The Best Plans

Mark 14:1-2

      Have you ever noticed that the best plans sometimes don’t work out the way things were planned! The Olympic games opening ceremonies almost never go off without a hitch. All the hard work and planning can’t protect against error or just malfunction. Things just don’t work sometimes. Even the launching of spacecraft can go wrong. Hundreds of millions of dollars can blow up, or just fail to get all the way up for no known reason.

      We read about the religious leaders planning to kill Jesus. Shouldn’t that have sparked something of a contradiction in them, religious leader and killing? Shouldn’t their conscience stop them? Did any of them speak up, or did peer pressure get to them. We know that some in this group become Jesus-followers. Where was their voice before the fateful act?

      Notice their plan is to get Jesus killed. But they don’t want it to happen when everyone is around during the Passover festival. That would bring too much publicity. It would carry with it increase risk of something going wrong, of things getting out of hand.

      Things haven’t changed much. Politicians these days seem to do what they want, even when it isn’t what the people want. If all the money spent to put Obamacare into effect had been spent on healthcare instead of bureaucracy, everyone would have care. Instead we have tens of thousands of regulations and the same number of uninsured people. We are employing government workers who have a vested interest in making sure it takes a long time to get things done. Their jobs depend on it taking a long time. If it is done efficiently, they work themselves out of a job. And they don’t want that.

      The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had political influence. They weren’t actually in charge, but they had the ear of those who were. They wanted to avoid the publicity. They wanted to keep it on the down low. They DIDN’T want it to happen during the Passover, but that is exactly what happened.

      So how did it happen? They let their own ambition get the better of them. Judas gave them a window of opportunity that they just couldn’t resist. They lacked the self-discipline to wait patiently until after the Passover. All they had to do was wait a few weeks, and all would be good. But they just couldn’t help themselves. They tasted their prize, and they went for it.

      Have you ever jumped to a decision only to regret it later? I know I have. I call it “jumping to a concussion!” Many people jump to a conclusion too early. They make a decision in the heat of the moment, only to gather more facts later that make their decision somewhat silly.

      Practice patience with decisions. Don’t jump.

Unwitting Partner

Mark 6:21-22

      Have you ever waited for just the right moment to ask someone? I remember several of these “right moment” experiences in my life. And if you ask my wife, she will tell you that I am not very good at keeping secrets, at waiting for the right moment. I almost always tell before the event has arrived. Maybe the right moment was about asking for a promotion at work, or a pay raise, or a date invitation. Or maybe it was about asking for a favor, or confessing a mistake. Finding the right moment can be difficult.

      The king’s wife, Herodias, has held a grudge against John the Baptist ever since John called her out in public and revealed the sin of her current marriage. Some people just don’t like public humiliation! What’s up with that!

      So Herodias has plotted and schemed of getting even with John for some time. She wants him dead for what he said about her marriage. Talk about a bad sport! Wanting to kill someone for what they said seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it? Words are just words, unless they prick your conscience and bring on guilt. That seems to have been what happened. John had spoken and it hit right at the heart of Herodias’ guilt. And she had held onto the pain in hopes of revenge.

      The King is throwing a big banquet for all the important people in the kingdom. It would be equivalent to a Whitehouse Dinner. Anybody who was anybody was there. And the queen knew the king. She knew his weaknesses. She had used those weaknesses in the past to get what she wanted. Now she was going to use them against him to finally get revenge.

      And the plot involved her daughter. I guess Herod must have had a lust problem. Perhaps he liked younger women. Perhaps Herodias had been one of those young women who had caught his eye previously. And she uses this to her advantage. Talk about sexual exploitation! Her mother uses her daughter. Yikes!

      Another weakness that she knows about her husband is that he values what other people think about him. If she can get him to commit to a course of action in front of the crowd, he would feel compelled to fulfill it, or he would lose face before his guests. His reputation would be on the line.

      The last thing the king’s wife knew about her husband is that he is impulsive. In the heat of the moment he makes rash decisions. He lets his feelings get the best of him. He will commit to things and then later regret it.

      Herodias has studied her husband and now uses these traits to get what she wants. She doesn’t do it directly, that would be to straight forward. She instead uses her daughter. She can’t confront him directly, so she uses the kids.

First Contact

Proverbs 14:15

There is one characteristic that I personally have had to learn over the years. I have had to learn to be less trusting of what people tell me. That’s right, less trusting. I have had to learn that people are sinful and that lying comes too easily, and often with no consequences. But since I am a Jesus-follower, shouldn’t I be more loving and accepting of other people? I can be loving and accepting, AND still not give them my credit card number!

We need to be more deliberate about making decisions. We should consider carefully the available options. We are allowed to point out lies and half-truths. We have permission to not believe! Doubt is a healthy thing.

The simple, those who don’t know the LORD, run head-long into trouble. Some of that trouble is other people’s, and some of it the simple bring on themselves. It pays to learn to deliberate decisions.

On the other hand, some people take so long to make decisions that they are immobilized. This is often driven by fear of failure or fear of the unknown. We can’t wait for 100% decisions. There is always more information that could be brought to bear on any decision. If we keep waiting for that last bit of information, our decisions won’t get made.

This issue in our proverb is about timing. The simple act too quickly, believing the first thing that comes their direction. The prudent think before they act. They don’t need all the facts, but they do need more than the first round of facts.

One of the rules of military planning is that plans change after the first battle. No plan survives throughout the whole campaign. The military constantly evaluates new information and changes plans. It never has 100% information when decisions are made.

As Believers, we need to gather information and make decisions. We don’t need to be frozen in fear. If we are trusting Christ and our decisions are made with that fact in mind, then we don’t need to fear. We can trust that He will be with us and carry us through the most difficult of circumstances.

Put the Brakes On

Proverbs 13:2-3

The words we say have a great impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. One word from the Fed Chair makes the stock market rise and fall. One word from a dad to a daughter can bring tears. One word from a teacher can break a child’s confidence for a lifetime. What we say makes a difference.

Two truths jump out at me from this pair of proverbs. The first is that violence starts with words. If our words bring good things, and violence results from an appetite, I see a lack of words on the side of violence. Anger that isn’t given a proper voice ends up in violence. Anger that isn’t expressed and validated creates a need to be heard.

We have to remember that anger is a God-given emotion. It is there to protect against injustice and violations of safety and security. There is a proper place for anger. When anger is not expressed it builds and leaks out in unexpected ways, often out of the conscious control of the person who is angry.

The second truth is that the words we speak need to be under our conscious control. It is not good to just let every impulse result in immediate words. We should filter what we say through our mind and spirit. If we lack this filter, we will end up saying things we regret.

This so often happens inside a family. We let our guard down. We feel we can spill on our family without as many negative consequences. If we “lost it” at work we would get fired. But our spouse and children won’t fire us. The fallout from a rash word doesn’t cost us much more than an “I’m sorry.”

If we don’t get a handle on the words we speak, both in saying what we need to say, and in controlling when and how we say it, we will suffer the consequences. We need to learn to guard what we say. We need a break pedal for our mouth. There is a place and time when things need to be said and heard.

There is no redo button for our mouths. Once the words are spoken they cannot be recalled.