March 22, 2020
Devotional
“Great Commandment”
Mark 12: 28-44
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Monday: “Love” - Mark 12: 28-34
During the last confirmation class one year, I asked the confirmands what rules they have in their families. They listed off the basics - curfews, chores, and respect for their parents among other things. Then I asked about other rules they have in church and in school, and what would happen if there weren’t any rules. Their answer was plan - we would be hurt.
God also has rules for us, commandments. In today’s scripture lesson Jesus tells us to keep the commandments as a way to abide in the love of God. In the Hebrew Scriptures, which we refer to as the Old Testament, there are 613 commandments. 613 different things to obey in your relationship with God and relationship with each other.
Jesus took those 613 commandments and summed them up like this - love. Love God with all you have and all you are. And love your neighbor as yourself. This, however, isn’t a sentimental love, based on feelings. It is the love of the God. The love we firmly believe we were shown in Jesus Christ.
Why do we love our neighbors? How is it connected to loving God?
Prayer: God, we confess that sometimes we make love optional. Sometimes we say that we don’t feel like it today or that someone doesn’t deserve it. In these times remind us, O God, of your great love for us and that it is this love that we are sent forth to share with the world.
Tuesday: “The Messiah” - Mark 12: 35-37
Jesus connected this love with the meaning of the Messiah. Most people thought that the Messiah was going to come as a military hero, liberating the people from Roman rule. As Jesus taught in the temple that day about the radical new way of understanding the Messiah.
The Messiah would be called Lord. For us, today, it easy to call Jesus Lord. But when we are doing so we are saying that we are following Jesus as Lord, or head, or ruler, of our lives. This was both a religious and a political term.
In other words, Jesus should rule every aspect of our lives all the time.
How is Jesus being Lord an act of love?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for sending your son to be the Messiah, the one to set us free from sin in our lives. Freed from that sin may we go forth to proclaim your love and your Kingdom for all to hear. Amen.
Wednesday: “Watch Out” - Mark 12: 38-40
Its an all too familiar story isn’t it - the scribe are called out being unfaithful and the widow is upheld for being faithful in what she gave. But I would invite you to approach today’s scripture passage with open hearts and ears, to see if there is something new to be found in the text.
One common leap we make in this passage is to think that Jesus is warning against all of the scribes. Scribes were people who had knowledge of the scripture and the laws who were able to teach about legal and political documents. Jesus wasn’t warning against the whole group, rather he was warning against those who didn’t follow the laws they were teaching to others. Jesus was speaking out against those scribes who told others that scripture demanded that they take care of the widow, when they devour her themselves. Jesus is warning agains those who mask their unfaithfulness under a veneer of faithfulness and paraded their pretense as piety.
Jesus was warning against those scribes who were not devoted to what they taught. For devotion is not so much a matter of the head, or knowing something, but a matter of the heart. Devotion cannot be hidden for long under the guise of long prayers or other acts of worship that are meant to make you appear a certain way. Devotion is about what we believe becoming the way that we live.
How do our words and actions sometimes not match, like the religious teachers of Jesus’s day?
Prayer: Almighty God, help us to recognize our own tendency to not have our words and actions line up. Point out any places in our lives where we may fail to live into your teachings of love. Forgive us, we pray. Amen.
Thursday: “Widow” - Mark 12: 41-42
What does it truly mean to sacrifice? To give something up so that others do not go without. We are a country that honors and upholds sacrifice. We praise our service men and women for being willing to lay down their lives and those who leave their homes to go clean up after natural disasters or are life long missionaries to other countries, leaving behind everything they know for the sake of the gospel. We smile when we hear stories in the news about children giving up every penny they had in their piggy bank to help other children in need. We honor and praise sacrifice as long as it isn’t incovient to us. As long as we are not the ones being called to sacrifice.
For if we are honest with ourselves, this Bible passage probably frightens us a bit. Is Jesus really asking us to give up everything we have? Isn’t this type of sacrifice dangerous? When we dwell on the widow’s sacrifice itself, Jesus’ call to us can seem too daunting. Too risky. So we don’t try to sacrifice anything at all - at least not anything that means something to us. But what if the story isn’t about the widow or the gift she brought? What if it wasn’t so much about how much she gave but rather her attitude behind it? For the next few weeks we are going to be focusing on what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ, what are the distinguishing marks or acts we have as disciples. What the widow shows us today is what it means for a disciple to have a heart of devotion.
The dictionary defines devotion as a profound dedication, consecration, or an appropriation to a person or cause. In lay man’s terms when one is devoted they are sold out, all in, or dedicated to with all they have. But in order to be devoted we must sacrifice - sacrifice of our time, money, and talents. For our sacrifice is an act of worship. Which is what the widow did that day.
How are love and sacrifice connected?
Prayer: God of Grace, thank you for showing us what love looks like. Help us to become more devoted to you every single day, and in our dedication may we worship you and you alone. Amen.
Friday: “Everything” - Mark 12: 43-44
The widow offering was also an act of devotion because of how she gave. She didn’t give so that others would notice her or in such a manner where she would draw all of the attention to herself. Instead she gave in such a way that would bring the honor and praise to God, not herself. How often have you found that some of the most devoted people you know are the unsung heroes? The people who do things in the church you never even knew about until one day they are no longer with us to give of their time and talents? Devotion is about shedding all egotism or greed that we may have, any desire we may possess for bringing attention to ourselves, and taking on the characteristics or God, chiefly those of humility, love, and sacrifice.
While devotion literally means giving of your whole self, your whole life, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it comes easily. Devotion requires faith and trust. But just because it is hard does not give us an excuse not to try. As Christian disciples we strive to be growing deeper in love with God and our neighbor every day. And that striving is an act of devotion itself. There are going to be times when others will think our devotion is misplaced or foolish. But that which is foolish to man is priceless in the eyes of God. For it is in ability to love Christ so deeply that we are willing to risk it all that we can truly begin to understand the love that Christ showed for us on the cross and the devotion he had to the kingdom of God. May we try each day to fall a little more deeply in love with God and live a life that reflects that the kingdom of God is our first priority.
What is one thing you can do to fall more deeply in love with God today?
Prayer: God, let our hearts expand for you and your Kingdom. May you reign in our lives, Lord Jesus, now and forever. Amen.
Saturday: Preparing for the Word
You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic to prepare for worship: “End of the Age” - Mark 13: 1-8, 24-37
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