Daily Devotion for Lent 2015 Day 13

Daily Devotion for Lent

Wednesday, March 4, 2015, Day 13

Mark 5:35-43 (NRSV)

"The Raising of the Daughter of Jairus" by Gabriel von Max, 1881

The significance of the healing of this 12 year old girl is important.  This is the first instance of Jesus raising someone from the dead.  It reminds Jewish readers of miracles of raising dead children by Elijah and Elisha as recorded in First and Second Kings.

It is interesting to note that twelve years is also the same amount of time that the hemorrhaging woman who touched the cloak of Jesus was bleeding.  She was not only healed physically, but this healed her socially as she would be able to return to life in the community.  Both are resurrection stories that Mark ties together so that we may see.

As the crowd laughs at Jesus when he declares that the girl is only sleeping, we are reminded of Sarah's laughter when God announces that she will give birth to a son at her advanced age.

When the miraculous is declared, we laugh because sometimes we are afraid to hope.

Sometimes we might get so discouraged that laughter is our alternative to tears.

This is the place where we ask ourselves, what in my life do I secretly hope for and laugh about instead?

What in my life needs resurrection?

Prayer for today:

O God, that we may receive your blessing,
   touch our brows, touch our heads and do not look upon us in anger.
In a hard year, offer us mercy; in a year of affliction, offer us kindness;
dark spirits banish from us, bright spirits bring close to us.
gray spirits put away from us, good spirits draw near to us.
When we are afraid, offer us courage;
when we are ashamed, be our true face;
be over us like a blanket, be under us like a bed of furs.  Amen.



Prayer is traditional from Mongolia source from The United Methodist Book of Worship

Picture by Gabriel von Max [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Devotion for Lent 2015, Day 12

Daily Devotion for Lent

Tuesday, March 3, 2015, Day 12

Mark 5:21-34, NRSV

Traditional Jewish prayer shawl.
It's possible that Jesus wore
one similar to this.

We know that the Jewish leaders were sometimes at odds with Jesus.  In fact, we have already read in Mark how some conspired against him.  As a synagogue leader, Jairus was a respected man in the community.  He doesn't seem to be in conflict with Jesus.  If he has mixed feelings, he sets them aside because he may have witnessed the healing firsthand.  At the very least, he knows of his reputation.

Jairus is interested in Jesus because he needs Jesus to be authentic.

His daughter is next to death.  What do you do?

You beg this healer to come to your daughter's aid.

Jesus agrees and we don't hear any word from Jairus when Jesus stops to converse with the hemorrhaging woman.  If I was the worried parent, I would probably be saying, "We've got no time for her!"

It is interesting how we see what moves Jesus.  It doesn't appear to be status.  After all, if status were important, an unclean woman (menstruation made one unclean in that day) was certainly not more important than the leader of the local synagogue.  Yet, her urgency is such that she touches Jesus for healing without asking.  It was thought in that day that if you touched the prayer shawl of the Messiah, you would be healed.

Jesus then stops to have a conversation with her.

I realize that my own impatience with Jesus comes out in my imagined thought process for Jairus during this encounter.  <"Hurry up, Jesus!  You can come back to her later!">

Do you ever make assumptions on God's time or God's blessing?  Do you ever feel that time is short?

When we stop and reflect on this, we discover that God has all the time in the world.

Prayer from Mary Bendall:

Holy God of Knowing,
             who holds plans to prosper us and give us hope,
Grant us peace when the path ahead feels uncertain.
Reassure us with your leading presence

So that in times of question and doubt
                           we may continue forward in your guiding love.

We pray trusting in you,
              our Knowing Source,
                         our Strong Assurance,
                                     our Sustaining Wisdom.

Amen.



Prayer from Mary Bendall, MDiv '00, Candler School of Theology from Prayers: Voices of the Candler Community.

Photo by Sheynhertz-Unbayg, Wikimedia Commons.  

Daily Devotion for Lent Day 11

Daily Devotion for Lent

Monday, March 2, 2015 Day 11

Mark 5:1-20 (NRSV)

Like attracts like.

Pigs may be unclean, but they are
actually quite intelligent.

A lot of Protestant Christians today look at this story and feel somewhat sorry for the pigs.  These poor beasts not only were possessed by demons, they drowned themselves!

Not a great way for any of us to go.

As we think about the economics of that day, this would have been devastating to the local economy. Is it any wonder they asked Jesus to leave their area?  They might have been afraid for the rest of their livestock!

A Jewish reader in that day would have seen it as humorous.  Pigs were unclean animals and so it would be quite natural for unclean spirits to be drawn to them.  The loss would have come to either Gentiles or Jews flaunting the Law and so this would add to the impression that this all worked out okay.  If the owners were Jewish, they would have likely sold them to Roman occupiers which would also be suspect.

And so as the swine perish, are the owners somehow made clean?

In their loss of fortune, do they gain something more - a cultural equivalent of a clean slate?

I wonder how they might excuse themselves to profit in this way?

Surely, we wouldn't do a similar thing today.

The miraculous intervention of God at times may seem to come as a loss.  What if there is really gain to be had?

Prayer by Clara H. Scott, 1895:

Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!



Photo by Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Devotion for the Second Sunday in Lent

Daily Devotion for the Second Sunday in Lent

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Mark 4:35-41 (NRSV)

This story reminds me of when Jonah fled God's call to preach to Nineveh.  He, too, was asleep in the boat when the storm came upon them.  Both Jonah and Jesus seem to be sound sleepers!

When the captain awakens Jonah, he also asks Jonah to help them by praying so that they will not perish.

Sometimes we are caught by the waves in life.

The difference here is that Jonah was disobedient while Jesus remains faithful to God's call.

Jesus then shows divine power by calming the winds and the waves which utterly stuns the disciples.

The disciples originally question the compassion of Jesus because of their fear.

We might also do this when we are suffering.  Have you ever asked God, "Don't you care?"

It is not an easy thing to have faith when the waves are swamping us.

Mark seems to be telling us to trust.  How will you relax in the presence of God today?

Prayer from Rubem Alves, Brazil, 20th century:

Gracious God, 
   make me sensitive to all the evidences of your goodness;
   and may I, trusting in you,
   free myself of the terror of death,
   and feel free to live intensely and happily 
   the life you have given me.  Amen.


Prayer from I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body

Photo by David Gearing [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Devotion for Lent Day 10

Daily Devotion for Lent

Saturday, February 28, 2015, Day 10

Mark 4:10-34 (NRSV)

It's so easy to blame the birds on the path
for my own lack of attentiveness.

As we see the parable of The Sower explained, we would like to be counted among the good soil where the fruit bears thirty, sixty and one-hundred fold.

I would dare-say that sometimes, I am a hundred-fold Christian.  I have my days, after all.

But I would also confess that sometimes I'm the path.  The Word seems to go in one ear and out the other.

At other times I'm rocky ground.  I fall away from faithfulness at the sign of trouble.

Then there are times that I'm choked by thorns.  Materialism strikes me just like it does you.

I'm rather good at excusing myself, though.

My thought is that our faithfulness sometimes springs forth as quite a surprise - just like The Parable of the Growing Seed.  If we are open to God working through us more of the time, we might just find that we bear fruit more and more often.  After all, who doesn't want to be good soil?

Prayer from Brendan O'Malley:

As once you walked in the garden, Lord,
in the calm of the evening,
so this evening you come seeking us.
If we are tempted to flee form your presence,
change our fear to confidence.
Confessing our sin, 
without blaming others;
we place our hope
in your mercy and forgiveness,
through Jesus, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.


Prayer from A Celtic Primer compiled by Brendan O'Malley

Photo by By Ryan Cheng from Hong Kong (20081213_0192  Uploaded by Snowmanradio) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Devotion for Lent 2015 Day 9

Daily Devotion for Lent

Friday, February 27, 2015, Day 9

Mark 4:1-9 (NRSV)

We really prepare the soil for sowing today.  This
work really makes a contrast for the random nature
of the sowing in the parable.

I like the indiscriminate faith of the sower.  The sower does not identify which is good ground and which is poor ground.  If you were sowing seed, you would not waste any on the path.  You would avoid rocky or thorny soil.

A sower of any competence would be picky about where to plant the seed.

This allows us to realize that this metaphorical language is speaking about something else.

We aren't to apply God's grace like we would a finite resource.

My son David was telling me the other day that he did better on his video game when he prayed for a good result.  I replied, "I don't know if that's the kind of thing you should be praying for, David.  You don't want to waste your prayers on video games."

He responded, "We have unlimited prayers, Dad."

At this point, he was more like the sower and I was more like the person that tries to place limitations on the spiritual depth of our lives.

Often in life, we may approach the various types of "soil" (people) with reservations. What if you thought to yourself, "I'm not ever going to run out of seeds.  Why not?"

Prayer from the hymn, "God, How Can We Comprehend?' by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette:

Lord, your loving knows no bounds;
You have conquered death for all.
May we hear beyond our towns
To our distant neighbors' call.
Spirit, may our love increase;
May we reach to all your earth,
'Till each person lives in peace;
'Till your world sees each one's worth.
Amen.



Prayer, (c) 1999 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette from Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship

Photo by Michael Trolove [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Daily Devotion for Lent 2015 Day 8

Daily Devotion for Lent

Thursday, February 26, 2015, Day 8

Mark 3:19b-35 (NRSV)

Welcome to one of the most anxiety-inducing passages in all of scripture!

Within these verses, Jesus describes blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin.  As a pastor, I have counseled with many people who were concerned that they may have somehow committed this atrocity.

It leads to the question, "How does one commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?"  We ask this for research purposes only - we would like to avoid doing this since there is no forgiveness to be had if we stumble into it.

Note that this comes as a response to religious authorities accusing Jesus of blasphemy.

As we consider what it means to accept forgiveness, we believe that we receive it through the Holy Spirit.  If we are not in accordance with the Holy Spirit, it may be impossible for us to receive forgiveness.  So if one is worried about offending God in this manner, it is likely that you are not hardening your heart to the Holy Spirit.

Some would say that this doesn't appropriately address the idea of "eternal sin" and they would be correct.  However, it is interesting to note that the death sentence of Jesus in Mark is for blasphemy.

As Paul reminds us in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NRSV)

It seems that death and sin are no longer eternal for those in Christ.

This may be the point of the passage.

Prayer by Thomas A. Kempis, Germany, 15th Century:

Write your blessed name, O Lord, upon my heart, there to remain so indelibly engraved, that no prosperity, no adversity shall ever move me from your love.  Be to me a strong tower of defense, a comforter in tribulation, a deliverer in distress, a very present help in trouble, and a guide to heaven through the many temptations and dangers of this life. Amen. 


Photo by MarkBuckawicki (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons