Lent Devotional

Mark 11:15-19 (ESV)

 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple
and began to drive out those who sold
and those who bought in the temple,
and he overturned the tables of the money-changers
and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
And he was teaching them and saying to them,
“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
And the chief priests and the scribes heard it
and were seeking a way to destroy him,
for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
And when evening came they went out of the city.

Every year at Passover thousands of Jews came from all over Israel and Judea to offer sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. Since many traveled long distances, they often purchased their animal sacrifices in Jerusalem rather than hauling them from home and risking an injury or a blemish that would make them an unworthy sacrifice. It was a convenience for Jewish worshippers to purchase their sacrifices once they arrived. However, the market for these transactions had been set up in the Court of the Gentiles, where non-Jewish seekers of God came to worship. Thus, at Passover, the temple courtyard was filled with livestock, sellers of livestock and money-changers, who exchanged regional currencies for Jewish money.

When Jesus saw this, he was angry — so angry that he overturned tables and placed an embargo on merchandise. But why? Weren’t the merchants just trying to help the travelers worship God? Perhaps. But they were doing it at the expense of those from “all nations” who were seeking God, counting their worship as insignificant. In calling them “robbers” Jesus may have been referring to their greedy financial transactions and the way they were robbing Gentiles of their place of worship.

Yet something else is going on. In a similar account of his cleansing the temple, Jesus was asked for a sign of his authority. He replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). But he wasn’t speaking about the building; “he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21). In other words, when he died, the temple and its entire system — the priesthood, the sacrifices, the glory — died with him because he himself was the Passover Lamb, high priest and Shekinah glory. Thus, when the temple curtain split at the death of Christ (Mark 15:38), the barrier between God and humanity came down for everyone. Jesus became the “house of prayer for all nations.” Today there is no need to travel to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. Nor is there any distinction between Jewish and Gentile worshippers. Worship is no longer attached to a place, but a person. Jesus is the temple. He is where we meet God. — By The Park Forum

Prayer

Lord, we worship Jesus as the final sacrifice, priest, glory and temple. Therefore, let us join ourselves to him so that we may love his name and be his servants (Isaiah 56:6). In Christ, may all nations — those near and far — come to you in prayer (Isaiah 56:8). In Christ’s Name, Amen.

This devotional is courtesy of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Mark 14:3-9 (ESV)

 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an
alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly,
and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
There were some who said to themselves indignantly,
“Why was the ointment wasted like that?
For this ointment could have been sold for more than
three hundred denarii and given to the poor.”
And they scolded her. But Jesus said,
“Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her?
She has done a beautiful thing to me.
For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want,
you can do good for them.
But you will not always have me.
She has done what she could;
she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world,
what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

“What a waste!” That is the complaint made regarding the woman’s use of her expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. Jesus will have none of it. He finds a purely cost-benefit analysis of our actions to be inadequate and bankrupt. Even though the money from the sale of the perfume could have been used to do a lot of good things, Jesus considers her act to be completely appropriate. Why? Because it is an act of worship. And he knows that life begins with what you worship.

Worship the wrong things and nothing else will come out quite right. But worship the living God who has given himself for us in the sacrifice of Jesus and you have a new sense of what matters and you will prioritize your life accordingly. Suddenly you find yourself “wasting” your life on Jesus by giving your life to his agenda rather than your own. That will include caring about justice for the poor.

Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, Jesus is not minimizing our responsibility to the poor in this passage. He actually is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, which encourages radical generosity to the poor. However, such generosity flows from worshiping God. First things first! Put God ahead of all else as the only one worthy of your worship and you will find you are pouring yourself out in all sorts of beautiful ways in service to the world.

Prayer

Lord, too often I worship the wrong things. Help me to see that my life is to be “wasted” on you and only then will it become something beautiful for you to use in your world. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

John 12:20-33 (ESV)

Now among those who went up to worship
at the feast were some Greeks.
So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth
and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me,
he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.
If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven:
“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.
Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake,
not mine. Now is the judgment of this world;
now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

John devotes much of his Gospel to the last six days of Jesus’ life. In John 12, Jesus predicts “what kind of death he was going to die” — one that would loosen Satan’s death grip on the world, raise Jesus in victory from the horrors of the crucifixion and grave, and draw people from all over the world to him (v. 32). But here he also reiterates his sobering template for all who would follow after him and be known as his disciples.

From the early days of his ministry in John, Jesus has been alluding to his “hour” — the appointed time when he would undergo suffering and death for the sins of the world. But through this humiliation, Jesus also strangely radiates the “glory” of God to humanity. God “glorifies his name” not only through the earthly ministry of Christ but also his death. John foreshadows this reality early on by concluding “we have seen (or ‘beheld’) his glory … full of grace and truth” (1:14).

Equally striking is the very human Jesus we encounter here, honest enough to admit “now is my soul troubled” (v. 27) as he starts to feel the agony he is about to undergo. It is an amazing picture of a person completely abandoned to God in the face of unspeakable pain, knowing that God’s glory ultimately is the only thing that matters. And it becomes a teaching moment for the disciples as well.

Seeds are living things that must die in order to reproduce; they carry the promise of future life. On the surface, Christ’s death looks to the world like a disaster, but by falling “into the earth” (v. 24), he is able to raise up followers and bring “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). However, following Christ carries a cost: many of the original disciples were to die excruciating deaths themselves, leading Tertullian to conclude that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Christ’s disciples must always “die” to themselves to find “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3-5) in Christ. Here Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s observation on discipleship rings true: “when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Prayer

Risen Lord, you loved us so much that you died to save us from sin. We pray that this reality gives us humility, leads us to praise you always and gives us a boldness to live fully abandoned to your loving will. In your mercy make these things so, for we pray them in your name. Amen.

Luke 9:18-27 (ESV)

 Now it happened that as he was praying alone,
the disciples were with him. And he asked them,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?”
And they answered, “John the Baptist.
But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
And he strictly charged and commanded them
to tell this to no one, saying,
“The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world
and loses or forfeits himself?
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words,
of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory
and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here
who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

After spending days and nights with Jesus, witnessing his words and works first hand, Peter could make an absolute confession that Jesus was the Christ, the promised one of God. Those further from Jesus were less resolute in their faiths, often believing him to be a prophet, but those who followed him regularly knew that he was not simply a messenger, but the message itself. After Peter’s confession, Jesus tried to help them understand his mission and what it looked like to follow him, but Jesus was not the kind of Messiah they were expecting, and following him was not what they thought it was going to be like.

Jesus issues a clear call to those who might follow him, that allegiance to him requires denying yourself, taking up your cross daily and following him. Then and now his words are difficult. We live in a culture that teaches us to glorify ourselves and to pursue comfort, control and the satisfaction of our desires above all else. To deny oneself and pursue the things of God can feel like death, but that is what Jesus calls us to. He tells us that to follow him we will have to relinquish all control and endure suffering and rejection, but he also promises that this will make us like him. In him, triumph will come through suffering. Jesus is calling us to lose our lives as we know them, but only so that he might give us real and eternal life in him. Do you hear him calling you? Are you willing to deny yourself and take up your cross in order to follow him? Do you trust that he will lead you to life?

Prayer

Gracious God, we thank you that you have revealed your Son to us, that Jesus is the Christ, the deliverer we all need. Please give us the grace we need to follow you. You alone are worthy and we want to give you our lives, but need your help to do so. In Christ’s Name, Amen.