storiesofvalue

For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’  But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.  Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” (Mark 7:10-13)

The system of “Corban” was a way of devoting money to the Lord without giving it to the Lord.  It was more of a vow than a gift.

I think it is easy to see how such a religious tool could be misused.  While one’s parents starved, a man could keep back money and say it was for the Lord’s use.  Then, after his parents were out of danger or dead, he could “unvow” it…sort of like making a promise as a kid with our fingers crossed behind our backs.

The specific reason Jesus confronted this practice is because the Pharisees had been condemning His disciples for not following their rules, which had been added to God’s Law.  Yet, while they condemned, they corrupted the Law themselves by employing loopholes for their own profit.

This is the problem with rules.  Perhaps you have heard the old adage, “rules were made to be broken.”  I would add that “rules are designed to be corrupted.”

Please don’t misunderstand me.  I am not against rules.  I am not against religious rules.

The church I serve has a rule against the drinking or serving of alcoholic beverages at church sponsored events.  While we recognize the Bible does not condemn drinking (but it does condemn drunkenness), we have determined it is counterproductive to conduct ministries that reach out to those whose lives have been destroyed by alcohol, either by their own misuse, or the misuse of others, and at the same time use church funds to sponsor events where people drink.

Since the time of the first church, as recorded in the book of Acts, leaders have made similar rules to address cultural problems (Acts 15).

The problem comes when we start looking at rules as signs of righteousness.  In other words, if I said, “Because I don’t drink alcohol out of respect for my brothers and sisters who are battling alcoholism, I am closer to God”… that would be a sin.  And if I turned around and drank alcohol at a non-church sponsored event, even though I was with the same brothers and sisters in Christ I said I was respecting in a church setting, that would be hypocrisy.

The basic idea of Jesus’ message today is that the Law, and any rules we create to help us live by the Law, are for the benefit of a pure conscience toward God.  They are not intended to be used to puff ourselves up with self-righteousness, and if we commit to a rule, it should rule our whole life…not just the part others see.

For these reasons, rules can be a bit sticky.  As I have said, they are not necessarily out of order…just ripe for abuse.  It is probably best to keep them to a minimum.

Dear God, convict me of my inconsistencies.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ (Mark 7:6-7)

This is a quote from Isaiah (Isaiah 29:13). Many years separated the time of the prophet Isaiah and the ministry of the Pharisees, but human nature hadn’t changed.  There was still a tendency to take a perfectly good practice and make it a rule of righteousness.

The issue at hand (no pun intended) was the observation by the Pharisees that Jesus’ disciples were not washing their hands.  Now, we all know it is a good idea to wash our hands before we eat.  At least that’s what our mothers told us.  And where would the multi-million dollar hand sanitizing business be without good hygiene?

However, there was more to the Pharisees’ criticism than just making sure Jesus’ disciples followed their mothers’ instructions.  A holy man in the Jewish culture engaged in certain practices that set him apart from others.  Originally, God had commanded purification rites to prepare priests as they offered sacrifices on behalf of His people.  But by the time of Jesus, additional practices had been added, which made it very difficult for anyone to carry out a normal life and remain ceremonially clean.

Since Jesus was a spiritual teacher, and some people believed Him to be the Messiah, it only made sense (to the Pharisees) that He should do everything religious people to do.  It also followed that His disciples would do the same.

I get where the Pharisees are coming from.  Crude behavior is a bad reflection on one’s relationship with God.  I am not saying it is a clear indicator there is something wrong with our faith, but if we love God, we are going to honor Him by showing others we know how to act in public.  We don’t want to be so offensive people can’t get past our lack of self-discipline to see the Lord.

On the other hand, rules don’t define faith.  But the heart does.  This is why, when a small child, covered with banana pudding from head to toe reaches his hands toward us in his high chair, we pick him up.  Oh, we might clean his hands with a rag first, but we still hold him, even though we know we are going to get some pudding on our clothes.

In the same way, God holds a lot of messy people who haven’t learned how to eat.  He knows they will eventually.  But what is most important to Him is that their hearts are right: that they love Him.

Rules have their place.  And we should make sure we aren’t in the habit of reacting negatively when believers make rules, only to get upset when someone breaks our rules.  It is just that every rule has a reason behind it, and unless we grasp the reason, the rule is pretty empty.  In fact, without the reason, the rule is meaningless.

Maybe the disciples should have washed their hands, for everyone’s sake.  But maybe they were in a hurry and were doing their best to grab some food before the next crowd arrived to hear Jesus.  Of course, none of this matters when people are just looking for an excuse to condemn.

Dear God, help me grow in my practice without misplacing my heart.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went–into villages, towns or countryside–they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. (Mark 6:54-56)

Have you ever owned a “relic?”

Relics are items people collect because they have some association with a revered individual.  Some of them are said to have supernatural power over sickness and evil.  The idea is that the power of the person, who is deceased or not present with us, can be passed along through some remnant of their being, or a past possession.

The theology of relics has always bothered me.  I don’t like to see people manipulated with false promises, and my temperature really rises when I see religious organizations give out little spiritually infused trinkets for their supporters to carry or wear.

Please don’t get me wrong.  I have no problem with mementoes and souvenirs.  It is the ascribing of supernatural power to these things that I believe is wrought with abuse.

So I have to do some real searching when I come to passages such as today’s where people were able to find healing by merely touching the edge of Jesus garment.  You may have already read another account in Mark’s gospel where a woman with a 12-year old blood disease was healed when she pressed through a crowd and touched the hem of Jesus cloak.

Is it really possible for supernatural power to pass through an object and into another?

Evidently, yes.  Therefore, I have decided to start selling my used straws from my daily Diet-Coke.  You can e-mail me or send $100.00 to support my ministry and I will send you an authenticated straw, guaranteed to heal what ails you. (I am kidding, of course)

I have racked my brain to figure out what is different about Jesus’ cloak.  How do I distinguish it from a tacky religious relic?

I have concluded the power was certainly not in the item, but in Jesus.  And yes, in God’s design, the clothes Jesus wore were used as a conduit.  Our passage says “all who touched him were healed.”  It doesn’t say “all who touched one of His garments that was being passed through the crowd were healed.”

I must admit, this is not the only place where my convictions are challenged.  There are other places in the Bible where supernatural powers are evident in inanimate objects (such as Moses’ staff).

But I can say, I can’t remember a single place where anything of this nature was sold for profit (or non-profit as the case may be).  I am not saying you need to throw away your relics if you have them.  You just need to look a little higher for your spiritual help.

Dear God, help me avoid superstitions.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. (Mark 6:46)

Did Jesus really need to pray?

He was the Son of God.  He was the God-Man.  He was very God of very God.

Did He do it just to set an example?  That doesn’t seem to be the case.  Otherwise, why would He leave the disciples to pray by Himself?

I start with the premise that, “Yes”, Jesus did need to pray.  There is no doubt in my mind He left the disciples in our passage today for the expressed purpose of communing with the Father.  He needed to pray.  He wanted to pray.  He intentionally went to pray.

But, of course, for obvious reasons we still wonder why it was necessary.  Let me toss out some possibilities:

Jesus needed to pray because prayer was a human means of communication with God, and Jesus was human.  Jesus was God, but He was also human flesh.  His body was not His host, but a part of His person.  When they scourged Jesus during His trial, He felt pain.  When they drove the nails through His hands and feet He bled.  And people who hurt and bleed need to pray.

Could Jesus have circumvented prayer?  Perhaps that would have possible.  But then He would not have been fully human (even as He was fully God).  He would not have experienced the struggle of finding time to pray…of praying in the midst of a storm…of praying when every nerve in His body sent streaks of excruciating pain to His brain: “Father, forgive them.  They don’t know what they are doing.” 

Jesus needed to pray because He was in hostile territory.  When Jesus came to earth, He effectively parachuted behind enemy lines.  He engaged Satan on His own turf and challenged Him at every turn.  He cast out demons, rebuked evil doers, and set sinners free.  Every warrior needs rest…even if that warrior is the King of Kings.

Finally, Jesus needed to pray because He needed to stay focused on His Father’s strategy.  Everywhere Jesus went and everything He said was carefully designed by God.  His mission was three years long, and He needed to make sure every day…every moment counted.  I personally sense that even the seemingly spontaneous moments in Jesus ministry were a part of the plan.

After Jesus prayed on the mountaintop, He returned to find His disciples fighting some strong waves on the sea.  So He walked out to them…on the water!  Would Jesus have had the strength to take His stroll on the sea if He hadn’t prayed beforehand?  Maybe…

But if Jesus needed to pray, for these and many other reasons, who are we to say we don’t?

Dear God, help me make prayer a priority.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. (Mark 6:40-41)

This is the account known as the “Feeding of the Five-Thousand.”  There is another mass feeding in the bible known as the “Feeding of the Four-Thousand,” but this one gets all of the attention.  It is the biggest, and it also involves a specified “five loaves and two fish”, which we know were given to the disciples by a boy (John 6:9).

A lot has been made of the boy.  Children’s stories have been written about a small child whose mother fixed him a lunch to take on his trip to hear Jesus.  Of course, there are some issues with this commentary.  Even though Jesus loved children, why would a child go alone to hear Him? And why wouldn’t his parents go with him?  And even though a young boy (though we aren’t really sure how old he was) can have an appetite, five loaves and two fish constitute a pretty big picnic.

Is it possible this boy was asked by his family to give their whole meal to Jesus?  Or was he on his way home from the market when he stopped to hear Jesus, only to have a disciple ask him about the food he was carrying?

There certainly are lots of possibilities, but for our purposes this morning, we come back to the food.  The food met a physical need in the lives of the people who had been listening to Jesus teach all day.  And the miracle of multiplication was incredible!  I would have loved to have been there to see the disciples carrying around those twelve baskets as they collected extra bread and fish.

But the real lesson of this feeding was Jesus’ place as the “Bread of Life.”

We need to jump ahead a bit in the book of Mark to chapter 8.  That’s where Jesus fed four thousand people, and the disciples picked up seven baskets of bread.  In His discussion with them, Jesus warned them against the “yeast” of the Pharisees and challenged them for not realizing the significance of His miraculous feedings.

At the very least, the disciples should have seen there was no need to worry about food, since they were moving and breathing in the presence of the very Son of God, the Bread of Life.  But there was an even deeper lesson to grasp…

…Both Jesus and the Pharisees were capable of multiplication.  But the two outcomes were vastly different.  When Jesus turned some fish and loaves into a convention feast, He brought life to everyone who ate.  But the leaven of the Pharisees produced death.  Oh, it isn’t that their food necessarily killed people physically.  Instead, their emphasis on good works at the expense of God’s mercy rotted people’s souls from the inside out.  The more they tried to make themselves righteous, the more they condemned others, and the less they cared about sharing their lives with people who needed to be lifted up.

Which bread would you rather eat: the kind that fills you up with more left over, or the kind that puffs you up with nothing to spare for the people who are dying around you?  I choose life!

Dear God, make me hungry for the right kind of righteousness.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. (Mark 6:31-32)

What do crowds of people do to you?  Do they drain you or energize you?

They didn’t have professional personality profiles in Jesus’ day, so we don’t have a psychologist’s take on each of the apostles.  But we can assume at least some of the Twelve were drained by the crowds.  Which ones do you think were most weary?  The fishermen, who were raised in the great outdoors?  The tax collector who had learned to shield his heart from those who hated him?

Regardless, everyone, no matter how they are wired, needs time away.  That’s why Jesus wanted to escape with His disciples to a “quiet place.”  So they got in a boat and made a break for it.

But the rest was short-lived.  In fact, large numbers anticipated their route and ran on foot to meet them when they landed.  Too bad Jesus and the disciples didn’t have one of those high-powered cigarette boats (Ok…I know they are used for smuggling, but you get the idea).  They could have been miles away before the crowds knew what hit them.

Instead, the event that followed was the “feeding of the five thousand.”  Therefore, not only did the disciples not have the quality time with Jesus they needed to catch their breath, but instead they had to feed thousands of people and pick up the leftovers.

Yet, there was a moment.  The boat trip appears to have been a short one, but it did give Jesus and the disciples some time together.  Do you think they saw the crowds running along the shore to meet them?  Did they slow down so they would have more time alone?

There is no substitute for having “enough” time to rest.  But in the absence of “enough” sometimes “something” is better than nothing.

I say this, because I imagine many of us are in the same boat, figuratively speaking.  We want more time with Jesus, but our best plans often fail.  In fact, to be honest, for some of us they usually fail.

What do we do?  Certainly, we should evaluate our priorities and ask ourselves what we can do to make sure our time with the Lord isn’t interrupted.  But we should also take advantage of the “something” moments in our lives and treasure them.

What is a “something” moment?  It could be: a pause in the morning when we find a rainbow in the sky when we step out the door; a favorite chorus on the radio on the way to work; an opportunity to say a short prayer as we watch our children walk to the school bus.

I know we need more, and we should work for more.   But “something” really is better than nothing…even if it is just a short boat ride across a lake.

Dear God, help me make the most of the time I have with You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6:27-29)

We have already addressed the subject of “belief” as it relates to our expectations of God.  While God works in and through His believing subjects, we must be careful not to grow over-expectant of things God has not promised.  Does God bless us in ways not specifically promised in the scriptures?  I am convinced that He does.  However, there is no reason why we should be angry if He doesn’t.  Disappointed perhaps…but not angry.

Now we are going to consider a similar subject…that of hardship for the servants God uses.  John the Baptist was unquestionably one of the greatest servants of all time.  No one could have been more committed, faithful or enthusiastic for the kingdom.  Yet, his faithfulness wasn’t rewarded with a golden chariot and a home on the Mediterranean.  Instead, he was tossed in prison and executed in a grizzly beheading.

Therefore, we must know, following and serving God doesn’t necessarily guarantee our lives will be easy, peaceful, or safe.  In fact, there is a good chance we will be called on to make a significant sacrifice.

This does not mean it is a sin for us to want a peaceful life, or to seek safety for ourselves and our family.  And I don’t think we should feel guilty if God has chosen to allow us to have worldly wealth.  However, I think the scripture does say we are sinning if we have been blessed in these ways and our response is to be self-absorbed: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (1 Timothy 6:17-18 NIV)

Unless we die to Christ and are willing to serve Him first, our blessings can destroy us.  In parenting we learn when we constantly intervene in our children’s challenges, or criticize others for not giving them everything they want, we rot their souls from the inside out.  In our homes, if we insist on having the best of everything and never think about giving God our best, we will never be satisfied.

In short, all of the blessings in the world are meaningless unless we have first learned what it means to be God’s servant.  This is true in all situations, regardless of one’s socio-economic status.

God never promised a specific level of worldly success to His servants.  He did make promises to Israel as a nation in the Old Testament, and He made good on those promises.  But John the Baptist’s experience reminds us this is not the case for everyone, at all times.

So if you have it good, in worldly terms, ask God how He wants you to use what you have.  If you are struggling, rest assured your greatness has nothing to do with what you have, but rather what you do for the Lord.  I know this goes against culture.  …But then, so do a lot of things in the King’s kingdom.

Dear God, give me a kingdom perspective.  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff–no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.  Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.  And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” (Mark 6:7-11)

There is a great principle contained in Jesus’ instructions to the apostles, but let me first take a moment to give us some perspective.

I have heard people criticize some of the modern creature comforts servants of the Lord use today to carry out their mission.  After all, the first apostles didn’t have airplanes, automobiles, hotels and credit cards.  They didn’t set up big stages as they traveled through towns and rock neighborhoods with multi-million dollar sound and light shows.  And they didn’t eat at expensive restaurants or wear nice clothes.

When we consider these kinds of contrasts we must remember these things were non-existent in the first century.  Therefore, we have no way of knowing whether or not the first disciples would have used them.  The communities the disciples ministered in could be reached on foot.  And the culture was such people would welcome them into their homes and offer them food and drink.

It is also important to remember the apostles had supernatural gifts that had been given to them by Jesus for their work.  This doesn’t mean they didn’t get hungry like everyone else, but it did give them an advantage over threats they might encounter.

So it isn’t the same thing, in some respects.

But it is in other ways.  Today, the Lord’s people must still go in His name, dependent on His provision.  They should challenge others with the message of the cross, and not be afraid to stand by their conviction that Jesus is the hope of the world.

I am not sure “shaking the dust off of our feet” would have the same meaning in our culture as it did in first-century Palestine, but if we are not thoroughly convinced people need Jesus when we go, we might as well not go.

I will leave it up to you to determine which methods of evangelism the apostles might have employed had they had access to modern conveniences.  But this one thing remains: Unless we look to God for our success, and make the cross the central theme of our message, not much is going to happen…at least not much that matters eternally.

Of course, most of us aren’t going out “two-by-two” from town to town.  Most of us are doing our best to share Christ on a daily basis among the people we come into contact with at work, home and play.  But our prayer can still be for God to give us what we need and help us stay focused on the cross.  If we keep this focus, I believe He is going to bless our efforts.

Dear God, send me in Your name and by Your power.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter?  Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. (Mark 6:1-6)

This is one of those passages of scripture many people are aware of, whether or not they are all that familiar with the Bible.  You may have heard it put this way: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his home town.” 

Let’s look at this truth first, and then we will see how it relates to Jesus.

In our hometown, people know us…or at least they know who we used to be.  In reality, who we used to be isn’t who we are, so hometowns rarely get it right.  While it is true we all have characteristics that follow us through life, it is unfair for anyone to judge us based on our childhood.  Maybe our parents had issues that tainted our family name.  It doesn’t matter.  We might have struggled in school, or been a social misfit.  It doesn’t matter.

Once we move away from our hometown, we become different people.  We learn through a formal or informal education, gain experience in the workplace, sometimes marry, have children, and experience various levels of success and failure.  The people in our hometown will probably never see us apart from the child they remember.  Therefore, some will never accept us an authority figure.  I am not saying this is the case all the time.  Certainly, a host of successful business people and civic leaders never leave home, and are respected for their work.

But when someone moves from popular to celebrity to mega-star, things change.  I would put Jesus in the last category and believe His reputation was just too magnificent for anyone who knew Him “when” to accept.

You see, most of us can understand how others have greater success than we do, and we are able to deal with some inequities in our giftedness.  But most of the time we are able to tell ourselves if we had a few more opportunities, or if we hadn’t had a hard knock here or there, we could have done just as well.  However, when someone starts raising the dead, casting out demons and living out the life of the Messiah, that is a different story.

In short, Jesus’ hometown crowd simply didn’t believe the Messiah was going to be a carpenter’s son from Nazareth.  His family was nothing special, and if they knew what was good for them, they should continue to talk Jesus down from His pedestal.

I think it is probably clear to us what was going on in Nazareth.  What may not be clear is whether or not we treat Jesus the same way.  Have we ever made Jesus out to be less than He is to avoid any unnecessary conflict with our “hometown” associations?

Dear God, show me when pride gets in my way of worshipping You as Lord.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:35-36)

This morning’s passage is the continuation of an encounter that began in vs. 22:  Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. (Mark 5:22-23)

On His way to heal this little girl Jesus was delayed by a woman with a serious blood disease.  As a result He didn’t arrive at Jairus’ home in time.  The good news is, when Jesus did arrive, He took Jairus’ daughter by the hand and raised her from the dead!  His knowledge this was going to happen is why He said to Jairus’ men, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

The misinterpretation of this statement has been the cause of much spiritual mischief.  Perhaps you have known those who were suffering from a fatal disease and you have prayed for God to heal them.  You were doing a good thing.  God hears our prayers and intervenes in our lives to change our circumstances.

The problem comes when people treat the words “just believe” like a magic wand.  When we face insurmountable trials, it is only natural for us to try to control our environment.  This includes the tendency to control God with perceived promises He has given us.  The logic goes something like this: Since Jesus said “just believe”, and a little girl was raised from the dead, if we “just believe”, there is nothing we can’t convince God to do for us.

But this logic has some important weaknesses.  First, God never promised He would give us whatever we want if we just believe strongly enough.  Instead, He wanted us to have faith in His ability to do what we ask.  There is a difference.  The reason Jesus was often frustrated with His disciples is because their expectations were too low and they tried to manage too many things when the power of the universe was standing before them.

Secondly, this logic ignores one specific reality revealed in scripture: “Man is destined to die once.” (Hebrews 9:27)  This is why virtually every servant of God who has lived has died (with the exception of Enoch and Elijah who were taken up into heaven without dying a natural death).  Therefore, we should not assume something is wrong with our faith if someone we loves dies, because the Bible tells us this is inevitable, and God never promised He would change this reality if we just believe.

In the case of Jairus’ daughter, God had a plan, and He did choose to raise her from the dead to demonstrate the power of Jesus.  But just because this was the case here, doesn’t mean it is the case everywhere or at all times.  In fact, just as it is a sin to take matters into our own hands and ignore God’s power by refusing to ask for help, it is also a sin to do the same thing by trying to control God with belief.  Believing is how we step into God’s will, not a means of forcing our will on God.

Dear God, I believe.  Help me when in my unbelief.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.