March 13 | Mark 12:28-34

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DAILY READING

Mark 12:28-34

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REFLECTION

With All

by Beth Voltmann

Like the teacher of the law, perhaps we might ask Jesus:

“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, "Is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-31)

“Love with all...”

This is a fairly easy scripture to quote, but not as easy to live out in obedience to God.

According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the meaning of ALL is: The whole quantity, extent, duration, amount, quality, or degree.

I distinctly remember one Sunday morning years ago... My husband and I were in the pseudo-chaotic years of raising four children and trying to get them all to church on time. I cannot recall the exact reason, but my morning mood had grown dark because of frustration, and by the time we sat down in the sanctuary, my family was very aware of it. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”

As the worship music started, these words set to melody washed over me...

Love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

“Love the Lord” by Lincoln Brewster

The Lord spoke gently to my spirit and reminded me I could not fully worship him until I laid my anger at his feet and loved with “my all.”

The teacher in our reading replied, “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offering and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:33)

PRAYER

Lord, each Sunday during the time of confession, I am reminded that “we have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves...” I desire, as your disciple, to love with all... believe with all... follow with all... and to serve with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Wholly yours—I surrender all. Thank you for your mercy through Christ Jesus. Please forgive, renew, and lead me so I may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

March 12 | Mark 12:18-27

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DAILY READING

Mark 12:18-27

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REFLECTION

In the Resurrection

by Dan Kidd

After Jesus had entered the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and merchants, he was confronted by the priests, teachers of the law, and the elders who demanded to know under what authority Jesus had done such a thing. Jesus responded by telling them a parable, similar to Isaiah's vineyard song, casting these religious leaders as the violent tenants who would kill the vineyard owner's son, after having beaten his servants. The priests, teachers, and elders were incensed with Jesus and, in today's passage, we hear of another encounter between Jesus and the Sadducees, who (like the Pharisees before them) were looking to catch Jesus in a rhetorical, or perhaps doctrinal, trap.

The Sadducees, whom we are told did not believe in the resurrection, intended to use lawful marriage as proof that God couldn't have intended both lawful marriage and resurrection. In their scheme, either Jesus had to undermine the meaningfulness of marriage, or admit that resurrection violates marriage vows. On its face, this might be an interesting question to ponder (even if it were not motivated by rotten intentions), but Jesus rejected the question outright (or perhaps more accurately, those asking the question), because it lays bare ignorance of both Scripture and the power of God.

Though it doesn't serve us to speculate about relationship statuses and the particularities of romance in the resurrection (and in fact, I think this passage is in part is directing us away from such concerns), I think we can confidently say that what we have come to treasure about marriage in this present age is but a glimpse of the treasures we can anticipate in the resurrected age to come. Whatever that means, however that will shake out, the love we have now--the love we receive, the love we give, the love we commit to--is, like everything else, but merely a sweet taste of what love is and will be in the Kingdom of God, who is Love.

While I suspect our motives for asking questions about life and the life-to-come will be less hostile and accusatory than the Sadducees', we might still find ourselves more like them than we'd prefer to admit. Because, truth be told, it's all too easy to underestimate the power of God; to be imaginatively constrained within the finitude of this present reality. How might things that seem so irreversibly broken be made whole again? How might scarcity be entirely replaced with sufficiency? How could enmity be usurped by unity, fear overcome by confidence, and death be defeated by life? How could love--the kind we share in marriage--possibly be replaced with anything better? I wonder if Jesus might answer something like, "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

It is my hope that we might not let the limitations, the finitude, or the brokenness in this present age to hinder our faith in the power and trustworthiness of God and what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow and in all ages to come.

PRAYER

Lord, you have shown yourself time and again to be trustworthy, and generous, and capable of things beyond what we could think to want or ask for. Help us again to put the entirety of lives--past, present, and future--into your capable hands. Save us from action and inaction borne from fear, distrust, or scarcity, but lead us in the light of your power and your wisdom. Indeed, yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory. Forever and ever, Amen.

March 11 | Mark 12:13-17

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DAILY READING

Mark 12:13-17

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REFLECTION

Awkward Silence

by Pr. Dave Mann

The setting of Mark 12 is this. Jesus has triumphally entered Jerusalem. In the great city, he is regularly encountering religious leaders who are trying to trap him in his words. 

First, they butter him up, pretending to hold him in high honor. Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 

The issue on the table this time is a religious-political matter. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?”  FYI:  the “imperial tax” was levied against people groups conquered by Rome, but not against Roman citizens. Obviously, the tax was not popular in Jerusalem.

Jesus’ enemies think they have him this time. If he says, “No, you don’t have to pay the tax,” then they have grounds on which to get him in trouble with the Roman authorities. But if he says, “Yes, you have to pay the tax,” then the Jewish public, which is seething in anger because of Roman oppression, will abandon their loyalty to Jesus. 

Jesus is not taken in by their empty flattery. He knows that he is not among honest friends. But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” 

Jesus’ response was classic. He cuts to the heart of the matter without encouraging sedition nor laying himself open for public rebuke by the people who were following him. As Jesus often did, he answered the question by posing another question, “Whose image is on a denarius?”  The Pharisees and Herodians were forced to admit, “Caesar’s.” So, Jesus replies, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  You can just feel the awkward silence that followed. Then, people no doubt started snickering at Jesus' opponents. Gotcha!

As the crowd dispersed, everyone, friend and foe alike, was left to ponder, “Well, if the denarius coins belong to Caesar, what belongs to God?” The same question is posed to us. What do I have that belongs to God? Money, house, relationships, skills, talents, time,...  Everything?  My whole being? Jesus certainly could not have been implying that, now, could he? Or maybe that’s his point? Really? 

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I start this prayer in the midst of the awkward silence that followed your response to your enemies. I don’t like the feeling that I get when I can identify with Your enemies. I want to be your friend and follower. So, I intentionally welcome your response even when it makes me consider tough questions. Holy Spirit, come into my heart and reveal to me what it is in my life that belongs to you and yet I claim it as mine. In Jesus’ name, Amen.