Going a Little Further

Mark 14:35-36

      Sometimes distance can be a difficult thing to judge. For some, driving at night is a very difficult and dangerous task because they have greater difficulty judging distance in the dark. They can see the car approaching, but speed and distance data doesn’t get captured properly. They just aren’t able to tell if it is safe to pull out.

      With the recent landing of the European rocket on the asteroid, distance made every difference. The flight took ten years, so even the small miscalculation during the four billion mile journey would have meant failure. Distance really does matter.

      When leaning takes place between a couple, distance does matter. That is what leaning is all about. When one half of the couple leans toward the other, they are invading personal space. Two things happen: a slap or a kiss. The leaner hopes for the kiss. The popular notion that the leaner goes 90% of the distance and allows the partner to respond with the 10% has some merit. I wouldn’t guarantee the percentages, but there has to be a response from the leanee. If all the movement is from the leaner, something is amiss.

      When people get angry they might tell everyone to “give me some space,” or “I want to be alone.” Or when they feel alone, they might ask for a hug. They might reach out and hold a hand. These types of distances and gestures do make a difference.

      Jesus continues His journey toward the Cross with some dark moments of prayer. He has taken His remaining disciples to His place of prayer. He has taken the inner Three further aside and given them the charge of watching. Then Jesus moves a little further away. He is now alone, without earthly companion, in His most difficult hour. Distance does matter.

      But while Jesus is alone in an earthly sense, He expresses intimacy with the Father. Some have said that Abba is like our daddy. We know that in His moment of distance from friends He expresses closeness with the Father. And yet even with the closeness, He has come from a place of distress and trouble. The very thing that drove Him to separate Himself from the others, the impending sin-bearing moments on the Cross, drove Him to bring His struggle to the Father.

      And what is Jesus’ request? Take the cup! The cup spoken of is an image taken from the Old Testament. The cup was the cup of God’s wrath to be poured out on mankind because of their sin. The cup is a cup of judgment for sins committed. Drinking the cup meant taking the punishment. And this was a totally undeserved punishment. Jesus was innocent.

      And Jesus yields to what He knows is the plan. He knows that if there were any other way to accomplish the reconciliation of man with God, that would have been the plan. So even though He is struggling with the reality of absorbing our sin, of being separated from the Father for the first time, of feeling the weight of Judgment on His shoulders, He accepts the cup.

      Are we willing to accept the LORD’s will for our lives? Even if it means suffering unjustly?

No Idea

Mark 10:38-40

      There are times in life when we step into the unknown. We have no idea what is on the other side of the door, but we open it anyway. Law Enforcement personnel live with this reality every day. They get a call and they must respond without knowing everything they would like to know about the situation. They must open doors knowing that death might await them on the other side. And yet they open the door.

      Two of the disciples have made a request of Jesus, and Jesus is giving them an answer. It is probably an answer that they didn’t expect. And I am sure in the future they will wish He had given them a different answer! Sometimes we don’t get the answers we want. Sometimes we get more than we bargained for.

      Jesus begins His answer by telling them they are clueless about their request. Their perspective is so limited that they could probably be convinced that the moon was made of cheese. They have no idea what drinking Jesus’ cup entails. They have yet to watch His final hours. They have yet to see His suffering. They have yet to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They are still on the foggy side of the mirror.

      There is an identification with Jesus that requires us to follow Him in death. For some this means actual physical death at the hands of an enemy of Christ. The Christians living in predominantly Muslim territories, both in the Middle East, the Far East and Africa have been facing this for years. They know what it means to have their churches burned, their lives threatened, their pastors killed, their homes burned, their children stolen, their women raped, their men killed, all in the name of Islam.

      The disciples lived in a world that would soon be hostile toward Christians because it posed a threat to both Rome and to the Jewish status quo. Because Christ claimed supremacy, and the disciples came to understand that supremacy, the early Christians were killed for refusing to put anyone or anything above their loyalty to Christ.

      Both the cup and the baptism Jesus speaks about this type of identification. Jesus affirms that these two disciples will die as martyrs. They will make this kind of commitment. But they won’t necessarily get their request. Those seats, those places of honor, have already been assigned. And Jesus doesn’t tell us who will occupy those places.

      Never answer a question until you understand the question and its implications. The disciples didn’t have a clue what they were asking. They also didn’t know what Jesus asked them in return, and yet they answered in the affirmative. Wisdom dictates that we answer slowly and with deliberation. The only request to which we should jump is the request from Jesus that says, “Come.” Let’s come!

Hands On

Mark 10:13

      Most parents want what is best for their children. However, often times what they think is best is not really the best. Many parents want to spare their children from all pain and suffering, thinking it will protect them and help them to grow up.

      One example of the over-protection came out in the news recently. A study found that households that used more sanitizing solutions around the house and with their children, that those children were sicker in the long run than households that didn’t over sanitize. It appears that kids need to get small sicknesses in order for their immune system to develop properly. They need to eat dirt! Well, maybe not, but you get the picture.

      Kids need to learn to push and shove, and how it feels to be pushed and shoved by another. They need to be on both ends of the equation, pusher and pushed. It helps to build empathy, an essential element in all human relationships. We need to learn how the other person feels by feeling it ourselves.

      Some parents were bringing their children to Jesus one day. They recognized that Jesus was someone special, that His touch did something to those on the receiving end. They wanted their children to get the benefit of His touch. It sounds like they were great parents, wanting what was best for their children. Who could fault them for that? The disciples did.

      The disciples saw this action by these parents and didn’t understand it. They wanted to put a stop to it immediately. I am not sure why. Did they think the kids were not worth bothering with, that Jesus was wasting His time with them? Were they jealous of Jesus’ attention? Had they bought into the values of their day, the values Jesus was going to challenge? We don’t know. We do know they tried to stop the parents.

      It seems as if the children were relatively healthy children, no mention of healing is given. These were not desperate parents with children dying of chronic diseases or conditions. It seems as if these were pretty spunky kids. I get the picture of these kids running and jumping on Jesus, dog pile style. I see a smiles and giggles abounding. I don’t picture a scene like Santa Claus at the mall, slowly waiting in line with the disciples playing the part of the helpful elves.

      And Jesus blesses them, not from a distance, not with a word, but with His hands on them. This is a person, involved, interactive experience. Jesus didn’t wave His hand for silence, stand up and wave His hand in some grand gesture of blessing. He is not apart from them. He is right there, putting His hands on them and blessing them.

      I like have a God who puts His hands on me and blesses me. Some days I feel as if I am in the palm of His hand, His blessing being so evident in my life. It can be overwhelming to realize all the blessings He pours out on me. I am blessed.

The Ten-Plus-Nine’s

Psalm 19, 49, 79, 109, 139

To anyone who is willing to hear, creation itself screams God’s existence (Psalm 19:1). How anyone can miss this message seems impossible to me. It is so loud. From the smallest atomic particles to the vastness of space, and the structure of DNA to the balance of elements necessary for life, each detail and the presence of the whole speak of God’s existence and His intimate involvement in the universe. We are not the accident at the end of an innumerable chain of accidents. Our lives are not randomness coming to statistical inevitability. We are His creation. And He gives us His Word to provide for our lives (vv7-10). His Word helps us learn the “rules of the game”. They help us know the safe boundaries of our existence in His world (vv11-13).

As Siggy says in Bill Murray’s movie What About Bob, “We’re all going to die”. Too often we live our lives in denial of this reality. Psalm 49 reminds us, we are all going to die (v10). Rich and poor alike die. But God’s people have a promise: we will not stay dead (v15). He will redeem (buy back) our life from the grave. We won’t stay there forever. There is no need to envy wealth, for we can’t take it with us when we die (v17). There is no heaven for those who don’t know the LORD (v20).

 When the psalmist was under God’s judgment he had one question: How long will it last? (Ps 79:5) This is such a common cry. He recognized that part of the problem was not his fault. It was a previous generation’s sin that resulted in his current difficulties (v8). Not every mess we find ourselves in is a result of our own sin! Some of it is, of course, but not all of it. Sometimes we have to live with the consequences of other’s mess-ups. What can we learn in the middle of these difficulties? We can learn to call out and trust in Him (v9).

Psalm 109 talks about character assassination. When it happens we want justice (vv6-15), or perhaps revenge. Our human desire is for them to feel the pain we have felt. We want him to die early (v8), him not to have kids (v9), or for them to come to ruin (v10). We want his business to fail (v11), no one to come to his rescue (v12 and his memory to be forgotten (v13). We want him to pay (vv14-15). He just wants to know that the LORD has not forgotten him (vv26-27). So, if you ever feel like others are out to get you, this psalm may help put words to your inner struggle.

We can never escape from the LORD’s presence (Psalm 139). Inner space, our minds (vv1-6), and outer space (vv7-12): the LORD is there. That is because He has made us (v13). He has a plan for our lives (v16). And our response to this knowledge is awe (vv17-18). And yet we see injustice. If God has all this power and knowledge, why doesn’t he whoop up on the wicked (vv19-22)!

Day 192

Suffering and sick saints

James 5

Key Verses: 4, 9, 12, 16, 20

Wealth can be a wonderful thing. It can also be a curse. James nails the wealthy recipients of this letter on one particular area. They were not compensating their workers sufficiently. The wealthy have a responsibility to share their wealth. This is not a government program that redistributes our wealth. This is a voluntary Christian act where we recognize that what we have is from God, and we need to be responsible stewards of the wealth. This includes taking care of those who helped us gain our wealth. We don’t own our wealth, God does.

It can be hard to remain patient over many years. We want results now, don’t we! We want the answer to that prayer for a spouse, a child, an illness, to be answered. Sometimes we hurt we want the answer so much. The readers of James’ letter were getting impatient for Jesus second coming. They wanted their suffering to end. Their expectation had been that Jesus would return in their lifetimes. But this was not to be. We are still waiting.

When we get impatient, we often get short with each other, discharging our frustration with some outside event on those closest to us. Don’t do it. We are encouraged to follow the example of the Old Testament prophets. They endured suffering and waited for God to fulfill His promises. God has fulfilled His promises. He will continue to do so. We need to do the same.

Our promises don’t need to be “Cross my heart and hope to die” kind of promises. As a Jesus-follower, our word needs to be solid. We need to be able to just say “Yes” or “No” and then follow through. There is something to be said about those cultures that run on a handshake. We used to be able to count on someone’s word. Now the lawyers have gotten involved because people wanted to back out of the agreements they made. We look for wiggle room. Keep your word.

Jesus-followers need to be able to come together without barriers between us. All of us sharing in each other’s lives, bearing each other’s burdens, caring for the needs that are present. We can live with a clean slate.

Prayer is a powerful tool. When we pray what God directs us to pray, we can be sure things will happen. God prompted and Elijah prayed and it happened: no rain. God prompted again, and it rained. We can do something more powerful than this. We can help a sinner turn from their destructive path and be restored. We can be part of an eternal event.