ResponsiveReiding

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.

From Mark 13:24-26 / Seeing The Son of Man Coming With Great Power and Glory – As with this entire passage, working through such prophecies takes a lot of careful consideration. And contrary to some popular concepts of this scene, let me offer an alternative. If the “stars” and “powers” in verse 26, form the antecedent to “they” in vs. 26 – then this portion is a reference to the angelic hosts observing the ascension of Jesus to His judgment throne. “Powers” is being used the way it is later in Rom. 8:38, Eph. 1:21; 3:10 & 6:12. And as they observe (especially His angelic adversaries) His Kingdom beginning to make its advance upon the earth, they know their time is short. And the age of grace, with the righteous angelic hosts busy at work, will have dawned. So Jesus’ ascension is a cosmic event. All the angels, principalities and powers will witness how the elect are being drawn to their King from this point on, in spite of all the opposition Satan and his minions can muster. For “He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” (I Cor. 15:25) And so it shall be. Christ will rule over all. Oh happy day! Keep looking up Christian. Hell cannot stop Him.

From Mark 13:14-23 / Abomination of Desolation / There are perhaps no more debated words from Jesus than these. Oceans of ink have been spilled in trying to define with absolute certainty just what the “abomination of desolation” is, and its importance. It certainly has reference to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, and perhaps also to a future event nearer Christ’s return. But in either case, the warning is powerful. When God sends judgment, it is devastating. And there is nothing in this world to be clung to in that hour. Nothing material, religious, seemingly supernatural, nothing. So He warns His hearers then, and us now, to flee the destruction to come; to flee to Him. Politics cannot save. Financial stores cannot save. Family cannot save. No society or culture can save. God is going to judge this world in righteousness, and there is deliverance only in the Son of God, who shed His blood so that all who believe in Him, might have forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to the Father, and eternal life. So we too must be on our guard. He has told us all of this beforehand. What a gracious Savior.

From Mark 13:9-13 / The Proof Is In The Pudding – As Jesus continues His discourse on both Jerusalem’s destruction and the intervening years before His return – He does not paint a picture of Christians living “their best life now” by worldly standards. Just the opposite. 1st, He gives the Disciples some assurance: Yes, there will be great upheaval – but the end? Be aware of a global plan of getting the Gospel to permeate the earth first. Do not be drawn into schemes which look for doomsday too soon. 2nd, because the Spirit will give them things to say when persecuted, does not mean they will be given epic, earth shattering things to say at that moment. They may even be given things to say that are very small and of no seeming import to those who are persecuting them – as testimonies before God of His judgment upon the persecutors. They (and we) are responsible to speak the truth. We are not responsible for how it is received. 3rd, Many profess many things. But those who are true – endure. Those who are not, fail along the way. Do not be fooled, those who do not endure, were never His. The proof of genuine conversion, is endurance, persisting in trusting and living for Jesus – to the end.

From Mark 13:-18 / Birth Pains – It is important to read these words of Jesus carefully. In His opening to unfolding when Jerusalem will fall (which came about in 70 AD) He also gives them 2 warnings. Two things which will characterize the entire time between His ascension and His return. 1. False Christ’s and self-proclaimed Messiahs will pop up all over the place. There will be many of them, and they will lead many astray. The Jim Joneses, David Koreshes, Sun Myung Moons and countless others are to be expected. Ignore them. 2. Wars, rumors of wars, geo-political upheavals, earthquakes and famines will be prevalent too. But these, are just the “beginnings of the birth pains.” They are not the “signs of the times” that so many assure us prove Jesus must return in our lifetime. He may. But since these things will be part and parcel of the whole intervening time – His counsel is to be aware that this is the way it will be all along. He will summarize how we are to live in this knowledge in vs. 37 “And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” That’s all. Don’t run, hide, panic or grow overly anxious. Stay awake. Follow Him. When He comes – you won’t be able to miss it.

From Mark 12:41-44 / Giving – God is not looking for people with a great capacity to serve, but with great willingness. We so often confuse the two and imagine if we cannot do a lot – then what we CAN do, is not acceptable. But it is not so. He only asks we be willing to do what it is in our hands to do. In the parable of the talents (a talent being a sum of money), He says that The Master gave something “to each according to his ability.” God will not demand of you what He has entrusted to someone else, nor vice versa. And such abilities often change with age, resources and circumstances. He knows your gifts and abilities, and your inabilities. And He only seeks your willingness to be used according to what you CAN do, not according to what you can’t. But let us take note of the dear woman here – when it came to God’s service, she gave proportionally more than those who gave out of their surplus. Know well – HE knows well what or service costs us. He is never blind to our “two small copper coins.” Note too, that while Jesus’ criticisms are most often in terms of groups or categories – His commendations are most often individual.

From Mark 12:38-40 / Beware! / Three things stand out in this short passage.

a. When Jesus says to beware of “the scribes”, He is not speaking of individual personalities, but of a school of thought and action. The chief issue being hypocrisy. Teaching one thing, but doing something else. In this case, preaching and teaching Biblical morality, while having hearts steeped in sinful motives. b. His criticism is not for the mere cause of criticizing – this is a warning of love to those who might end up influenced by this thought system. c. It is a loving rebuke to those already in this thought system. He is seeking their deliverance in the process – not merely lodging a complaint. Though as God and Judge – He can in fact lodge such complaints in ways we cannot. But note this – those who have the Scriptures and imagine themselves to know the truth are held to a higher standard than those who don’t have such benefits. We are responsible for the grace we have received. See: Isa. 5.