Wednesday, week six: Divorce and children (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

The religious leaders question him on the law: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife or not?

Well, what did Moses say?

Moses allowed a man to present his wife with a written bill of divorce.

Jesus tells them Moses allowed divorce only because their hearts were hard. Hard hearts find forgiveness impossible. Hard hearts aren’t capable of intimacy. Moses allowed divorce because he couldn’t reconcile their hard hearts and they couldn’t reconcile with each other.

Jesus turns that written decree on its ear. He says there is an order to creation. People fall in love and are bound to one another. No matter what happens next, even the hardening of hearts, that bond cannot be undone. Love is love. It doesn’t die and it cannot be broken. He says two that join together become one flesh. Trying to divide that flesh is adultery.

While Jesus is laying down the law, children try to enter the room. The disciples talk sternly to them, but Jesus becomes indignant. He says, “Let them come to me,” and scoops them up in his arms. “It is to children that the Kingdom of God belongs.”

Children don’t divorce one another, nor commit adultery, nor test one another.  Children don’t care much about writing or keeping laws. Children recognize goodness and life when they see it, and run toward it. Children follow their hearts.

Jesus blesses the children and says, “Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Text for the day:

Mark 10:1-16

Things to think about:

Keeping the law does not gain you entry into the Kingdom of God, but receiving the Kingdom like a little child does.

Things to do:

Notice the places in your own life where you have elevated the law above goodness and life.

Jesus, help me receive the Kingdom like a little child.

Tuesday, week five: Another exorcist? (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

Jesus isn’t the only one with power. Apparently, there is another exorcist enjoying modest success. That has the disciples a little on edge. John tells Jesus that they even tried to stop him.

Jesus responds with a news flash: Casting out unclean spirits is not a competition. All healers are on the same team.

Then Jesus begins to talk about little ones and children. The child he held in his arms in Capernaum is still in the room, and Jesus begins to talk about the disciples’ influence upon her.

Children, he says, will look up to them. Children will look to them as examples of faith, healing, and action. Children will look to them for good news. Whatever they say and do will be the model others follow.

So, if you say healing is a competition, it will be. If you say it is a team effort, it will be.

Jesus implores them to analyze what they are doing, keep the things that are effective, and eliminate the rest, for everyone’s sake. They are beginning a ministry together, and whatever they say and do will set the standard for everything that follows.

It’s better to do the difficult, painful work now, than for the whole endeavor and everyone involved with it, to end up on the garbage heap with the worms and the burning trash.

Everything Jesus has worked for is at stake. This new empire, the proclamation of the good news of the nearness of the Kingdom of God, and the miraculous healing that takes place in it, rest with these twelve getting it right. Everything and everyone will be tested with challenges and trials. If the foundation is not solid, nothing and no one will stand. There won’t be any second chances.

Text for the day:

Mark 9:38-50

Things to think about:

Young people and people new to faith are watching you as an example of faithful living.

Things to do:

Identify your bad habits and confess your sins. Pray Psalm 51.

Jesus, give me integrity.