Day Seventy: Mark 14-16

In Mark 14 we see a response that Jesus describes as “such a good thing.”  This response, from a woman whose name is not given to us here, becomes for us a powerful picture of just how much Jesus is worth, and the kind of response that he deserves.  

While Jesus is in Bethany, a woman comes to him and pours an alabaster flask of ointment on his head.  You see, it was customary in this culture to anoint the head of a noble guest with oil as a symbol of hospitality and respect.  

But something much deeper is going on here.  This alabaster flask was much more costly than normal oil.  People would us alabaster bottles to store the most costly ointments, in containers with long necks, which would then be broken and poured out all at once. These kinds of ointments were used to anoint the body at the burial of a loved one.  Commentators guess that she was saving this ointment for her own burial, or the burial of a close family member.  Verse 5 says that this ointment was worth a year’s wages.

And it is this ointment, this most precious of her possessions, that she breaks open and pours out on Jesus. She lavishes her cherished treasure on Jesus.  She gives no thought to decorum or proper etiquette or if there might be a better time to do this: her only desire is to give of herself with no reserve or holding back of any kind. 

Notice the response of the disciples.  They immediately are annoyed, and they say, “What a waste.  This could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”  But Jesus immediately turns it back on them, letting them know that her response was right. 

Jesus says, wherever the gospel is proclaimed, the story of what she has done will be told as well.  

Why is this event so significant to Jesus, so significant that he says that it will always be remembered?  Two reasons: 

First, as Jesus said, it symbolizes his preparation for his burial.  Jesus is ready to die for the sins of the world.  

Second, this act of self-giving on the part of the woman represents the proper response to Jesus: unabashed, joyful surrender. 

You can tell a lot about what a person values by their actions and their attitude.  Look at the difference in the attitude of the disciples to the ointment and the woman.  By their actions, the disciples were saying, “Jesus, you’re not worth that much.  This expensive ointment was wasted on you.”  Through her actions, the woman was saying, “all I want to do is give my most precious possession to you.  This is all I have to give, and you are worth it.”  

What do your actions say about what Jesus is worth to you?  What do your priorities say about what Jesus is worth to you?  If a person looked at your life, how you spent your time, hard you work to keep relationship with him vibrant and thriving, how much you sacrifice for Christ, how would they conclude that Jesus is very valuable to you?  Or would they conclude that Jesus is just marginal to your life?

What is Jesus worth to you?

Day Sixty-Nine: Mark 11-13

Imagine what it must have been like for the twelve disciples to be in Jerusalem with Jesus in Mark 13.  You are admiring the magnificence of Herod’s temple, and you say to Jesus, “Man, some temple, huh? You don’t see that every day.” And like Jesus does, he says something crazy, “Fellas, you need to know that there's not a stone in that building that is not going to end up in a pile of rubble.  This whole place is going down.”  You’d be like: “What?! The temple is going to be destroyed?  When? Why? By whom?”

This was the disciples’ reaction as well.  And so as they went up to the Mount of Olives, the disciples ask for some specifics: “Tell us, when will all this happen?” (13.4)

Jesus goes on to describe how injustice, persecution, war, and natural disasters will continue.  He compares these things to labor pains, like the earth is groaning to give birth to new life. 

But it seems to me that there is an intentional vagueness in what Jesus is saying.  People living in most periods of history could look at the world around them and conclude that they were living in the last days: false messiahs, wars, injustice, famine, earthquakes, the persecution of Christians, the worldwide spread of the gospel. And I think that’s the idea – that the Christians in all time periods would expect to find injustice and opposition in the world as they spread the gospel of the kingdom, and continue to faithfully minister despite the dire circumstances around them.

Yet there seems to be a shift in verses 14-23. It speaks of a period of tribulation, the likes of which has never been seen.  Some Christians believe that this passage was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  Others believe it is referring to a day still to come.  

In any case, Jesus leaves no doubt as to how the story ends.  He will return.  And what he says should silence at least part of the debates: “since you don’t know when that time will come, be on your guard! Stay alert!” (13.33)

In fact, in Acts 1, after the resurrection, the disciples ask Jesus, “Will you at this restore the kingdom of Israel?”  And Jesus responds and says, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”  And then he sends them on mission.   His point: “leave the end of history to the Father; your response to me should be no different if I return next week or if I return in 500 years.”  

In other words, our response should be consistent and faithful: we should always live in light of our Christ’s return. 

You see, the Bible’s announcements about the end of history are not given to us so that we can set dates, make charts or hypothesize about who the antichrist is.  They are given to us so that we become the kind of people that God wants us to be. This ultimately means a response of faithfulness, not laziness.

So today, live as if Jesus could return.  He just might. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Day Sixty-Eight: Mark 7-10

Over and over throughout the book of Mark, the disciples fail to understand, fail to believe, fail to act.  Over and over Jesus diagnoses their lack of faith: “O you of little faith… don’t you remember?  Don’t you understand?”  This plays out right until the very end, to the night when Jesus is arrested.  All of the disciples fall asleep instead of praying.  When the soldiers come, they all forsake Jesus and run for their lives.  In the moment of Jesus’ greatest need, the disciples blow it.  Big time.  

One of the Mark’s main themes is the failure of the disciples.  If we were to draw principles about discipleship from the book of Matthew, one of them might be: a huge part of being a disciple is learning from failure. 

Or, put it another way, the question is not whether you will fail, but how you will respond when you do?  Will you walk away from Christ, or will you keep following him?  

Notice that each time the disciples fail, there is a note of rebuke and correction. At several points, I think Jesus is honestly frustrated with his disciples. But at the same time his correction is tempered with gentleness and mercy: he is not about to give up on them.  Jesus never says, “You idiots.  I am going to find some new disciples. Some people who are a little bit smarter.  Some people who have a lot more faith.”  

He never does that.  He corrects them, but he does not cut them off.  He gives them freedom to fail without worrying about replaced.  

Now if Mark spends so much time pointing out the failure of the disciples, then we can deduce from this that failure is an indispensable part of discipleship.  Learning to fail well, in the beginning, is just as important as succeeding. 

What do I mean by that?  I mean that each time we fail we come to recognize the patience, mercy and love of Christ who does not cut us off or go in search of new disciples who can “do it better.”  Each time we fail, we realize how helpless we are to do this on our own and how deeply dependent we are on Christ.

So may you fail forward today.  Fall, but fall on Jesus, and learn to trust him.

Day Sixty-Seven: Mark 4-6

As we read the gospel of Mark we definitely get the sense that many people were drawn to Jesus’ power, to his miracles.  In other words, they were more interested in what Jesus could do for them than they were with Jesus himself.   

If you know anything about the world history then you know that the people in the gospels were not the only ones who came to Jesus more interested in things other than in Jesus.  Throughout church history, people have identified themselves with Christ as a way of getting power, and in so doing perverted and abused Christ’s own example of how to use power.  

Today, we might not be as likely to come to Jesus looking for a miracle, but we still come to Jesus looking for the benefits that he gives us.  There’s a sociologist at UNC named Christian Smith.  He’s one of the leading sociologists of religion in the United States.  He did a massive study on the religious life of teenagers and the phrase he came up with to describe it was “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”  

Moralistic means is that most teenagers see religion as being all about being good, being moral.  

Therapeutic means that they see religion as something that makes you feel good about yourself.  

Deism means that they have a belief in God, but this God really doesn’t show up that much in their life.  

Today, just as in ancient times, there are a lot of people interested in Jesus.  They are interested in Jesus because Jesus is a good example to follow.  They are interested in Jesus because Jesus makes them feel good about themselves.  They are interested in Jesus because Jesus will help them get into the college they want to get into.  

But when we think this way, we have forgotten who Jesus is.  The kind of person who commands the wind and the waves, from whom demons flee over cliffs, is not the kind of person that you ask into your life to be your personal assistant. 

This is the kind of person before whom you bow, and say, “Command me, Lord.  I exist for you.”

Day Sixty-Six: Mark 1-3

The most common idea about repentance is that it means being sorry for your sin.  That’s definitely a part of it, but when you look at John’s message, it just doesn’t go far enough.  It says in Mark 1 that John is the voice in the wilderness, the one who cries, “prepare the way for Yahweh, make his paths straight!” 

John here is depicted as the forerunner, the herald who brings news of the king, who tells the people to prepare themselves, to prepare the way.   

The original listeners would have known that when a king comes into the land, the people were responsible for making a straight path for him. When a king came, you actually had to build a road for him.  You had to take down any obstacles in the path; you had to build bridges across the chasms, because the king wanted a straight path, a clear path. 

You say, “God doesn’t’ fit into my life.  I have no space for him.”  Then build a road.  Re-arrange your life so that what is most important is in its place.  

This is a fundamentally different thing than a simple, “say you’re sorry…” John isn’t looking for people who are merely ready to say that they are sorry (because sometimes saying sorry is just a way to get someone off your back); he is looking for people who are ready to try a completely different way of living.  

To repent does not just mean to be sorry.  It has the notion of a 180-degree turn.  To repent means to turn, to change, as The Message puts John’s message: “Change your life.  God’s kingdom is here.”

Lord, may my repentance today make a straight path for you in my life. Amen.

Day Sixty-Five: Revelation 20-22

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (21.1-4)

The Bible begins in a Garden and ends in a City.  This storyline represents the movement of human history.  To take God’s “very good” start in creation and then use our creativity to make it even better!  However, our sinfulness and selfishness often stalemate and subvert this process.  Instead of using our creativity, our human potential for good, we use it selfishly and oppressively.  The Garden, instead of becoming like the New Jerusalem, becomes Babylon – a city full of violence, oppression and injustice – a city where people live without reference to God.

But Babylon is destroyed in the end.  And the New Jerusalem descends from heaven to earth, signifying that God’s presence will be with his people forever.

The kingdom that Jesus inaugurated, embodied in his ministry of preaching good news, healing the broken, and raising the dead comes in its fullness in Revelation 22.  

The good news is preached: “God himself will be with his people.”

The broken are healed: “no more sorrow or crying or pain”

The dead are raised: “no more death.”

This is the kingdom we are living for, the kingdom that we work to embody now, carrying on the ministry of Jesus.

Now, if his kingdom is coming, a kingdom where there will be no hunger, no sickness, and where God will be in the midst of everything, then what does it look like for us to proclaim his kingdom here and now?

It means that we preach the good news about Jesus now.  It means that we bring healing to the sick and the broken, food to the hungry, clean water to the thirsty, that we work against the culture of death that permeates our society.  When we do, we are proclaiming his kingdom, till he comes.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

And until he does, let’s get to work in testifying to his kingdom.

Day Sixty-Four: Revelation 15-19

“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
      She has become a home for demons.
   She is a hideout for every foul spirit,
      a hideout for every foul vulture
      and every foul and dreadful animal.” (18.2)

In Revelation 17 we are introduced to a prostitute sitting on a beast.  Her name is written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.”  She is drunk on the blood of the martyrs, and holds a cup in her hand full of obscenities.  Then in chapter 19, Babylon is called a city.

Incidentally, after the September 11 attacks, a visiting pastor preached a sermon at my home church in KS suggesting that the destruction of the Twin Towers fulfilled Revelation 19, because the angel says “is fallen” twice, once for each of the towers.

So what is Babylon, a woman or a city?  Neither.  Both the woman and the city are symbols of the same thing: empire.  The world’s corrupt system that is characterized by greed, violence, oppression and obscenity.  It is what happens when human creativity is turned only in the direction of evil.  

Babylon is not New York City, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Amsterdam, or any other earthly city, though all cities have some of Babylon’s characteristics.  John earlier has identified this city as “Sodom” and “Egypt”, as well as Jerusalem, the city where Jesus was crucified (11.8).  Babylon is anywhere where human selfishness reigns.  It is a place of captivity.  It is a place where the righteous and innocent are oppressed and killed.  It represents the worst of human civilization.

This “city” is destroyed in a moment. This could picture every empire that has dominated the world and then collapsed.  Early readers would have remembered the demise of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greek Empire.  Later Christians would watch Rome, the greatest superpower the world had ever seen fall apart in the fifth century.  

America is a superpower now, the only one to rival Rome.  But Revelation teaches us not to be impressed by empires.  America is a young empire, and like all the kingdoms of this world, America’s empire will come to an end.  

All kingdoms come to an end, all kingdoms will eventually be shaken, except for the kingdom of God.  

This means that we must not give in to the lure of Babylon.  It is easy to become a part of the world’s corrupt system.  We must come out of Babylon and live for the kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Lord, help me to live for your kingdom today, instead of building my life on sand. Amen.