Mark 14:12-31  The Lord sends 2 of His disciples to prepare the Passover meal for them in Jerusalem.  All these little mysteries....
A colt willingly provided.
A room secretly prepared.
A man carrying water to lead them.
A betrayal from one of the intimate group of 12 disciples.

Bread - His body- broken and given freely.
Wine- His blood- poured out for many, a covenant-a contract- a testament.

The Shepherd will be struck down.
The sheep will be scattered.
The insistent promises of Peter -turned to ashes in just a few hours time.

God in perfect wisdom, made a perfect plan.  With perfect love and goodness, He sent His perfect lamb. It is more than we can understand.  It is more than we could ever ask.

Tozer wrote: " The incarnation of the Eternal Son in human flesh was one of God's mighty deeds, and we may be sure that this awesome deed was done with a perfection possible only to the Infinite." and
"Atonement too was accomplished with the same flawless skill that marks all God's acts.  However little we understand it all, we know that Christ's expiatory work perfectly reconciled God and men and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers."

A wonderful mystery - that God would love us this much.

Father, thank You. You are good.   You are merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.  All Your works are wonderful.  Even when our limited minds cannot understand.
May Your perfect will be done.
In Jesus' Name we pray.
Amen

Mark 14:1-11  Jesus and his disciples are back in Bethany where they are staying.  They are having dinner at the house of Simon the leper,  although John tells us that Martha was serving and Lazarus was also there.  John also tells us that it is Mary who comes in with an alabaster vial of pure nard, a costly perfume.  She breaks open the vial and pours it over Jesus.  Matthew and Mark tell us she put it over His head, but John says it was on His feet.  So probably both.  Either way, this act of worship and sacrifice is criticized by the disciples...especially one particular disciple, Judas.  They thought that this was a great waste, for the perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii, almost a year's wages.

But Jesus defends Mary's gift.  He honors her act by calling it a "good deed",  an anointing that would prepare His body for burial.  Two days later would be the beginning of Passover and Jesus would be nailed to the cross.  Mary was willing to give to Jesus all that she had, probably the most valuable thing that she owned.  Jesus not only defended her, but He proclaimed that she would be remembered for this act "wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world."

Mary was greatly honored for her sacrificial giving and love for the Master.  But, Judas took great offense.  It is at this time that he heads off to see the chief priests to betray Jesus for 30 shekels of silver.

True colors.  Sooner or later the truth comes out, doesn't it?   Mary was devoted to Jesus.  She seemed to understand, more than the disciples, that Jesus was going to really die as He said.  Her heart was tender and she showed by her actions how deeply she loved Jesus.   Judas, we are told, was a thief.  He cared more about money than he did about Jesus.  Perhaps his only reason for following Jesus all along was to gain money, power, and fame.  Maybe his disillusionment was growing as Jesus talked about how the greatest in His kingdom would be the servant .  That would not appeal to one like Judas, who wanted only what this world offered, not what lay ahead in eternity.

What lays in our hearts?  What are our true colors, when it comes to Jesus?
Will we lay down all we have at His feet?  Will we give ourselves over to devotion and sacrifice, for the love of our Savior?
Or will we cling to what this world has to offer, deceived into the false security of money, power, or fame?
Mary is remembered as one who sat at Jesus' feet, anointed His head, and cried at the cross.
Judas is remembered as a thief and the betrayer, who killed himself because of the guilt of his sins.
Mary had her eyes on the "unseen" things - the eternal kingdom.
Judas had his eyes on the "seen" things - the physical kingdom.

Paul writes, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but things which are not seen are eternal."  ( II Corinthians 4:17-18) 

Father in heaven,  examine us... open our eyes and help us to examine our own hearts.  To see what our true colors are.  May we repent of hard hearts and of seeking only the things of this world.  We turn our eyes to You, Jesus.  To the promises of eternity in Your Presence.  Let us be done with lesser things, with broken cisterns that cannot give us the living water that You alone can give. Nothing in this world can satisfy the longing in our hearts.   You are God. You are faithful and unchanging.  Father, that is where our hope must stand, on the solid Rock.
I want to follow the example of Mary,  laying all that I have at Your feet, not clinging to the temporal things of this world, but clinging to the One Who gave His all for me.
Amen

Mark 13 The disciples question Jesus about the things to come... the last days, the establishment of His Kingdom, the fulfillment of prophecy.  Jesus begins to teach them about the signs, yet the thing He seems to emphasize the most is that they be ready:

verse 5 "See to it that no one misleads you."
verse 9 "But be on your guard."
verse 23 "But take heed; behold I have told you everything in advance."
verse 33 "Take heed, keep on the alert;...."
verse 35 "Therefore, be on the alert.."
verse 37 "And what I say to you I say to all. Be on the alert!"

There is a lot of debate and speculation about the immanent return of Jesus.  We hear Jesus say, "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Yet, what are we to take heed of?  How are we to be alert?  What exactly did Jesus tell them in advance?

Verse 2 - He told them that the great temple would be torn down.
Verse 6- He told them that men would come and proclaim that they themselves are Christ.
Verse 7 - He told them there would be wars.
Verse 8 -He told them there would be battles between nations and between kingdoms; there would be earthquakes and famines in many places.
Verse 9 - He told them that they would be arrested, beaten, and tried.
Verse 12- He told them that families will be ripped apart by each other because of Him.
Verse 13- He told them that they would be hated because of His Name. And that only those who endure will be saved.
Verse 14 - He told them that there will be an "Abomination of Desolation" who will rise up.
Verse 19-  He told them that there will be a great tribulation that will surpass anything ever seen in history since the creation.
Verse 21 - He told them that many will proclaim to see Christ or to be Christ.
Verse 24 - He told them that the sun, moon, and stars will fail.
Verse 26 - He told them that THEN - He will return with power and glory.
Verse 27 - Then the elect will be gathered from the farthest ends of the earth and of the heavens.

He says that we are to take heed of what He has said. We are to be alert and watchful for these signs. That we must not allow ourselves to be deceived or afraid.  Just be ready.  Be like the servant awaiting his master's return - doing whatever the task is that He has assigned to us. To be found faithfully serving Him. So whether it is "in the evening, at midnight, at cock-crowing, or in the morning.." we will be ready.

There will be a time when those who are in Judea will flee to the mountains; fleeing for their lives with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Fleeing with their children.  And we are to pray that it will not be winter... and pray that the Father will shorten those days.

Some believe that the time is coming soon.  That ".. He is near, right at the door." ( verse 29)  May it be so!  But I also pray that we will be ready. Alert. Faithful. Enduring to the end.  And I pray that the gospel will be preached to all nations; that many more will be saved and ready for that day.

Father in heaven,  Your wisdom is perfect and Your works are wonderful.  You have saved us by the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus; the only Christ.  We look to You.  We wait for You.  Help us to stay alert.   Help us to be ready.  Fill us with the power of Your Spirit so that we will take the gospel to all nations.  Please bring salvation to those who are still lost.  I pray for my family members who are still not ready and ask that You would open their eyes, soften their hearts, and bring them to Jesus.
In Christ, the All in all, I pray.  Amen.

Mark 12   Jesus tells a story about a man who planted a vineyard.  It was walled and  well equipped. It even had a tower / castle.  Then he rented it out to tenants and left on a journey.  At harvest time, the owner sent a slave to his vineyard to receive some of the produce.  However, the tenants were not willing to give up any of the profits,  so they beat the slave and sent him away with nothing.  One after another the landowner sent his representatives; and one after another they were beaten or killed.  Finally, the man sent his own son, hoping that the tenants would respect him.  But, they did not.  Instead they killed the heir and claimed the property for themselves.

The story is a parable of God's kingdom. It is God Who created all things.  It is God Who called out Israel to be His people.  It is God Who brought them out of captivity and set them in the promised land.  It is God Who commissioned His people to be a holy nation, a nation set apart for Him.  To bear the fruit of purity and righteousness, of grace and truth; to be the light to the world.   But, the people rebelled and hijacked the kingdom for themselves.  They persecuted and killed the prophets.  They were preparing to kill the Son.  They rejected the Cornerstone.  They would lose the kingdom.  It would be given to another.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, the priests and scribes and elders of Israel,  were the tenants who claimed the kingdom for themselves.  They did not fear God anymore... for they did not even understand His Word or His power.   They questioned Jesus about taxes and about marriage in heaven. They tried to trick Him into saying things that they could use to judge Him and destroy Him.
They failed at the most important thing... serving God.

Jesus told the Jews that they were mistaken because they did not know the Word of God or the power of God.
They were wrong in their politics.
They were wrong in their theology.
They were wrong in their priorities.
They were wrong in their concept of Who God Is.

We must look at our own hearts and minds, examining ourselves to be sure that we are walking in the Truth.
 Do we know what the Scriptures really say? 
 Do we know Who God really is?  
Have we lost sight of the fact that He is Almighty God?  
All of creation belongs to Him. All that we have, we have been given by His Hand.  So "render... to God the things that are God's."
God is eternal and infinite.  Life and death are in His hands.  Eternal life is life in Him.  "He is not the God of the dead but of the living..." The body lives only for a season on this earth.. the soul is forever - will it be forever in glory?  or forever in torment?
God is worthy of our love.  The greatest command is "And you shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."  Is this our priority?
God sees and understands us completely.  Jesus knew that the scribes were pretentious hypocrites and that the poor widow was giving to the Lord from her heart.  What motivates us?

Father in heaven, hallowed is Your Name. "Forever God stands apart in light unapproachable."
( Tozer)  You are infinite and transcendent.  You are all powerful and all knowing.  You are "awesome and dreadful" and if we were to see You with these physical eyes, we would fall dead before You. But help us to see You anyway...open the eyes of our hearts.
May all the earth praise You!  May this dark and weary world behold Your glory and be transformed by Your glorious Light.
 Let Your Kingdom come, Lord!  Remove the evil tenants and come reign over us in righteousness and truth and peace and goodness.   Let Your good and acceptable and perfect will be done in us.  In Your church.  In Your family.  In me.  Give us our daily bread.  You are the giver of all life.  We have nothing but what You have provided.  Forgive us our trespasses and sins. Help us to forgive others with hearts of grace and mercy.  Lead us away from temptations and into Your paths of righteousness.  Deliver us from the evil one, from the snares and traps, from the lies and deceptions, and from our own evil hearts.  You are the King and the Kingdom is Yours.  All Glory belongs to You.  All power is in Your Hands.  We give thanks to You for saving us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Lord.  In Him we pray.  Amen.

Mark 10:32-52  Jesus and His disciples are heading towards Jerusalem.. to the cross.  Jesus continues to try to prepare them for what is going to happen there.  " Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will deliver Him to the Gentiles.  And they will mock Him and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again." ( 10:33-34)

Yet they still don't accept this or understand this.  Instead, an argument breaks out when James and John ( and their mother) ask Jesus for the favor of sitting beside Him on His throne.   Again, Jesus explains that greatness is not measured in positions of power, but in service.  God's purposes and plans are much different than what men think... even men who had walked along side Jesus while He was on earth.

As the group comes into Jericho and heads on through, Jesus is surrounded by another crowd.  One voice rises out above the others, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, calls out, " Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And, Jesus does have mercy on him, restoring his sight.  Jesus tells him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."  Bartimaeus, regaining his sight, follows Jesus.

Mark 11 records the triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple, and the lesson of the fig tree.   The last week of Jesus' earthly ministry has begun.  Bartimaeus will witness this with his newly restored eyesight.
Jesus on the colt.
Garments and palms spread out before Him.
The people and children singing.
The green fig leaves.... and then  the withered root.
The fleeing moneychangers, the scattered doves, and the overturned tables.
The temple in its beauty and the chief priests, scribes, and elders in their arrogance.

We need to have restored vision too.  To really see Jesus.  To have opened ears to hear what He has to say.
"Do not be afraid any longer, only believe." ( Mark 5:36)
"Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid." (Mark 6:50)
"All things are possible to him who believes." ( Mark 9:23)
"With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." ( Mark 10:27)
"Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22)

Believe that He can do the impossible.
Believe that He will move the mountains.
Believe that you will receive an answer to your prayers.
Believe that just as you can choose to forgive someone who has hurt you,  He will forgive you and all you have done to hurt Him....
Believe that He is good enough, wise enough, and powerful enough to do whatever it takes to bring you fully to Himself.  To perfect you, strengthen you, restore you, and even use you. For His glory.

Have mercy on us too, Lord Jesus!
Open our eyes Lord!  We want to see You.  We want to hear Your voice.
We want to follow You.
We want to believe... help us in our unbelief.
Living water.. come and fill us.  Take our dried and hardened hearts.. and pour down your healing rain.  Remove the rocks and thorns and weeds...
Father in heaven, we bring these requests to You in Jesus' Name.
Amen

Mark 10

v1-12 Jesus presents the truth about divorce.  Divorce was permitted in the law, "because of your hardness of heart", Jesus tells the Jewish leaders.  It isn't what God desires.  He established marriage in the garden of Eden... from the very beginning of time.  He said that in  marriage " the two shall become one flesh".   God Himself joins the two together.   Divorce comes from the Greek word - apoluo - to free fully, release, dismiss, let die, pardon, let go - put away; set at liberty.   To move away from or destroy, loosen, dissolve, break up.  Divorce destroys God's creation.

Yet, it was permitted - because of hard hearts.  That is an interesting Greek word too - sklerokardia - skleros means dry, hard, tough, fierce, harsh;  kardia - the heart, the feelings and thoughts; the center;
Our hearts, our thoughts and feelings become dried up; life gets sucked out of them and they become hard and tough,  like the drought plagued fields out west.  No seeds can grow,  no roots can take hold, and no fruit will be produced.  Divorce doesn't happen because we fall out of love, or because we have irreconcilable differences.  It happens because our hearts become hard and tough and dried up. And instead of fixing that problem... we let God's creation die.

The disciples have a hard time with this and question Jesus.  They also have questions about His statements in verses 13 - 31.  First, Jesus rebukes them for sending away the children - instead receiving them and calling them the ones to whom the Kingdom of God belong.  Then, He makes the statement, " How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God."
The Kingdom belongs to those who receive it like a child... but those who are wealthy, those thought to be the most "blessed" - can't even enter!  This flip-flops their entire way of thinking...

"Then who can be saved?"  they ask.

Not who - but how - is the question they needed to ask;  " With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." 

How can hard hearts be made soft again?
How can marriages be saved?
How can we enter into God's Kingdom?
How can we even be saved?

Only with God.  Only by a God Who is infinite and eternal; Who has infinite wisdom and infinite power.. and who loves us with unfailing love;  Who shows us His perfect, unchanging mercy and grace.  He does the impossible.  It is with Him.. in faith, in fellowship, in clinging to Him with all of our hearts.. that the impossible happens.

Tozer says, " We rest in what God is".   And ..... "The testimony of faith is that, no matter how things look in this fallen  world, all God's acts are wrought in perfect wisdom." We are to, " believe actively that our Heavenly Father constantly spreads around us providential circumstances that work for our present good and our everlasting well-being.."  He wants us to trust Him... in the dark.
For He is good enough to desire our "highest welfare".  He is wise enough to plan it, powerful enough to achieve it. He is all we need.

Oh Father in heaven,  God of the impossible... God of our salvation,  You have perfectly, wonderfully, provided salvation through the death and resurrection of Your Beloved Son, Jesus.   You perfectly reconcile us to Yourself.  You perfectly opened the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, so that we can come in.  All You do is perfect.  You are all wise,  all powerful, and all knowing.  We can rest in You.
Help us to believe... to fully trust You, even in the dark.
In Jesus.. and Him only do we come and ask these things.
Amen.

Mark 9  Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain, where He is transfigured before their very eyes.  Not only are His garments changed, supernaturally white, but Elijah and Moses join Him there.  To top it all off, a cloud forms and the Voice of God tells them, " This is My beloved Son, listen to Him." 

Even with all this, the 3 disciples don't understand when Jesus talks to them about His rising from the dead.

As they come down from the mountain they are met with a crowd.  There are the 9 disciples, the scribes, and the crowd. A man, whose son is demon possessed by a spirit, who has made him mute and causes him to have seizures,  runs to Jesus and tells Him what is happening.  It is interesting to note the man's words.. " and I told Your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it."

The boy is brought to Jesus.  Jesus watches as the boy suffers an awful seizure and then asks the man how long this has been happening.  As in the situation with the Syrophenician woman, Jesus seems in no hurry to cast out the demon.  He is going deeper with the father... He is looking for or waiting for evidence of faith.  The man answers, " From childhood. And it has thrown him both in the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!"

Now, Jesus gets to the heart of the problem, " If You can! All things are possible to him who believes."  The statement "... if You can"  is not much of confession of faith.  It's not even hoping for a crumb from the master's table.  It's not a prayer.  It's not an entreaty.  It's not confidence in the Lord Who is the Beloved Son.

How wonderful and kind our Savior is, to lead this man, and us into faith.  " Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, 'I do believe; help my unbelief.' "  The deeper need in this man was transformed thinking... from unbelief to belief... from demanding that the disciples do his will, to  humbly crying to Jesus for His help.

Compare this case with the demoniac in Gennesaret. Those demons instantly recognized Jesus, pleaded with Him to be sent into the pigs, and drove the thousands of pigs into the water.  In this case, twice in His presence, the demons throw the boy into convulsions.  When Jesus orders it to leave and never come back, it about kills the boy.  In fact the people around him think he is dead, until Jesus takes his hand and raises him up. Why?

When Jesus goes in the house, the disciples question Him about why they couldn't cast out this demon.  "And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.' "

Father in heaven,  You are wise and we are not.  You know all things, You have all of creation in Your hands.  We don't understand or comprehend Your power, Your greatness, or Your plans.  But we thank You for leading us, for patiently bringing us to believe and to trust and to obey .   We need Your  help Lord Jesus.  Help us to believe.  Help us to pray.  Help us to wait.  Help us to rejoice in hope and to worship in holiness.  We cannot do anything on our own, but nothing is impossible for You.  Let Your will be done,  Let Your Name be honored, and Let Your kingdom come.  Lead us in Your paths,  and deliver us from the evil one.   Beloved Son, we ask this in Your Name.  Amen.