Jesus Is the Word

The Word for today:
Mark 12:28-44

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. (Mark 12:29-30)

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her poverty did cast in all that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12:44)

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Yesterday, Jesus encouraged us to spend our lives. Naturally, the question arises: How much of our lives should we spend?

Today he answers that question with a story concerning a poor widow. The widow is an inspiration, for she in her own way is a picture of God.

She gave absolutely everything she had. God did no less, giving Jesus, who is all in all (1) as a ransom for sinners like you and me.

If you want to emulate Jesus Christ, throw away the calculator and decide, once and for all, that you are not going to deal in percentages and half measures any more. You will hardly believe how free you will feel on the day you decide to give it everything you’ve got.

My favorite word in the Great Commandment goes almost unnoticed, even though it appears five different times. Let’s see if you can find it:

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. (Mark 12:29-30)

Let’s see if you can find the same word in Jesus’ praise for the widow:
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her poverty did cast in all that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12:44)

We may not have a lot to give, but we can give our all. No one has more than that.

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(1) Ephesians 1:23

The Word for today:
Mark 12:1-27

Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch him in his words. When they had come, they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care about no one; for you do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius that I may see it.” So they brought it. And he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
(Mark 12:13-17)

Stand in the Rain will be very brief today, because we want to leave you with time to think.  So let’s put on our thinking caps and fill in some blanks…

“Whose image is upon this coin?”

“Caesar’s”

“Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”

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We’ve all heard that part, but Jesus purposefully leaves a more important question hanging in mid-air, with its answer unspoken. He expects that we will fill in the blanks that he left us. So let’s do it:

“Whose image is upon you?”

(“___’s”)

“Then render unto (___) the things that are (___’s).”

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Just as Jesus did, we’ve left the blanks for you to fill in.  If you are stumped, bring this riddle to the attention of an experienced Bible student.

After you fill in the blanks and grasp Jesus’ unspoken message, then your assignment is to spend your life.

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The Word for today:
Mark 11:20-33

And Jesus answered them, “Have the faith of God.” (Mark 11:22, literally rendered)

Yesterday, we saw that at the cross Jesus took all our sin–including any degree of unbelief– and credited to our accounts all of God’s righteousness–including his perfect faith.

The faith of God has been made over to us. It’s in the bank, so to speak, just waiting to be withdrawn.

So when Jesus, in Mark 11:22, tells us to “Have the faith of God,” he isn’t telling us to search for something we’ll never possess. It’s already ours, just waiting to be claimed.

Other Bible passages allude to this precept:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:8-9)

Another remarkable passage tells us that the people of Israel were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (1 Corinthians 10:2)

Here, it is helpful to understand that baptism means “to identify.” (When we go under the water, we identify with Christ’s death and burial. The water merely helps us to visualize this spiritual precept.)

So what could it mean that they were “baptized into Moses”?

Hebrews 11:29 says that by faith they passed through the Red Sea. Whose faith was it? It certainly was not theirs! They wanted to go back to Egypt, and blamed Moses for bringing them out into that awful wilderness. It was Moses’ faith that brought them through.

“Baptized into Moses” means that they identified with Moses’ faith. Indeed, God identified them with Moses’ faith.  Moses’ faith, in God’s eyes, was theirs!

In the same way, at the cross all the righteousness of Jesus Christ, including his faith, has been credited to our accounts. Jesus’ faith, in God’s eyes, is ours!

So why should we count on our measly faith, when we can count on faith that knows no bounds?  Just as Israel identified with Moses’ faith, we are to identify with Jesus’ faith until it becomes the operating principle of our lives.

So go ahead and start to see with his faith, start to walk by his faith, start to think with his faith. Keep on practicing until you can’t tell the difference between Jesus’ faith and your own.

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The Word for today:
Mark 11:1-19

Let’s take a look at Mark 11:22:
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.”

Nothing there, it seems, that the Bible doesn’t tell us a thousand times. But if we render the original Greek words literally, Mark 11:22 reads:

And Jesus answered them, “Have the faith of God”.

Do you notice the difference? Does the difference make any difference to you?

It makes a lot of difference to those who struggle with faith and unbelief, like this man did:
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

I pray that prayer often. I have faith in Jesus, so I am saved. But I do not have the faith that walks on water. I, like the disciples, am of little faith (1). So what can I do about it?

What we can do is appropriate God’s faith as our own. That may sound way out there, so let’s look to the cross for the explanation. On the cross, we gave Jesus our sin, and he gave us the righteousness of God:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus took the entire list of our sins. One of those sins is our unbelief—to whatever degree we have it. What we received, among other attributes of God’s righteousness, was God’s faith.

So when Jesus, in Mark 11:22, tells us to “Have the faith of God,” he isn’t telling us to search for something we’ll never possess. It’s already ours, just waiting to be claimed.

Other Bible passages allude to this precept:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9)

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:8-9)

The faith of God has been made over to us. It’s in the bank, so to speak, just waiting to be withdrawn.

Tomorrow, we’re going to the bank.

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(1) Matthew 6:30; 14:31, etc.

The Word for today:
Mark 10:32-52

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.   (Mark 10:46-52)

The first thing Bartimaeus ever saw is the face of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World:

“Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. (Mark 10:52)

The scene is laden with metaphorical and spiritual beauty. Let me count (a few of) the ways…

Let there be Light.
In a replay of creation, Bartimaeus’ world was dark and formless. Then, in an instant, at the say-so of God, appeared the Light of the World.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  (2 Corinthians 4:6)

For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.  (Psalms 36:9)

Let there be sight.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.   (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Let there be glory.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  (1 John 3:2)

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On a literal level (the level on which the Bible is written) we cannot enter into the story of blind Bartimaeus.  Because we are not literally blind, the story is about somebody else.

But on a literary level (the level on which the Bible is written) we are all Bartimaeus, following Jesus down the road:

“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

We are not Bartimaeus, and we are not blind.  But we are, and we were — until Jesus came down the road.

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