Weight vs. wait

Do you know of someone whose primary modus operandi is “Looking out for number one”?  They assert themselves, they twist the truth, they withhold information, they do whatever they feel is necessary to protect their self interests.

Jesus calls us to something radically different than that.  This is what he said to his first followers,

Mt 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Someone who is meek does not throw his weight around to protect or promote his cause.  Rather there is a humble and gentle attitude that has been born out of confession and contrition.  The meek have come to understand that they are sinners whose future wellbeing is dependent on God’s grace not on human conniving and striving. That understanding leads to patience in dealing with others and confidence that God will come through.

The Psalmist captures it well in Ps 37:

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

The promised blessing associated with the meek is inheriting the earth.  This is not so much a physical tract of land, but rather a promise of provision and security.  A disciple will receive installments on this inheritance here and now as God, who knows what he needs, provides for him.  The fulfillment of this will come when believers inhabit the new heaven and the new earth.

Jesus utters the condemning sound byte (mark 14)

For much of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has been reluctant for his true identity to be openly disclosed, but in Mark 14, he finally identifies himself as the Christ, who will be seated at the right hand of Power (v. 62).  No Jewish rabbi would or could make such a claim.  For a mere mortal to do so would be blasphemy, an affront to the supremacy of God.  Yet Jesus of Nazareth makes that assertion, not because he is a deluded mad man or an impudent con artist, but because he is the divine one, God’s anointed.

Not only Jesus’ enemies, but even his friends stumbled about trying to live in the light of this truth.  Peter was so sure of his unshakable allegiance to Jesus, but his eyes were heavy with sleep while Jesus’ heart was heavy with sorrow (v. 37), his sword was swift when it should have remained in place (v. 47) and his own lips betrayed his devotion as they spoke thrice the words of denial (vv. 68ff).

I am prompted to ask of myself whether I would have fared any better than Peter did.  Better question: Am I right now faring better than that?

Keeping watch for the master of the house (Mark 13)

There is a boat-load of intriguing details in Mark 13 regarding the end of the age that we will not address here.  Let me for now focus your attention on the warning Jesus gives his followers to be on their guard against false christs, prophets and miracle workers (v. 21-22).  Implicit in this is a clear indication that Jesus considers himself as the true Christ, prophet and miracle worker.  A little bit later, in talking about the time following the great tribulation, Jesus refers to the ‘Son of Man’ coming in the clouds with great glory and power.  On one level the phrase ’son of man’ is a third person way of referring to oneself.  On another level it is an allusion to the exalted figure in the prophet Daniel’s vision (see Dan 7:13-14).  Either way it is another indication the Jesus is not just a carpenter from Nazareth, but someone of great significance, who will be appointed to gather the elect of God at the end of the age.  He is the Son who will, at an unknown hour, return to the house as master, desiring to find the servants alert and at work (see vv. 32-37).

How do you understand this?  What does it mean to be alert and at work?

X-ray vision (mark 12)

In Mark 12 Jesus continues to confront the hypocrisy and the duplicity of the religious leaders, who are bent on trapping him in his words.

What struck me as a read through the chapter was that Jesus has the uncanny capacity to see through people and into people and to be able to measure things up for what they really are.  Not only do I see that with the way he dealt with the religious leaders, but also in thee other places.

The scribe comes asking which commandment is the most important.  Jesus replies that loving God with all that you are and loving others as yourself are the greatest.  The scribe and he dialogue further and Jesus discerns that the scribe is not far from the kingdom of God (v. 34).

Although that scribe is moving God-ward that wasn’t the case in general.  In fact, later in the chapter (vv. 38-40) Jesus warns against the piety of the scribes.  Jesus can see through their religious facade to their heart and realizes their public conduct is but vanity.

Third, as Jesus sits across for the temple treasury he notes that many give large amounts that cost them little, while one widow gave a small amount that cost her much.  Again he sees beyond the externals to internal realities.

I believe Jesus is beginning to reveal his identity; he is the “beloved son” (v. 6), the cornerstone (v. 10), and king David’s lord (v. 37).  It is this identity, that is beyond the earthly, that gives him the capacity to accurately judge hearts, those long ago and ours today.

Jesus takes the fifth (mark 11)

There is a lot of interesting stuff happening in Mark 11: donkey rides, fig-tree cursing, and temple cleansing to name a few.  In this post I want to focus on the exchange between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day (see vv. 27-33).

They ask Jesus by what authority he is doing “these things”.  For sure, they must be referring to Jesus prophetic cleansing of the temple grounds.  The outer court was to be a place into which non-Jewish people could gather to pray, but greed had transmuted it into a commercial carnival complete with sideshows and shysters. Jesus turned the tables (better stated over turned the tables) on those on the take.  In so doing, he not only threatened the financial interests of complicit leaders, but his growing popularity with the crowds threatened their power base.  Their query about Jesus’ authority was neither intrigue or curiosity; it was a ruse by which they hoped to discredit and even to destroy him.  Jesus met their duplicity with a question of his own by which to test their sincerity.  A test they subsequently failed and as a result Jesus remained unforthcoming.

Do you think that we will fair any better than those religious leaders?  If we approach Jesus from a place of insincerity and deceit, will we find him responsive to our overtures?

Come here, get away (mark 10)

The above title is what popped into my head as I focused on verses 13-22 of Mark 10.  Here we find two encounters with Jesus.  In the first, the disciples are keeping the children from Jesus.  He becomes indignant and instructs them to let the children come to him.  In the second, a rich young man comes to Jesus for spiritual direction.  Jesus tests his obedience to the 10 commandments and then advises him to sell all he has and follow him.  The children come and are blessed by Jesus; the young man goes away disheartened by Jesus.

At first glance one might see a discontinuity in Jesus’ respones, compassion towards the children but harshness towards the young man.  Yet verse 21 states that Jesus loved the young man and it was out of that heart commitment Jesus advised the selling of the possessions.  Jesus had just finished teaching that one can only enter the Kingdom of God as a little child (v. 15).  Little children enter full of trust in God.  They have not accumulated the baggage of possessions, power, prestige.  They rely on nothing else but God.  That is what the young man needed to learn, and difficult as that lesson is for those that have wealthy, all is possible for God (see v. 27).

Jesus does not tell us what we might like to hear, he tells us what we need to know.  His mission was not to be ‘managed’ by followers or flattered by seekers, it was “to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 45).

No pious hoopla for Jesus (Mark 7)

I was tempted to jump to the end of Mark 7 and write this post around the overwhelmed crowd that says of Jesus, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (see v. 37), but I am not (maybe some of you will comment about that).

My focus in this post is what happened during the first part of the chapter.  The religious ones of the day confront Jesus because his disciples are not following the traditions of the elders; in particular they have failed to ceremonially wash their hands before eating.  Jesus’ rebuttal goes directly to the heart of the matter, which is one’s heart.  The religious leaders were focused on external show-piety, so much so, that their conformity to man-made traditions led them to violate God-given commands.  In follow-up teaching, Jesus makes it clear that it isn’t sub-ceremonial eating that defiles us, but rather the sub-righteous stuff in our hearts.

Who is Jesus?  He is a proclaimer of God’s truth, even when that truth runs counter to our man-made traditions and self-centred preferences.

It doesn’t matter much if I look good, what matters is whether my heart is becoming good.  That is Jesus’ point then and now.

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Son-of-a-gun that is some Son of Man (Mark 2)

As I read through Mark 2 (see here for text) three things about Jesus’ identity struck me.

First, he has the authority to forgive people their sins. This is not the same as me choosing to forgive someone that has wronged me. It is more than that, it is absolving another of their sin, regardless of whether their sin was against me. Only God can do that (see v. 7)!

Last post we talked about Jesus’ priority as not miraculous works but proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. I see more of that in chapter 2. The self-righteous religious leaders of the day are appalled that Jesus spends time with down-and-outers like tax collectors. Jesus responds to their criticism by saying, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). Jesus ‘call’ was an invitation to follow him, to repent and become his apprentice.

The third thing that struck me was this line, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (vv. 27-28).

The phrase ‘Son of Man’ is ambiguous. It could simply be a third-person way of Jesus referring to himself. Maybe their are some echoes of the figure in Daniel 7, who received an everlasting kingdom from God. Echo or no echo, Jesus is talking about himself and he is claiming to be the lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, a day of solemn rest, set aside for God and i

nstituted by Him, marking His rest from the work of creation. How is it that Jesus can claim to be the lord of that day? Only God can claim that! Once more I see that Jesus is not just an itinerant teacher followed by a bunch of “sinners” who don’t know that picking grain is a ‘no no’ on the Sabbath, he is claiming by works and words to be God.

What is my take away? Well I was struck with how the righteous religious ones always seem to be on the wrong side of the issue. They seemed wrapped up in preserving a rules-first status quo. I don’t want to join them in that. Jesus’ call to sinners, of which I am one, goes beyond ‘rules-first’ and instead invites us to a relationship-first apprenticeship. That is what I want to line up with!

Your thoughts?

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Who is Jesus? What does that mean to me?

Over the next eight weeks I plan to work my way through the Gospel of Mark asking two basic questions:

• Who is Jesus?
• What impact does he have on my life today?

I would love for you to join me on that journey and add your own insights and questions.

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Becoming a man of prayer – experiencing forgiveness (ch. 8)

“Many people handle guilt by repressing or internalizing it…others attempt reeducation…some seek to atone for their guilt by becoming religious…some men and women deal with guilt by punishing themselves…The problem with all of these solutions is the same, they don’t work! There is only one effective solution for true moral guilt. That solution is now accessible through prayer.”

In this chapter the author deals with the phrase ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors’ (Mt 6:12). He suggests four stages in order to receive and to offer forgiveness.

First, we need to get honest with God and ask the Holy Spirit to show us concrete sins that we need to confess. Beltz in his prayer notebook has also made a list of character flaws so that he is regularly prompted to pray about these as well. Stage two is agreeing with what the Holy Spirit has shown us and confessing that before God in prayer, giving thanks for the forgiveness that is available to us because of Jesus’ atoning work. Sometimes there is benefit is confessing our sin before another believer (see James 5:16). Thirdly, we seek the power of God to change the defects of our character and the behaviour patterns that are not pleasing to God. Finally we check our attitudes. We need to willfully decide to extend forgiveness to those that have wronged us. This needs to be an ongoing choice so that negative emotions do not embitter us. When we have wronged others we need to attempt to make things right through asking for forgiveness from the one we have wronged and seeking to restore what our sin has damaged.

I have experienced challenges in each of these phases. Sometimes I just want to accept my flaws. Other times I mistakenly try to earn my forgiveness. For sure, it was good to be reminded to persist in choosing to forgive another so that the emotional fall-out has time to heal.

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