God’s will

Everyone knows these two

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“She has done what she could…” Mark 14:3-11 ESV

Jesus has left the city and returned to Bethany, where he is having dinner at Simon the leper’s house. While they are eating, a woman enters the room with an unusually precious box of spikenard. No one is concerned with her presence but all are startled by what she does next.

She breaks open the alabaster container and begins pouring the ointment on Jesus’s head. The act of such an annointing was not unusual in Jewish culture, but perhaps it was somewhat unexpected during the evening meal!

Mark records only one reaction to her. There was no middle ground. No one questioned how she came about having such a costly item. No one moved to prevent her entrance to the house or meal. But they were all indignant at what she did.

They didn’t complain about the brashness of her actions, but against the waste of such a costly item! It could have been sold to raise a lot of money to provide for the poor. They began to murmur against her.

However, Jesus defends her. He is critical of their criticisms: you have plenty of opportunity to help the poor any time you want. She has done a good thing. She has annointed my body in preparation for burial. That’s right – if you’ve been listening – you know my death is imminent. I will not be with you much longer.

How hard it must have been to remember those last words later and come to the gut-wrenching realization that you wasted an opportunity to be close to Jesus! Who cares what happens to expensive perfume when you have the precious Savior sitting next to you?

Once again, Jesus looks beyond what has captivated everyone’s attention and reveals what really is happening. What we value is not necessarily what is valuable. Those things that we feel are so urgent and important are but a mere distraction from where our attention and energies should be applied (remember the widow’s mite, Mark 12:41-44). Jesus says that what this woman has done will be recounted wherever the gospel story is told. It will be a memorial to her.

Afterwards Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, makes a decision. If the story was not so well known, we would be shocked to read it. He goes to the chief priests to betray Jesus, to turn him in. They are glad to hear it and promise him money when the deed is done. Judas now looks for a “convenient” time to betray Jesus. How sad. One of Jesus’ hand-picked followers, who has seen and heard so much, now acts the traitor. By the way, we remember him, too.

What’s your choice? Are you devoted enough to Jesus that you don’t care what others think of you? Or do you follow the crowd, pretending he’s not that much of a big deal?

Copyright 2023 David J. Cooley

Walking on water

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“…they all saw him, and were troubled.” Mark 6:45-52

Today we joke about walking on water as reserved for those who are exceptionally pure or righteous. But to the disciples it was not a joke. In fact it was unsettling.

Immediately after feeding 5,000 miraculously, Jesus packed the disciples in the boat and told them to meet him on the other side of the lake. Mark doesn’t record any questions or need for explanation. They just go, leaving Jesus alone to dismiss the crowd and then to retreat to pray on a nearby mountain.

The disciples had a hard pull across the lake since the wind was against them. During the fourth watch (between 3 and 6 AM), Jesus paused in his praying and noticed they were still struggling to cross Galilee. He got up and went to them. Not by walking around the shore, but by walking across the lake. On the water. We’ve heard the story so often, it may not strike us how unnatural this was, and how utterly unprepared the disciples (or anyone, for that matter) were to witness such an act.

Mark tells us Jesus intended to pass by them, probably hoping to greet them when they reached the shore, but the disciples caught sight of him walking on the sea. There was no natural explanation for what they were seeing. It went against all they knew about how things on earth worked. In a moment, their powers of rational thought skipped a beat and resorted to the primitive superstitions of their day. They supposed they were seeing a ghost and cried out.

Jesus knew their fear and immediately spoke to them as he drew near. “Take courage! It is I – do not be afraid.” He climbed into the boat. The wind stopped. The disciples were astonished. We are told the reason for their astonishment – they had not yet gained any insight from the miracle of the loaves and their hearts were hard. Not that they were bitterly set against him, but they had not yet fully opened themselves to receive all that Jesus was and could do.

It may be tempting to take the disciples to task, but there isn’t any indication that Jesus did this. The disciples followed his instructions and persisted despite the arduous and exhausting rowing against the wind.

Too often we think that if we encounter opposition when following God’s will that we must have missed a turn and gotten off the path. We fear that we have not been following his voice but that of our own deceptive hearts or the voices of our neighbors. It is then that Jesus comes and says, “Take courage!”

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Mother and brothers

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“…standing outside they sent to him…” Mark 3:31-35

Mark returns to the family of Jesus, whom we last saw a few verses ago trying to restrain him, fearing for his sanity. This time his mother is present and the expectation for him was to follow custom, drop all other things and attend to her. Jesus does not. Instead, he declares those that do the will of God to be his family.

It’s hard to know how those who were physically closest to Jesus regarded him. They have seen him every day for years in the most ordinary and mundane ways. Surely some of them knew something of the purpose he saw for himself, but the way it was working out was an unexpected turn of events. It must have been hard to think of him in anything but human terms. He was just the guy next door, a brother, a friend, a carpenter.

Mary, of course, knew of God’s purpose for her son. She had been in the company of angels and had heard and seen wondrous things concerning him. But how could she imagine what it would actually be like to have God’s Son walking among men?

How easy it is for us to form our own ideas about how God will go about doing what he says he will do. We make up arbitrary rules and schedules that seem good to us – indeed they must be the only possible way he could act. Then we are shocked when he moves in a different way.

Our closeness to him must be more than just being in the neighborhood or being where he happens to be. Knowing things about him or repeating his teaching is not enough. We must take the next step, abandon our own inclinations and follow him. “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Shepherd the flock

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Leaders can sometimes leave the impression that they are neither accountable to nor receive help from anyone. They shoulder the responsibility alone, bearing the brunt of the stress and hardship of a thankless job for the sake of a feckless lot.

Stop. That’s not the way it is to be done in the church. Leaders do not lead out of a sense of compulsion or even a sense of “Well, I have to – no one else is taking care of it!” Instead, leadership comes from a willing heart conforming to the will of God, drawn to serve God by serving His people. A sense of eagerness pervades the leader’s spirit, guiding and directing without domination and teaching by example.

Remember, Peter has just been talking about suffering and the fact that the church will be first to be judged. The elders (or leaders) will be held to the same high standards as everyone else. He now turns to these leaders, exhorting them to be good shepherds of the flock. Peter reminds them that he is a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ. In the end he, like them, will receive that unfading crown of glory from the Chief Shepherd. It is a reward they must wait for, but it will surely come.

For more, see 1 Peter 5:1-4

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Arm yourself

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“…live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” 1 Peter 4:2

Ever notice how a little pain immediately reasserts cold, hard reality? Maybe it didn’t bother you as a kid, but now walking across hot blacktop in your bare feet is definitely not a good idea. Sure, we’ve all done stupid things that we regretted or paid for dearly the day after. That’s part of life and having fun with your friends, right? Somehow the pain and discomfort is forgotten the next time the opportunity comes around.

But, have you ever made a decision knowing that all you’ll get out of it is pain and suffering? You might ask, why would I ever want to do that?

At some point we will all face a crucial moment when we realize that to continue following after the crowd or to indulge in our our cravings and lust will dishonor Jesus. We may not even be fully convinced that such behavior is actually sinful, yet we suddenly see that to proceed will cause Christ much sorrow. We have to make a choice: who is my friend? What is the right thing to do? The question of what will cause the least pain and bring the most pleasure recedes from view.

Anyone who has made such a decision to stick with the Lord and his ways while facing certain retribution – whether verbal taunting or physical violence – knows that the pull of sin loses a lot of its grip in the aftermath. We are not so easily deceived the next time. And we find ourselves strengthened by the Lord to endure.

For more details, see 1 Peter 4:1-6

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Submit? says who?

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Now there’s a word that can rub us the wrong way! Our reaction to “submit” can sound too much like “No one’s gonna tell me what to do.” Well, read on, because Peter has in mind several kinds of people we need to – gulp – submit to, starting with government.

He doesn’t say “it’s usually a good idea to…” or “you might want to….” He just walks up to you, jabs his finger in your chest and demands, “Submit.” At least it can sound that way. But there is another sense to this concept of submission. One that was modeled by Jesus.

No person, no power, no authority compelled him to submit to the will of the Father. Or to the religious leaders. Or to Rome. Or to Death, for that matter. He chose the path of submission.

Why? Because it was what God wanted. And to follow the will of God is what is desired of us, too: “that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” (1 Peter 2:15)

Earthly power and authority is set up by God (though they do not always acknowledge it). Their purpose is to punish evildoers and praise those that do well. But, if they disregard the will of God, our submission belongs to God first.

1 Peter 2:13-17

Copyright 2018 David J. Cooley