Maundy Thursday: Love and betrayal (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

The Passover is about to begin. On this night, Jesus and his friends will eat the most important meal of the year and recount together God’s saving acts in the history of their people. They will remember slavery in Egypt, the ten plagues, and how God released their people from bondage. They will remember God’s protection from the angel of death, escaping from the Egyptian army, and God’s provision in the wilderness. They will remember that they are God’s chosen people and that God, who acted so mightily on their behalf in the past, can and will act again. They will remember they are blessed.

As expected, they gather together in a small room and share a feast.

When the feast is done and everyone is full and satisfied, Jesus reaches for a loaf of bread. Who could eat another bite? And if anyone could, why would they eat that? He breaks the bread, saying it is his body. “Take it.”

He takes a cup of wine, maybe even the cup poured out for the prophet Elijah, poured in case he would return, and says, “This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many.”

He tells them that they will all desert him.

He has given everything. They will not return the favor.

They won’t even stay awake and pray with him. They will give in to the after-meal tiredness and fall asleep in the garden.

Of course, they are still thinking he has come to conquer the empire and take the Temple. When Judas arrives with thugs in the garden, one of the disciples rises to defend Jesus. He cuts off someone’s ear as if to say, “Finally! The revolution begins!” When he is silenced by Jesus, he doesn’t have any idea what to do next. Without weapons, what power do any of them have?

They all scatter, just as Jesus has said they would.

Text for the day:

Mark 14:12-72

Things to think about:

When does violence seem like the only option?

Things to do:

Lay down your weapons and pray.

Jesus, lead me still.

Thursday, week four: Feeding frenzy (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

It has been a full week. Jesus has been teaching and healing, pursued by crowds everywhere he goes. The disciples have just returned from a very successful healing tour.

Now John has been beheaded.

This small band of friends does what anybody would do in these circumstances. They carve out some time to rest, recuperate, process, and decompress. They climb into a boat and head across the lake to a deserted area. If there are no people, no one can disturb them.

The wind must have been still that day. The crowd watches them get into the boat, sees where they are headed, rushes around the edge of lake, and gets there faster than the boat can carry its passengers across the water.

That deserted place is suddenly populated. Rather than tell the crowd to get lost, Jesus has compassion for their desperation to be near him. He sympathizes with their frenetic desire to squeeze every ounce of teaching and power out of him, even when he has nothing left to give. He pushes the boat back out into the water, pushes his own needs aside, and begins to teach those gathered on the shore.

He teaches through the day and into early evening, until his disciples notice that people are hungry.  Jesus tells them to give the people something to eat. They say they don’t have enough money.

What follows defies any description. An abundance of food, enough to feed five thousand people with plenty to spare, appears from the humble supper of thirteen men. Two fish and five loaves of bread, and everyone present fed.

That’s the end of the story. Mark doesn’t give us any reaction. The story ends without response, almost as if what has just taken place is completely normal.

Text for the day:

Mark 6:30-44

Things to think about:

When Jesus asks the disciples to feed the people, they respond by talking about money. What relationship do money and ability have with one another?

Things to do:

Consider the difference Jesus can make with the resources you have at your disposal.

Jesus, use the things we have to feed your people.

Tuesday, week three: Six pairs of two (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

When Jesus began his ministry, he entered the synagogue in Capernaum and cast out an unclean spirit. He then crossed the street, entered the home of Simon’s mother-in-law, and cured her of a fever.

A lot has happened in Jesus’ ministry between then and now.  He has made a big, big impression in Jewish circles. Everywhere he has been, with the exception of his own hometown, he has taught with power and authority. He has demonstrated that his interpretation of the ancient scriptures is backed with action. Crowds of people have responded.

Now Jesus gives his power and influence away.

He sends his twelve closest followers out in pairs and orders them to take nothing on their journey. He entrusts them with his power to cast out unclean spirits and heal, telling them the people they meet on the way will provide.

Jesus wants it to be clear that effectiveness depends upon nothing except Jesus’ power and authority and their own willingness to go. He wants them to experience success and failure, welcome and rejection, accolades and jeers. He wants them to experience the fullness of ministry firsthand.

Like any apprenticeship, important skills are honed by doing.

They set out, having first been taught, and then having witnessed the power in Jesus’ actions. They have heard and seen, now it’s time to do.

They go off in pairs, proclaiming the same message Jesus proclaimed, ordering unclean spirits around just as Jesus did, and bringing healing just as Jesus did.

Same message, same actions, same results.

Text for the day:

Mark 6:6b-13

Things to think about:

The message and power of Jesus resides with him. It also resides with the ones Jesus empowers. Can we rely upon one another the way we rely upon Jesus?

Things to do:

Pray for the power of Jesus’ teaching and actions to be present in the church.

Jesus, empower your church.

Friday, week three: Storms and faith (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

Don’t you care that we are dying?

The disciples’ question isn’t so different from ours. When we face our most challenging and frightening moments, we too wonder where Jesus is and how he can allow such things to happen.

Don’t you care that we are suffering? How can you sleep at a time like this?

To add serious insult to the disciples’ injury, Jesus is present, sleeping through their trauma. Don’t we also wonder if Jesus notices or cares about us?

Jesus stills the storm, but there is more to this story than Jesus’ authority over nature. There are two less obvious places to find relief and hope.

First, Jesus is in the boat. That’s cause for reassurance. Whatever danger the disciples face on the sea, Jesus is in it with them. They may be freaked out and terrified, but Jesus is with them. They are not alone. He has made exceptional claims, exhibited extraordinary power, and is with them in the storm.

Second, Jesus is asleep. That’s cause for celebration. The disciples might be terrified, but Jesus isn’t fazed. He’s so calm that he has no problem falling asleep. Jesus isn’t scared at all. If he isn’t scared, why should they be?

Storms come. Storms go. Faith calls the disciples to see what isn’t so obvious. Faith calls them to remember Jesus is with them. Faith calls them to trust in the calm presence of Jesus when they are freaked out and terrified.

Jesus isn’t nearly as interested in the storm as he is in the faith of his disciples. He calms the storm so they can focus on his question, Where is your faith?

Text for the day:

Mark 4:35-41

Things to think about:

This is the disciples’ experience. It says something about the lives and the possibilities of those who are trying to draw near to Jesus in faith.

Things to do:

Wake Jesus up. Ask him for what you most need.

Jesus, help me to see reassurance and joy in my troubles.

Thursday, week three: Parables (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

Again Jesus gets into a boat and lakeside begins teaching the crowd in parables. These are stories with life meaning.

He later tells his disciples they have been entrusted with the secrets of the kingdom of God, but everyone else must learn in parables.  They don’t know what he’s talking about.  They don’t understand his parables.

The parables themselves? They are about seeds sown, soil hospitable to seeds and inhospitable, light being set out to light a room, growth taking place in secret, small things with huge potential, reaping, giving and receiving.

Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like that. The kingdom of God is not like the kingdom of Caesar. It’s not about taxes, conscription into military service, subservience, or fear.

The kingdom of God is about light that cannot be contained and seeds with potential beyond the ability of the soil. The kingdom is about growth that can take place anywhere any time. The kingdom is about abundance and about human potential to forward it.

This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus has talked openly about the kingdom of God. He has been announcing the nearness of God’s Kingdom and calling people to repentance. He has been demonstrating God’s kingdom, now he is talking about it openly.

What does Jesus do with the ignorant disciples? He explains everything to them in private.

Text for the day:

Mark 4:1-34

Things to think about:

The sower has an abundance of seed and throws it everywhere, even on the footpath. The seed is good and abundant and thrown into every human heart.

Things to do:

Notice the nature of the political kingdom of our day. How is the kingdom of God at odds with it? Pray for the enlightenment and courage of our political leaders, that they might be able to align themselves more closely with God.

Jesus, please keep throwing seed into our world.

Wednesday, week three: Inner circles (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

God summoned Moses to Mount Horeb; Elijah found God outside a cave on a mountain.

The crowds are pressing in on Jesus and what does he do? He retreats up a mountain. That was what people did when they wanted to be near God.

Although Jesus does something completely predictable by going up a mountain, he does something equally unpredictable. He doesn’t go alone. He goes up the mountain and calls to him “those he wanted.”

What follows are a series of passages in which people close to Jesus and people thought to be close to Jesus are named. Twelve apostles, Beelzebul, Satan, the scribes, his brothers and mother, crowd…who is actually close to Jesus and whom are “those he wanted”?

It seems that people can’t see Jesus the way he is. They see him the way they are. Those who are ignorant see him as wise. Those who are ill see him with healing power. The scribes see him as possessed and threatening. His family sees him as delirious.

As accusations, inquiries, and demands swirl around him, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

Naming God in our image. Seeing God as we are, and not as God is.

The only characters with clear vision in Mark’s gospel, aside from Jesus himself, are the unclean spirits and the readers. Can we keep ourselves from the blasphemy we see throughout the gospel? Can we see Jesus as he really is, and not as we want or need him to be?

Text for the day:

Mark 3:13-35

Things to think about:

What are you demanding from Jesus? What is he trying to give you?

Things to do:

Pray for yourself and the people around you, that God will provide the things they need today, whether or not they know what they are.

Jesus, give me eyes to see you as you are.

who do you say I am?

It’s interesting that Jesus asks his disciples: “Who do people say I am?”

Is he really interested in the local gossip? Is he taking the political temperature? Does he want to know if his messages are clear enough?

I’ll never know his reasoning, but it does make me think about how I do the same thing.

I wonder what people are saying about me when I’m not around, and whether it’s flattering or not.  I wonder what people take away from my conversation. I wonder if people hear in my sermons what I mean for them to hear.

I wonder what people think of me; whether I’m a good pastor, wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, daughter-in-law, friend. Sometimes I ask them, too. Then when they tell me, I wonder, "Are they telling me the truth?"

There’s nothing unusual in that. Perhaps we all wonder.

The danger comes in using that wondering and feedback as a determination for my own self-worth, or worse yet, my identity.  Dangerous because my sense of myself becomes dependent upon what others think or say about me, or even what I think about myself. If people say positive things I’m up, and if they say negative things, I’m down. If I’m having a “bad day,” I feel worthless.

I don’t know why Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?,” but I do know that he didn’t use that feedback to build himself up or to tear himself down.  He didn’t talk to himself with the same kind of self-doubt I’m prone to. Rather, he went away to quiet places to pray and reconnect himself with the God of the vast universe.  He listened to the still, small voice that spoke his identity at his baptism, “You are my son, my beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Scripture tells us that’s our identity, too.  We’ve been grafted onto the tree of life and given the genealogy of the beloved son.  Does it matter what others say about you? Not so much. Draw your strength from the rock from which you were hewn. 
Want more? Click here to read Isaiah 51.

the emmaus 10k

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus spent a lot of time with Jesus. Yet post-resurrection, even as Jesus talks with them and opens the scripture to them, they don’t recognize him. They meander on the road, headed away from Jerusalem and toward their home in the dusk of the day. They invite him to stay, evidently concerned for anyone who must travel the roads at night.

All of the walking, talking, scripture, and even very presence of Jesus himself doesn’t produce recognition in them.

I take a lot of comfort from that. If Jesus himself doesn’t spark recognition in them, how can I expect doctrine, worship, creeds, prayers, or scripture to produce anything in me, let alone faith in the one who remains unseen? I can be in worship every Sunday, attending every Bible study, devout and chaste, even leading the congregation, and still be without faith, even unfaithful.

Yet, if we stick with the story, we see Jesus stick with them. He stays in the encounter and breaks bread. Suddenly they recognize him and find themselves altered by the entire encounter, from beginning to end. Jesus vanishes, but it’s no matter to them.  They sprint the distance back to Jerusalem to tell everyone they’ve seen the Lord.  They run a 10K in the dark. Nothing matters but spreading the word, “He’s alive!”

Our scripture reading, study, worship, creeds, and prayers serve as our own walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  We ponder what these things mean as they build in us the potential for recognizing the risen one.  When he encounters us, we too are thrilled at the discovery that Jesus is not a flat, dead character on the page of some ancient book, but the risen Lord, alive and real. We recognize him on our own road, in the breaking of our own bread, and we too are never the same.

We find ourselves running the Emmaus 10K without counting the cost. Want more? Click here to read Luke 24:13-35.