August 12, 2024: Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 12:37b -40
Greetings and Peace be with you on this Monday morning.
On this day it does not take very long to realize that God's world is filled with people's hearts that are overwhelmed by anger, frustration, and evil. It appears that the war in the Ukraine is expanding into Russia. Please continue to pray for peace and the Spirit's guidance for the leaders of both of these countries. The Israeli war on the Hamas and quite frankly on the Palestinian people who live in the Gaza Strip, and now Hezbollah has begun a much more intense attack on the North of Israel, and there is also the promised revenge of Iran due to an Israeli assassination of a leader there inside of Iran's borders. And we really need to look no further than our own community where a gun fight took place at 2:45AM on Saturday, and due to the number of shots fired, it must have been automatic weapons which were used. It left 2 people critical, and 2 others stable, all in the hospital. Not only do we need to pray, but we need to act to change all of the encouragement which happens around the support for any military grade weapons owned by members of our communities. There are plenty of weapons without those AR weapons in our culture and society. I want you to know how all of what I have just talked about with you moves us to Christ's speaking about the issues of the religious leaders of His own time.
The nature of sin is such that it really doesn't make much difference when, where, how, or who is involved, because every one of us falls short of the Glory of God due to our sin, and the brokenness. Jesus instructed the people about the dangers of temptation for the religious leaders of His time, but it certainly could today be a pastor, or church member, a police officer, or a gang member. We all know the circumstances that surround some of these people. Christ offers His warning for everybody by using the example that everyone who had been to the temple in Jerusalem had seen. In this brief passage we learn three things that are displeasing to our Father in Heaven.
A desire for prominence. Boy, we see this one all of the time. We have gang fights in our cities because one group is looking for the name of the most dangerous, or the wealthiest through drug sales, or riding the loudest cars and motorcycles. We have all known or heard of pastors who are climbing the ladder of success by getting on to greater income, and a bigger name in the synod or church as a whole. When I first came to American, we had several families who were trying to wield their prominence in the congregation. They also wielded a lot of money. They were generous with the string attached that they would have a bigger say in the congregation. The Pharisees wanted it all, underserved respect, ill-gotten wealth, and the desire to have the last word about how people must live their lives.
A desire for deference. The lives of those who are seeking deference means that they will work to control everything around them including the people for whom they feel distain. When a person comes to believe in Christ, that change of heart that happens by the Spirit's action the lives of the faithful, then a person's ego and desire for others to see them as superior is to be set aside. However, we all know that this nature to seek being treated as superior is exactly the really bad reason for becoming a minister of Word and Sacrament. Clergy should always serve the power of the Gospel with humility, and perhaps even more, congregations should know better than to place their clergy person on a pedestal. Such an action may place that clergy person in danger of losing their humility before God. We know our brothers and sisters who have been humble in their faith journey. They were the ones who we all wanted to experience in our own lives of faith.
The attempt to make a traffic of religion. We see this in congregations that set out to make a name for themselves, creating an atmosphere in their practice which becomes big news, in the church, the Church, and in their communities.
At American we have so many things to be thankful for, and sometimes we stand out with an intent to be humble and do that work for Christ with thankfulness and joy. Of course, we all know that we would like our congregation to grow in its membership, but to push-push-push to make a big name for our congregation for the sake of our pride, and to sell who we are as a better parish than any other in the community. No instead, we know that when we do the invitation, and when people find us, the ones who find Christ in our midst bring us great joy and humble thanks for God having used our community to reach out with Love for their lives.
Tomorrow we will cover the greatest gift in Mark 12:41-44. Yes, it is all about sacrifice out of our love and thanksgiving for God's only Begotten Son.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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