Mark Study: Missing the Signs

"They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He [Jesus] did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they [the disciples] did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.”
—Mark 9:30-32 (NRSV)

I like the disciples in the Gospel account of Mark in the Bible.  Why?  Because I can really relate to them.  They miss the point…A LOT.  The’re portrayed as really human, and downright dullards at times.  

Many days, I feel more like a disciple of the disciples than a disciple of Jesus.

This passage is one of 3 passages in Mark where Jesus warns his disciples that stuff is about to go down, and they need to know.  However, each time—whether from fear, from pride, or from self-righteous indignation—the disciples gloss right over what Jesus says and move on to their own interests or understandings of this “Kingdom of God.”  Then, when Jesus is crucified, the disciples freak out and desert and deny Jesus.  Then they freak out again when Jesus is resurrected.

At this point, I’m always like: "HELLO! It’s not like Jesus didn’t tell you what was going to happen….duh…" ~insert eye roll, hair-flip and self-righteousness~

How many times have I asked God for a sign of what is going to happen, when I’ve already got signs all around me.  How many times do I want to know what God is up to (sort-of?), but I’m really too afraid to ask (or maybe-I don’t really wanna know)?

Perhaps followers of Jesus should not be asking for more signs, but seeking to accurately understand and apply the signs we’ve already been given.

Creeping things...

At the beginning of this year, I was challenged by John Piper in one of the leader sessions at Passion.  He said that he believers leaders in the church should approach teaching others scripture by following these four steps:

1. Memorize         2. Analyze           3. Believe            4. Teach

This was both encouraging and very convicting to me.  Encouraging because it gives way to the fact that I've felt in my Spirit that most of us go around teaching things that we don't believe ourselves.  If we started at step one, rather than step four--there would be a lot fewer confused teachers around.  However, it was also convicting because--to be completely honest--I don't know that I've really been intentional about memorizing scripture since I was in high school.  Perhaps a verse here or passage there accidentally because I would read it so much, or because I had to teach it to little ones during VBS.  Yet, my "life's work" right now is to teach...

So, a best friend of mine recently introduced me to a book called The History of Redemption
(http://www.historyofredemption.org).

This book combines incredible visual imagery with a weaving of just scripture to give an abbreviated--but no less powerful--overview of the story of humanity and God's grace.  What's also really wonderful about it in conjunction with my above conviction is that it has "memorization plans' in the back!  So, I've started on step one, and tried to work my way down to step three for each page.  To read and let it sink in deep.  To let the Spirit breathe light and life into me through meditation.  

As I started "in the beginning" I began to meditate on these words.  Hopefully, this is a conjecture that maybe you can resonate with. 

God casts a vision as humanity is created: 
"let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (just typed that from memory--BOOM..Genesis 1:26).  

Isn't it interesting here that "every creeping thing that creeps on the earth..." is the last piece mentioned of humanity's dominion?  

Have you ever thought about how much power you have over creeping things? Creepy things? Things that scurry, prowl, surprise and seem dangerous--but really aren't?  That nothing could truly creep up on you?

I wonder if Eve felt like the Serpent "crept up on her" when he tried to get her to shop a bondage-bearing kind of produce.  

It is like it was foreshadowing for Jesus and Satan: "and he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."  The Serpent may not have crept along on the earth before Eve was deceived, but the serpent now creeps on the earth--prowling around like a roaring lion looking to devour.  Yet, we see--woven into the order of design--there could appear death and dominion of evil but it would never be able to prevail.  Even back at the beginning we were given the title of "Victor."  

What if I faced every frustration, every evil, every situation with that title?  Not a victory that I've earned, but a victory I've been given.  Not a victory I've somehow fought for, but a victory that's been woven into the very fabric of my DNA.  Not a victory that I could somehow make manifest, but one that is made manifest in me.

What power we ignore when we ignore the beginning.

Grass

"Look it up."

That's one of the most used phrases among my crew of friends.  Most of us are addicted to information, and there is an endless stream of data being presented to us that we are knowingly (or unknowingly) asked to sift through in order to make decisions.  Did you know that the average US citizen consumes a little over three hours worth of advertisements (including sources such as the internet, magazines, television, radio, etc.) every day?  As each advertisement shows us what we don't have, and what we "need," is it any wonder there is an ever-sprouting seed of discontentment among us?  Is there any wonder that we have a constant fear inbreed into the most recent generations of “missing out”?  (“Missing out” on what exactly? we’re not sure).

To be clear, I’m not blaming our discontent or indecisiveness on media.  However, I am making a point that if we hold a mirror to our actions, the reflection points to a people wandering around frequently fretting, and never satisfied.  We desire freedom and autonomy, without understanding that unlimited choices and independence has actually added to our bondage rather than taking it away.

Ever watched someone throw something away because they bought the exact same thing—only newer—because they thought they’d like it better?  (Only to find they miss what they had? Buyers remorse, anyone?)  Have you ever talked to a college student in a four-year university who had no idea what to do with their life?  (Do they know they’re paying (or someone’s paying) thousands upon thousands of dollars for their indecision?*).  Have you ever talked with someone who is getting out of a covenant marriage relationship because they have fallen “out” of love with someone?  (Do they know they’re going to have to change everything about their life, and possibly put their children through years rebuilding their trust in human relationship?**) 

We all know the old proverb: “The grass is always greener on the other side.”  We live by it as if it were the way life is supposed to be.  Yet, there is something inside each of us that knows this statement is incongruent with the way we want our lives to go.   Wouldn’t we rather be able to enjoy the things we have?  Wouldn’t we rather be discontent because of unjust behavior, instead of being discontent because everything around us is wonderful, yet we can’t enjoy it?

I have multiple amazing examples of selfless love in my life--but one in particular is our community care pastor.  She looks for ways to do something I call "pre-blessing" others.  Before she enters into a meeting or care-giving situation, she brings cards of encouragement or blankets--whether she needs them or not.  Instead of looking at how others might serve her, she is constantly looking for ways to bless those she comes in contact with.  That is not to say she doesn't graciously accept gifts or grace from others, but it is to say she is more concerned with the blessing than the being blessed.  Because I get to see her in the day-to-day, I know it comes from a secure understanding of how she is already blessed in Christ that allows her to focus on blessing others.

Fear drives out love, while Love drives out fear.  Our culture would tell us to act first to prove ourselves secure and lovable, while faith tells us to rest first in the security of Love, and then act out of that Love.  When you know you are wholly accepted and loved, there is no room for fear-driven discontentment.  When you start caring for the grass that you have (and even bloom where you are planted), you don’t have time to look at any other grass.  When you are being grateful for what you have and looking for ways to demonstrate that gratitude, you don’t have time to “miss out.”  When you’re taken care of—you understand that real freedom and opportunity come within loving parameters.

The grass may be greener on the other side--but I bet it's because that guy is actually taking care of his grass.

"For, 'All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.'"  And this is the word that was preached to you."

--1 Peter 1:24-25

___

* I’m not calling anyone out without also calling out my own indecision at the end of my four-year private university education.  I’m sorry Mom, and Dad—and my current bank account.

**I’m not equipped to know what divorce is like, but I am equipped with the experience of helping multiple family members and friends pick up the pieces after a covenant relationship is broken.  There’s a reason why Jesus hated divorce—not because He hates people, but because He hates it when we selfishly hurt each other.

Returning to grassy areas...

It's been a while...I know.  Sorry blog-readers!

I have been doing quite a bit of jet-setting since the summer, and am now settled back on the east coast for the holidays.  While I have much to write about regarding those travels, there's a question that plagues my mind that I want to address with you.  It is this:

"Who was the second gunman on the grassy knoll?"

Okay, not really.  But, I do have a question about grassy areas.

Among the travels, I got a sweet copy of the New Testament called "The Voice" at Catalyst (http://www.hearthevoice.com/), and it has been like reading the Bible for the very first time.  I have been going through the book of John, and I was reading in chapter 6.  In the chronology of events according to this book, Jesus has just performed a miracle where he feeds 5,000 people on this grassy knoll, then (at night) he walks on water to his disciples as they leave to Capernaum.

As Jesus and His disciples arrive in Capernaum,
"Other boats were arriving from Tiberais near the grassy area where the Lord offered thanks and passed out bread.  When this crowd could not find Him or His disciples, they boarded their small boats and crossed the sea to Capernaum looking for him.  When they found Jesus across the sea, they questioned Him.


Crowd: Teacher, when did you arrive at Capernaum?


Jesus: I tell you the truth--you are tracking Me down because I fed you, not because you saw signs from God." 
(John 6:23-26; The Voice)

Talk about calling someone out!  I don't know if this hits you the same way it hits me--but I was extremely convicted by these verses.  How many times have I tried to show up again and again to familiar "grassy areas" where I was fed once by Christ, and finding that He has moved on?

How many times have I tried to do the same thing I've always done, expecting God to work in my framework?  How many times have I shown up to the grassy area, and then got upset because I thought "Well, God's just not there anymore."?

Right, because He's moved on and I've refused to move with Him.

We've traded everlasting Bread for mere crouton crumbs and discarded fish bones.  Instead of showing up to old familiar places I expect, perhaps God wants me to come with Him to Capernaum.   (And, it seems he doesn't want me to come so I can get "fed"...but He wants me to come and participate with Him this time in the feeding--the signs from God.)

Jesus goes on to say
"Don't spend your life chasing food that spoils and rots.  Instead, seek the food that lasts into all the ages and comes from the Son of Man., the One on whom God the Father has placed His seal.

Crowd: What do we have to do to accomplish the Father's works?


Jesus: "If you want to do God's work, then believe in the One He sent."
(John 6:27-29, The Voice)

I don't want to stay on the grassy knoll looking for leftovers, when a banquet feast of the Bridegroom awaits.  Do you?

“…Faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is Love…”

Tension.  Last year I went to Catalyst in Atlanta with the staff of the church I work with.  Though choc full of good teaching, I am not a fan of some of the commercialism I feel is experienced there.  However, I am a fan of the theme.  It was called: “The Tension is Good.” 

Most of the time, the tension isn’t good.  Most of us want to resolve tension.  We don’t like being in “limbo” or being in “the in-between.”  I know I sure don’t for the most part.  I don’t like living in the fog of understanding with no clearing in sight.  I often seek understanding so much that I would forget virtues like faith, hope and love so that I might experience an illusion of control that comes with “understanding.”

However, God has really been working on my heart this month with “there is something greater than understanding, and that is love.”  (Brennan Manning, Patched Together: A Story of My Story).

You would think, since I work with a church—and God’s greatest commandment is “Love God. Love people” (paraphrase)—that I would obviously practice this.  However, for as simple as it is stated—it’s not always so easy in practice (aka--impossible without the Holy Spirit).

First Corinthians 13 is a passage that usually gets mistaken as the “marriage” passage in the Bible.  I have been to countless weddings where “Love is patient, love is kind…” is read over and over again for a new husband and wife.  However, as our pastor pointed out one Sunday, the passage was written by a single man.  Paul wrote these words, which I believe describe the character and activity of God—describing the One who is love, and how we are to live in His love.

My favorite part of this passage, however, is the verse that comes after the description of love.  In verse 12 it says:  “Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”  I might not understand everything right now—but that doesn’t stop me from being able to love.

Jesus sets the example for loving despite situations that may not make sense.  Just before He is to be crucified, he has a meal with his disciples.  Before they begin the meal, he washes their feet.  Now, at this point, he knows that Judas—one of the disciples who walked with him throughout his ministry—is going to betray Him.  Yet, that doesn’t stop him from washing Judas’ feet.  This makes absolutely no sense.  But, does love ever make sense?

I doubt he washed them with any form of resentment either.  Just washed them with the same love that He showed His other disciples. 

At the onset of the passage in 1 Corinthians 13, it says: “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.   If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” 

I can be close to the things of God without love.  I can appear faithful and pious without love.  I can talk the right talk without love.  However, it doesn’t matter how many good deeds I can rack up if I do them without love.  It doesn’t matter how many people I serve, how many books I read, how much faith I have, how many languages I spoke, how much knowledge I possessed—without love…without God—it was for nothing. 

Sometimes, with love as the approach it seems like little gets done.  It gets frustrating at times, and we don’t know always understand or see what’s going on.  But understanding everything right now is not the point.  It seems that the point looks more like this: trusting and being obedient that with God’s love—much always gets accomplished—and hopefully one day He’ll let me see it clearly—even as He sees me clearly now.

This one needed prayer...

Why pray?


It's a question that I've heard asked many times.  At one extreme, I feel my feeble mind utter it in dark moments, and then at the other it makes me close to indignant.  It can be cumbersome, boring, seemingly ineffective, or just downright impossible to do--and yet, it is essential.  It's to be basically as important as breathing in the life of a Christ follower.


We are always catching Jesus getting away to pray--and then from that moment going out to do something great.  The order is never reversed--it is always, prayer first and then action.


Look at this story from the Gospel of Mark:  Jesus (earlier in the gospel) gave all authority over evil spirits and the ability to heal to his disciples and sends them out to do those things.  So, when we get to Mark chapter 9--it is strange to see the disciples having an issue with driving out an evil spirit--since, well, they're supposed to be able to have authority over all evil spirits.  Jesus--of course--heals him, and then the disciples are asking the same question we are: "What happened Jesus?  Why couldn't we do it?"


Now, I don't know about your experience with spiritual warfare, how well you drive out evil spirits, or even what the HP level of any given Evil Spirit is.  I do know, however, if I were a disciple right now, I would be supremely confused.  I would be thinking: "Why is it that what I've done before, now all of a sudden won't work?  I go in to heal the kid, just like I've done before, and this ugly thing won't get out!"  None of the disciples around seemed to have a clue.  So, they then ask the One who would know.  They ask Jesus. 


And Jesus simply says, "This kind can come out only by prayer" (Mark 9:29).


You see, we spend so much time living in the wake of past accomplishments, and seeming evidence of our own strength.  At first, we stopped and prayed, and God directed us and gave us the strength to do whatever it was we had to do.  Then, we reached some magic quota of God power and decided that we didn't have to ask Him anymore for His presence to live.


We spend so much of our "everyday, ordinary life-- [our] sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life" (Romans 12:1 MSG) missing the fact that there are things God would have us accomplish if we would only stop and pray.  Like I said before, the order for Jesus was always prayer, then action.  When we run up against problems, hurts, frustrations, mountains, demons, and we think to ourselves "Why won't this go away?  Why can't I make that mountain move?"  our joy and trust in God gets depleted, and our promised "Abundant life in Christ" seems to be jeopardized.  


We know in this world there will be troubles, and we know that Jesus said "But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b)  


But how often do we live like that, or pray like that?  How can we know if we don't take the time to listen?  How can we know which mountain to move, or to climb?  Maybe that mountain you're trying to move is not your mountain. Maybe God never told you to even climb that mountain in the first place--but we were just too busy scaling the mountain before we even asked.

Cheyenne

It's Wednesday.  I'm wearing an orange (or "creamcicle"--if you want to get technical) youth shirt, jeans, sneakers and a Stetson zip-up hoodie as I head in with the principal to lunch duty.  I get to monitor lines, see a sock-purse that a girl got from the Dollar Store, and sit with many of the youth I work with. It's already been a great morning.

As I'm standing with the principal, getting ready to wrap up lunch duty--over walks Cheyenne.  She has short blonde hair, glasses, and a big puffy pink down jacket on.  Her aide stands behind her, holding her backpack while Cheyenne talkes with the principal excitedly about being able to walk to class herself.

Cheyenne has a learning disability, and also has very little concept of appropriate personal space as she relentlessly hugs the principal and calls her "sweetie."

As I take all this in, I can't help but be won over by Cheyenne's charm.  Though it is apparent that she is not "normal," it is truly apparent how much and how freely she loves those around her.  It is apparent by her big, warm smile how happy she is just to enjoy small--yet large--victories of being able to walk to class herself.  It is a good day--and then she spots me.

She quizically looks me over, and stands within an 1"1/2 of my face as she matter-of-factly inquires:
"Are you a middle schooler?"

I mean, after all.  I'm in a youth shirt, jeans, and hoodie standing in the middle of a middle school.  It's a fair question.

"No," I reply, "I graduated a long time ago."
"Oh," Cheyenne says. "Then, are you a woman?"
By this question, I can only assume she means "Are you an adult? A Grown-up?" Something along those lines, because I think that my gender is pretty obvious.

"Yes," I reply.
Cheyenne moves closer and continues to inquire. "Then, where do you work?"

Clearly, because I am a grown-up, I have a job.  Of course.

"I work with a Church here on the island," I reply with a smile.
Cheyenne mulls this information over for only a second as she looks me dead in the eye and says:

"Then, do you see Jesus?"

For a moment the world stopped, and I couldn't help but fall in love with her simple question.  All the verses of Christ being with little Children, insisting that the little children are allowed to come to Him, and that we are to have a child-like faith came rushing to my mind in that moment as I looked into her innocent eyes.

"Yes," I replied trying to hold tears of joy in so I didn't alarm her,"I see him all the time."

With that, satisfied, she turned to her aide and left.  That was all she needed to know, and it was enough.

If I knew I wouldn't have confused her, I wish I had said:

"I'm looking at him right now."