Service and Ransom

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.  Mark 10:45

One day in the dusty days of the Roman empire, you are out weeding a field of turnips when your neighbor's kid runs past shouting that the king of the universe is coming... to your house. Oh, dear! You run to gather the family and servants, advance bath day by a couple of days, and have them all put on their finest clothing. The king arrives and you prepare to serve him as best the household is able. 

The king then states, "No, I came to serve you and be a ransom for all your household." 

Ransom? You quickly count heads and find no one missing. How can a kidnapping have occurred? Serve the king, no wait, be served by the king, how will he know where the serving dishes are? Did he bring his chef? Whose food will he use in this service? 

We can easily see with just a short story that this statement Jesus made would shock the disciples. But there's more! That title Jesus used of Himself, Son of Man? 

When the King of kings arrives, will we be ready to be served? 

Bucky

Learning to Serve

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Mark 10:42-43

Danger, there will be some out there who want me to take the current president of a certain nation and have a go at him, but the lesson from our verses for today aims right at our part in this faith. Jesus told us by way of His disciples that if we want to append, the great, to our names as some of our rulers have done in the past, that we must become a servant. Oh, cool! I can serve as CEO, right? Do we suppose Jesus will be fooled by smooshing a few terms until they are unrecognized? We can say things like servant leadership or serving in the top position, but servant in our Lord's context probably meant something quite different.

Perhaps with prayer and scripture study we can learn to serve,

Bucky

The Greatest Ones

They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”
But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
They said to Him, “We are able.”
-- Mark 10:37-39

James and John, the sons of thunder, did not know what they were asking, but they knew with that confidence born of ignorance that they could do it. They wanted to be the greatest ones among the disciples, and they asked first. I have enjoyed a similar confidence once or twice in my life, and we'll just say that ignorance can be a tough and humiliating teacher. And asking first makes no difference to ignorance, it will roll over the first with its full weight as well as it will the last to ask. James and John are granted what they ask. Oh, not the places that Jesus will admit He cannot give, but that cup and baptism they know nothing about. As always with this story, I have to wonder if James and John recalled their request as they saw Jesus crucified with two criminals, one on the right and the other on the left of Him.

The Independence Day holiday begins tomorrow for most of us. May the Lord God bless the United States and redeem us from our sins.

Bucky

Plainly Told 'Em

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again. Mark 10:33-34

Some weather excitement last night. A little thumping on the roof, but it does not look like any damage in my immediate area. Now imagine that I told a story more like, "Last night a thunderstorm hit and I ran out to grab the cat, and a 15-lb hailstone whacked me into a coma for two weeks!" You would be nonplussed since clearly I just typed this message to you, and you know what a coma is. Jesus got a similar reaction from His disciples this third time He announced exactly what would happen to Him in Jerusalem. The disciples this time were like, "Yeah, okay. Did you guys see that shooting star last night? It was a whopper!" Jesus plainly told 'em, and they clearly blew it off.

Since we're imagining, now imagine you are a disciple and after blowing off three clear prophecies of what would happen, you are facing the risen Lord Jesus. What do you say to Him? Someone in your group has already done the "ghost!" thing out on the sea. So now what?

Love to you in Christ our Lord,

Bucky

But Not With God

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”  Mark 10:27

Another way to be introduced to the Almighty is to hear that with Him all things are possible. Jesus states this in our verse for today in response to the disciples' astonished question, "Who then can be saved?" The disciples had just found out that the things we work for in this life cannot save us. Both religious obedience and wealth accumulation had presented themselves to the Master in one rich young ruler. And Jesus had told him that he lacked just one thing that required quite a list of tasks to obtain. Plus... the obedient young man could not do those tasks at that time. The one thing he lacked must come from God it seems, for with men it is impossible. 

All the things we may do from reading the word to selling all our possessions, from kneeling down and praying at an altar to religiously following the commandments and others may prepare the way for receiving salvation, but only God can provide it to us and for us. And it is debatable that doing all that can even prepare the way, since preparing the heart comes by way of the Holy Spirit. So, it is no wonder to us why the disciples were astonished. Peter even begins right after to say all that the disciples had done to follow Jesus. Sorry, Pete, it is still impossible for us. 

Have faith in God,

Bucky

Make A Little Security?

Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” Mark 10:23

Earthly riches: easy to preach against from the words of our Lord Jesus, popular to preach against because no one considers themselves rich. Seems like a win-win for the preacher. However, that same preacher needs a house, often provided by the church that takes in offerings to pay for the house. Those offerings consist of bits of other peoples riches. Some struggle with that monthly dilemma between wanting to give an offering and being short on the bills of the household. Others may have enough to ponder on where the dividing line might be between rich and not rich, so that they are not left out of the kingdom of God that Jesus will mention in the following verse (v24). For all the struggle and effort we put in to make a little security and not worry about riches, we sure seem to have much to worry over when it comes to riches! And then Jesus went and said to not worry over riches back in the big sermon. Aigh!

You and I are not alone in this. The disciples also were astonished at our Lord's statement. They probably looked to the rich young man with some envy as an example of success in this world. "Obeyed the commandments, got rich, if he can't get into the kingdom of God, who will?!!" they may have muttered among themselves. Actually, that's simply a dramatic version of the disciples' question, "Who then can be saved?" in verse 26. We do not have to worry over rich or not-rich though, but to come to the One who has possible firmly in hand. We will meet Him next time as we continue this story of the rich young ruler.

Love to you in Christ our Lord,

Bucky

What Would Be Your One Thing?

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”  Mark 10:21

Our first response to our Lord's statement this morning might be, "That's one thing?" However the one thing our Lord had for that particular young man might not be the same for you or me. I might ask, "Is there one thing for me or a whole bunch of things I lack?" Of course, the one thing this young man lacked was faith in Jesus. We see in the story that he was good on the commandments, but could not give up his life as it was that day. And that one thing may cause many of us to stumble. 

We can build up quite a castle here on earth, whether we live in a grass hut or a 20-room house on a large acreage. Hut or  house, we will fill our castle with things we need and like, and then protect the walls as best we are able. As much as Heaven is described in the Word of God, it still seems to us kind of out there and ungraspable. It is hard for us to work for something so promised, when things here are touchable and visible. The rich young man could stand on his property, but treasure in heaven was kind of... not there yet? Let us pray for one another that there is no one thing holding us back from all that Jesus would give to us as treasure in heaven. 

May the blessed love of Jesus be with you today,

Bucky