ResponsiveReiding

From Mark 14:43-50 / Earnestly Wrong – I identify with the Jesus’ sword wielding disciple. Here is the one he thought to be the Messiah – as he conceived the Messiah to be. He had walked with Him for years. Heard Him speak. Watched His miracles. Partook of miraculously multiplied bread. Seen Him perform countless miracles. Anticipated serving under Him in His Kingdom. Loved Him. Left home and family for Him. It was only natural that everything within him would rise up against this perceived threat, and respond in righteous indignation and defense with genuine and vigorous earnestness. But to step in here, no matter how logical and earnest, would be to act counter to the Scripture’s fulfillment. He did not yet understand the mission of the Redeemer in its fullness as the Old Testament had laid it out. And I wonder if we too can fail to respond to the threats, dangers and challenges of our culture and generation, in earnest and vigorous ways, which fail to understand how things will be in the earth until the King returns to take up His earthly throne. To act almost as though we are to bring the Kingdom about through politics and power, rather than through the transformation of men’s souls by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Have we forgotten that Jesus Himself told us that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His Church? And have we forgotten, victory is through the Cross, not the voting booth? Preach and live the Gospel. This is our call. Lift up Christ. And as it is written concerning His resurrection: “He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” Believe it. It will be so.

From Mark 14:32-42 / In this passage we see more of the inscrutability of God’s love than perhaps any other place in all of Scripture. It contains the single greatest example of unanswered prayer. And aren’t we glad.

We all face decisions. Some easy, some hard.

But put yourself in God the Father’s shoes at this moment.

His Son, His only begotten Son – THE Son, is praying.

He appeals to the Father’s absolute sovereignty and power – “All things are possible for you” He says.

And He is right.

The Father does not HAVE to save anyone.

He can at this moment, deliver His own Son – and let the rebellious race go to Hell.

He is under no obligation.

There is nothing constraining Him but one thing – His own heart.

Out of nothing but pure love, He willingly sends His Son to that Cross in our place.

He didn’t have to.

He wanted to.

He could remain just and eternally condemn us all.

He could remain full of mercy and grace – without it rising to the level of this sacrificial act.

But He refused.

It was “possible”, but not if He was going to save us.

Hearing His perfect Son’s pleas.

Knowing His agony.

Seeing His “distress” and “trouble” (vs. 33).

Knowing He was “sorrowful, even unto death” (vs. 34).

Yet still, He will not relent.

He sees the Son’s willing heart.

It must melt His own.

It can do no other.

Yet the plan remains.

The deliverance will not come.

The Son will die – though the Father can freely and in all holiness and righteousness choose to spare the Son and cast us aside.

But the love that “will not let me go” prevails.

What love is this?

What a Father is this?

What a Son is this?

What a salvation is this?

Words, cannot express.

From Mark 14:26-31 / Those (all-too RARE) times when I want to beat myself up over some failure, my blessed wife is wont to bring me back to reality with these words: “To be disappointed in yourself, is to have believed in yourself.” Sobering, and so true. We are a people who seem to be endlessly convinced we are so much better than we are. So much less marred by sin than we are. I do not point a finger at Peter and the rest here for thinking they will be brave and constant in the dark hours ahead. They (like me) underestimate their own weakness, and overestimate their own fidelity and courage. And yet here is our Redeemer – omnisciently aware of their real condition, and what He was about to suffer not just at the hands of His persecutors, but in the abandonment of His loved ones. And what does He do? He tells them irrespective of all, He WILL rise again. And that once He has, He will not have abandoned them even in the face of their cruelest denial of Him. But will go before them to Galilee, to see them again. The confidence of the Christian is not that we will remain so wonderfully faithful, but that because He is so amazingly faithful, we cannot be lost. He will never deny His own. We rest in Him. Not in ourselves, our performance, or any imagined vein of uprightness – just Him. Oh praise His glorious name!

From Mark 14:22-25 . Communion & Deliverance. It is interesting that Jesus was crucified not on the Day of Atonement, but rather at Passover. Passover is celebrated April 7-14, while atonement follows later, Sept. 26. But stands out with Passover, is the theme of deliverance. And so it is with Jesus bringing the type and shadow of the Old Testament Passover to its fulfillment. Even the precursor to Passover held this theme as seen in Gen. 14 when Melchizedek and Abraham meet and bread and wine are symbolically shared regarding the deliverance from the kings who raided Sodom and captured Lot and his family. Then we have the 1st. “Passover” in Exodus 11 and deliverance from the slavery of Egypt. And there will yet be a final fulfillment in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb – Rev. 19, which is concurrent with the binding of Satan and the False Prophet, deliverance from the dominance of “Babylon” (this world’s system) the influence of Satan & the False Prophet. Jesus here says He will not drink it again until He does so in the manifested Kingdom of God. There is (as seen in Exodus) a deliverance to be had before full possession of the “land”. And so we see how this deliverance theme for the Believer is seen in: Rom. 7:21-8:1 / Delivered from the Law of sin and death – “sin and you will die” to “Believe and you will live”. NO CONDEMNATION! Col. 1:11-13 / Delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of His Dear Son. 1 Thess. 1:9-10 / Delivered from the Wrath to come. Heb. 2:14-15 / Delivered from the fear of Death.

Oh praise the Lamb of God, by whose blood, all who trust in Him are delivered from all of this by His sacrifice.

From Mark 14:13-15 / A God of Means.

Two things worth considering here:

1 – One does wonder, why Jesus used this method in directing the disciples to find a place for the Passover. Why make them look for the man carrying the jar of water? Why not just give them the address or the name of the master of the house? Perhaps so that they know that all of God’s purposes are carried out by MEANS and not through independent miracles? To see He is Lord over the mundane and all other things – not just “the Church”? How would the timing work to bump into the man? How many men would be carrying a jar of water in that place at that time? And how could it be that he would both have a place available, prepared, and be instantly amenable to their using it? What a grand display of how they will be able to trust the Father’s Providence once He is gone from them: Psalm 37:23-24 “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.”

2 – Then again, such things may not be answerable at all. And we must be humble enough to stop where the revelation does, and not NEED to pry past our need to obey. He did it this way because it was wisest and best in His sight. That is enough.

In both cases, the need is for us to trust Him fully – in everything.

From Mark 14:10-11 / Jesus: A means to an end? What a contrast to Mary in the verses above. Mary sought to pour out on Jesus whatever the cost. Judas sought to gain from Jesus, for a mere 30 pieces of silver. Mary poured out what would have been the near equivalent of a year’s salary. Judas sold Jesus for about a month’s pay in his day. How cheaply he valued the Savior. But the real contrast is found in this: Judas saw Jesus as a means to an end. Mary saw Jesus AS the end. And this is keen lesson for us. Do we ever really seek Him – for Him? Do we find Him lovely? Relationship to Him worth pursuing? Equating Heaven not so much with streets of gold and freedom from this sin-wracked world – as with beholding the face of Him who died for our sins, and rose for our justification? When Jesus prays in John 17, He pleads with the Father: “I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” What must the wonder of seeing Him in His glory be, if He makes that the highest gift He can think of to ask the Father to grant us? Older theologians used to call that the “beatific vision.” A vision so glorious, that it is instantly, utterly and permanently transformative. If being with and seeing Jesus isn’t our end, but we seek Jesus only for what He can do for us, we are living so woefully below what He has made us for. Don’t settle for less than the Son of God Himself as your true and final reward.

From Mark 14:1-9 / She Has Done What She Could – Mary (if that’s who it was) does what is misunderstood by some, scorned and questioned by others, and appreciated only by Jesus. But she did, what SHE could. Two things stick out:

a. She broke the flask which contained the costly perfumed oil with which she anointed Jesus for His burial. Her warm and not dull heart didn’t just uncork the vessel and dab a bit on Jesus, she “wasted” it all on Him. Oh that I had such a heart to lavishly waste all I have for Him. She, held nothing back. Breaking the flask meant there was no going back, no withholding and no thought of anything other than that this is what she had at hand, and that it was fitting to pour it all out on the Redeemer of her soul.

b. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought, it was what SHE could do. Nothing more, nothing less. Bishop Lightfoot notes that the Rabbins thought it was unseemly for a man to be anointed with aromatic oils. It was foppish and indecent. Culturally unacceptable and done only by someone who was boorish and gauche. And Jesus not only endured it, He praised her for it. He made her extravagant, though outwardly awkward act of adoration an example to be celebrated perpetually. How He accepts what we do on the basis of what WE can do, at that moment with our resources. God isn’t looking for what we can’t do – don’t be paralyzed by that – but dearly receives what we CAN do, however unseemly or misunderstood that might be perceived by others. Let the heart warmed by His love and grace pour out naturally in response, without fear that some others will look down. Offer what you can to Him. He will receive it. And proper worship will be done. Father, grant me Mary’s lavish impulse.

From Mark 14:1-9 / A Portrait in Courage – What a contrast there is between the chief priests and scribes in verses 1-2, and Mary in 3-9. Each of us has reasons for what we do. And one of the most motivating is what others think of us. We usually think of the term peer pressure in this regard. We all have that someone or someones whose opinion of us, how we imagine we’ll be seen in their eyes is – even if unconsciously – paramount. For the chief priests and scribes, they feared the public opinion of the people. And so they were paralyzed. They feared the push-back of the people, but not the condemnation of their God for seeking to murder the Son of God. They made their choice. As cowards. Mary in contrast fears the opinions of none but her Savior. She suffers scorn, abuse and chastisement from the very disciples of Jesus. But nothing can put her off from this lavish expression of love and gratitude toward Him. Was it unseemly? We’ll look at that again. In the end, it doesn’t matter – for it was received and delighted in by her Lord. So maybe the world thinks us old-fashioned, out of touch, even on “the wrong side of history.” If we are on the side of our Savior in being quietly steadfast in pointing to His death burial and resurrection for our sins and justification – let others think what they will. She, even above the apostles here, believed what He had said about His upcoming death, and responded out of faith. That is the courage we need today as well in making His sacrifice known. And let us be clear – it is His atoning death which must be indispensably proclaimed. The message of the Cross must be first and foremost. Let others think or say what they will.

From Mark 13:32-37 / Sacred Repetition – Ancient writing was different than today, in that one did not have at their disposal the tools we commonly use for emphasis. To highlight something, we can bold, underline, italicize, highlight with a color, capitalize, or any combination of these and others. The Biblical emphases were most often by way of repetition. So when Jesus would say “truly, truly” before saying something, He was adding emphasis to it. And in these closing 7 verses of His prophetic discourse, Jesus’ uses that technique powerfully. First is: “no one knows”, “you do not know”, and “you do not know”. All referring to the time of His return. You’d think we’d get that. Hal Lindsey doesn’t know. Chuck Smith didn’t know. Harold Camping didn’t know. Charles Taze Russell didn’t know. Jack Van Impe didn’t know. And you can cancel out Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Glenn Beck, and a genuine plethora of others. If we didn’t get it, we need to NO ONE knows, and YOU DO NOT know. No one WILL know. Don’t listen to anyone who says they do. They are either lying or deceived. I’m pretty sure “NO ONE”, rules everybody out. Second is: “keep awake”, “stay awake” and “stay awake.” In Matthew’s fuller rendering of this discourse, it specifically refers to taking on a lax attitude toward personal holiness in the intervening years before His return. So we can sum up Jesus’ eschatological preparations for His people in these 2 summarizing statements: No one knows when He’s coming, so stay awake in anticipation of meeting Him. You can throw all your timeline charts out. Or maybe get your money back.

From Mark 13:28-31 / Lesson from The Fig Tree – Those who major on prophecies regarding Jesus’ second coming place a lot of weight on His analogy of the fig tree here. It is often postulated that Israel is the fig tree, and count the time of its reconstitution in 1948 to be the time when it “put out its leaves” – and therefore Jesus must return within the generation dated from that time. Since 40 or 50 years was typically considered a generation – of all the date setting schemes based upon the idea, all have failed. Leaving the prophecy speculations to others, perhaps it is better simply to understand Jesus’ assurance to His redeemed ones here. That the phrase may not imply Jesus is ready to return at that moment, but rather is a means of comforting them and us , by letting all know He is not distant, uninvolved or disinterested. Even in the hour of the abomination of desolation, wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes and global upheaval – He is near at hand. He never leaves His own. Never forsakes us. If Heaven and Earth themselves were to pass away in some un-imagined conflagration or disaster – His promises, His Word not only cannot, but WILL NOT pass away. We are safe in Him.