In the Bible, in the book of 2 Kings 13:15-19, King Jehoash went to see the prophet Elisha.
Elisha spoke to the king:
“16 “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17 “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. 19 The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”
Strike the ground multiple times for complete victory!
This picture is a beautiful one for the Christian.
It is beautiful because this is the way the follower of Jesus Christ must live.
Jesus didn’t give us suggestions on how we should live.
He gave us commands.
For us to live our lives in honour of Christ, we must live in a state of total dependence on God.
And things in our lives which oppose His way of living must be given no oxygen, no time, no energy.
Things like topics Jesus brought up in Mark chapter ten which our church in Alice Springs is working through.
This is a particularly tough chapter to read.
And Jesus, as always, gives no wriggle room.
Astonished and afraid.
The disciples of Jesus were astonished.
And His followers were afraid.
It seems as though they didn’t know what was about to come out of His mouth.
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. [NIV]
Jesus spoke about these things in Mark 10:
Divorce vv 1-12
Children vv13-16
Finance vv 17-31
Loss vv 32-34
Pride and humility vv 35-45
Faith for healing vv 46-52
Each of these subjects, and possibly more than one of them, touch us at our very core.
Divorce
It’s God’s intention that ‘what God has joined together, let not man separate’ (v9).
But this doesn’t leave any room for the pain and destruction that leads up to divorce. No feelings are mentioned. And feelings can be all that we have when dealing with divorce.
However, Jesus does leave room for sexual immorality being a reason for divorce in Matthew 19:9.
His words are not easy, especially for those who have been impacted by divorce.
It is almost never the intention to break apart a marriage, but sadly, devastatingly, divorce happens and shatters lives.
And the part where we go from shooting the arrow out of the window to smacking the arrows multiple times on the ground?
Jesus finished by saying to His disciples, remarrying is committing adultery (v 11-12), but again, Jesus does give room for this when sexual immorality has been committed.
Very tough words.
And very difficult to live by.
But Jesus wants the Christian to live His way.
His ways are perfect, and all His ways are just.
And as our world/culture change and become further away from Jesus, He never changes.
Children are next in line.
And Jesus lifts them up.
He gives them a place of honour and importance.
When the disciples are telling the children to get lost, Jesus reprimands His followers and brings the children closer.
Jesus’ interaction with the children is beautiful:
Mark 10:14-16
14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. [NIV]
Adults can think that they are more important than children. Especially when the ‘important people’ are around. We can put children to the side. We can diminish their importance.
But Jesus doesn’t think like this. And neither should His followers.
15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Meditate on that for a while 😊
Finance is next.
And boy o boy is this one a challenge!!!
Especially in our Western culture.
In Jesus’ time, those with money had great influence and were deemed to be the most important.
Perhaps even more favoured by God.
I would venture to ask if anything has changed…?
A young rich man comes to Jesus and asks, “Good teacher,”… “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Mark 10:17
Surely he knew that Jesus would answer in black and white!
What does Jesus say?
Mark 10:21 – Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” [NIV]
Oh wow…
Not only sell everything you have and give it to the poor…
But Jesus said…
“Come, follow me”.
Laying down one’s life is a prerequisite to becoming a Christian:
Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [NIV]
Money is not evil, but the love of money is.
Jesus must have seen that for this young man (and for many of us today) money was his Lord and Boss.
Jesus is first and last.
Nothing comes before Him.
Loss
Jesus once again let His disciples know He was going to be betrayed and killed.
To hear this must have been more than devastating.
Their Teacher, their Rabbi, their friend…
He would be handed over to their enemies, by their own religious leaders, to be killed?!?!
But Jesus finishes with hope:
Three days later He will rise (34b).
With loss, there is always hope for followers of Jesus.
Pride and humility
To be first.
To lead.
It is all too tempting for those who are naturally gifted this way.
Two of Jesus disciples, James and John, seemed to be this way inclined.
They wanted to be the most important of the disciples. But Jesus explained very clearly His way of leading.
Leading with humility.
Servant Leadership.
After calling the bickering disciples together, Jesus showed them the way a follower of Jesus leads:
Mark 10:42-45
42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [NIV]
How do you lead those around you?
Faith for healing
A blind man named Bartimaeus was calling out to Jesus.
People told him to be quiet, but Bartimaeus was not going to be quiet today!
Here was his chance to be healed and he was taking it with all of his might.
Healing is a hot topic.
Why do some people get healed and others do not?
For me, I have prayed for hundreds of people, and dozens have been healed.
And I am more than confident that it was NOT me who healed them.
There have also been hundreds who were not healed.
I have been told that it was because of their lack of faith, or hidden sin in their life, or because of the lack of faith of the pray-ers that these ones don’t get healed.
My experience is that some of the most faith filled prayers do not get answered the way I would like.
Why?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that some people I have prayed for that got healed… It was not my faith that healed them. If it is possible to have negative faith… not even a little bit of faith… I have prayed prayers for healing while I was feeling like this. And Jesus healed the people in need.
I do not understand.
But I don’t need to understand.
This is not a cop out.
We are called to believe in an Infinite God.
All-knowing. All-powerful. Ever-present.
We search, we ask, we research, we pray, we read the Bible… but we might not get the answer.
Today, Bartimaeus was not letting Jesus past.
He would keep shouting until Jesus responded.
Their interaction is incredible:
Mark 10:50-52
50 Throwing his cloak aside, he (Bartimaeus) jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. [NIV]
Jesus heals today.
Keep crying out for it and never lose hope.
Divorce Children Finance Loss
Pride and Humility Faith for healing
Are we willing to smack those arrows against the ground more than three times?
With desperation are we willing to keep striking the ground with the arrows?
With determination, to live fully and wholly for God, will you strike the ground with those arrows for complete victory over those things that have victory over you?
Are we willing to put our own preferences, our own desires, our own opinions to the sword, to death, and submit to the Word of God?
I am more than aware that this causes us so much pain.
But for the Christian, our life is not our own.
Astonished and afraid…
Let’s live for Jesus and seek Him with all our hearts.
In Christ,
Ben
