SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:35-40 Not the Jesus… and not the enemies… they expected. The Jews were desperately hoping for God’s Messiah, a king just like (a son of) their greatest king, David. They saw David as the template, and the messiah as a copy. Jesus shows that David (in Psalm 110) saw it the other way around: the…
All you need is…
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:28-34 ‘All you need is love’; ‘love makes the whole world go round’. If you want to know what life in God’s world (kingdom) is supposed to be like, focus on love. If you truly love God and love people, all of the commands will be unnecessary. Like this man, many people sense that…
We really do not understand!
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:18-27 The Sadducees were trying to show that the idea of a final resurrection is nonsense. Good question, what happens to someone who has been widowed and remarried – who is their spouse for eternity? Behind this is our struggle to understand what life if God’s eternal kingdom creation can be like. We can’t,…
Am I any better than the politicians I criticize?
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 58 Right now big news in our country is the Senate scandal: who is lying, who is telling the truth? Sometimes you get the feeling that most politicians are crooked – “from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.” David is reflecting on corrupt, cruel, oppressive and unjust leaders, and what will happen to…
The Paradoxical Commandments
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you…
2 Chronicles 13-21:3
SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 13-21:3 This is what the prophet Micaiah was facing in 2 Chronicles 18. What do you sense the Lord saying to you? PRAYER Lord, show me where I am following the crowd instead of You. Give me the strength of Micaiah to live and speak for the truth, no matter the consequences.
Being good citizens
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:13-17 Interesting that Pharisees (extreme fundamentalists) and Herodians (worldly liberals) worked together. Their scheme here is to get Jesus in trouble with the Romans; get Him to advocate rebellion. In His clever answer, Jesus affirms paying taxes, but… ‘give back to God what is God’s’, what isn’t God’s? We are called to obey our…
The surgeon’s knife
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:1-12 When God speaks, it cuts into our hearts, exposing and challenging and healing us (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12). Jesus is the Voice (Word) of God, and what He says cuts deep, like a surgeons scalpel. The point of this story is a challenge, exposing their sinful, selfish hearts, how they are resisting God. “They knew…
Playing games with Jesus
SCRIPTURE: Mark 11:27-33 Play games with Jesus, and you will lose. The religious leaders had interrogated Jesus many times, they were not interested in His answers. Jesus knows their hearts, He knows they are already against Him and determined to eliminate Him. He answers their question with a ‘trick’ question, they know it and refuse to…
Become a secret agent!
Yesterday I spoke on Matthew 6:1-4, how Jesus encourages us the discipline of secret service. Check out this website (http://www.secretagentl.com) and consider becoming a secret agent, specializing in anonymous acts of kindness. The assignment for the week is to perform a secret act of kindness every day for this week. This is your mission, should you…