Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Protection
- Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One. Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us. Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us. Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear. We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.
As I read
through Mark 2, I was absolutely amazed by the amount of rejection that this
chapter contains. Yes, Jesus is
gathering disciples. Yes, the crowd –
the rabble, even the sinners and tax-collectors – are willing to listen to
Him. But look at the reaction of the
religious elite. They are constantly on
His case.
Jesus is
accused of blaspheming by saying that He can forgive sins. Jesus is accused of having bad choices for
friends as he calls Levi and then hangs out at a dinner that Levi
organizes. Then Jesus’ disciples are
accosted because they aren’t behaving like all the other religious people
because they aren’t fasting. Finally,
Jesus and His disciples are accosted because of the timing of the things they
do!
When I
make a list like that, it seems so petty.
When I consider that the religious leaders are speaking out against the
very Messiah that God sent to save them, it seems even more petty! But let’s not lose sight of the fact that
this whole chapter is about how the religious elite reject Jesus and find fault
with Him.
This is
why we need God’s protection. The world
will find fault with us. Those who
prefer to keep God in their box will find fault with us. When we follow Jesus, there will be plenty of
reason for the people around us to find fault with us because we’ll be living
with a different agenda than most of the people around us. If they find fault with Jesus, they’ll find
fault with us, too. Praise God that He
does give us His protection!
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