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NOTICE OF CHANGE: Since I, Glenn Currier (editor) have not received reflections from anyone other than myself I will shift my approach in this section as if I were preparing myself for the Sunday School lesson. Some of this information will be graphics and some will be my own reflections of the scriptures and quoted material from various sources. I am seeking permission from the publishers to quote here from the Bible Scholar booklet. To be honest, I am doing this for my own benefit and spiritual growth. If others find it helpful, all the better. This change is based on my prayer, medication and guidance from God.
GCC 5-28-24
Lesson 5 - Values - June 2, 2024 - Mark 10:17-31
Mark 10:17-31 tells the story of the young Jesus' conversation with a young man who had approached him. Verse 22 describes what the rich man did after hearing Jesus' advice about how he would get into heaven. His face fell and he walked away. But how would you react to the same advice? But even though we might not be rich we might hesitate to take the Master's advice. I would. After reading the assigned chapter and verses, I have to say that at my first reading of this story I felt discouraged. I know that I am not willing to sell all I have and give it to the poor. But how far am willing to go? How much of a sacrifice am I willing to make to truly dedicate myself to following Christ in this surrendering project? I am not sure. Paying my tithe is not selling all I have, as Jesus said to the young rich man.
For example, I still have money in a retirement fund I would not be willing to give up. In Luke 19 Jesus tells Zacchaeus to come down from the Sycamore tree and go right away with him because Jesus wants to stay in Zacchaeus’ house tonight. And perhaps Zacchaeus, being a wealthy tax collector, knowing that Jesus required lots of sacrifice especially from the rich, makes a point of telling Jesus that he had sold half of his possessions to give to the poor. Jesus told him “Today salvation has come to this household.” (Luke 19:9) [This is one of the few uses of the specific term salvation in Luke , though the concept runs throughout the Gospel. (1:69, 71, 77) ]
I think Jesus had a deeper lesson in this situation. I think the main point is for us not to “trust in riches” as the TLB translates it. Jesus wants us to trust in God. But how much trust is he asking for? Trust enough to give up my lifestyle, my wife, my home? So the deeper question is do I trust in Jesus the Christ? Do I trust the Father with my life and death. Yes I do. But trust in a relationship has to be built up like the skeleton of a house is built to hold the walls and roof. It takes a while and a lot of effort to build it. We use the phrase, to TAKE time. That means we have to carve out the time from our other important activities if we want to have a conversation, that is, to PAY attention. To give our attention to another sometimes has a cost, a cost that may be high. Let’s say a friend who lives in another city hundreds of miles away calls me and tells me he just found out he has terminal cancer. He needs to talk and be with a friend to process this bad news. But I have purchased tickets to a Rangers game and to leave for a long trip would mean I would have to give up or waste the ticket. Would I be willing to volunteer to travel the long distance to be with my friend, even though I had planned to go to the game with friends? Or maybe it would be a more simple sacrifice to “take time” such as to stop in the middle of watching a movie to talk to my wife who says she needs to talk. I could put her off until the movie is over, but I heard the urgency in her tone of voice.
Being honest, throughout the day I have situations in which I know that leaving tasks I am involved in to take time with a friend or loved one means “giving up” even a little of my time, but I rationalize “what I am doing now is important to me too.”We had a big rain and hail storm the other night and I trusted our house to withstand the strong winds, etc.
The process of building trust in another person takes time, interaction, and shared experiences with that person. The degree of my trust in the Father today is greater than it was 10 years ago. I’ve had a lot of time praying, meditating, journaling, etc. building a relationship with God.
Mark 10:26 says that the disciples were incredulous at Jesus’ statements. I have to say incredulity might be close to what I was feeling as I read this passage. I was feeling uncomfortable with what Jesus told the rich young man, afraid that I had no chance whatsoever of getting to heaven.
Jesus did not rebuke Peter and the other disciples for being incredulous hearing the strict message he gave to the rich young man, on the contrary he used Peter's words as a prompt to share with them the rewards they would eventually receive. (Mark 10:26-29)
In verse 17, a man ran up to Jesus, calling him “good” teacher, and asking what must he do to inherit eternal life. The question is unusual because most Jews know that they must simply obey the law. The man might have heard of Jesus’ teaching that mere obedience to the law is not enough. “Throughout his life Jesus was concerned to exalt and glorify God” not to worship the law. It is also worth noting that in verse 19 where Jesus specified the commandments, he probably picked “fraud” because it was a special temptation of the rich in that they are more likely tempted to make a god of money.
Verse 22 is very dramatic because it tells of the crestfallen reaction of the young man when Jesus told him what he was lacking. As an application of the lesson Jesus was trying to get across to the disciples and the young man, it is important to remember that it is dangerous to to let our material rewards hinder us from following Jesus.
Lesson 1 - Beware of the Leaven May - June 2024 Mark 8:11-21
"Do a Miracle for Us" - By: Brother Glenn Currier
"Do a miracle for us," they said, "Make something Happen in the sky, then we will believe you." (Mark 8:11)
Jesus knew the Jewish leaders were there just to harass him , so he mostly brushed them off and left, for he knew they were not interested in his teaching. For example, my friend Jim realized a group he was leading was not really interested in learning so he eventually disbanded the group. It was a tough decision that he thought long and hard about, but Jim didn't have the kind of insight Jesus the Christ had.
V. 22 v. 29 v. 33 Jesus correctly admonished his disciples- questioning their hard hearts. If our hearts get too hard we are not willing to see or listen correctly and get the real message. . I wonder if I am sometimes like the apostles especially when it comes to really envisioning what people I have a prejudice towards are really saying. or meaning.
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Sometimes we need to be touched by another (especially someone we don't like) to see into them or to see them completely. But 1st our hearts need to be softened. If I hear the touching story behind or underneath someone's exterior - maybe then I can see into their souls. But I need take a second or deeper "look" into them. When I hear the fullness of their experience I can then see part of my preconceptions of him - and see him just as another man trying to make it in this life.
v 31-32 Jesus didn't want people to pigeon-hole him carry a prejudice toward him before they got to experience him in his fullness. Peter didn't want to see the full reality of jesus' mission including all the bad stuff he had to go through. Buat aren't we sometimes like Peter - unwilling to abide with people who are suffering and going through ugly realities?
vv 34-35 Jesus is saying we need to die a little - to be willing to give up our ego pleasure-seeking needs - we need to let them go (to let them die) if we are to live fully. If we grasp for this life and only its joys we will lose our souls. We need to give up this kind of life before we sill find REAL LIFE (vv 35-36)
vv 36-38 Anyone who rejects Jesus' life and all his suffering and rejects his death will not rise with him on the third day or rise in our souls. I have a kidney doctor who one time after looking at my blood work, said, half-jokingly, "You're going to live forever. I told Pastor Kevin about that and he said, "you should have told him, that is what my pastor told me."
Jesus was tuned in to the apostle and knew that they were speaking of how much they had given up to follow him. In fact Peter, with his usual upfront approach to things, said to Jesus: “We’ve given up everything to follow you.” TLB Mark 10:28
How human Peter is. He is standing up and stating his truth to Jesus. It occurs to me that I would have been unwilling to speak up like Peter did, fearing that anyone listening would judge me as bragging or being supercilious. And in this case it was Jesus who was listening.
I am frequently struck by the normal human feelings of fear or envy that the apostles felt. They were, in the words of John MacArther, “twelve ordinary men.” One of the reasons I love the Bible is that there are so many stories and depictions of human beings who are fallible, weak, and or broken, yet are chosen to be leaders. This fact has always been heartening to me in that I am very conscious of my limitations and fallibility, and reading of these Biblical heroes who had the similar human struggles that I have had in my life is uplifting to me. The Bible does not pretend that its characters are above the human race, above natural human feelings.
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