Mark 12:1-12

By Joanna de Vocht

I think it could be easy to read this passage as a Christian and make the mistake of thinking that it doesn’t really apply to US because we haven’t rejected Christ we have invited him to be king of our lives. Right?

But if we look wider than the more obvious message of this passage, the rejection of Christ, and look at the underlying motive for the rejection, this passage speaks to a topic quite different and quite applicable to all Christians – power.

Jesus didn’t fit within the Pharisees’ ideals of power, he threatened rather than confirmed or raised their authority. There wasn’t a place for their type of authority in his kingdom. He could warn them with messengers like John the Baptist but they would not submit because he wasn’t the Messiah they were looking for. He elevated the wrong people.

If we look at our own lives, who are the people that threaten our sense power and how do we treat them? We are probably less likely to commit overt violence like the Pharisees did, but we all feel tempted to fight for our ‘right’ to power over our territory at work or at home.

Recently, when complaining to a friend about someone who I felt was encroaching on my territory of leadership, she told me that I needed to give up my spiritual ‘right’ to lead that project - because God (not group politics) raises and lowers anyway. She was dead right and as soon as I gave up my right to power the whole situation turned around.

Who will you submit to for the glory of God? Maybe it is someone worse than you, someone stupider and less well spoken than you (that was certainly not true in my case) - but truly following Christ means giving up our own power and glorifying His.

Mark 11:12-25

By Josh Taylor

In the prophet Isaiah we find these words:

"...these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

(Isaiah 56:7)

Jesus comes and declares judgement on the temple because it has turned inward, serving the needs of those who benefit most from religious observance.

God is a missional God, a God who reaches out. In Genesis 12 we see where God calls Abraham and makes a promise to bless him. But the blessing is so that Abraham my in turn be a blessing. This is the call of God's people: blessed to be a blessing. The problem we encounter in Mark 11:12-25 is that the people of God: a people called to be a blessing to all the nations have held back on their end of the deal. This temple of all places was to be a place where God's holiness and love were on display, instead Jesus finds what he describes as a den of robbers.

We, the church are called together in God's name as God's people. We indeed are blessed. But, we are blessed to be a blessing. Would Jesus come in to our midst and praise the way holiness and love is displayed in our local community through our witness, or would he find that we are turned inward?

John 12:20-33

By Amy Whiting

Following Jesus is often counter-cultural and counter-intuitive.

The truth is that if we want a full, satisfying, worthwhile life – a life whose influence lives on well beyond us – one that leaves a legacy and inspires others. If we want to be honoured by our heavenly Father (vs 26)...If we want to be that person we must...die, serve and follow.

I guess the thing that most captured me in this verse was this – “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains all by itself.” All by itself. Lonely. Isolated. Maybe by our wordly measuring stick successful, but in reality alone.

I wonder if this is something we have missed – that dying, serving and following ensures that we will be fruitful...and not all by ourselves...both in this world and in the age to come.

This promise of not being alone is echoed again in( vs 26) With this promise – if anyone serves me, they must follow me. Where I am, my servant will be too. In dying, serving and following we are found right with Him.

It goes against everything our world, our intuition, our common sense screams at us – but my prayer is that I could grasp this fully – in choosing to serve & follow, to die to myself...there I am found fruitful & at the side of the One who’s opinion matters in this life, and the one to come.

Mark 10:46-52

By Josh Taylor

A prayer for the faith of Bartimaeus

Lord, give us the faith of Bartimaeus:

Who threw off his cloak

Who yelled out to you without restraint

"Take pity on me!"

Take pity on us

Who are so scared to trust in you

Who hold back timidly

Lord, give us the boldness of Bartimaeus.

We are broken, just like Bartimaeus

We need healing, just like Bartimaeus

We need hope, just like Bartimaeus.

So we pray: make us new, just like Bartimaeus.

Mark 10:35-45

By Kees Aitken

As I read this it makes me chuckle and cringe at the same time.

The first thing that came to my mind was “are James and John taking the mickey?” In verse 35 straight off the bat they ask, “Teacher, we want You to grant us whatever we ask.” Do they not know Who they are speaking to?

But Jesus, rather than laughing at them and walking away like most of us would, turns around and asks, “What do you want Me to do for you?” (verse 36).

They ask, at verse 37, “Grant us that when You are there in all Your glory, one of us will sit at Your right, and the other at Your left”!! The cheek of them!

But at verse 38 Jesus replies, “You don’t understand what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I must drink? And can you be baptized with the same kind of baptism that I must go through?” And, at verse 39, they answered, “Yes, we can.”

It seems to me that their ignorance comes off as arrogance. But, ever humble and gracious, Jesus does not put them down or reprimand them. He is gentle in His correction. I love this about Him. What I think James and John didn’t understand is that, while they were referring to a place of Glory after death, Jesus knew what lay ahead and those who would accompany Him to the Cross.

When the ten heard about this they became indignant with James and John. You can’t really blame them but yet again Jesus responds with wisdom and grace, and then teaches them what I think is one of the most important lessons in scripture:

“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10 vs 42-45).

“So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13 vs 4-5).” This is one of the many hundreds of reasons why Jesus is the most amazing King of Kings; any other King would have had slaves, servants, maids, and butlers etc but Jesus came to serve.

Mark 10:17-31

By Josh Taylor

We all have our own proudest possessions, the part of our lives that we are not willing to give away in order to truly follow Jesus. When Jesus calls us to become his disciples, to follow him, there is a cost involved.

The challenge that struck me as I was thinking about this passage was what is this cost in my life? What is it that holds me back when Jesus calls me? There is always something that fights for our allegiance.

It’s like we all constantly face a big game of tug of war. On one side Jesus calls us to obey him and follow him whole heartedly and on the other side there are the tempting offers and habits that hold us back from fully committing.

But the fact is that the choice has to be made. We either follow Jesus or we don’t. There isn’t some pleasant negotiable middle. That is why Jesus says it is so hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It is because they are held back from giving their loyalty fully to Jesus; instead they trust in their wealth.

The story of the rich young ruler finishes with an interesting question. The disciples ask Jesus, who then can be saved? Jesus says “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” The point here is that we don’t just try to make our own lives better somehow and prove to God that we’re not so bad after all, because that is impossible. The point is that relationship is the key element. It is with God that all things are possible.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a german theologian who was martyred in WWII said this:

“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time-in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. Jesus’ summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ."

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, pg89, 90

The journey of Lent is one where we remind ourselves of our call to obey Christ above all else.

Mark 10:1-12

By Josh Taylor

The Pharisees try and catch Jesus out by asking him a hard question about divorce. Jesus turns it around and goes even deeper by getting back to God's intent:

"male and female he made them, and that's why

the man must leave his father and his mother

and cleave unto his wife; so that the two

become one flesh."

Jesus is good at this. They know that he will probably give them a conservative answer, an answer that would get him in trouble politically with Herod who was himself divorced. But Jesus knows better than to fall into their trap, he quickly unveils their hearts. What is this law about? It is about God's intention for marriage.

Divorce is a topic that comes up in Scripture a few times, so let's take a quick tour of this issue in other places in Scripture...(this is a topic deeply personal to my own journey and hence there are fair amount of words to follow!)

In Ephesians 5:22-33 we find Paul’s picture of marriage. This picture is a positive one that affirms mutuality, equality and love. Genesis 2 affirms the relational bond that God created between men and women. Stanley Grenz writes on human relationships and insists that human relationships can reflect God’s triune nature, he says:

Personhood, then, is bound up with relationality, and the fullness of relationality lies ultimately in relationship with the triune God. Creating this relational fullness is the work of the Spirit, who places humans “in Christ” and thereby effects human participation in the dynamic of the divine life.[1]

Humans are made for relationship with one another. The marriage bond that displays mutuality of love which is beautifully expressed in the act of sex (as described in 1 Corinthians 7) can reflect the nature of God. Marriage is affirmed in the Bible, that man and woman are made as equals and called to exist as one flesh.

Divorce is a sad reality that Scripture teaches on in various places. Jesus teaches on adultery and divorce in Matthew 5:27-32. Jesus’ words in 5:31-32 are of particular relevance here.

A Covenant theology reading offers much insight into Jesus’ words on marriage and divorce. Stassen and Gushee in their book “Kingdom Ethics” explore Matthew 5:31-32 from a Covenant theology reading. They highlight that marriage is a covenant and that there is significance in the covenant language of marriage.[2] This covenant requires faithfulness, trust and honesty. Too often it seems that the question that one asks when facing Matthew 5:31-32 misses the point. It seems odd to ask the question of when is it possible for a couple to get divorced. The issue should not be questions of how to wriggle free from a covenant relationship. The truly important theological question that arises is what does God intend for marriage? Christians are to be new creations in Christ. The whole created order groans for restoration. Part of this restoration is the creational intent for marriage being restored. The Bible speaks of marriage and in the Genesis account speaks of man and woman united as one flesh.[3]

The reason the divorce teaching itself exists is not to give people the room to get out of a marriage that they do not like. The reason Jesus teaches on divorce is because people’s hearts are so hard and sinful that divorce is in fact a reality.[4] People’s marriages break down for various reasons. Jesus sets the boundary for what was acceptable in his 1^st century Jewish context, however that does not mean that Matthew 5:30-32 gives us prescriptive rules for today. The central theological message that one can take from Jesus’ teachings on divorce is that broken marriages are not the ideal. What God intended for his creation were faithful marriages.

Divorce is a major issue for pastoral practice. It is important that the Church affirms that divorce is not God’s intention. Every option ought to be explored before divorce is considered. Falling out of love or drifting apart is not a good reason to get a divorce. Perhaps an understanding of love such as the self sacrificial and giving picture found in 1 Corinthians 13 is important in terms of this issue. On the other hand, divorce is a reality and in some cases proves to be the only way to resolve a situation. It is important that the Church does not adopt a ‘one size fits all’ legalistic approach to divorce. Just as Paul applied Jesus’ teaching to his context, the Church today is to do the same.

The Church ought to be a redemptive place that encourages healing of relationships and hurt from broken relationships.[5] Imagine if we at Cashmere could be such a redemptive place: a place of healing and love that displays and supports God's intention for marriage. Maybe then if we were asked tough questions about this issue, we would have a ready answer at hand displayed in the love of our community.

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[1] Stanley J. Grenz “The Social God and the Relational Self: Toward a Theology of theImago Dei in the Postmodern Context” in Personal Identity in Theological Perspective, ed. Richard Lints, Michael S. Horton and Mark R. Talbot (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006), 92.

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[2]Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. (Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 276.

[3] Genesis 2:24.

[4]David P. Scaer. The Sermon on the Mount: The Church’s First Statement of the Gospel (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia, 2000), 119.

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[5] Stanley Grenz, Sexual Ethics, 141-142.

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