in such circumstances will come to us via God’s direct leadership.  Second, Jesus assures us that no matter what may happen to us as a result of living out our faith, we “will be saved.”  We should note that almost all of Jesus’s 12 primary disciples who are hearing these instructions will martyred for their faith.  So Jesus’s promise of being saved must mean a rescue from beyond death.  There is a vindication from God that transcends even those who die for their faith.  Mark’s first readers needed to hear this because many were dying for their faith.  There are still many hundreds of Christians martyred each year in our own time who, along with their families, need Jesus’s assurance offered here.

                For most of us who do not risk our lives expressing our faith, these words of Jesus as till crucial for us to hear and digest.  We need to hear that doing the thing God wants us to do will often not popular.  Though we may not face violence, we will most likely face ridicule and or sacrifice our popularity at some point.  Many times, when we face such situations, our tendency is to get quiet, perhaps even mute.  It’s not pleasant to know people in our faces are not with us, so we feel pressure to simply go with the flow, or at least, not continue to move against it.  Jesus reminds us that these situations can be an opportunity to allow out true faith to be seen and possibly heard when it might not have been otherwise.  If we will embrace those opportunities and rely on the Spirit, we will be led in what to do and say.  And regardless of what happens as a result, final vindication will eventually be ours. 

 

Questions:  Can you think of times when you felt pressure to hide or minimize your identity as a follower of Jesus because you sensed resistance or hostility?  What did you do?  What will you do next time?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, sometimes, being a bearer of Your name seems to put us at odds with those around us.  Help us navigate the balance between being at odds with others and being at odds with You. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those Christians around the world who face fierce persecution for their faith in Christ.

 

I Am Not Ashamed – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AStr4gfQGTM

The Trouble w/ Trouble

 

Mark 13:5-8, CEB - Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you.  Many people will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the one!’ They will deceive many people.  When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet.  Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. These things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end.

 

                As we make our way through Mark’s “Little Apocalypse” (Mark 13), we hear Jesus, speaking a couple of days before His crucifixion, trying to prepare His disciples for the things that are to come.  By the time Mark writes his gospel and people begin to read it, many of the events Jesus warned them about have already happened.  More than a couple of “self-proclaimed saviors” after Jesus have come and gone, creating disillusionment in their wake.  Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, fires, and other natural disasters have occurred.  Revolts have been mounted against the Roman Empire and crushed.  The Temple has been destroyed with “not even one stone . . . left upon another.” Jesus warns there will be even more calamity. 

                Two centuries later, the calamities just keep coming.  Depending on how you count, there have been at least 250 wars since Jesus’s crucifixion with countless more “rumors of war.”  Hundreds of would-be saviors have taken leadership with boundless hope with varying degrees of success, but none have been “the one.”  The natural disasters seem to overlap each other in our day.  The word of Jesus still remains.  More suffering will come before the end.  The first piece of instruction Jesus gives for such times is to keep watch. 

                Jesus elaborates on what He means by this later in Mark 13, but for now we know it involves at least two things.  First, don’t be deceived by those who claim to have all the answers or solutions to the challenges we face.  We already a Savior and His name is Jesus.  The more we invest in our relationship with Jesus, the more likely we are to recognize Him in the Second Coming.  Many missed the opportunity to embrace and submit to Jesus’s lordship while he walked the earth.  Many more will miss His re-emergence because they do not know who for whom they are looking. 

                Second, suffering will never have the last word.  If you see or are experiencing suffering, know that redemption and deliverance will come.   Keep watching for it. Keep expecting it.  This is counterintuitive because, when we suffer, we tend to focus on the fact that we are suffering.  But suffering is but the preamble to deliverance and redemption.  The worst thing is never the last thing because the last thing is redemption.  Watching for that is our job in the midst of calamity. 

                This is not a new instruction.  Psalm 121 is the ancient recitation of this focus on redemption when redemption seems far away.  We will end today’s reflection with Eugene Peterson’s translation of this Hebrew wisdom:

I look up to the mountains;

    does my strength come from mountains?

No, my strength comes from God,

    who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

He won’t let you stumble,

    your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.

Not on your life! Israel’s

    Guardian will never doze or sleep.

God’s your Guardian,

    right at your side to protect you—

Shielding you from sunstroke,

    sheltering you from moonstroke.

God guards you from every evil,

    he guards your very life.

He guards you when you leave and when you return,

    he guards you now, he guards you always.

 

Question:  What are your typical thought patterns when going through a tough time?

 

Prayer:  Pray through the Psalm above, inserting your own thoughts and cries to God as the scripture prompts you.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are waiting for news or developments about a big issue (health, job, family member, etc).

 

Song:  Psalm 121 – Kristyn Getty, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFa6iSP_XQ&t