03.26.09
“IN MEMORY OF HER”
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IN MEMORY OF HER
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Mar 14:1-11 NIV
Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.
2 “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?
5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
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Sometimes deeds have more importance than names. Anonymous acts of life saving heroism, or life changing philanthropy are all the more beautiful; for they are done with purity of purpose. Not for fame or personal reknown, but love.
Here in this morning’s passage we see an anonymous deed, which does not go forgotten. A woman comes and anoints the head of Jesus with the most precious of perfumes. What significance is to be found in such a lavish act? Criminal squandering of a year’s wages by a callous wastrel? Or a beautiful act of anointing, for one who is facing a criminal’s death; the only kind of death which precludes an anointing?
Make no mistake, death is plainly in view; Jesus’ death is in the plans. The gospel writer Mark sandwiches this story in between the scheming of priests & teachers of the law, and Judas’ covenant of betrayal. Passover is but two days away; the day whereby a passing over by the angel of death is effected by the vicarious death and shed blood of a blemishless lamb.
How could it be that this woman is the only one who puts the pieces together? Did not Jesus tell his disciples three times over that he is to face death in Jerusalem (Mk. 8:33, 9:33, 10:34-35)? But all they can see is a wasted wages which could have been diverted to almsgiving as customary on the cusp of an approaching Passover.
Juxtaposed between the devious violence of his enemies and even intimate friend, and the dullness of his chosen disciples; Jesus’ heart is refreshed by this beautiful act of worship. Precious nard, kept in an alabaster jar, served frequently as a woman’s dowry. In her breaking of the jar’s neck to release the costly fragrance, could she be echoing the costly covenant love which drives Jesus headlong toward the cross?
Of all those in the room, in the city; Jesus alone understands the significance of her act. And in response, he declares that she will be remembered globally. Wherever the gospel is preached, her act of selfless worship will be declared, in memory of her.
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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
- This morning, will you bow before the Lion of Judah; who gave his body and self up as the Lamb of God for you and I? Will you express thanksgiving and loyalty to the one who suffers the devious scheming of enemy, betrayal of friend, and dullness of disciple on the way to the cross?
- For those of us practicing Lent, a season whereby we wrestle with the suffering and death of Christ; will we ask ourselves by what deeds will we be remembered? What beautiful act of worship arises in your soul as you rivet your attention on the lavish sacrifice of our beautiful savior Christ?
- Will you remember the “poor”, in funds and in spirit? Lifting them up in prayer and almsgiving, that they would encounter gracious provision for body and soul; in the person of Jesus?
This devotional was written by Pastor Martin
01.08.09
“IMMERSED IN GOD’S YES”
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From Eugene Peterson, Living the Message(San Francisco: Harper Publications, 1996), April 8.
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IMMERSED IN GOD’S YES
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2Corinthians 1:20-21 The Message
Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes
Of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray,
the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously
Evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in
Christ, putting his Yes within us.
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The end result of the act of worship is that our lives are turned around. We come to God with a history of nay-saying, of rejecting and being rejected. At the throne of God we are immersed in God’s yes, a yes that silences all our noes and calls forth an answering yes in us. God, not the ego, is the center. God is not someone around whom we make calculating qualifications, a little yes here, a little no there. In worship we “listen to the voice of Being” and become answers to it.
The self it no longer the hub or reality, as sin seduces us into supposing. We are trained from infancy to relate to the world in an exploratory, expoititive way, refusing and grabbing, pushing and pulling, fretting and inveigling. As knower and user the ego is a predator. But in worship we cease being predators who by stealth approach everyone as prey that we can pull into our center; we respond to the center. We are priviliged listeners and respondents who offer ourselves to God, who creates and redeems. Amen! Amen is recurrent and emphatic among God’s people. It is robust and exuberant. There is nothing cowering, cautious, or timid in it. It is an answering word, purged of all negatives.
12.29.08
“DOUBLE REBUKE”
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Matt 8:23-27
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
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Psalm 107:27-32
27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
they were at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.
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Experience counts for a lot. It helps us to form assumptive categories by which we then engage the world. Infants don’t realize that gravity always pulls objects with a downward force. It’s repeated experience which enables them to assume that what goes up must come down. But sometimes new experiences force us to reshape our assumptive categories, and see our world more authentically.
In the Matthew passage above, the disciples undergo this very phenomenon. Though some of the disciples were seasoned mariners, the sudden fury of the squall which overcame them stripped them of any calm resolve. This was not a storm they could manage their way through. In an act of sheer desperation, they turned to the one in their midst who had demonstrated the touch of deliverance, though heretofore only on land.
The sea was a different monster; long symbolized as primordial chaos. A vast and whimsical force which was believed to obey only one person’s voice, that of God Himself. For it was the breath of God who subjugated and split the waters in creation, and the Red Sea in redemption. It was to Him that sailors cried out to for salvation when they found themselves hopeless on the waves.
We can speculate what response they might have expected from Jesus, but it wasn’t what they got. They encountered a double rebuke: one aimed at the meagerness of their faith, and the other at the raging waves. In response to the second rebuke, the violence of the storm was immediately pacified. So suddenly was the effect of Jesus’ rebuke that the disciples could not but turn to each other and utter in amazement, “what kind of man is this?” For no mere man has ever wielded this kind of authority. No rabbi or prophet ever claimed this kind of fame. This was territory exclusive to Creator Redeemer God.
For the disciples, the result of Jesus’ rebuke was the simultaneous calming of their fear of the sea; and a explosion of their faith, and their fear of the LORD. Their very categories of who Jesus was, and what He could do were rebuked. Their utterance of “what kind of man is this?” would eventually turn to, “My Lord and my God.”
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you worship and adore Jesus; as Rebuker of the Waves, and Stiller of the Storm? Will you delight in incontrovertible truth that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ? Nothing created, no power or principality, nothing in the past, present or future.
- Try to imagine yourself on that boat with the disciples. The storm is so severe, that even lifelong fishermen are despairing of any hope. Picture the indignation and fear that prompt the disciples to wake and cry out to Jesus. Now try to visualize the response they would have had to Jesus’ stilling of the storm. Will you step into their amazement, and newfound reverence?
- What storms in your life prompt you to call out to Jesus this morning? The Risen and Ascended Christ neither slumber or sleep, and is positioned at the right hand of the Father to intercede for you. Will you petition him to calm your fears, and expand your faith?
12.26.08
“EPIPHANY”
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Matt 2:1-12 NIV
2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
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Immediately following Christmas Day, most of us begin to pack away all our Christmas paraphernalia; closing out the season until the next year. But for centuries, the church has acknowledged that the post-Advent wake lasts for more than just a few hours after opening up Christmas presents.
The twelve days of Christmas aren’t just the lyrics to a song, but a mini-season boundaried by Christmas Day (Dec. 25), and Epiphany (Jan.6th). As the season of anticipation & strategic waiting (i.e. Advent) lasts across four Sundays, the season of celebration is also elongated; echoing beyond just a day.
Epiphany is the day certain Christian traditions remember the Magi’s pilgrimage to the newborn King. Among the many themes that this story evokes, it is the story of those who were once far who drew near to offer homage and loyalty to the coming King. It was the very pilgrimage that emboldened their faith, and changed them forever. Led by the very heavens, they were brought to the doorstep of their longing and desire. Having offered gifts of worship to a foreign King, these three kings return home to find that they are now foreigners in a once familiar land.
Their journey, and their pilgrimage have and must echo ours. For in as much as we have offered gifts of worship to the Great King, we have become citizens of a new land; seeking the consummation of a greater Kingdom to come.
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REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning, will you linger at the scene in Bethlehem; imagining three wise kings prostrate before a child; offering precious gifts, heavy laden with divine symbolism. Will you follow in suit?
- Please read the following poem, Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot; and reflect on the transformation, and the epiphany that the magi (and even Eliot) have undergone.
Journey of the Magi
‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation,
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness.
And three trees on the low sky.
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
T.S. Eliot, 1927
11.12.08
“SUPREMACY OF OBEDIENCE”
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1 Sam 15:22-23 NIV
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
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Rom 12:1-2 NIV
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.
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In the 1Samuel passage, Saul makes a critical miscalculation. He believes that as long as he can appear as though the outer standard of sacrifice is achieved, that he can get away with an inner rebellion. Samuel will have nothing to do with it, for he knows neither will God.
For the kind of “sacrifice” God is looking for is a living one. One which will be willing to see our own will put to death repeatedly, on the altar of obedient love. Then and only then will we be able to “test and
approve what God’s” good, pleasing, and perfect will is. Then, and only then.
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REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- This morning, will you take a few moments to listen to the negotiations of your heart? Where are you secretly embracing the logic that outer sacrifice ought to be enough to satisfy God? Will you denounce the poisonous logic of Saul?
- Will you ask yourself, “Where is God looking for obedience in my life? From VCF?” Will you pray this prayer with “deadly” certainty: Whatever you ask, I/we will do.
- Having positioned your heart in unfettered obedience, will you listen for God’s directive voice? As you equate love with obedience, where does God’s heart prompt yours?
