Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Mark 11-13

Jesus is the donkey breaking, fig tree cursing, temple clearing, Elder baffling, Pharisee fooling, Sadducee dissing, scribe dissing, crowd teaching, future warning _____________.  It is difficult for those who saw him before His death to really grab hold of who he was and fill in the blank for themselves.  We see in Jesus that he is our Savior and Messiah, the forgiver of our sins and the giver of eternal life.  But those present before his Crucifixion didn't have it totally figured out until after the resurrection.  This is the same with people all around us.  We assume the message is easy to grasp because we believe and it is so clear.  But there are many still trying to figure out who Jesus is.  Our job is to help them see the whole picture.

One other note.  It occurred to me as I read about Jesus riding into Jerusalem that the donkey he rode on had never been ridden.  It would seem that this donkey would not have been very happy to have someone sitting on his back for the first time and would seek to throw off that weight.  But Jesus tamed that donkey (or so it would seem).  Maybe that is the real parable of this section.  But people are more difficult to tame than donkeys.

That's what I heard.  What about you?

1 comment:

Creig said...

I have to admit that when I read the Gospels, I am often confused as to who Jesus was and is. Of course I believe he is the Son of God, one of the persons of the Trinity God, and he is my savior and Lord. But who is this man who curses a fig tree, drives out money changers, discourages those who appear to want to follow him, and on and on. He often doesn't act the way I would expect him to. He just won't stay in the box I've created for him.

It is good to be humbled and have to admit that I don't have it all figured out. He is, after all, the creator of all things -- I sure don't have that all figured out. He is infinitely greater than all my understanding.

I guess I need to just let him be God, instead of me being in control.