I am thankful for these words that seem, more than ever, to be living words.  Words that not only detail the account of my Savior’s suffering, but cut to my heart and seem to have a life all their own as they continue to teach, minister to and inspire me!

I pray that as you read these words, may you experiece their weight and their life.

What have I done that would cause everyone around me to question my judgment?   Everyone that is, but Jesus.  What do I have to offer that is of high value, but I can “waste” on Jesus as an act of worship?  Am I more concerned with honoring Jesus with my life, no matter how crazy it may seem to others or with what other will think?

God, help me to love you and worship you with no thought of others.  Help me to be crazy!

If I had the knowledge that tonight would be my last night to prepare for bed, that for me tomorrow would not last till the hour at which I am currently writing…what would be different?

What would I say to Andrea tonight?  Would i tuck my kids in differently (or at least make to their room before they fall asleep)?  Are there notes I would write, phone calls I would make?  Would it change the first thing I do tomorrow?  Would it change how I spend my time tomorrow?  Is there someone I would contact to offer forgiveness or to ask for forgiveness?  How would I pray differently?

What about you, would it change anything for you?

Jesus makes a note, though, of the level of sacrifice that is made rather than the amount given.  I love how Jesus says, “she gave out of her poverty.”  That seems so amazing.  Who gives “out of poverty?”  Typically, that is when I hold on tighter.  There was a time in my journey with God when I remember thinking, “I will give to God when I can afford to do so.”  There is so much wrong with that statement, but the basic idea is to give out of wealth…out of an abundance.

The most amazing thing is that Jesus says, “She put in everything – all that she had to live on.”  What financial advisor would sign off on that?  But Jesus doesn’t berate her as being foolish with her money.  Jesus lifts her up as a model, as the one that is doing right.  In light of our weekend gatherings, she is “all in.”  She is not holding anything back.  She is not just an admirer of God, she is a follower.

Do you give (time, resources, abilities, money, yourself) according to your abundance, when you are sure there will be enough?  Do you give it all to God, recognizing it is all comes from Him?  Do you give trusting in yourself or trusting in God as your provider?

Why doesn’t Jesus give a “don’t try this at home” warning?  Why is she held up as the model and not the exception?  Does this seem a little too risky to anybody else?

I have read this at times as figurative, but why?  Because it makes me uncomfortable?  Probably…

Are you “all in?”

We get to see a new side to Jesus through the account described in Mark 11:12-21.  Jesus is moved to a holy anger.  First we see Him curse a fig tree.  The tree had beautiful foliage, but was lacking it’s pre-fruit that would appear before the real fruit.  This lack of pre-fruit, which would be eaten by peasants as a source of food, indicated that there would be no fruit at the time of harvest.  Israel, which is represented here by the fig tree, had been unfruitful and was not fulfilling it’s role to bring all people to God, regardless of nationality or status.  All this tree had, as did the nation of Israel, was that it looked good.

Jesus is not concerned with our outer display of religion and how we “look.”  He is concerned with our hearts and the fruit that is produced by a heart devoted to God.

Next, we see this even more clearly as Jesus is angered by what He witnesses in the temple.  In the early days of the temple the only division was between Priest and everyone else.  Now, during Jesus day, the temple was divided by race and gender.  It was in this outer court, where the “lesser” people were allowed to worship, that the money tables were set up.  This angered Jesus on multiple levels.  First, they were taking advantage of the people, robbing them in a sense.  Also, Jesus was angered by the favoritism and prejudice being shown by allowing this to happen in the court of the Gentiles (non-Jews), but not in the court of Jewish males.

Jesus cleanses the temple and reclaims it as a place of prayer for people of all nations. (Isaiah 56:7; 1 Kings 8:41–43)

Lord, make me fruitful.  May you transform my heart so that it produces.

Lord, make us pure.  May you cleanse us from prejudice and injustice so that all may know you.

As I mentioned this weekend, this is an area that God has really been working on my heart.  He has been revealing to me areas where I have been keeping Him at a distance.  Places where I am playing it safe, not allowing the risk of giving God complete control.

What is the “one thing you lack?”  Have you asked God what it is that you need to give to Him?

I was blown away this weekend by the amazing response of our community to writing the one thing (or many things) on the cards and giving them to God.  I believe that God is doing some amazing things in our Community and I believe that we are at a milestone moment in the life of Crossbridge.  I love being a Pastor of this awesome community of followers!

In verses 33-35 Jesus followers are arguing over who is greatest among them.  They are all making their own arguments about why they should be considered the greatest.  Yes, I am making the assumption that they are not arguing for someone to be considered greater than their own self.  They are looking out for their own interests…why they should be the greatest!

Jesus doesn’t go off on them, instead he looks around and invites a child to come to him.  A child in Jesus’ day was a low position.  A child, while loved, had no position, no rights and no power.  So Jesus takes what is the least and associates himself with it.  He associates His highly respected status, Rabbi (teacher) to this child.  He says if they care for one of these, a child, they show love to him and even more so, to the Father.  This is a servant’s role.  Typically children were cared for by servants.  Jesus in essence is saying, “You want to be great?”  You want to love me?  Then serve.  Serve even those that society would consider the least among you.

Why doesn’t my desire for status, for worth, for position ever drive me to serve others, especially ones that have nothing to offer me in return?  This makes no sense in the economy of our world, but in God’s economy this is true worth.  Value is found in becoming like our Savior, and serving the least.  It is found in Jesus’ example of taking the lowest of servant’s role and washing feet.

Can you imagine these followers, oh no…we are going to run out of bread.  We only have ONE loaf!  I don’t feel so bad for using the word, “duh,” in our gatherings this weekend…i think in some ways that is what Jesus is saying here.  You are worried about bread?  Did you forget I just fed 5000 men and their families?  (DUH)  Oh, in case you missed it, I JUST fed 4000! (DUH)

…ummm, actually, yes, I can imagine these followers doing this, because I am one of them!  How many times do I question God’s provision, his power without a thought of the past.  The past being recent, too, not ancient history.  I have seen God’s provision more clearly in the last 4 years as I helped launch Crossbridge,  than I have in my entire life.  He has provided in Miraculous (I meant to capitalize the ‘M’) ways so many times, yet I still pause to find myself worried about resources.  I still find myself worrying about what I don’t have, whether it is time, people, facilities, abilities…yes, even finances, rather than the fact that the miracle worker that just provided miraculously yesterday is in the boat with me!  (DUH)…

God, forgive me of my spiritual amnesia…

Jesus’ first encounter is with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, the religious elite.  They accuse Jesus of breaking the law by eating with unclean hands.  (Why didn’t I know this verse as a kid?  All of those times I was sent from the table to wash my hands before dinner!)  Obviously, this was more than just a little anti-bacterial to make sure you didn’t get sick.  The cleansing they are talking about is a very regulated ceremonial cleansing that had lots of different rules for what you had come in contact with that day.

Their condescending attacks came from a false sense of righteousness and a place of entitlement.  These leaders were missing the point with what mattered to God and their hearts were not with God.  They knew, however, that no matter what, they could point to their birthright.  They were Israelites, the people that were in covenant with God.  In a sense, their thinking was that God owed them, because He was in a covenant relationship with them.

Now, contrast this with Jesus’ encounter with the Greek woman in verses 24-30.  She comes to Jesus in simple faith and a hope that he can heal her daughter.  The exchange is brilliant, although at first reading the words of Jesus initially seem harsh.

Look at Mark 7:27-29…

27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
28 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

After this woman begs Jesus to heal her daughter, He tells her to wait.  Yes, He does use a dog to refer to her status as a non-Jew.  First, Pharisees did refer to Gentiles as dogs at times.  In their minds, dogs were simply scavengers, they were not loved pets.  Secondly, in this woman’s culture not all dogs were bad, many were kept as pets.  Either way, He does refer to her people as dogs and to that just as the children should be fed before the dogs, the Jewish people did have first claim.  I love her response, she gets it.

She approaches Jesus with no sense of entitlement.  She comes in simple faith, knowing that she doesn’t deserve it, but that if He is willing, He has the power to heal her daughter.  She also recognizes the greatness of Jesus’ power.  All she needs is a “crumb.”  The smallest of his power is more than enough to do this miraculous thing.  Similar to the thinking…”If I can just touch the hem of His garment.”

She gets it and this has to be our response to Jesus.

Recognize who He is, the Son of God, Healer, Messiah, Creator and all powerful.

Recognize who we are, unworthy and undeserving of any grace from Him.

We seek Him with no sense of entitlement, only an expectation that His healing, love and grace comes not because of who we are, but because of who Jesus is…

Ultimately the trust that no matter what we are facing, His power and His grace are more than enough!

As we look at Jesus and his followers, we would say they were poor.  Their resources were lacking.  They had left their families and had sacrificed a great deal to follow Jesus.  So, shouldn’t they be blessed?  If anyone deserved to be blessed with abundance, surely it would be those closest to Jesus.  Yet, they have so little and now Jesus asks them to, “share the wealth!”  <side note…this is neither an endorsement nor a slam at any political figure…simply a lame attempt to be funny>

I think if I were in their situation, my thinking would be along the lines of, “I have sacrificed a lot, I given up so much for you, Jesus.  I have so little and now you want me to give it away?  It makes no sense!  Why share these meager resources?  It is not as if there is enough to feed everyone and it will only leave EVERYONE hungry.  Look, if I was blessed as I should be for all my sacrifice, I would be happy to give out of my abundance…but, come on!”

Their focus was, as Paul would say,”…what is seen.”

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18

I too often make the assumption that the blessing is in what I see, my stuff, rather than the presence of the one that is able to provide a feast out of a sack lunch.

We might consider them poor because of their meager resources, but they were blessed by having Jesus, the provider in their midst.

The blessing is not always in that which is seen, but often time the greatest blessing and the one we miss is the ‘unseen’ presence of Jesus in our midst that is able to provide more than enough if we are simply willing to turn it over to Him.