Stepping in the Light

“Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.” Mark 15:31

When Jesus was crucified, there were people who gathered around the cross to watch Him die. The chief priests (who had arrested Him, turned Him over to the Romans, and demanded that He be crucified) were there mocking Him. They were completely wrong about Jesus. They thought that He was an imposter. They believed that the Messiah was going to set up His new kingdom immediately after He came to earth; and since Jesus had made no attempt to fight against the Romans, they believed that He was nothing more than a heretic spreading false doctrine. They could not have been more mistaken about Jesus, but there was a powerful spiritual truth in the statement they made in the verse above. “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” As they mocked Jesus for not saving Himself, they inadvertently pointed out the secret of Jesus’ mission here on earth and the secret that all who would follow in His steps must learn. Jesus had the power to save himself, but He chose not to. If He were to save Himself, He could not save others; and saving others was what He came to do. If He wanted to save us, He could not save Himself. The same could be said for every disciple of Christ. If we are going to make a difference in the lives of others, we cannot focus on our own needs and wants.

“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14

Moses is making his final appeal to the people to obey the law of God. Moses had been frustrated with the people many times because of their unwillingness to follow God. He had heard them complain for forty years. After they crossed the Red Sea, they thought that they would die in the wilderness. When God gave them manna, they wanted meat. When God spoke to them audibly from Mount Sinai, they said that they would rather God speak to Moses. They promised to do whatever Moses told them; but when Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, they were worshipping a golden calf. When the people had the opportunity to go into the Promised Land at Kadesh-barnea, they turned back in fear. Moses is pleading with them to obey God’s law, and he tells the people that it should now be easy for them to obey. They don’t have to climb a mountain or cross a sea in order to find out what God wants them to do. His Word was very close to them; it was in their mouths and in their hearts. Most of us have a copy of God’s Word, but do we keep it near to us or far away?

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29

God is omniscient; He knows everything. In spite of the fact that we live in the Information Age, there are many things that we do not know. Moses told the Israelites that they were responsible for keeping all of the law. The laws that they were given were the things that God had revealed to them. The Canaanites who possessed the land before them did not have the law of God. They did not have the experiences that the Israelites had had. The Canaanites did not see the plagues in Egypt. The Canaanites did not cross the Red Sea on dry ground. The Canaanites did not hear the voice of God at Mount Sinai giving them the Ten Commandments. They did not see the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They did not receive the manna from heaven each day. Moses was making sure that the Israelites understood that they were responsible for what they had seen and what had been revealed to them. It would be easy for us to look at the Israelites with envy because of their experiences; but in reality, we have had much more revealed to us. We have the entire Word of God. If they were responsible for following the portion of God’s Word that they had, how much more should we feel responsible to follow what God has revealed to us?

“Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Deuteronomy 25:13-15

It was not uncommon for people in Bible days to have two different sets of scales or measures: one that they used to buy things, and one that they used to sell things. They would use the scale that weighed lighter than the standard weight when they were buying things and the scale that weighed heavier than standard when they were selling. The lighter weight allowed them to pay less than the price they agreed to, and the heavier weight allowed them to charge more. God commanded His people not to do this. He wanted them to be fair with each other. This command was linked to an important promise. God said that He would give them length of days in the Promised Land if they would use one standard scale that allowed them to be fair with each other. Our exchange of currencies and systems of weighing products are much more standardized now, but the temptation to cut corners and take advantage of others still presents itself to us. Do you treat others fairly? For example, if you were selling a vehicle that had a mechanical problem, would you disclose that to the buyer? God wants us to treat each other as we would want to be treated. Let’s be sure that we always use a “perfect weight.”

“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?” Mark 14:3-4

In John chapter 11, we learn that this woman was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Not long before this meal took place, Jesus had raised her brother from the dead. Mary was obviously grateful, and that alone would have been reason enough for her to want to do something special for Jesus. The Lord had already told His disciples plainly that He was going to be killed and that He would rise again from the dead. The disciples never seemed to comprehend Jesus’ words regarding His imminent death, but Mary had been listening and she wanted to do something about it. When Mary was rebuked for wasting such a valuable treasure, Jesus said that Mary was anointing Him beforehand in preparation for His death.

Often in the Bible our prayers are likened to incense, a pleasant aroma to God. He enjoys hearing us pray. But prayer requires effort. Most Christians struggle to find time to pray. Some fail to pray because they don’t believe it is worth the effort. Is prayer a waste of time? Jesus didn’t think so. He was obviously pleased with what Mary did, and He said that her deeds would always be spoken of as a testimony to her devotion.

“For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:34-37

Jesus likened Himself to a man who was preparing to go on a long journey. The man knew he would be gone for a long period of time, so he assigned responsibilities to each of his subordinates and charged them to always be ready for his return. Jesus wanted the disciples to think about what it would be like to be left in charge of someone else’s household for an undetermined amount of time. He knew that He was going back to heaven after His death, burial, and resurrection, and they needed to take responsibility for sharing the Gospel with the world. Jesus told His disciples that they needed to watch and to always be ready for His return, and then He included everyone. “And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.” Jesus’ words to His disciples can be applied to every Christian alive today. It has been many years since Jesus gave this command to all of His followers; but, as time goes by, it becomes even more important for us to be ready for His return. We need to be working, we need to be managing our areas of responsibility, and we need to be awake. Are you ready? He may come today!

“And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:18-20

God sent Moses to lead the people of Israel, and he led them by telling them what God said; but God knew that one day the Israelites would have a king. That king would be chosen by the people from among the people, or he would inherit the throne from his father who was king before him. God knew that there would be good kings and bad kings, some wise and some foolish. The Lord set forth guidelines for what a king should and should not do. God said that the king should have his own personal copy of the law and that he should read from it every day. In essence, this meant that the king would have a copy of all of the Bible that had been written up to that point, and the Lord wanted him to read from it every day. God said that it would keep him humble, keep him right, and prolong his days. We may not be kings, but we are all leaders in some way. As leaders, we need to read God’s Word each day. Reading the Bible enables us to treat people right and make good decisions.

“And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12:32-33

The Bible has a lot to say about offerings and sacrifices. When someone is willing to give to the Lord, it tells us a lot about their values and their character. If we take money or possessions that we could use to buy or trade for things that we want and give them to God, we are making a sacrifice. When we see this kind of sacrifice in others, we tend to equate it with spirituality, but the scribe in the passage above understood that there is more to evaluating our spiritual condition than what we can see on the surface. Sacrifice can certainly be an indicator of our spirituality, as we can see with the widow who gave her last two mites; but it is also something that we can do for an outward show or as a way to bargain with God. When King Saul gave the excuse for sparing the best of the animals that had belonged to the Amalekites instead of destroying them as God had commanded, the prophet Samuel answered, “To obey is better than sacrifice,” (I Samuel 15:22). It is true that the Lord loves a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7), but what He wants most is our love and obedience. Do you love God with all your heart? Are you obeying His Word? These are the most important tests of our relationship with Him.

 “And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.” Mark 12:26-27

There was a huge debate between the Pharisees and Sadducees regarding life after death. The Pharisees believed that one day there would be a resurrection, but the Sadducees did not. The Sadducees decided that they would pose an impossible problem to Jesus because they felt that if He were unable to answer them, it would prove that their point of view was correct. Jesus told them that they were making a big mistake in their thinking. He called their attention to Moses as he knelt before the burning bush and heard God say to him, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus pointed out that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died hundreds of years before Moses, but when God mentioned them at the burning bush, they were very much alive.

For those who put their trust in Christ, God has promised eternal life. When we exercise our faith in God, we receive life that will go on forever.  Because God gives everlasting life to all those who believe in Him, He truly is the God of the living. Are we living today as though we will live for eternity? Are we behaving in a way that makes it obvious that He is our God?

“And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Mark 11:15-17

As Jesus drove the merchants and the moneychangers out of the temple, He reminded them that God said that His house should be a house of prayer. People came from great distances to make sacrifices and offerings at the temple, and these businessmen made it more convenient for them. Travelers could buy a lamb at the temple instead of bringing one from home. The chief priests justified allowing this market inside the temple because they felt that it was more important to increase the traffic in the temple than it was to bring the people closer to God in their hearts. They valued convenience over spirituality. It is likely that they personally benefitted from the trade going on inside the temple, and they were more interested in protecting their position and their pocketbook than they were in encouraging people to pray.

How careful are we to protect our prayer time from interruption? The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that temple should be a house of prayer.