Tag: gospel of mark

If You Ask a Question, Be Ready for the Answer (Mark 12:18-27)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Pharisees and Sadducees Come to Tempt Jesus, by James Tissot (1836-1902)

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children,and the second married the widow and died, leaving no children, and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living; you are quite wrong.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Two-thousand years ago, in the first century C.E. (Common Era) the Jewish Sadducees learned the hard way that trying to discredit Jesus in public with silly questions is a bad idea.

Somehow, probably in a back room and perhaps drinking too much wine, they came up with a story designed to show, once and for all, that Jesus was nothing but a hayseed yokel from the bumpkin village of Nazareth who believes in a crazy notion like resurrection.

The Sadducees wanted a very public and definitive display that Jesus was a backward hick, not worth the time of day. So, they concocted a bizarre hypothetical story meant to discredit the supernatural. 

The Sadducees went to the Old Testament, and pointed out in the law that if a man dies without having children, the brother must marry the widow, thus keeping the legacy and land of the dead man in his family. By conjecturing that if this were to happen seven times over, they posed a hypothetical question: Whose wife would she be among all the brothers at this supposed resurrection?

As they were snickering to themselves believing that they had demonstrated the absurdity of resurrection, Jesus turned the tables on the Sadducees. Here are some observational lessons from this Gospel reading for today:

  1. Think again before you try and trip-up Jesus with philosophically ethereal questions.
  2. Consider that you will receive a rebuke from Jesus for being ignorant, mistaken, and wrong, if you try to posture yourself and control how a conversation with him ought to go.
  3. Be aware that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus are all alive. The Sadducees, however, no longer exist.
  4. Realize that Jesus will take the time and attention to listen and give feedback – maybe the kind you weren’t looking for.
  5. Understand that many things we get hung up on, Jesus doesn’t – and what Jesus sticks on, we may act like Teflon and let it slide.

And the lessons could keep coming, because there is always something to learn and discover when being with Jesus.

To deny resurrection is to deny Jesus. Christ died. He’s now alive. Hence, there is a resurrection. More than that, because Christ lives, others live. This is the Christian’s hope. 

I fully understand plenty of people don’t believe in resurrection. That’s their prerogative. I will simply point such a person no further than their own mind and heart. “Search your feelings,” as the Jedi would say, “What do they tell you?” The evidence you need, you already have.

And this was the penultimate lesson of Jesus to the inquisitive Sadducees. They already had the answer to their question for Jesus. It was right under their noses the entire time – right their in the law that they valued so highly. They just plain didn’t see it.

You already have everything you need for life and godliness in this present evil age. There’s no need to play philosophical games with Jesus.

One of the great sages of the last century, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, wisely said:

“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”

Resurrection has always been there because God has always been around – even when we don’t see, perceive, or acknowledge the divine. Just because one may not believe in life arising from death, doesn’t mean it isn’t there or doesn’t exist.

It probably would not be a good idea to procrastinate the inevitable end-of-life scenario that awaits us all. Anytime is the right time to do a bit of personal funeral planning. Yet, if we mire it all with the esoteric hypothetical questions about what would happen in the most far-fetched of scenarios, methinks God is big enough and smart enough to see through our puny charade.

Better to ponder what is truly within your own soul, and how Jesus might already be present within and around all things, without us even knowing it. 

A good place to start in peering within is to give a straightforward honest reading of the New Testament Gospels and discover what resonates deeply with you about the person and work of Jesus.

Feel free to question Jesus about anything you want; just brace yourself for what kind of answer you might receive.

The Irony of Christ’s Followers (Mark 10:32-34, 46-52)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
A 10th century depiction of Christ healing a blind man

The disciples were confused as Jesus led them toward Jerusalem, and his other followers were afraid. Once again, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and told them what was going to happen to him. He said:

We are now on our way to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death and hand him over to foreigners, who will make fun of him and spit on him. They will beat him and kill him. But three days later he will rise to life….

Jesus and his disciples went to Jericho. And as they were leaving, they were followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. When he heard that it was Jesus from Nazareth, he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” Many people told the man to stop, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him over!”

They called out to the blind man and said, “Don’t be afraid! Come on! He is calling for you.” The man threw off his coat as he jumped up and ran to Jesus.

Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man answered, “Master, I want to see!”

Jesus told him, “You may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.”

At once the man could see, and he went down the road with Jesus. (Contemporary English Version)

“Irony” and “ironic” are terms describing when an outcome of an event is contrary or different from what would be expected.

Here are a few examples of irony: The firehouse burnt down. The police officer got arrested. When I was a kid, my family physician’s name was Dr. Fail (really!). There is an overarching ironic lesson to our Gospel story today:

The people following Jesus with 20/20 vision were spiritually blind.

Their great need is the same as blind Bartimaeus: To have their eyes opened to Jesus and to what God was doing around them. Bartimaeus was marvelously and miraculously given sight by Jesus – the others, however, remained unchanged and in the dark. 

Irony #1: Many followed Jesus, but only a few were his followers.

All kinds of people physically followed Jesus around for various reasons while he was here on this earth. Some wanted to bask in the latest celebrity buzz that Jesus generated. Others wanted to see the cool stuff Jesus did, like healing people. Some were plain curious. And a few were interested in being like Jesus by showing selfless compassion.

Jesus continually sought to press the crowd following him into spiritual seekers who would learn to follow his teaching.

Many people conform to the group and go with the flow. That’s great if the crowd is good, and not so good if they’re going in a bad direction.

In the Old Testament, a few unruly complainers got the Israelites stirred up. The result was making a golden calf and turning away from God. Sometimes it is right and necessary to go against the crowd.

Irony #2: Out of all Christ’s followers, it is a blind man that sees Jesus for who he is: The Son of David.

Bartimaeus discerned it was Messiah who was walking by him. So, he went against the crowd and shouted to Jesus. Blind Bartimaeus didn’t care how he looked to others; it didn’t matter to him that he stuck out like a sore thumb to all the spiritually blind people.

Jesus often avoided crowds. Most of his earthly life occurred away from the centers of power and influence. Jesus swam upstream of the prevailing notions of righteousness. Christ did not cow-tow to the crowd. Instead, he paid attention to the needy and forgotten.

Christ Giving Sight to Bartimaeus, by William Blake (1757-1827)

And while in a large group of people, Jesus did not “work the crowd” to get ahead and further his agenda. He did not cozy-up to the rich and powerful. And Christ deliberately avoided celebrity status. Jesus showed extraordinary love to an overlooked person. He used his immense power for one powerless person.

Irony #3: The ones following Jesus were the ones trying to keep a blind man from Jesus.

One irony of the church is that Christ’s own followers can be the biggest obstacle to others following him.

I can just imagine a group of gossipy church folk shushing Bartimaeus: “Don’t bother Jesus, he is such a busy man! He has important work to do!” I can also picture them standing next to blind Bartimaeus saying, “Just stop, man, you’re embarrassing yourself.” 

But Bartimaeus would not stop. He shouted all the louder. That’s because true and genuine faith is a needy person crying out in desperation for Jesus to help.

Jesus asked a beautiful question: “What do you want me to do for you?”

“I want to see,” Bartimaeus responded. So, Jesus had compassion on him, and gave him his sight. Here we have two men, Jesus and Bartimaeus, ignoring all the people around them, and having a divine encounter.

This encounter raises my curiosity as to why it is so hard for us to simply say what we want.

It could be that we don’t want to buck the crowd, or to look different. Maybe we don’t want to admit our need in front of others. So, we simply stick to superficial conversations and insist that everything is okay, when it isn’t.

Jesus said, concerning the crowd, “Although they see, they don’t really see.” (Matthew 13:13)

If we are concerned about how we are seen by others, we will not be seen by God; we will miss Jesus when he walks by, right in front of us.

Conclusion

How might we raise our ability to see Jesus and truly follow him as he desires us to?

Listen to Jesus

Jesus was headed to Jerusalem and had a lot on his mind and heart with anticipating his passion and death. Christ became attentive to Bartimaeus, out of all the people around him, because he was listening.

If we want to see Jesus and follow him, we must be listeners,  and be attentive to compassion, like Jesus, to the needy and lowly among us. 

I recently read a story from a Christian who lived during Nazi Germany. He said:

“I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because what could anyone do to stop it? A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks.

“We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars! Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear those wheels because we knew we would hear the cries of the Jews in route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us.

“So, when we heard the whistle blow, we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly, and soon we heard them no more.

“Years have passed, and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me. Forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene.” 

Respond to Jesus

Once Jesus listened, he responded by asking a question. Christ took the time to heal Bartimaeus.

Jesus could have simply healed him without even stopping. He could have started a healing factory where everyone with a need just moved through a line and got healed. But Jesus was doing more than giving sight; he was giving a blessing – the blessing of time and relationship.

The gospel is personal, which is why we ought to resist being non-relational in ministry to others.

Christian ministry is about blessing other people with the gift of relationship. It begins with recognizing self as the one who needs Jesus; and it starts with having our own eyes opened to see our own need, and then the great need of people around us.

God of all compassion, I confess that it is natural for me to do things my way. I recognize that I am limited, but that you know all things. I yield my spiritual eyesight to you so that my spiritual vision will be clear. Jesus Christ came to give sight to the blind and to open our eyes. I commit my ways to you so that I can see your ways and not just my own. Amen.

Shining the Light On Our Fears (Mark 9:2-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year B1 Comment
Transfiguration of Jesus, by Armando Alemdar Ara

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. 

Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. (Common English Bible)

The transfiguration of Christ was a glorious experience on the mountain for those closest to Jesus. Yet, we are told that Peter, James, and John – the inner circle of Christ’s disciples – were terribly frightened.

Peter, always the extrovert of the group, and forever their mouthpiece, nervously babbled-on without making any sense because he was so nervous and afraid.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus would take three of his disciples with him to experience such an incredible vision? Why did Jesus show these men something so otherworldly that they nearly soiled themselves? 

I will tell you why I think Jesus put his close disciples in such a glorious, yet frightening, position as this:

Because the only way to see Jesus as our only hope, we must face our fears, insecurities, and anxieties, squarely, without hiding from them.

Jesus did not relieve their anxiety. He let his disciples feel the full impact of their fear. The glory of Christ shone show brightly that Peter, James, and John could not hide from what was happening to them, and could not avoid what was in their minds and hearts. 

Only through shining the light on the shadowy place of our fears and insecurities will we ever be able to accept that we need a savior. And that savior is Jesus, the light of the world, the Lord over fear, anxiety, and discouragement.

The invitation which Christ extends to us is to move further into our fears, face those fears, and sit awhile with our fears, so that we can see how desperately we need the Savior Jesus. 

No one seeks a savior when they don’t even believe they need deliverance from anything. “I’m just fine, thank you very much!” says the independently self-sufficient person among us. To seek salvation, for such a person, is an intensely personal affair; they will look within, not without. It will take quite the desperate situation for them to consult someone who knows the ways of the soul.

But the one who sees what is truly inside of them, and is aware of their fear of connection; the scary prospect of confrontation; the anxiety of what will happen; or, the discouragement of failure; this is the one who is then able to hear the voice of God, and listen to Jesus give the answer to our most pressing life issues, worries, and concerns.

Jesus Christ wants to change us from the inside-out. He helps us by showing us not to avoid the fears which cause us to be beside ourselves, but instead, to face those fears and confront the anxieties within. 

The bright light of God’s presence enables us to see very clearly all that is within us. And Christ’s intimate relationship with us assures us that change is possible. Then, the Holy Spirit comes and empowers us for transformation, so that we may shine, along with Jesus, and let the light help others, as well.

You and I are never alone; we always have the glorious presence of Christ with us as we walk through dark valleys and ascend high mountains. 

It is the wonderful existence and omnipresence of God, in Christ, through the Spirit, which makes all the difference. We were created for connection with the divine, not for separation and loneliness in our fears.

Glorious Christ, you love me with a grace and mercy which always has my best interests in mind. Help me through my most pressing fears and failures so that I might see your glory, hear your voice, and know your constant presence. Amen.

Saints, Sinners, and Sacrifice (Mark 8:31-38)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Saintly Sinners and Sinning Saints

People cannot be separated easily into the categories of saints or sinners. We are much more like saintly sinners or sinning saints. 

If we look closely, everyone is, at the same time, both beautiful and hideous; holy and depraved; full of faith and full of fear. And when it comes to the church, it is both the place of spiritual sensitivity toward others, as well as a den of decadent self-interested individuals. 

So, anyone searching for a church or a community that is a nice clean upward path of success with everything done to perfection with no one ever being hurt or unhappy, will be sorely disappointed. Such an organization or institution does not exist; and, it never did.

Yet, with that reality in mind, Jesus stands right alongside imperfect people, despite all their flaws, shallowness, and self-interest. Jesus is very well acquainted with people’s damaged emotions and open putrid spiritual abscesses. Yet, Christ treats everyone with mercy; Jesus never tires of rehabilitating and reforming.

Christ’s disciple, Peter, is the poster child for humanity’s mix of faith and failure. He stepped out of a boat in great faith and walked on the water, only to begin sinking because of his great fear. (Matthew 14:22-33)

It was Peter who made a bold and right confession of faith, and then turned around and bought into a satanic agenda. Yet, Jesus was right there, next to Peter all the way. Christ both rebukes and loves, all the while never abandoning us, but always working in and through us to accomplish good and right purposes.

The bald fact of the matter is that following Jesus involves pain and sacrifice. That’s the reality of living in a broken mixed-up world. What’s more, Christ’s Church is still imperfect and in the process of becoming holy. So, if we will admit it, we are all like Peter – a little devil who needs to get in line behind Jesus.

Everyone gets frustrated or disgusted with church, or really any consistent gathering of people. It’s easy to complain and even avoid others. It’s much harder to take up our cross and lose our life for the sake of Christ and others. We truly can choose to put love where love is not, even when we do not feel loved.

Imagine that your family has gathered for a holiday. Everyone is together. But you are struggling with tiredness and anger. Your spouse is sulking. Your teenage kids don’t want to be there. You worry about your aging parent. And you’re anxious about whether your crazy uncle is going to be nice or go on some weird political rant.

You want to be present, to celebrate the holiday. Your family is anything but a Hallmark card. Everyone’s hurts and hang-ups are not far from the surface. But you are together for a reason, to celebrate and experience joy. It may be a twisted human version of togetherness and spirituality, but it’s still a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that is to come. So, you deal with it all, and find some peace and satisfaction, transcending the carnal and experiencing the sacred.

In much the same way, the church gathers together in an imperfect way, a crazy mix of sinner and saint. But we gather in and around Jesus – and that makes all the difference. There’s a reason for doing this that is bigger than all our dysfunctional ways and dyspeptic attitudes. 

Jesus Christ is building his church, and he will keep it going until the end of the age. Fellow saints and sinners, Jesus isn’t finished with us yet!

The Sacrifice of Jesus Is Needed

Jesus openly stated openly that it is necessary for him to suffer deeply and die a cruel death. It’s God’s plan. But Peter didn’t like that plan, at all. So, he took Jesus aside and rebuked him, believing Jesus to be off his rocker for even suggesting such a terrible scenario. Jesus, however, turned the tables on Peter and rebuked him right back because being Christ-centered without being cross-centered is satanic.

Peter presumed to know what was best for Jesus. He believed the suffering of the cross would never happen. Peter’s perceptions were dim and limited. He did not the reality of how the world truly is; and that Jesus needed to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the entire planet. 

Sometimes, like Peter, we may believe that the way I see and the way I perceive is the way things really are; or, at least, how I think they should be. 

Peter had been walking with Jesus for a few years, watching and enjoying him. It was all good. So, in his mind, it should never change; why try and fix something that isn’t broken? Oh my, but broken the world is!

Just because it was good for Peter did not mean it was good for everybody or should always be this way. If Peter had his way, we would likely be in hell. We, like Peter, are finite humans with limited understanding and perceptions.

One can easily slip into a satanic mode of believing that because something is going fine for me that everyone else is doing okay, too. I like it, I want it, so what’s the problem? 

The problem is that we too easily view life through selfish lenses. In such a state, we fail to:

  • see other people’s needs
  • perceive a lost world with any sense of reality
  • understand that Jesus has an agenda different from our own

Our limited perceptions come out in saying things such as:

  • “Oh, she’s just depressed because she is avoiding responsibility.” 
  • “People on government welfare are lazy.” 
  • “He’s addicted because he doesn’t want to help himself.” 
  • “They’re picketing because they’re a bunch of malcontents.”

Statements like those are legion, and betray a satanic worldview devoid of grace. It’s a compulsive need to find blame. It’s a belief that if there’s personal suffering, there must be personal sin. 

We belong to one human family, and therefore, we are all in this life together. One person’s joys are our joys; one person’s struggles are our struggles. The detachment we can have toward other humans is completely foreign to the words of Jesus. 

The Christian life always involves suffering, and Jesus invites us to follow him in his way of sacrifice.

The Sacrifice of Christ’s Followers Is Needed

There is a way to reverse a satanic agenda and demonic thinking: self-denial. Jesus issued an invitation to fall in line behind him and walk with him in his suffering. 

Self-denial is not so much doing something like giving up chocolate for Lent; rather, it’s giving up on ourselves as our own masters. It’s a decision to make the words and ways of Jesus the guiding direction for life. It’s the choice to quit holding onto the way I believe things ought to be, and take the time to listen to Jesus.

The logic of Jesus is relentless. Life comes through death. We give up our lives to find life. It’s unhelpful to adulterate our lives by serving the gods of success and perfectionism. Jesus invites us to quit our moonlighting job with the world, and go all in with him. In this way, we find abundant life. 

Jesus was encouraging not only submission to suffering, but also an embrace of suffering. In doing so, we find reward and joy. For those familiar with this path, suffering is a blessing. In walking this road, they find the true purpose and meaning of life. 

Few people suffered as much as the nineteenth-century missionary medical doctor to Africa, David Livingstone.  He was a pioneer explorer who opened up the interior of Africa to the outside world. He had two reasons for doing so: To take the good news of Christ’s suffering to the African people; and, to open Africa to legitimate trade, so that the illicit slave trade would end. 

Dr. Livingstone’s hand was bitten and maimed by a lion. His wife died while on the mission field. The one house he built was destroyed in a fire. He was often wracked with dysentery and fever, or some other illness in the jungle. 

Someone once commented to him that he had sacrificed a lot for following Jesus. His response: “Sacrifice? The only sacrifice is to live outside the will of God.” When asked what helped him get through the hardship, he said,  “The words of Jesus to take up my cross are always ringing in my ears.”

We may mistakenly believe that we must watch out for ourselves; push for our personal preferences; that if I accept the invitation to follow Jesus in the way of self-denial, I will be miserable and people will walk all over me. Those thoughts are merely demonic whispers in the ear.

There are two differing ways of thinking and acting: 

  1. The way of success, perfection, and a pain-free life as the evidence of God’s working. 
  2. The way of suffering as right and necessary in order to connect with God and be in solidarity with those who suffer. 

Suffering, rejection, and execution did not fit into Peter’s church growth plan. But according to Jesus, we do not exist only for ourselves, to be in some sort of spiritual country club. We exist to follow Jesus in his path of sacrifice and suffering for a world of people who desperately need to know the grace of forgiveness, and the mercy of Christ.

Since Jesus died, we are to die to ourselves. Since Christ lives, we are to live a new life. In God’s upside-down kingdom, joy comes through suffering. We follow Jesus as the mix of sinner and saint that we are. Amen.