Leviticus 25:47-27:13, Mark 10:32-52, Psalms 45:1-17, Proverbs 10:22
Today is the 2nd day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is fantastic to be here with you as we get ourselves acclimated and adjusted into this brand-new month the third month of the year. Here in the rolling hills of Tennessee where we are we should be seeing signs of spring before this month is over. Maybe not in full swing. Who knows, but maybe not in full swing, but they’ll be signs that winter is coming to a close and a little bit longer days here. They’re…when the time changes daylight savings time changes it gets dark so early and so I’m looking forward to the longer days this month begins, or at least I start to notice. But enough about all of that. We are here around the Global Campfire today to take the next step forward in the Scriptures, and that next step will lead us back into the book of Leviticus. We are reading from the New International Version this week. And today Leviticus chapter 25 verse 47 through 27 verse 13.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in our reading from the Gospel of Mark today Jesus asks a question two times. He asks the same question twice in two different locations to different people in different contexts, revealing two completely different postures and we’re invited to examine those postures. So, Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. He is going to die in Jerusalem. On His way to Jerusalem He’s telling his disciples…and we experience this in the Gospel of Matthew as well. He’s telling His disciples what’s gonna happen when they get to Jerusalem. And then James and John, after Jesus tells them we’re going to Jerusalem and I am going to be handed over to the Gentiles, I’m to be beaten, spit upon, flogged and…and killed, but I will rise again in three days. That’s like such a weighty conversation when I think about it, walking along the road and this is what your rabbi is telling you. This is what the one you believe in is telling you. But He gets done with telling them what’s gonna happen and then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Him and they say we want you to do whatever we ask you for. And it’s here that Jesus asks for the first time, “what do you want me to do for you?” And what they want is to be elevated in position above the other disciples so that they sit, one on His right and one on His left in His glory. And Jesus tells them, “you don’t know what you’re asking for.” And He has a conversation with them that ends up saying this isn’t what we’re going for here guys. This isn’t a hierarchy. There aren’t places of position that you ascend to in this kingdom following me. “If you want to be the great one, then you need to descend and humble yourself because the greatest among you will be your servant. And if you want to be first then become the servant of all because I didn’t come to be served. I came to serve.” That is…that is so poignant that there isn’t an experience of this in the Gospels that it doesn’t make me stop for a second because we behave any other way but this a lot of the time. And yet this is how God’s kingdom is set up. And, so, there isn’t something to ascend to. We’re really trying to out serve one another. And if everybody is trying to serve one another than the lack is gone in this world and we are taking care of each other in big and small ways every day all day restoring and putting back together what is broken. This begins with this posture of trying to become a servant to those around us. And to put this in perspective, we believe Jesus to be one with the Father. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. God came here not to be served but to serve. God did that. God! And, so, this darkness of the reality is that if…if we aren’t following in that posture, if that is not what’s being cultivated with in us than we’re not following. All this is happening on the road and they wind up in the city of Jericho for the final push up to Jerusalem. And there passing through Jericho and a blind man who we’re told in the Gospel of Mark is named Bartimaeus is begging by the side of the road when he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing through. And, so, he starts screaming because he can’t see and there’s people everywhere and he can hear all the commotion and he just starts yelling out for Jesus to have mercy. “Have mercy on me, son of David. Have mercy on me.” And everybody around him is telling him to shut up, be quiet. There’s to many people here. Quiet down. And he just keeps yelling have mercy on me until Jesus hears him and stops what He’s doing and calls him and asks him the same question. “What do you want me to do for you?” And it’s a very different response. “Rrabbi, I want to see.” And, so, this contrast between Jesus asking twice, “what do you want me to do for you”, once to James and John and once to Bartimaeus is quite a sharp contrast. And embedded into that contrast is a truth. Jesus didn’t come to set up a hierarchy and a ladder for people to climb up to notoriety, He came to lift up the least of these. And, so, he tells James and John they don’t know what they’re asking for and that it isn’t His to give, but He gets to Bartimaeus who is the least of these, who is the downtrodden, who is the marginalized, who is being marginalized even in the moment by the crowd and He stops what He’s doing and it He goes to this downtrodden person and elevates this person to wholeness. This is what God’s kingdom does. This is what God’s kingdom is like because this is what God is like, because we’re watching God do this. And we are to be imitators of this. We really need to think about our hearts posture toward our fellow human beings who are created in the image of God, especially those who are not in our tribe as we’ve talked about before. We also need to think about our expectations. Is Jesus our Savior because He might be able to do some magic, some supernatural things behind the scenes to get us what we want, to get us where we want to go? Because where Jesus wants us to go is to understand that the highest place in this kingdom is the lowest place of service. It’s a right side up kingdom, which reveals to us that the world we live in is upside down. And how does it turn right side up? One person at a time. One heart at a time that cries out, have mercy on me I want eyes to see. I want years to hear. I want to be in this kingdom more than anything. Let’s give it some thought.
Prayer:
Jesus, so often we are left with things to grapple with throughout the day to meditate upon your word and what is being said in your word. And, so, we invite you as we consider our own hearts posture and how it is that we perceive things and how backwards it may be to what you have revealed to us is the appropriate way toward wholeness, the narrow path that leads to life. And, so, Holy Spirit come as we consider this. Reveal to us places within that…that need to surrender to your authority. Come Holy Spirit into this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Song:
The Least of These – Matt Maher
I’m a stranger in a foreign land
Passing through when will I be home again
You remind me nothing here is permanent
But Your word and Your faithfulness
I was hungry, I was thirsty
I was weary, You let me in
When love became a refugee, He became my refuge
When love became a prisoner, He set me free
The widow and the orphan became the bride and children
When He stole my heart between two thieves
That’s when Love became the least of these
I’m a beggar on the pilgrims road
Chasing echoes of a voice I hear among the poor
I’m a stranger in a foreign land
Oh the memories of the love that calls the broken things to mend
That’s when Love became the least of these
I was hungry, I was thirsty
I was weary, You let me in
Where you’re hungry, where you’re thirsty
Wherever you’re weary, I will let you in
When love became a refugee, He became our refuge
When love became a prisoner, He set me free
The widow and the orphan became the bride and children
When He stole my heart between two thieves
That’s when Love became the least of these
When He stole my heart between two thieves
That’s when Love became the least of these