Forbid Them Not

  Mark 10

[10.13-16] The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom.

Lord Jesus--Here in this passage you were interested in the children that were being brought to you.  They didn't need to be healed they were just brought to you for no other reason than to be blessed by you.

Some of these children would be alive in the years that would see the destruction of their home land.  You knew that as you blessed them.  Some of these children were bound for happiness and some for great sorrow. As they were there before you,  they represented the future, the hope, and the investment of their parents.  There were loved little ones who their parents had taken the time to bring them to see the new Rabbi.

You took the energy and the time to publicly correct the behavior of your disciples.  As you were highlighting the essential role of these children in the kingdom, were you lifting them to the Father in prayer?  Were you asking for their protection? I have a sneaking suspicion that you were.

These words are almost haunting:  “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me." They repeat in my mind.  Lord,  don't let my action or inaction get between you and the little ones that you bring my way.

I wonder about the ways that we push children away right now in the church and in this culture. Family rooms where children are segregated in church...as if a little noise is going to hurt us? Nursing mom's made to feel as if there is something wrong with feeding their children? You said, "Don't push them away."

 Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.

Lord Jesus--My acceptance of your kingdom is like a child. What are some implications of acceptance as a child?  There is vulnerability. There are almost limitless questions.  There is trust. There is energy. There is emotion. There is unbounded enthusiastic acceptance. Yes, I have to accept your kingdom's rule in my heart and life like a child.

Remind me of the blessing that comes with acceptance as a child when the vulnerability gets overwhelming.  Push me toward trust at the critical moments.  In the day the will begin before I am ready for it...let me live out your call in this day...a call to trust, vulnerability and accepting what this day brings as from your hand.

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30893-30896). NAVPress - A. Kindle Edition. 

Hardhearted?

Mark 10

010 [10.1-2] From there he went to the area of Judea across the Jordan. A crowd of people, as was so often the case, went along, and he, as he so often did, taught them. Pharisees came up, intending to give him a hard time. They asked, “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife?” [10.3] Jesus said, “What did Moses command?” [10.4] They answered, “Moses gave permission to fill out a certificate of dismissal and divorce her.” [10.5-9] Jesus said, “Moses wrote this command only as a concession to your hardhearted ways.

Lord Jesus-Concessions and hardheartedness are themes that have dogged the steps of your people. You were there when Moses made this decision to allow divorce.  These leaders who were tracking you around the country really were not interested in divorce   They just wanted to trip you and trap you.   You weren't interested in legality.  You were interested in soul work. You met them at the point of their questions...I would not have been that generous.

As I write this I wonder, where are the places that  I am hardhearted?  Where are the places where I just don't want to listen? If we were sitting on this park bench talking to me you might point them out...places where I hold on to tradition in stead of your grace.  Issues that I find it easier to avoid, than to look them squarely in the eye.

There are are those places where I think that I am being tenacious and you know me for who I am...stubborn and set in my ways.  Forgive me for the confusion and move me beyond my blind spots by your grace.  You continue to be interested in soul work and you call me to being open to you call in all sorts of places.  Lately,  I have noticed that you seem to be handling my blind spots differently.  It seems as if you edge me right up to them.   Then somehow you allow them to break through to the still, quiet place in my heart and the tears come.  I am not sure I like this recent turn of events and the Spirit's work, but I will follow wherever you lead.

In this day help me to follow you and to listen in the quiet place that the Spirit speaks to my heart words of grace, hope and courage.

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30884-30892). NAVPress - A. Kindle Edition.

Friends in Darkness and Light

Mark 9

[9.43-48] “If your hand or your foot gets in God’s way, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owner of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell. [9.49-50] “Everyone’s going through a refining fire sooner or later, but you’ll be well-preserved, protected from the eternal flames.

Lord Jesus--This is one of those spots that the words get twisted and the message gets lost.  The message is of the importance of focus on your kingdom not on body parts thrown away.  The focus is on your kingdom not necessarily the church. The focus needs to be on the message and on the interactions with that message among the people we meet along the way.  Anything that distracts or distorts that interaction needs to be jettisoned for the sake of the mission.


My interactions with the people that surround me are important. The relationships are of eternal importance.  This warning is found just after you pointed to the fellow travelers on the road to kingdom come and reminded me of the need to protect those who are just putting their roots down into the faith.


You want me to be a light the shines in the darkness even if the darkness doesn't notice.  There are times when it feels as if the darkness that surrounds is suffocating.    There are also, those times when it feels as if the darkness is intoxicating. Your quiet and reoccurring call to me is to shine without distraction. The call is to focus on you on your life and light, on your grace and hope,  not the darkness that surrounds and at times seeps inside me.

In this day, help me to be redemptively aware of the hope that infuses every moment that I allow myself to focus on you.

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30877-30881). NAVPress - A. Kindle Edition. 

Don't Miss The Friends Along the Way

Mark 9
[9.38] John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn't in our group.” [9.39-41] Jesus wasn't pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down.

Lord Jesus-I am sure that I miss allies all the time because they don't fit into my little view of your kingdom. The more I walk with you, the more I am aware of the inclusive nature of your call. You call me to following you and to being aware of the people who are headed in the same direction.

If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.

Today help me be aware of the cups of water along the way sometimes I miss them because they come in many different forms. A word of encouragement at the right time...a smile at the needed time...

 [9.42] “On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn't  You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.

Lord Jesus--It is a scared trust that you call me to.  To be aware of and encourage the trust of those whose faith is just taking root.  There can be no Crystal Cathedral's in my future.  Just places of grace where fellow travelers on the road to Kingdom Come share the journey.

So in the day that is going to start in just a couple of hours let me be hope, and light in this day for you.

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30871-30877). NAVPress - A. Kindle Edition.

First? Right? Left or Down the Middle

Mark

[9.33] They came to Capernaum. When he was safe at home, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the road?”

Lord Jesus--There are sometimes that the gotcha comes after the fact. They had been discussing pecking order.  You knew it. I wonder if they knew you knew.

[9.34] The silence was deafening—they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest.

I wonder what criteria they were using? Who had done the most miracles? Who had cast out the most demons?  Who had heal the most sick?  How did they parse it out?  How many repented?  Did they keep a count on how many notches they had on their gospel gun? 

The criteria of evaluation is something that is important to you. Isn't Lord?   It is not a standard that is comfortable. All of the activities are not the standard. In the church too long we looked to the wrong criteria   At times we have thought that it about we we have done.  There have been times when we think that the standards are about not doing behaviors and activities. There is always talk about lowering the standards...but really the standard could be any higher. 

[9.35] He sat down and summoned the Twelve. “So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.”

The standard that you set was servant-hood. Everything else is out of my control. I can choose to serve.  You choose to bless as you see fit.  Everything else is window dressing on a window that doesn't exist. 

I guess this is where political agenda's of the christian right, middle and left need to come face to face with you.  My political agenda needs to be yours...serving the needs of the oppressed, living out a generous orthodoxy that doesn't throw stones at anyone but serves with grace in the middle of need. 

 [9.36-37] He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.”

Lord Jesus--So where does the child come it? Service and love with no thought of reciprocity? So much of the church is about giving with the implication of reciprocity...of receiving at some point in the future. Yet, servants serve because that is what they are called to do.

Lord Jesus--Today help me get this right...it is really so simple...to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with you. That is the job description for today, give me the strength and grace for the task.

Micah 6:8 

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

Except By Prayer

Mark 9

[9.25-27] Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: “Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you—Out of him, and stay out!” Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up.

Lord Jesus--I would not want to miss the happy ending in the middle of thinking about belief and trusting you.  The story of this boy and his oppression by evil end in what some thought was death but was really the last gasping breathes of evil kicking and screaming as it left.

[9.28] After arriving back home, his disciples cornered Jesus and asked, “Why couldn't we throw the demon out?” [9.29] He answered, “There is no way to get rid of this kind of demon except by prayer.”

This incident occurred because the disciples were unable to cast the demon out of this little one.  So they brought him to you after you returned from the mountain. Peter, James and John had seen you revealed in all your glory. I wonder what Moses was talking with you about? Elijah did he talk to you of his days since leaving planet Earth? Did he have concerns about the company that you were keeping? It was a mountain top experience that overwhelmed the boys. I am sure that I would have been the amen section for Peter on that day.  "Tents, tabernacles...sound like a good idea to me...Amen Peter.  Let's get it together."  

They saw  your glory  revealed just as much when you touched this little and restored hope and life to a person who had experienced such oppression by the evil one.  The lesson that the boys needed to learn again and again was that power comes not from doing, but from being connected to the source of power.  Prayer was and still is the only way that spiritual progress can be made. 

You still release from oppression  you still call me to the work of prayer. Why is it that I still miss it from time to time that it is not in doing that real work gets done but in being in your presence?   In this day that is already pushing at me, lead me in ways of grace, and of being a person of prayer.

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30857-30862). NAVPress - A. Kindle Edition.

"If" Revisited

Lord Jesus--That word "If" constrains me.  It was used by the this father with a son oppressed because he had come to the place where he did not trust that God would in fact intercede on the behalf of his son.

So often that is where I find myself and I allow my understanding of the past to impact your future work in my life.  There is no question that you are trustworthy...there is no question that you love with an everlasting love.  I loose track of the fact that my perspective of the past is twisted.  I am not an accurate reporter of your grace experienced in my life.  I don't see it all and can't understand it all.  Sometimes I can't even see it all.


So the growing edge is to trust even when I don't see it clearly...or don't understand it. Will never understand it this side of the pearly gates.  Trust and praise become the default...not "if."

That is the growing edge. Praise and trust release your work with in me, "if" limits, constrains and confines.