Year 2, Day 170: Psalms 17-18

Psalm 17

As I began to read through Psalm 17 I couldn’t help but to read through those words with a sense of amusement.  Does David really claim to have avoided the ways of the violent?  And if so, did he miss a significant portion of his life as recorded in the chronology of Samuel and Chronicles?  Does he really claim that God will find nothing against David when God should examine him?  Has his steps really held fast to the ways of the Lord?

The neat thing that we can learn from David is the assurance of forgiveness.  Clearly David sinned.  He took Bathsheba from Uriah after having him killed in battle.  He had a major revolution to stave off from his own son – in which his son was killed.  His own family acted with little sexual restraint – as did David throughout his whole life.  David fought with the Philistines for a time against the Hebrew people.  Then he turned on the Philistines and plundered their own land while blaming it on other people.  David did many sketchy things over the course of his life.

However, David understands that God desires repentance.  This is not a free “pass” to sin as much as you want knowing that God will forgive.  Rather, it is a reminder that God forgives our sinfulness so long as we are genuinely repentant.  David did some horrible things in his lifetime, but he was a man genuinely after God’s own heart.  When he sinned – and especially when his sin is presented before him – David repented with all that he had.  He admitted where he was wrong and he stopped the behavior.

This is precisely why the second half of the psalm turns into a plea to God to keep David close to God.  David knows that this is a tough world.  There are many temptations that abound.  There are many pitfalls into which we will stumble.  The only way that we will remain faithful is if it is God who holds us close to Him and we remember to repent before turning and worshipping Him for His faithfulness.  It is only when God goes out and subdues our enemies – even our sinfulness – that we can genuinely turn to Him with all of our heart.  It is God who keeps us close to Him, not we who keep ourselves close to God.

Psalm 18

Psalm 18 begins with a tremendous outpouring of the spirit.  “I love you, oh Lord.”  Keep in mind that this is not just a man who wrote this, but a man who is king of an entire country.  There is no “restrained sense of control” that we see in our world leaders today.  There is no “straddling the issue so as to be able to pull support from both sides.”  No, here is David pouring forth his love for God.  It doesn’t matter to him who will reject him because of his public display of love to his God.  God is the priority.  God is the rock to which we cling.  God is the foundation upon which we build our lives.

In fact, David is here to give God praise because he knows that the snares of his enemies are already out there.  There is no point in straddling issues because people who desire it will always find something bad to say about you.  When you take a stand, people can legitimately love you or hate you for your stand.  When we sit on the fence, people cannot genuinely love us or hate us because they don’t really ever know where we stand.  Faith in God – our love for God especially! – is not a fence-straddling issue.

What then follows for the majority of the rest of this psalm is a testimony from David’s perspective about what the Lord had done for Him.  David is witnessing!  He is given a testimony to the glory of God.  Look at what David says.  He gives specific examples of the deliverance he found in God when his enemies closed around him.  He gives specific examples of when he went to the Lord in search of an answer and he found an answer from the Lord.  David is not at all bashful about talking to people about how great God’s presence has been in his life.  We have much that we can learn from this man of many mistakes but genuine pursuit of the heart of God.

As I conclude this post, I hope that you also picked up on the contemporary praise chorus that is derived from the worlds of this psalm.  The praise song, “I will call upon the Lord” is drawn from the witness of the words found here.  “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised … so shall I be saved from my enemies.” (v. 3)  “The Lord lives, and blessed be the rock and may the God of my salvation be exalted.” (v. 46)  For all the people in the world who have an issue with praise songs … remember that many of the praise songs that we sing are simple quotations of scripture set to music – much like most of our liturgies are also simply just sung scripture.  In my book, any song – liturgy or praise chorus – that teaches us scripture is worth my time singing.

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Year 2, Day 169: Psalms 15-16

Psalm 15

Psalm 15 starts with a powerful progression of ideas.  Who will sojourn upon God’s Holy space?  The idea of a sojourner is one who does not officially belong in the land but who is passing through on a leisurely pace – perhaps looking for a place to stop and make home for a while.  This is a powerful line, because it hints to the fact that when it comes to God, we are all sojourners.  Not one of us officially belongs in God’s land, but He allows us to come into His space and dwell with Him.  This is a really neat precursor to the concept of grace that gets full attention in the New Testament.

Then we hit the next line.  Who will dwell with God?  To dwell somewhere is to make a place a more permanent home.  This question takes us from the mindset of the sojourner – staying a while – to the mindset of the inhabitant – someone staying indefinitely.  This also gives us a great precursor to the faith presented in the New Testament.  God comes to us and invites us to sojourn with Him.  Some of us accept the invitation and do sojourn.  Some of those who accept that first invitation further accept the invitation to stay for life and dwell with God rather than move on after the time for sojourning has passed.

What does it look like to make the transition to actually dwelling with God?  Those who dwell with God are obedient – they do what is right.  They speak truth.  They do not use their tongue to slander.  They do not do evil to their neighbor.  They do not shame their friends.  They despise the actions of the vile.  They honor actions that demonstrate fear of the Lord.  They align themselves to God and do not change.  They do not charge interest to the people that they let borrow from them.  They are not interested in bribes.

What’s neat about this list is that it reminds me of the teachings of Jesus.  Love God.  Love your neighbor.  Upon these two commandments hang the whole rest of the Law and Prophets.  (See Matthew 22:34-40)  That’s really what the psalmist is saying here.  If you are invited to sojourn with God and you end up deciding to dwell with Him, then demonstrate it by loving God and loving your neighbor.  Quit thinking about yourself so much and begin to genuinely think about God and what’s good for your neighbor.

Psalm 16

Psalm 16 is a psalm of preservation.  It begins with a reminder – likely a reminder to David himself.  “You are my Lord.  Apart from You I have no other good thing.”  Then David speaks about how the holy ones in the land are his delight. 

The reason this verse reads like a reminder and a confession is because of the verses to follow.  David then turns to confess that the ways of those who chase after other gods multiply.  In other words, the temptations of the world are many.  The ways that one can sin are plenteous in any land.  People are always inventing new and exciting ways to enter into tried and true sinful behavior.

As an aside, this is precisely the dynamic that makes God’s Word such a useful tool.  There are many ways to enter into sin.  But the sin itself – that dark part of our humanity – does not change over the ages.  Human beings are still self-centered.  We still struggle with lust.  We still struggle with drunkenness.  We still struggle with stealing.  We still dishonor our parents and other authority figures.  We still lie and cheat.  The list goes one.  While the method of entry into sin may change, the name and the feel of the sin don’t change.  The Bible can always speak to our sinful condition.

Because we have God’s Word and His Holy Spirit, we can be like David and rejoice.  We know that He will not abandon us.  He will not leave us to fend for ourselves.  He will help us out of the pitfalls of sin.  He will reveal to us the true path of life.  It is indeed at His right hand that we will find eternal pleasure.

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Year 2, Day 168: Psalms 13-14

Psalm 13

Again we see humanity in Psalm 13.  This is one of the characteristics about the psalms that make them unique.  The psalms are a direct pipeline to the “instantaneous” author.

Let me explain that concept a little.  When we read books like Genesis or Exodus – or even Mark or John – we have the story being told by someone who has either experienced it and is writing it sometime after the fact or we have the experience of someone writing about it having been told the story from another person.  This tends to make the story factual – which is a good thing – but slightly less gritty from an emotional perspective.  In the psalms we hear the immediate emotional cry.  We hear the gut-wrenching pain of the moment.  We hear the abounding personal joy and celebration that wells up in the moment of victory and relief.  In the psalms we have the human condition “in the moment.”

Psalm 13 tells us of a David who feels abandoned.  He feels as though God is not watching over him.  He feels as though he is his own counsel as opposed to having the counsel of God.  His passion is drained away and he feels as though God is not there to help him recharge and pursue life.

We’ve all been there, I’m sure.  Some of us are there more often than others.  Some of us feel it more deeply than others.  But we’ve all been there.  I have no doubt that at some point in all of our lives we have all asked God, “Hey, when are you going to show yourself as being present in my life?”  I’m not saying that’s particularly correct or righteous.  But we have all been there.

In the psalms we also have the blunt reminders of how the human condition contrasts with the faithful pursuit of God.  David lets out his genuine humanity in the beginning of the psalm and then turns to genuine faith in the last few verses.  What does the faithful person remember?  We remember that we do trust in God’s steadfast love.  We do rejoice in His salvation.  We do know that even when we may not see Him, it is not because He is not there.  We will sing God’s praises, because He has bountifully given to us. 

We cannot deny our humanity; but that doesn’t mean that we have to wallow within it, either.

Psalm 14

Psalm 14 is a very complex psalm.  At first, it seems like a straightforward warning psalm.  David is warning the unrighteous to fear God.  He is calling out those who ignore God as being silly and foolish.  He makes a great case for genuine concern about those who have no time for God.

He also makes a great case of how those who do not fear God have abominable actions.  They follow their own pursuits and their own desires.  They “eat up” or “devour” the righteous people without any thought.  They trample over the poor and take their share of life.  In this psalm we can really understand why it is important to remember that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.  When we forget to fear the Lord, we simply look to ourselves and our own desires far more often than we should.

However, the complex portion of this psalm comes in the very last verse.  David genuinely desires for the salvation for his people.  He genuinely desires that his people would be pulled out of the quagmire in which they have fallen.  He genuinely hopes that when God restores the fortune of His people that his people would be glad.

While that is a great desire – look what actually happens among God’s people.  When salvation truly comes to the earth in a bodily and eternal form – in the form of Jesus Christ – it can truly be claimed that salvation came out of Zion.  But what was the reaction of His people?  Did they rejoice?  Did they see their fortune being restored?  Did God’s people celebrate that the savior of the world has come to the world out of their midst?

Sure, some of them did.  Praise be to God that some of them did!  But not too many did.  Salvation came out of Zion and most of God’s people did not rejoice.  They did not recognize Him.  For the record, most of the rest of the world didn’t recognize salvation in Jesus Christ, either.

But what makes this psalm so deeply complex is the understanding that when we love God and see the world through His eyes, we hope for things that are different than the world.  Our hopes and dreams for the people around us sometimes go unrealized because what we hope for in the Lord does not always match up with that for which they hope.  In fact, unless those around us are seeing through the eyes of God, it often doesn’t match up.  That is the real complexity of this psalm.  The psalm that begins on a note of warning ends in a tone of hopefulness.  But it is a hopefulness that is unrealized when Jesus comes to this earth to live for the first time – and ultimately even to die because the hope in this psalm is unrealized.

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Year 2, Day 167: Psalms 10-12

Psalm 10

Psalm 10 begins with a complaint against God.  Why is God so far away?  Where is God’s justice against the evil of this world?

Doesn’t this complaint sound familiar?  Have you ever heard anyone say, “How can there be a God in heaven who allows so much evil to exist in this world?”  Or maybe someone has asked, “Why doesn’t God step in and do something about the way that this world is going?”  If you’ve ever heard someone talk this way – or maybe you’ve talked this way yourself! – then you know how the psalmist feels when Psalm 10 is being composed.

In many ways, this psalm isn’t about providing answers.  Notice that the psalmist has no answer to the questions.  The psalmist does not intend to make excuses for God or justify God’s position.  Rather, the psalmist’s intent within Psalm 10 is to validate those of us who occasionally feel like God is far off.  This is a normal feeling that does need to be validated as a part of the human condition.

However, notice that while the psalmist validates the human experience of feeling as though God is far off, the psalmist does not say that God is actually far off.  In fact, rather than speak out against God the psalmist instead gives praise to God.  The Lord is King forever.  The Lord hears those who are afflicted.  He strengthens their hearts.  The Lord assures that justice is done.

In ending the psalm this way, the psalmist is giving a clear message to the reader.  It is normal to feel as though God is far away from time to time.  It is normal to wonder if God is really always beside us – especially when things are going poorly.  But here is the truth.  God is there.  God hears us.  God does justice.  We may feel like He isn’t there, but He absolutely is.  The psalmist validates our feelings, but convicts us of the truth.

Psalm 11

Psalm 11 takes much of the emotion in Psalm 10 and pushes it one step further.  Here the psalmist encourages God to act upon the wicked.  The psalmist does more than simply acknowledge God’s presence; he attempts to inspire God into action.

While we can debate the ethics of asking God to reign down justice according to our discernment, what we cannot argue is the truth that the psalmist ascribes to God.  God does see all things.  God is capable of reigning down wrath and judgment upon us.  He does hate the wicked.  He does hate the one who loves violence.  The Lord does love righteous deeds.  The Lord does invite the righteous into His presence to behold Him.

We may feel like the Lord is far off.  We might even feel inclined to invite God to mete out justice.    But true faith instead leads us to focus on God and God’s characteristics.  It is far more important that we bend our will to God’s ways than to invite Him to see things our way.

Psalm 12

Psalm 12 gives us a good balance in our relationship with God.  Yes, David does focus once more one the negative aspects of humanity and the despair that he feels towards human beings.  David speaks of humanity as being a people who utter lies to the neighbor, a people who speaks double-talk and flattery, a people who make great boasts, a people whose tongues prevail over what should rule our life, a people who plunder the poor and who make the needy groan, and a people who are both wicked and vile.  David’s perspective on humanity is grim.

However, David is not depressed by this reflection on humanity.  David is inspired by God’s promises.  David knows that God promises to rise up and defend those who need His defense.  God promises to be a shelter for those who turn to him.  In spite of the overwhelming evidence against humanity and our internal sin, David is drawn to God and His promises.  David demonstrates that the follower of God focuses on God’s truth and His character regardless of what the world puts in our path.

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Year 2, Day 166: Psalms 7-9

Psalm 7

Psalm 7 begins with David’s perspective on humanity.  Granted, David is not speaking specifically about all humanity – just his adversaries.  However, the reality is that David’s adversaries would have thought about him just about as highly as he thought of them.  So what is David’s perspective on humanity?  “Lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it to pieces.”

David doesn’t have a very high opinion of humanity.  We tear each other apart.  We rend each other limb from limb with our words and our actions.  We tear one another down.  That’s a shame, too.  Human beings have such potential for joy and excitement.  But instead out of jealousy and greed we rend each other to pieces.

This is why the end of Psalm 7 speaks often of turning to the Lord.  It is the Lord who is the only accurate judge of what is inside of us.  It is the Lord that is the only one righteous enough to look upon us fairly and see into our hearts.  Only the Lord can take our sinful self and turn us into something that we are not.

This is also why David urges us to repent.  We know what lies inside of our own heart.  We might genuinely love God, but like the apostle Paul we find ourselves doing what we know to be wrong and not what we should be doing.  See Romans 7:15.  Only in our genuine repentance can we find the cure for our humanity.  We need to turn to God, confess our sin, and let God take over. 

As David says, if we do not repent, God will whet (sharpen) His sword.  That’s a good enough reason for me to take repentance seriously.

Psalm 8

Psalm 8 has many famous lines within it.  Here in this psalm we begin and end with a declaration of how majestic God’s name happens to be.  What is it that God has done that makes Him so majestic?  He put the sun in its place.  He hung the stars in the sky.  God has made a world in which we can dwell.  All of this is from the hands of our creator!  Why shouldn’t we approach God with a sense of majesty?

However, this is not the end of the psalm.  What is truly majestic is that God created humanity and set us atop His creation.  Although we don’t deserve it at all, God has crowned us in glory and honor.  His grace, mercy, and ability to see potential within us really gives us a reason to proclaim His majesty.

In this psalm we really understand the defeat of the self-centered self-monger within us.  God set us on top of creation.  He set us just below the heavenly beings.  But that should not lead us into thinking about how great we are!  No, watching God elevate our position draws us to glorify Him, not ourselves!  He is the reason we are elevated, not us!  Ultimately this psalm is about exalting God because in His mercy He has allowed us to rise to a place that we do not deserve to be in.

Psalm 9

Psalm 9 continues this theme of exalting God.  Yes, God watches over us.  That is reason to give praise.  God will judge righteously.  That is reason to give praise.  God defends us.  That is also reason to give praise.

But the greatest reason to give praise is God Himself, not what He does for us.  God sits enthroned forever.  He is eternal.  He is almighty.  He is a stronghold in whom we can place our trust.  This is the greatest reason we can have to give praise to God.  We praise Him for who He is.

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Year 2, Day 165: Psalms 4-6

Psalm 4

Psalm 4 gives us much the same as we found in Psalm 3.  David is in a place where he is feeling persecuted.  He is oppressed.  To use his word, he is distressed.

Yet he consistently turns to God.  Look at the ways that David speaks about his relationship with God.  {I did some research this morning and found out that one of the keys to understanding the psalms is in noting the parallelisms.}  God is David’s relief when he is in distress.  David is looking for a means to stop his honor being turned to shame.  The Lord hears when David calls.  We are not supposed to sin but rather ponder God in our hearts.  God puts more joy in David’s heart than alcohol and food can place there.

David’s relationship with God is a relationship where David pursues God.  David cannot be God; nor can he absolutely follow in God’s ways.  David knows that life will not be perfect and there will be obstacles to overcome.  All of these things point to David’s need to pursue God.  It is God who has what David desires most.

That really makes me think today.  Does God have what I truly desire?  Can you tell that from my life?  Can a person looking at my life tell that my greatest desire is found in God?

Psalm 5

Psalm 5 gives us a bit of a shift in perspective.  Here in this psalm we begin to see God’s character more strongly.  God is so righteous that evil cannot dwell in His presence.  There is no delight for God in any kind of wickedness.  Those who lie are destroyed in His presence.  Thos who are deceitful and bloodthirsty are abhorred by God.  Who can claim that at least some part of that list does not apply to them?

Yet, the answer is not found in me or us.  The answer is found in God.  It is through the abundance of His steadfast love that we shall enter His house.  It is not my greatness that grants me access to the dwelling of God, nor is it my ability to show God how well I can follow Him.  It is His steadfast and abounding love that grants access to Him.

What is our response to His abundant love?  The first thing we do is to humble ourselves.  We bow down and worship Him.  As we learned in the prior psalm, we make our greatest desire the things of God.  The second thing we do is become obedient.  We ask God to lead us.  The third thing that we do is to turn away from the ways of the world.  We see the world for the fake hope it offers, the false passion it brings to life, and the empty promises of which it boasts.  We reject to ways of the world and turn to God rejoicing.

Psalm 6

Psalm 6 gives us a great response to Psalm 5.  How do we turn?  How do we go about living out our relationship with God?  The first is that we acknowledge what we deserve.  We deserve wrath and judgment and anger.  However, we ask God to rebuke us and discipline us in His love, not His wrath.  We deserve His wrath – we know that much for sure! – but we plead with Him to be merciful.

Notice how much David is worn down by the world.  He claims to drench his bed and his couch in signs of mourning!  Life is tough.  It is hard.  Opponents are all around.  People around us make poor choices.  We ourselves make poor decisions.  There are always reasons to weep.  But we must turn to God.  For it is only in God that we can find peace, love, and true happiness.

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Year 2, Day 164: Psalms 1-3

Psalm 1

Our trip through the psalms begins with a great line.  Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.  His delight is in the Law of the Lord and on His Law he meditates day and night.

Want to have God smile upon you?  Want to know the secret to happiness?  There it is, right there.  Meditate on God’s Word.  Delight in God’s Word.  Sure, life will still not be perfect.  We still won’t be able to earn our salvation.  But we will find the secret to happiness.  When we shift the focus off of ourselves and our desires and onto the desires of God, we will find happiness and blessedness.

The psalm continues on to say that the person who meditates on the Law of the Lord is like a tree that is planted in a great place for growth.  It bears good fruit in the right season and it remains healthy.  Unlike that tree, the wicked – who by logic can be defined as “those who do not meditate on the Word of God” – are like chaff.  They cannot stand in the persecution of the wind.  They cannot grow and stay healthy.

Want to have peace?  Want to be stable?  Want to find happiness?  The answer is simple to say.  Meditate on the Word of the Lord.  It’s easier said than done, but it is the secret.

Psalm 2

Psalm 2 begins with a great question.  Why do the nations rage?  Who among us – by gathering land, wealth, or power – can live forever?  What is gained by our rebelliousness, our violence, and our struggles?

God laughs at us when we rage like this.  God laughs!  God is amused by our own self-centeredness.  Why wouldn’t He laugh?  We seek to change the world for how long?  For our life?  And how long is that when compared to the life of God?

Where is the real source of power in this world?  The Lord’s Anointed.  The nations are His heritage.

Let’s stop right there for a second.  The nations are His heritage.  The nations.  This is another word for “all the people of the world.”  In other words: the Gentiles.  The Gentiles are the heritage of the Lord’s Anointed!  The very people who – along with the Jews – rage and go against the desires of God.  We are His inheritance.  How cool is that?

Therefore, let us be wise.  Heed the advice of the psalm.  Serve the Lord with fear; rejoice in trembling.  Take heed of the Lord’s ways.  Kiss the Son.  Take refuge in Him.  If we are His inheritance, let us learn now to whom we belong and let us live that way.

We should no longer live in rebellion.  We should no longer pursue our ways.  Instead, follow God and God’s ways and embrace our status as His inheritance.

Psalm 3

Psalm 3 is a psalm of protection.  Many are the foes of the Lord; many are the foes of those who walk in His ways.  Many are the people in this world who would say of any of us, “There is no salvation in that person.”  Thankfully, it is God and God alone who determines who is righteous.

Thankfully, it is the Lord who is our shield.  The Lord is the one who protects his people.  It is the Lord who hears us and makes sure that our salvation is secure.

It is also the Lord that sustains us.  He is the one gave us life and He is the one who ensures that we can draw breath and continue life.  I love the way that this perspective is reflected in Martin Luther’s suggested morning prayer:

I give Thee thanks, heavenly Father, through thy dear Son Jesus Christ, that Thou hast protected me through the night from all harm and danger. I beseech Thee to keep me this day, too, from all sin and evil, that in all my thoughts, words, and deeds I may please Thee. Into thy hands I commend my body and soul and all that is mine. Let thy holy angel have charge of me, that the wicked one may have no power over me. Amen.

Or how about it in his suggested evening prayer:

I give Thee thanks, heavenly Father, through thy dear Son Jesus Christ, that Thou hast this day graciously protected me. I beseech Thee to forgive all my sin and the wrong which I have done. Graciously protect me during the coming night. Into thy hands I commend my body and soul and all that is mine. Let thy holy angels have charge of me, that the wicked one may have no power over me. Amen.”

It is the Lord who makes us what we are, who protects us, and who sustains us.  Salvation is indeed His.  Thankfully He hands it out graciously to all who come to Him and who make Him their God.

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Year 2, Day 163: Mark 16

The End of the Story

This chapter is hands down my favorite “resurrection and time after” story of all four Gospels.  Without question – Mark’s ending is the greatest of them all.  I love it because it is such a “human” ending of the story.  The three other stories are nice and neat and put together and meaningful.  Mark’s ending is … human.

In order to really get what I’m saying here you need to understand something.  Mark’s Gospel originally ends with verse 8.  There is no historical evidence to support that Mark16:9-20 are even a part of the original letter that Mark wrote.  That being said, we do have historical evidence to support that verses 9-20 were quickly added, possibly even by Mark himself.  So we shouldn’t necessarily cast them out of the Bible or think of them as anything other than the inspired word of God.  But we should be conscious of the fact that Mark originally finished the telling of Jesus with verse 8.

Do me a favor.  Read verse 1-8 and then close your Bible.  Do you feel the tension inside of you?  How does it feel to quit reading the story of Jesus on the words, “and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid?”  I am willing to bet that you feel an inner tension growing inside of you.  You might feel some disappointment or a sense of incompleteness.  Something happens with you when you stop reading the resurrection story with the words “they said nothing to anyone” and “they were afraid.”

Now, do yourself another favor.  Imagine a God in heaven – and His Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart – watching you as you have an opportunity to share God’s love with another human being.  When you pass up that opportunity – and we all have – how can God not feel the same sense disappointment and incompleteness that you feel when you stop reading the Gospel of Mark at verse 8?

That’s why Mark ended his letter the way that he did!  Mark wanted us to feel the urgency of telling the Gospel to everyone.  Mark wanted us to scream out, “No!  They have to tell someone!  Anyone!  They have to tell someone!”  Mark wants us to feel that emotional response with the women at the tomb and then realize that the same response applies to us, too.  Just like we know that they had to tell someone – anyone – we too can understand the need for us to tell someone – anyone.

That is why it is far and away my favorite ending of a Gospel.  Yes, the stories about Jesus and His disciples and the story of the folks on the road to Emmaus are important.  The Great Commission in Matthew 28 is very important.  But the emotional movement that happens within a person when the story ends on a note of fear and silence is an incredible surge of human emotion that we should all be made to feel at least once in our life.

A Closer Look at the Women

Okay, so let’s look at the actually chapter – and not just the fear of the women and the worry that they might not say anything.  This chapter starts with the women going to the tomb and being “amazed.”  Many Bibles say the women were “alarmed.”  While that’s an okay translation, I prefer the more traditional translation of “amazed.”  This verb elsewhere in the New Testament takes on a sense of utter amazement. 

My seminary Greek professor spoke of this verb as the Gomer Pyle verb.  For those of you who are familiar with Gomer Pyle, when he would say, “Well, golly, sergeant,” the word “golly” is a fair approximation to what this verb means.  It is a verb that takes on the moment when a person’s mind is blown and they begin to see things a new way.  It doesn’t mean comprehension of the new thinking, but amazement because the mind has been opened up to something new.  I love that understanding of the reaction of the women.  The women aren’t worried about who stole the body; the women are having their mind blown by the realization that comes from beginning to understand what Jesus really taught them about death and resurrection.

They don’t understand it fully … but they are beginning to understand it.  Now we can understand why they are afraid.  The women are told to tell this to the disciples.  Suddenly, the world comes crashing back down on them.  These women are told to teach the disciples.  Remember, they live in a culture in which women are told they have no right to teach grown men.  They live in a world where the testimony of a woman is typically discounted.  They are afraid because they have the most powerful message that God has ever given to the world and they know that God gave it to women first!  Who will believe them?  Who will believe a group of people who culturally are not typically considered reliable witnesses?

There is a huge cultural burden placed on these women.  They have an incredible testimony to give, but where do they begin?  Their culture has imprisoned them.  God calls them forth to become the first ministers of the resurrection and their culture has imprisoned them.  They run; they hide.

Remember what I said yesterday.  The cross of Jesus Christ changes everything.

Period.

The women do talk.  Jesus had appeared to Mary and she couldn’t keep it quiet forever.  God within her overcomes the fear and they must talk.  There is the sign of Christ!  Where Christ dwells, people talk about it!

The women do go among the disciples.  What is the reaction at first?  The “men” don’t believe them.  Sigh.  This is why I really hate cultural mandates.  Even after the crucifixion of their Lord the minds of the disciples are still closed.  They don’t believe these women.  While they probably don’t believe them because it is a near-impossible thing to believe, I have no doubt that they don’t believe because Mary and the other women are the ones speaking the message.  The women had every reason to fear.  Who would believe them?  But they keep talking.  They keep taking the message to the world.

Jesus and His Disciples

Eventually Jesus does appear to His disciples.  He confirms the message Himself.  Notice the Jesus rebukes the disciples, too.  They are guilty of unbelief.  They are guilty of letting their culture get in the way of God’s work.  Jesus rebukes them.

Then He forgives them.  He continues to invite them into God’s work.  He is gracious – slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Jesus tells the disciples – all the disciples – to go into the world and proclaim what they have seen and heard.  Whoever believes will be saved.  Whoever does not believe will be condemned.  We have a job to do, folks.  The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Are you afraid?

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Year 2, Day 162: Mark 15

Pilate

The first section of Mark 15 tells us about Jesus before Pilate.  Notice that Jesus’ tone is entirely different than with the priests the previous night.  The night before – with people who should recognize the Messiah when they see Him – Jesus was upfront and forthcoming.  Jesus gave the people who should know Him the opportunity to accept or reject Him.  He forced the issue.  He claimed to be the Messiah!  However, here with Pilate Jesus knows that spiritually this man has no chance at understanding what is actually going on.  Pilate is not the target, the Jewish leaders are.  The contrast only serves to illuminate how sad it is when Christ is not recognized by the very people who are supposed to be spiritual and who are supposed to recognize Jesus.

In fact, this is also the point of the next passage.  Pilate puts Jesus’ fate into the hands of the Jewish leaders.  The leaders incite the crowd to have Jesus be killed and to have a known criminal released into their midst.

It is sad when people reject Jesus for the world.  Let’s make no attempts to call it anything other than what this act is.  The religious leaders are choosing a criminal (ways of the world) instead of Jesus (God’s ways).  However, it is doubly sad when people who should know better make the same mistake.  It is one thing for a person who claims to have no meaningful relationship with God to choose against God.  But it is entirely another thing for a person who claims to be in a genuine relationship with God to condemn God’s Son to death.  All sin is bad.  But it is especially heinous when those who know better choose sin anyway.  And yeah, that’s pretty much every Christian on the face of the planet – myself included – that I just attacked.  Put me first in the line of people who should know better but who still have sin in their life.

But thanks be to God that the story is not over yet!

Mocking

Then the soldiers mock Him.  I can only imagine how much this hurt Jesus.  I’m not speaking physically – as anyone who has watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ can attest – but rather I’m speaking spiritually.  In their desire to mock Jesus, Jesus knows exactly why He came.  These people need Jesus.  These people need someone in their life to show them unconditional love and humility.  They need someone to be king in their life.  The very thing that they need is the very thing that they mock.  They make Jesus into a “king” and then beat Him.  The irony is not lost and I can imagine that Jesus knew it, too.  Imagine how much Jesus’ heart ached – not for the pain He endured, which was terrible – but for these soldiers who were so close to something that could change their life and who were instead blind to it.

Then …

Crucifixion

Jesus is crucified.

I’m sorry.  I just can’t pass it over that quickly.  Honestly, tears are clouding my vision.  I cannot ever read through this passage without crying.

Jesus is crucified.

CRUCIFIED! 

We killed our Lord.

Our Lord.

We killed Him. 

Those who walk by mock Him.  Those who walk by torment Him.  They continue to reject Him.  In their words, you can hear that they miss the point.  “He cannot save Himself.”

They are right, but they are so wrong.  He does not need to be saved.  He is doing the work of the Father and does not need to be saved from that work.  His death is not evidence of any wrongdoing!  In the words that are so often found within the celebration of Passover, “Blessed be He.”

But as I said, they are right.  Jesus does not raise Himself.  The Father will raise Jesus into new life.  The Father will be the one that will raise us into new life through Christ.  Jesus cannot save Himself just as we cannot save ourselves.  He cannot because His death is the work of the Father and He will not go against the Father’s will.  We cannot because we are not righteous enough.  (Read Galatians 2:19-20)  So God crucifies us with Christ, killing our self-monger within so the Father can have Christ live within us.  Christ was crucified.  The disciples of Jesus follow suit.

Jesus dies.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  The Greek word there for “forsaken” can also be translated as “to abandon,” “to leave desolate,” or “to leave uncared for.”  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that the Father quit caring about Jesus.  But Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself and God watched Him die.  God died.  Think about that for today.  I bet your mind hurts trying to explain that concept!

But He did.  He died.  God came to earth; we killed God.  God died for our sake.  Again, thanks be to God that this is not the end of the story.

Burial

Then an amazing thing happens.  Joseph of Arimathea – a member of the council, a member of the Sanhedrin, a member of the Jewish leaders who had just condemned Him to death – goes to Pilate and asks for the body.  Here is one of the members of the very council who had demanded the death of Christ now going to the cross with some linen and removing this bloody body from the cross.  You can’t say that the cross doesn’t change anything!

Let me make sure that we all understand what’s going on here.  It was the evening before the Sabbath.  Jesus is dead.  He’s bloody.  If Joseph of Arimathea comes in contact with blood, he’s unclean according to Jewish rule.  If Joseph of Arimathea comes in contact with a dead body, he’s technically supposed to stay outside the city for some time because he will be unclean. (See Numbers 5:1-4 or even Numbers 9:1-14)  Here is a member of the Sanhedrin.  If anyone knows the Law, he does.

But he goes to Christ!  He touches the blood!  No doubt he is covered in Jesus’ blood when Jesus is taken off of the cross.  No doubt that he touches the dead body.  Here is a member of the Sanhedrin willing to make Himself “unclean” according to the Jewish tradition for the sake of Christ – on the day before a Sabbath nonetheless!  What an absolutely incredible testimony.  There are those who would claim the cross of Jesus changes nothing.  Joseph of Arimathea demonstrates before anyone else that the cross of Jesus Christ changes everything!

The cross of Jesus Christ changes everything.

Period.

If a member of the very Sanhedrin that called out for the crucifixion of Jesus can be changed through the death of the Son of God upon the cross, you can be changed, too.  I can be changed, too.  The cross changes everything.

Go.  Be changed.

Don’t hold back any longer.

Show the world what the “no compromises” life with God is like.

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Year 2, Day 161: Mark 14

At Work in the Shadows

As we begin Mark 14, we have a clear sense of the underhanded deceptiveness of the religious leaders of Jerusalem.  They wanted to arrest Jesus secretly because they were afraid of the reaction of the crowds.  Evil doesn’t always work in the shadows – but personally I find the people who prefer to do evil in the shadows the most dangerous.  Leaders who cannot work their agenda in the open are usually guilty of hiding something.

Anointed and Ignored

The next story that we have is the story of Jesus’ anointing by the woman. Of course we’ve heard many times about the argument that ensues about the money.  I’m hoping to brush by that today, because what I find sad is that this story shows just how blind those around Jesus really are.  Jesus had told them how many times that He is getting ready to die?  Yet, what do His disciples focus on? 

Yesterday we saw them focused on the beauty of the temple stones.  Today we find them focused on money.  Jesus is about to be dragged off and killed – and they don’t even seem to care.  It might be denial, but I find it to be more likely that they just don’t grasp the plan of God.

I think this is why Jesus judges humanity harshly when He says, “Always (for) the poor you will have with you…”  I put the words in the actual order that they appear in the Greek for a reason.  There is emphasis being put on the word “always” since it is the word that is first and it is out of the order from where we would expect it.  We will always have the poor among us because we have an innate ability to be distracted from God’s ways.  We care about beauty and wealth when the Lord is about to die.  Even after His resurrection and ascension we still care more about beauty and wealth than taking His Gospel to the world.  We have the poor among us because we as human beings are more focused on our own agenda than His.

Judas

The next story perfectly fits with what was just said.  Judas agrees to hand Jesus over to the Pharisees.  As always, I intentionally do not use the word “betray” there.  The Greek specifically means “to hand over” rather than “betray.”  To speak of this act as betrayal is a position that forgets that ultimately this is God’s plan.  Judas still sins, but His sin is encompassed within God’s plan.  God can use our sin to His good.

Why does Judas hand Jesus over?  Judas loses focus.  Judas wants what he wants, not what Jesus wants.  This loss of focus leads Judas to go against the love of God.

The Lord’s Supper

Speaking of the plan of God, after Judas we now turn to the preparation of the Lord Supper.  Initially this story reads much like the preparation for the Triumphal Entry.  Jesus tells His disciples to go into the city and look for a specific person.  They are to ask that person for something that Jesus has already set into motion.  That’s the really neat part about focusing on God’s role rather than the human control.  When we look for God, we can see that this is all God’s plan.  Everything that happens this week is known by Jesus and under the control of the Father.  As Jesus marches through this final week of life before He is crucified, it unfolds as He knows it will.  Even the act of Judas – while certainly sinful – is not outside of God’s will.

Then we turn to the Lord’s Supper.  I have so much I could say about this, but I will have to keep my words short.  Every time I come to the passage of the Lord’s Supper I cannot help but remember the ritual of Passover as celebrated by traditional Jews.  I cannot help but remember about the Afikomen and how it is broken, hid, ransomed, and reunited with the other two loaves of bread in the Passover.  {If you don’t know about the afikomen, do some research on it.  It’s really cool theological understanding about how the Passover really pointed to Jesus as Messiah as well as how the Jews have a Trinitarian dynamic to the Passover celebration.}  I am also reminded of how it is likely that Jesus says those marvelous words “My blood, shed for you” in conjunction with the partaking of the third cup of wine – which is traditionally understood to be the cup of redemption.  {If you don’t know about this, do some research, people!}  Either way, the Lord’s Supper is filled with deeply traditional theology about Christ’s role as the Passover Lamb.  Thanks be to God that this does happen according to God’s plan.  As we go forward in this chapter and especially the next chapter, let’s not forget how deeply important these events are to our life and our salvation.

Denial All Around

From the Passover we turn to Jesus’ encounter with the disciples.  This section of text is usually referred to as Jesus foretelling Peter’s denial.  But what does verse 31 say?  All the disciples said to Jesus that they would die with Him rather than deny Him.  But what will happen?  Jesus will be alone.  They will flee.  They will not die with Him.  Again their focus will shift away from God and they will expose their weakness.

However, what’s really cool is that they will actually all die for Him.  Later in life, every single one of Jesus’ eleven remaining disciples will die for Him.  There is redemption, for Jesus is the Passover Lamb.  We make silly promises to our Lord that we either have no intention of keeping or we have no ability to be able to keep on our own.  Thanks be to God that there is redemption.

The Garden

Moving to the Garden of Gethsemane, I have two thoughts to bring for reflection.  First, notice the focus of Jesus.  Jesus is focused on the authority of God in His life.  Jesus specifically says, “Not what I will but what You will.”  Jesus’ focus is on the will of God.

In sharp contrast, look at the disciples.  This is the second great teaching of this passage.  The disciples cannot stay awake.  They cannot focus on God’s will.  When the time comes to prepare themselves for the life to come they cannot even focus for an hour!  Three times Jesus gives His disciples a chance to step up and prepare for the coming days and hours.  Three times they fail to focus on God.  Only when life comes upon them do they realize how much they should have been prepared and they weren’t.  We need to learn this lesson.  We need to be in God’s Word and prayer daily to prepare ourselves for the life to come.  Yet how many of us go on unprepared on a regular basis?

Handed Over

Next, we hear that Jesus is handed over to the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers.  The disciples are unprepared.  We can see this because they don’t understand what is going on.  They are not ready to stand with Jesus and die with Him.  They strike out in defense, cutting off an ear.  When Jesus rebukes that act, they flee and run.  They are not prepared. 

When Christians do not prepare themselves before the fight, we are always on the defensive and typically end up running from the battlefield.  The disciples learned that lesson here in the Garden of Gethsemane.  After the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we see the disciples taking spiritual preparation seriously.  When will we learn this lesson in life?

There is much that could be said about Jesus before the Council, and my space is already gone.  But I will focus on one thing.  Here we have Jesus’ bold pronouncement of Him being the Christ.  Prior to this, He had only spoken of this among His disciples.  When Jesus was safe, He did not feel the need to confess Himself as Christ.  When the plan of God draws near and His confession would doom Him to death, this is when Jesus chooses to confess boldly to the world who He is. 

How can Jesus put his own last nail in the coffin?  He can do it because He is focused on God’s agenda.  This would be Jesus’ last and final opportunity to escape the plan of God.  Had Jesus taken back everything He said here among the Jewish leaders, they would have no doubt embraced Him and let Him live as a public witness of just how right they were after all.  If Jesus wanted to live – if He wanted to focus on His own agenda under His own authority – He could have spared Himself even here.  But Jesus does not.  His life is not about Him.  His life is about obedience to God.  He confesses His identity and embraces His destiny: the cross.

In sharp contrast to this, we end this chapter with Peter.  Peter does not embrace His destiny.  Peter denies Christ thrice.  He knows it.  He weeps.  He has handed over His Lord to a solitary death.  No other disciple of Christ would die with Him.  Peter had promised that He would die with Christ rather than deny Him.  Yet, Peter has saved His own neck when it counted.  He weeps, because the truth about himself is now known.

Thank God that Christ’s blood is the cup of redemption!  When we hand Jesus over to the world, He forgives us.  When we seek our own agenda, He redeems.  Thanks be to God.  We really should follow Him and give all authority to God.

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Year 2, Day 160: Mark 13

What Beautiful Stones, Jesus!

This first story in Mark 13 brings me a lot of comfort for two different reasons.  First, here is Jesus trying to teach His disciples about what God is literally on the cusp of doing and one of His disciples instead focuses on the things of the world.  “Look at what beautiful stones!”  I can feel Jesus slapping His own forehead in disbelief as the comment comes out of the disciple’s mouth.  I mean, seriously?  Is that what a person should be focused on in the presence of Christ?

But I also find it comforting because Jesus doesn’t chastise the disciple.  Jesus instead turns it into a teachable moment.  How many times am I that guy who can’t focus on Jesus when He is right in front of me?  Jesus doesn’t get mad, He just takes me where I am and refocuses me.  There is such blessed relational grace in this story.

Be Prepared

Much of the rest of the chapter is going to loosely revolve around the idea of preparedness.  We begin with the passage on the signs of the end of the age.  Let’s take a really hard look at this, because I think there are a bunch of people that miss the true depth of Jesus’ words.  There will be violent wars.  Nature will become turbulent.  So many people see those things in our world today and say, “The End Is Near!”  What does Jesus say?  No.  This is just the beginning.  It isn’t the middle.  It isn’t the end.  It is the beginning.

What is the end?  Look at what Jesus says.  They will turn you over as they would turn on a criminal.  Brother will rise up against brother.  Father against son and daughter against mother.  We will know it is the end when Christians are no longer even accepted in this world.  The other stuff … that’s just the beginning stuff.  The end is near when there is no safe refuge for the Christian in this world.  The end is near when to be a Christian means to embrace judgment and death. 

Woe to the people who live during that age.  We think it is tough now; we can only imagine how tough it will get. 

Blessed are the faithful who live during that time, for their reward will surely be great in heaven.  These are the least who will likely become the great.

This makes me really think about the idea of “luke-warm.”  I have always been fascinated by the church in Laodicea because of the description found in Revelation 3:16.  “Because you are luke-warm in your faith, I will spit you out.”  It makes me wonder … if it was illegal to show up and worship in a building, how many of us would continue?  If it was illegal to own a Bible, how many of us would get rid of them or at least hide them and never look at them?  If it was illegal to wear a cross around one’s neck, how many would continue to do so?  Not that any of these things save a person, of course. 

Even that makes me wonder.  Sure, we may believe God is real.  But so do the demons.  Read James 2:19.  Does that make them saved and followers of God?  Not by my knowledge.  What about the church in Laodicea?  Certainly they believe in God and believe that God is real.  But they are luke-warm in faith!  God says to them, “I am about to vomit you out of my presence!”  The people in Laodicea are interested in compromise.  They want eternal life because of their belief, but they want to live life their way and in their luxury.  What will that get them?  Nothing good, certainly.  Just believing that God exists is not the same as living a life of obedient submission to that God.

In the end, it will be bad for Christians.  It will be far worse than we can even imagine.  Who among us would have the strength to stand then?  If we think ourselves of having the strength to stand then, why do we not then stand when it is easier now?  If we cannot be obedient when it is easier, why do we think we will be obedient when it is difficult?

We are then told by Jesus that there will be an abomination to the faith.  This likely has something to do with a person genuinely claiming to be God and people genuinely following that person as a god.  It will be an abomination to the truth and to the true way.  People will be led astray.  It will be an evil day.

Gathered to God

But then Christ will come.  He will send out the angels and gather the faithful unto Himself.  This is a passage of hope!  Even in the darkest of hours, pockets of genuine believers will exist!  No evil day will be completely evil!

We are to learn these lessons.  Wars and natural disasters really tell us that it is just the beginning.   When it becomes illegal to follow God and families are willing to turn on each other because of the faith; then the time is near.  Then the time has come to be absolutely prepared.  Until that time, we are still in the beginning.  We should be preparing and teaching, for that day is coming.  But it is not here yet.

We cannot know the day or the hour.  We will not know the day or the hour.  God knows it, and I believe much of the timing is still undecided from our perspective.  God knows when it will happen, but the course that we allow humanity to track still has much to do with when it ultimately comes about. 

But the truth is that knowledge of the day or the hour of Christ’s return should not change us.  If we think that knowing that Jesus would return tomorrow would change anything, then all that confession does is condemn who we are today.  We should be living today as though Christ will come tomorrow.  Tomorrow we should be living as though Christ is coming the day after.  If we are not living that way, then are we really living with the seriousness of faith that God desires from our hearts?

This is a tough chapter and I ask some pretty harsh questions here.  The teachings of Jesus the week before He died are not for the faint of heart.  His time is short, and His teaching is blunt.  But I do believe this is the teaching we need to hear in our culture today.  God’s name be praised, for only He is the source of Truth.

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