Deuteronomy 1-3, Mark 14:1-52

Okay, so I slacked and today we are doing Deuteronomy 1-3 and Mark 14:1-52. No more if I miss a blog will we just skip that section in my writing. I need to do both the reading and the writing.
Okay, so we start the book of Deuteronomy today. Yesterday I touched a little on it. Tradition in the Jewish faith is that Moses wrote the book. Some scholars now believe that it was written about 600 B.C. and was basically an editorial work. The writing style fits that period and that it pretty much sums up what was in the first books of the Pentateuch with some things removed to make the Jewish culture of the time appear to be complete. This is countered by traditional views that Moses was the author, including Jesus’ view. He quotes Moses over and over again. The structure of the book is also in line with Mosaic writings.
This book is a preparatory for entering the Promised Land. Moses will not be joining them so he must prepare them to obey God without him there. He motivates them by reminding them that they were chosen and that God redeems them because he loves them, not because of who they are personally. Love, Obedience and remembrance are the main themes.
Today we focus on remembering what God did for the people of Israel. Moses spoke directly to the people. He told them the story once more of where they came from and what God had done for them. The author points out that a journey of 11 days took Israel 40 years because of their lack of faith and obedience. How long will your journey take? I have been a Christian since I was 15. I am now 35. Only in the last couple years do I feel like I spend less time in the wilderness and more in the Promised Land, though my years at Biola were probably mostly spent in the Promised Land as well. We too have a choice as to how we respond to God. Do we obey and follow him where he says to go even if it is difficult and scary? Or do we do what we want to do and justify ourselves with every step? One path leads to the Promised Land of living in the freedom of God’s love. The other takes us in circles of slavery to our flesh. Which journey do you want to take? I may have only taken half the time Israel did but it was still too long. God wants us to accept his Lordship and be obedient. Then we will see the blessings that brings.
Moses was doing more than telling a story here. He was explaining why the law was given to them and why they should obey it. When the Israelites obeyed, they were rewarded. It may not have always been the way they’d hoped but they were rewarded. When they didn’t obey, there were negative consequences. Those consequences didn’t always come right away. Some consequences took awhile to come about. God gives us the law to show us how to live in relationship with him. He doesn’t do it to limit us. He does it because he wants a relationship with him, but it can’t be on just any terms because of his holy nature. We choose whether we want to be in that relationship or not. When we obey and trust him, we show that we want a relationship with him and it becomes real. When we don’t, he has no choice but to be separate from us. He doesn’t choose that, we do. God has given us every opportunity to be with him. We have rejected him at every turn.
Moses also tackles another problem. Change in leadership. This is not an easy thing. Especially when a leader has been as integral to the life of the people as Moses had. He was turning over leadership not only to Joshua but to the family leaders. Many people who had less responsibility were starting to have quite a bit more. They had always been able to depend on Moses and his walk with God. Now they had to do it for themselves. Moses took time in verse 9 to remind them that from the beginning his authority had been delegated out. It was only in their habit and insecurity that he had maintained much of it. We are the same way. We are to listen to our pastors and teachers. We are to respect their authority, but ultimately we are responsible for our own walk with God. Jim can’t do it for you. Pastor Wayne can’t live out your relationship with God for you either. We have to do it for ourselves.
I also think that over and over Moses points out that even though they had been miraculously saved over and over, they still struggled with trusting God. I have heard many people say that the Israelites had it easy. So did the disciples. They got to see everything face to face. Miracles happened in their midst on a daily basis. Yet they didn’t get it. “If I were there, I’d have gotten it.” How do you know that? We have miracles happen on a daily basis here as well. When I think of how often I’ve done something stupid and should have had some pretty severe consequences, I am amazed at how God came through. It is only as I look back that I can’t believe that after each of those things happening, I went right back to my sins. I rejected God in the face of my miraculous rescues each and every time. The trick is to recognize when they happen and see them for what they are. We all have our “aha” moments. It is making sure that we learn from them and turn them to God’s glory that is the key.
Moses also touches on the attitude that kept Israel out of the Promised Land for the 40 years. As soon as they heard the punishment, they wanted to turn from their sin and get the reward. God told them it was too late. They had missed the boat. This has happened to me several times in my life. I realized that I was not walking God’s path and changed it. Yet, I still had to suffer the consequences of my earlier behaviors. Many times I think that we think God will just fix everything for us. I especially think that many times because that is how I have worked in my flesh. I run around trying to fix it all. Many times, I steal a lesson from someone by doing so. God allows things to happen to us after we repent not because he is angry with us. He does it because that is how we learn and grow. If he doesn’t allow us to learn the consequences of our actions, how are we supposed to value the choices we have? I have been working on letting people make mistakes and not trying to “guide” them so much. We all have our own journeys and only by allowing those journeys to take place can we allow them to grow into the person they truly are.
We also see a lesson in humility to the Israelites. They were the chosen ones. That didn’t mean they were the only ones God loved. God gave blessings to the descendants of Abraham as well as Jacob. His blessings extend to more than just the chosen people. The Israelites were not allowed to possess anything and they were nomadic, yet God blessed them with everything they needed. They may have wanted more, but they were not lacking in what they needed. Many times we look at those around us and we covet what they have. We wonder why we can’t have it too. There is always a reason that God gives us what he does. Maybe there is a lesson for us to learn, or something waiting that is better for us coming along, maybe what we will receive isn’t ready yet, and unfortunately sometimes we suffer because of a lesson someone else needs to learn. Yet in all these things we can be joyful because we are being used by God in all of this. His glory will come about because of whatever is happening in our lives as long as we remain obedient and allow him to mold us.
Moses takes the story from Israel’s failures to their successes. The battle won, the land already given out, and even more victories. God did all of that. We are only the tools. God is the one who wins the victories. We can only let him use us to do it. When you are sharing with people, serving in a ministry, or even just being a light to your friends, it is God who does the work. What happens because of that work will be what God wills, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t go the way you wished it would. God will make sure the glory part happens in his timing.
Finally, we see the humanity of Moses. He knew he had sinned. He knew he was going to face those consequences. He had already turned over the authority to Joshua. Yet he probably still had some hope that God would change his mind. He faithfully served God and did it knowing that he had to pay the piper eventually. I still think he always had in the back of his mind that if he just served God well enough, God would change his mind. God isn’t like us. He doesn’t rationalize, change or do anything flighty. He is a God of purpose. Moses knew that, but in his humanity he still had hoped he would get to see the Promised Land. Moses was still trying to bargain with God even after all he’d seen. The thing is that I bet once he got up to Heaven and saw what honor there had been in dying alone with God and being buried by God himself, to be in direct communion with him, that is far better than any earthly promised land. Sometimes, we think our punishments are just to torture us, until we realize that the results of those trials are actually the greatest blessings we’ve ever known. Those are the moments I find myself praising God the loudest.
Okay, now our reading in Mark. Again we see the Jewish leaders wanting to take Jesus and kill him but they didn’t want to do it during the festival because they were afraid it would cause a riot and get them in trouble with the Romans. They wanted to do evil but they didn’t want to get caught.
The next section shows a lot about how people respond to Jesus. They are all enjoying a meal with Jesus. A woman comes in and anoints Jesus with very expensive oil. The scripture says it was expensive enough for a years wage for a family. She wanted to honor Jesus with all she had and more. She had probably understood what he’d been teaching lately of his leaving them. Some of them were not pleased at this though. They thought the money should be used differently and were angry that it hadn’t been used as they thought it should be. They criticized her. Jesus rebukes not the woman, but those attacking her. She did something good for Jesus. It was her choice. The poor are there and should be helped, but we should have choice over what we do. No one should tell us where we have to serve or what we have to do except for God. If someone doesn’t like the ministry you want to be involved in, or how you give your offerings (tithes are a different matter we will talk about another time) they need to realize that your stewardship is according to how God tells you it is. This is the passage I most think of when I hear people say that Jesus was a communist. To me, it clearly states right from the savior’s mouth that we are to choose how we serve God with our money. No one should dictate that for us or judge it either. We are all responsible for our own actions and choices.
At the end of this passage we see Judas make his choice. He was very concerned about the money and was unhappy about how it was being handled obviously. The way Jesus was talking, things were going to be much different than Judas had planned on. Now he was messing with the coffers that Judas had control of. He made a choice to betray Jesus because he didn’t like what was happening. My Bible posed an interesting question in the notes and I wanted to share it with you. “Do we respond to Jesus with outright rejection as did the leaders (v1, 2); with calculated self-interest as did Judas (v10, 11); or with an outpouring of our love as did the woman (v3-9)?” Where do you fall most of the time? Do you reject what Jesus wants for you and do whatever you want? Do you use your faith to get what you want when it is convenient, but really focus on what your desires are? Or do you show how much you love Jesus in everything you do? I think we all fall into each of this once in awhile. My prayer is that I can spend the majority of my time following in the footsteps of the woman.
Maundy Thursday is coming up. It is actually my favorite day of the year next to Christmas Eve. I became a Christian at a Maundy Thursday service in the dirt of a cleared cabbage field outside of Mexicali. I always enjoyed Maundy Thursday service as a child because to me, it was the most intimate time the disciples had with Jesus. They actually got to worship with him by conducting the highest ritual there was to the Jewish people. How amazing is that. Not only that, but they were present for the beginning of the new covenant between God and his creation. All that had gone before was now changed according to Christ’s new covenant with us. My family usually holds our own personal Passover Seder on this night to remember how Jesus changed the covenant. It reminds us of where Jesus was coming from and where he was taking us.
We have all heard about the communion story over and over I’m sure. But have we truly looked at what Jesus is saying? Jesus told them how to prepare everything and where to get it. He came and sat and ate with them. He was in complete control. He knew who was going to do what, where he was headed personally and what the result was going to be. Yet, he sat and had fellowship with them. He didn’t whine and cry, he didn’t sit there being depressed. He merely enjoyed his time of fellowship with them and took this time to teach them the last of what they needed to know. If they weren’t prepared at this point, which they weren’t, it wasn’t because Jesus hadn’t shared with them. This gives me hope. My whole life I grew up in the church hearing about Jesus, but I didn’t get it. I shared him with a lot of people over the years who didn’t get it either. Yet, I got it when I was supposed to. The disciples didn’t get it at the Last Supper either. My hero, Peter, even took one last chance to run his mouth and debate with Jesus. Lol Yet eventually, they got it. It took a lot of pain and heartache, but in joy they finally got it.
Can you imagine sitting there eating food with a friend and teacher and having him start talking the way Jesus did? Would you be listening intently or thinking “I think he had a little too much vino.”? Lol The Passover was about God delivering Israel. It was about redemption and reconnecting with God. Jesus was associating himself with that. He identified himself as the real Passover sacrifice that would completely redeem us and connect us to God perfectly. Those people who participate in this by choosing to believe in his sacrifice for our sins are part of this new covenant he speaks of. We are part of the true people of God, for eternity. Every time you take communion, you are making a statement that you want to be part of God’s family. When you leave that experience, you should remember that in how you conduct yourself. It isn’t just a light snack to fit in at church. It is a covenant between you and God. A promise you make to fulfill your end of the bargain to make him Lord of your life. He did his part. Now it is time to do yours.
This is getting really long, but I want to say one more thing about this reading. In the garden, Jesus had brought the disciples with him to the garden to pray. He took Peter, James and John with him a little further. I have been reading a book on John written by Beth Moore this week and the author said something I was really thinking about a lot. Jesus took those three with him a lot, and we take it as them being the favorites. Yet, she pointed out that teachers often bring the “troublesome” or “difficult” students to the front of the class to be able to guide them better. She is totally right. I never thought about the fact that we often hear those three getting it wrong in many stories of the Bible. They didn’t get it most of the time. Yet, Jesus knew that once they did get it, they would be unstoppable at spreading his kingdom. Here we see them missing out on some last minute time with Jesus. He asked them to pray with him, to help him prepare. Yet they slept. How awful must they have felt after the next 12 hours that they had not taken the chance to be with him when they could. How many regrets must they have had? This is a good lesson. They must have had more regrets than you and I could ever imagine. Yet, did that stop them? No. They reconciled to Christ and kept going with a renewed strength. We should take that example and run with it. When you mess up, pick yourself up, reconcile to Jesus and go at it double time. I am going to be trying to do the same.
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 34-35.