Wednesday, as far as stated days in the Bible, was quiet. I'm tempted to just copy and paste my blog from last year. It was a good reminder for me of some things I need to pay attention to - but I can't ignore the passages I left dangling yesterday.
We don't know specifically what Jesus was doing on Wednesday - but it is probable He went back to Bethany Tuesday night after teaching in the temple and teaching His faithful followers on the Mount of Olives. On Wednesday, He could have just spent the day quietly with his dearest and closest friends. He could have spent the day alone. He could have spent the day responding to people who came out to Him. We just don't have a record of that day.
So - I'm going to backtrack to Tuesday's menu.
Mark 12 addresses Jesus' final public teaching to the crowds who constantly surrounded Him. The Parable of the Tenants pointed the finger squarely at the listeners' ancestors, and subsequently at them: those who had killed the prophets, and those who would kill the Son. He laid claim in that parable to being the stone the builders rejected.
Next the Herodians and Pharisees tried to manipulate Him through flattery into saying something they could use against Him politically. He cleverly failed to participate in their ploy, and in doing so, gave us another great saying, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Next the Sadduccees took their shot. They didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead, but they tried to bait Him with a man-sized issue. What is interesting is that He does give them a thorough answer. He knows men's hearts - and theirs must have truly wanted to try to reconcile what they had been taught with what He had claimed....
Jesus makes it clear that there is no marrying in heaven, and makes it clear that those who precede us in 'death' are alive, not asleep as some teach, for He is the God of the living. I've wondered about that, having heard various arguments. He makes it crystal clear. I'm paying attention!
Next a scribe comes up, and upon hearing that Jesus is giving great answers to the questions put to Him, he inquires, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"
Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
Jesus didn't give the scribe just one commandment. He distilled the entire 10 commandments into 2. Love God. Love others. The message of the cross. The cross reached up to heaven with its perpendicular timber - and stretched out to man with its parallel crosspiece. Jesus was soon to live out the message He proclaimed.
I find it interesting that the scribe, in his response, only included heart, mind and strength - leaving out soul. But he did convey that loving God, and loving others as much as loving self was more significant than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices one could offer. He was so close - not far from the kingdom of God, according to Jesus’ response....
That is a risk for mankind today as well - to be close, but miss the most important part - a changed soul. Man's heart can desire to do what is right - but without a changed soul, which can only be accomplished through the sacrifice of the Lamb, it falls short. We can be close to the kingdom of God, and still not be part of it.
That Tuesday - yesterday - as Jesus taught in the temple, he left people with a lot to think about: (1) How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David when David himself, through the power of the Holy Spirit, called him Lord? (2) Beware of the scribes who look pious on the outside yet who 'devour widow's houses.'
And after delivering that invective, He sat down opposite the treasury where people were bringing their offerings. He noted that many rich put in large sums - but that the widow's offering was all she had.
Those who are wealthy should give large sums. What they gave should have been being used to help those in dire straits as well as supporting the priests and the temple activities. That was good. This is not a message saying they should have done less.
I have to wonder a bit at what His point is, because on the surface it appears that the widow giving her final penny is a message of her giving up hope. What was a penny going to get her anyway? Certainly not enough to live on. It was a desperate moment.
Again, Jesus knew her heart. Her final act could well have been a plea to God for His sustenance. She had nothing left. She was empty. Only He could make a difference on her behalf. Only He could save her. If God didn't intervene, she would die. But, she could have just crawled off in a corner and died without bringing her last farthing. Her pittance expresses both desperation and hope. And she brought it to God.
The message for me is one of absolute emptying of self - laying my all on the altar. It is a message God reminded me of earlier in the week. I get caught up too easily in what people think. It really is irrelevant, except to the degree it clouds the gospel. I am not my own. I am bought with a price. And the life I now live I live by the grace of the One who came - and lived - and died so that I might have life and have it to the full. A full life is one that begins its eternal voyage here and after this cocoon time finds fullness in Heaven.
In the daily living out of my life I am constantly cajoled for believing - but I do believe! Jesus the Messiah is the source of the hope that is in me - and if I do not praise Him, the rocks will cry out!
As Jesus came out of the temple that day, one of his disciples commented on the structure of their temple - what wonderful stones - what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, "So you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." [His prediction was made in +-33 A D - and in 70 A D it came true.]
After Jesus left the temple on Tuesday he took Peter, James, John and Andrew up on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple. I can see it in my mind's eye. They had thought about what he said at the temple site - about the enormous stones being thrown down, and they asked him, "When?"
We need to understand that their mindset was still enmeshed in their misconception that Jesus was going to become King immediately. They had been taught that the Messiah was going to come and vanquish their enemies. They had the fervor of the crowds from Palm Sunday - just two days earlier - as a touchpoint for 'their reality.' What Jesus said made no sense to them in their preconceived script. But, later, it would - and it does to us: In the ESV Mark 13:5ff quotes Jesus response, saying:
"See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
"But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved...."
There is a lot more in chapter 13 - - but I'm going to stop there. While we can apply this to ourselves as well, His audience was His beloved - the Jews. He came to His own and His own did not accept Him. They were looking for their Messiah - but He didn't fit their script. They looked at the surface instead of digging. They discounted Him without knowing the facts.
Their prophecies said he must be born in Bethlehem. He was. He was of the Tribe of Judah, in the lineage of David. Prophecy said He would be born of a virgin. He was. His parents fled to Egypt - so out of Egypt God called Him. Another fulfillment. There were so many affirmations: the shepherds; the prophetess, Anna; Simeon. His baptism. His miracles. His message. Even His death. All prophesied. All came to pass.
And now looking back over the past +-1978 years since His death: the pain that has prevailed for the Jewish nation of Israel because of their rejection. The gargantuan stones of the temple were cast down. Israel was cast to the wind - foreigners in foreign lands and among foreign ways of thinking. But the amazing grace of God was displayed in fulfilling His prophetic promise that they would become a nation again. That happened in 1948. Miraculously.
Wednesday - certainly a lot on Jesus' mind. His disciples were blindly focused on preparing themselves for an anticipated earthly Kingship - while He was preparing Himself for His Kingdom.
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