Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38)

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 

This question from the disciples to Jesus, which I’ve labeled as a critical question in the Bible, is found in Mark 4:38. The disciples and Jesus are crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat, and a fierce storm comes up. Jesus is asleep in the boat, and the disciples are losing their minds. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

You might remember a somewhat similar setting with Jonah in a boat with pagan sailors, also in a storm, also with Jonah asleep in the boat. Jonah is awakened to pray to his god, who he identifies as “the God of heaven, who created the sea and the dry land.” They were all the more frightened, since this is the God who made this mess that we are in. Their thought was, what must we do to appease him? 

But there is really no way for a man to appease a god. There is certainly no way for a creature to appease the Creator. What do we have that we could offer Him? It is we who seek gifts from Him, and if they are gifts, then they cannot be bought. So the poor sailors in the Jonah story have it all wrong, as do the sailors/disciples in the  Jesus story.

What’s wrong with their question: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Let me ask you a question: Why was Jesus even in that boat? Why was the eternal Son of God even on this earth? Was it not because He cared? Was it not because He loved us so much and was so committed to the mission of providing redemption, that He was willing to leave the glories of heaven and sacrifice Himself for people such as these disciples? 

Their question is rather preposterous. It is insolent. It is self-centered and completely lacking in understanding of the character of God and of His Son, Jesus. And yet, we understand, don’t we, because we have done the very same thing, questioning whether Jesus cares when we are in the midst of a storm; in one of those pressure points of life, when we don’t know which way is forward, and we feel as though we are sinking.

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press, and the cares distress, And the way grows weary and long?

Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26 ESV)

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26 ESV)

Sunday, April 24, 2022

At the beginning of 2022 I did a fast read-through of the Bible, marking all the questions. When that was completed, I went back through and made a list of what I subjectively considered to be “critical questions” in the Bible. I wrote these down in the back of my 2022 calendar, 16 hand-written pages. I’ve been writing about different ones of these “critical questions” for several weeks now.

When I do one of these studies, I try and decide what might be the foundational text for the whole series. Again, this is subjective. But this post is my suggestion: Matthew 16:26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” These verses are also found in Mark 8:36 and Luke 9:25.

I’m not exactly sure what it means to “gain the whole world.” Has anyone ever done this? Oh, I know there have been a string of business titans and military champions. But have they really  “gained the whole world?” Alexander the Great was said to have wept when there were no more lands to conquer, though he died in his 30’s and was soon replaced by others. I think men may aspire to “gain the whole world,” though none are truly successful. I do believe, however, that many have “forfeited (their) soul.” Either they mistakenly lived as though they had no soul; or they sought to feed their souls with all the wrong things.

With regard to the second question, “Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”, we come to a second dead-end. Just as we cannot “gain the whole world,” we also cannot redeem our own souls (and that is how I understand the phrase “give in exchange for his soul”). If the devil has your soul, or, as the phrase goes, if you’ve sold your soul to the devil, what will you give in exchange? How will you buy it back? The truth is, you don’t have the resources to do so, even if you think you’ve “gained the whole world.” 

Perhaps the reason we can’t “redeem” our souls is that they aren’t really ours. They are lent to us by God, the Source of life, and we owe them to Him, and if we do not give our souls back to Him, then we won’t have them either. What does it mean to give our souls to God? The answer is found in the earlier verses: “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). 

Why Do You Seek the Living among the Dead? (Luke 24:5)

 Why Do You Seek the Living among the Dead?

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Many times on Easter Sunday I go early to the cemetery, looking past the grave stones and out over the river, reflecting on death and life. It’s a good place to think about death; maybe a bit strange to think about life.

This critical question from the Bible is asked by the angel in the empty tomb on the first Resurrection Day morning: Why do you seek the living among the dead? The women who had come to anoint the dead body of Jesus had not had the opportunity to do so before the beginning of Sabbath (dusk of Friday evening, when Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried). And they could not do their task on Saturday, being the Jewish Sabbath. And so here they were Sunday morning, seeking the dead among, well, the dead. 

Except there were no dead ones here. There were angels, very much alive. The soldiers guarding the tomb who had fainted like dead men had come to themselves and run off. The body of  Jesus that had been crucified and had indeed been dead was now missing. There were no dead persons present! The women are instructed to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is alive, and Mary actually meets Jesus face to face - alive, not dead!

This is a tremendous story of great reversals, but it has application to us today as well. Do we seek the living among the dead? Do we seek to have life, expecting that life to come from dead sources? Could not the angel ask us, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?"

Let’s illustrate it this way. You don’t go to the devil in order to receive righteousness. You don’t climb down into the mud pit in order to get clean. You don’t bring yourself into the company of miserable characters in order to build character. And you don’t follow the lead of those who are spiritually dead to learn how one should live in this world spiritually alive.

It is from Jesus that we receive righteousness, and that from no other source. It is from His shed blood that we receive cleansing. It is by following Him, and imitating Him, and obeying Him that we become like Him, and thus have godly character. It is from Jesus and from God’s Word and from the fellowship of believers that we learn and encourage one another to walk the path of those “who have passed from death to life."

What Do You Want Me to Do for You? (Mark 10:50; Luke 18:41)

 What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

Sunday, April 10, 2022

This question occurs twice in two different settings in the Gospels. It is asked by Jesus, and in the first case (Mark 10:36) the disciples  ask an inappropriate request which Jesus rejects and offers a strong correction. In the second case (Luke 18:41), a blind beggar responds to Jesus question, “What do you want Me to do for you?”, with a simple, but humanly impossible request. And Jesus heals his blindness immediately. Why, when we are told to ask anything, are some requests answered, and others rejected?

Two disciples, James and John, have an agenda. They want the good seats in the kingdom, the high seats. They come to Jesus secretly and attempt to prepare Jesus by saying, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Jesus invites them to spell it out, and then says, “You do not know what you are asking.” And I suppose that is the case a good deal of the time in a great many of our prayers. We don’t know the implications of what we are asking. We don’t know the broader contours of the will of God. We don’t know the hidden motivations of our sinful hearts. Jesus then goes on in this most important passage to contrast the difference between the disciples’ desires: lordship; with the calling of Jesus and His followers: servanthood. The arrogant, selfish request presents an opportunity for Jesus to teach His slow-learning disciples a needed lesson.

In the second case, Jesus and His disciples are journeying in Jericho. A crowd lines the road, and from the back row, a blind beggar is hollering to attract Jesus’ attention. He is told to be quiet by those with better, closer spots. But he will not be silent, and Jesus hears. He stops and commands the blind man be brought to him. “‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God.”

Why the difference between the two cases? Because we’ve prayed the second prayer hundreds of times. Is it lack of faith? Not praying loud enough, or long enough? Is it because, like the disciples in case #1, there is an arrogant, selfish agenda? Is it because there is too much “lording” and not enough “serving”? Do we ask for a favor (like the disciples) instead of for mercy (like the blind man)?

Solomon was asked the similar question, and he asked God for understanding. Perhaps that is what we need as we wrestle with these things.

Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone? (Mark 2:7)

 Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone?

Sunday, April 3, 2022

Leading up to Easter (April 17) I’m reading a chapter a day from Mark’s Gospel, and so I thought I would look at my homemade list of “critical questions in the Bible” and see what I had marked. One of these questions come from this morning’s chapter: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (2:7)

You might remember the first “critical question” in the Bible is voiced not by God or man but by the serpent, or Satan. This question in Mark’s Gospel also comes from those who have enmity against God and His Son: “some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts” (2:6). They had an attentive attitude toward the text of the Scriptures, but they did not have an attentive attitude toward God. They were critical experts, intent on keeping out the riffraff (Jesus) and cementing their own position. Unfortunately, they seem to have cemented their own hearts. 

This is not the main point of this post, but it is important for you and me: does this apply to us? We carry and study and teach our Bibles, but do we love Jesus as we should? Do we allow Him to stand in judgment over us, directing us and changing us, or do we tend to stand in judgment over Him, or others who follow Jesus?

Now back to the major point of the question, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”, are we clear on this? Sometimes we hear people say, “You need to forgive yourself.” It is God (and the Son of God) who forgives, not you. Now someone could think that if God forgives us, then who are we not to accept this forgiveness and forgive ourselves. Fair enough. Though the Bible doesn’t use the “forgive yourself” language. It is God who forgives. And the larger problem is that many in our culture are continually giving themselves a pass, saying things like, “I’m only human,” or “everybody does it,” essentially, forgiving themselves, as though they have the authority to do so.

At least the scribes still acknowledged that God had the prerogative to judge sin, and therefore to forgive sin. But once we occupy the seat of judging for God, we can easily slide into the seat of excusing actions (forgiving) for God. And we don’t have that authority. And again, a personal application, are we remembering day by day that we are accountable to this God who has provided forgiveness through His Son, and that He will forgive, but only on His terms, which is by faith in Jesus, accepting what He has done for us?