Mark 14: Jesus Can Use Me to do the Extraordinary

Today’s reading is Mark 14.

Establishing the Supper

As Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover meal, remembering the night God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage by the death of the firstborn and delivered Israel from the death of the firstborn by the blood on the doorway, He established a new memorial. Taking bread and fruit of the vine from the table, He declared the bread His body and the fruit of the vine His blood of the covenant. He was establishing not only a memorial meal, but a sacrificial meal. As the Israelites often ate their sacrifices, this new meal pictures us eating our sacrifice. Of course, we don’t eat Jesus’s flesh or drink His blood literally, but in the bread and the cup we participate in the sacrifice of Jesus.

For 2000 years now, since that first day of Pentecost after Jesus’s resurrection, Christians have gathered in groups to eat bread and drink fruit of the vine to remember Jesus’s sacrificial death and proclaim the gospel. We will continue to do so until He returns. No doubt, what the supper represents and what it accomplishes is extraordinary. But, the practice of the supper itself is…well…so ordinary. Jesus took common table items. These were not super special items. They were two things people had lying around their houses all the time. Many of their plain, old, every day meals would include the bread and the cup.

I mean, anyone could take the Lord’s Supper if they wanted. And that’s the point. Jesus uses ordinary means to accomplish extraordinary ends. Think about how we enter Jesus Christ, being brought from death to life, having our sins forgiven. We don’t have to climb a mountain, fast in the wilderness for 40 days, or even isolate in a cave for 3 days. We have someone plunge us under water. How ordinary?! We don’t proclaim the Lord’s death with immense, costly sacrifices. We don’t put on a show of pomp and circumstance. We don’t even have a costly feast that lasts a week. We eat some unleavened bread and drink some fruit of the vine. It doesn’t even have to be much (though the amount is not the issue). The whole observance can take less than 10 minutes.

Comfort for the Ordinary

Jesus uses the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary. I find comfort in this for two reasons. First, I can take part in Jesus’s very ordinary observances. I am not excluded. I can be dipped under water. I can gather with brothers and sisters on a regular basis. I can sing songs (even if not very well). I can pray prayers. I can eat unleavened bread and drink fruit of the vine. None of these very ordinary things are beyond my grasp. An ordinary person like me can participate in these very ordinary activities.

Second, if Jesus uses ordinary instruments to accomplish extraordinary goals, He can use me for amazing victory. In 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Paul wrote:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (ESV).

Though I am lowly born, weak, and foolish, Jesus can use me to accomplish His extraordinary victory. Of course, when He does, I will not be able to boast. After all, the extraordinary work came from Him. I am simply an ordinary tool He wields to accomplish His glory. And that’s okay. I’m more concerned about His glory than mine anyway (at least, I’m growing to have that attitude).

As we participate in the Supper each week, let us remember the extraordinary work of Jesus Christ on the cross. But let us also be reminded and stunned that Jesus does His extraordinary work through ordinary instruments like bread, fruit of the vine, water, song, prayer, and even through ordinary people like us.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 14.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Mark 14 admonish you?

Psalm 149: A Double-edged Sword

Today’s reading is Psalm 149.

Jehoshaphat, Not Nehemiah

This great psalm of praise seems to take a dark turn in the middle of vs. 6. These “chasid” sing praises with their throats while they wield two-edged swords in their hands, mowing down the people of the nations around them. Maybe. I guess it’s possible in the context of some events in the history of Israel that idea would fit in this psalm. Certainly, in the time of conquest, God used the Israelite nation as His arm of judgment to execute nations who had committed egregious sins as part of their idolatry. Equally as certain, there were times when deliverance for Israel from enemies who harmed them meant judgment on the nations who did them harm. As Isaiah 61:2 explains, the year of the Lord’s favor on one nation will be the day of vengeance on another. It’s possible this psalm, especially since it is compiled in the post-exilic period, calls to mind a situation like Nehemiah’s wall builders–working with one hand and carrying their weapon in the other (Nehemiah 4:15-23).

However, I don’t think that is what this psalm is saying. Keep in mind what we said yesterday about the humble, the meek. In this psalm, the meek are being adorned with salvation not the warriors. That is, the ones who trust God to bring vengeance and justice are adorned with salvation.

With that in mind, it seems the psalmist’s point is that the praises themselves are the two-edged sword. That is, those who don’t fret over evildoers, but who trust God to bring justice will see God bring the justice. The weapon they wield is not a literal two-edged sword, but their praise and worship become one because it calls the warrior God to fight on their behalf. This is not the picture of Nehemiah and his wall builders. It’s the picture of Jehoshaphat and his army in 2 Chronicles 20. Jehoshaphat prays, knowing his army is no match for the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites. In 2 Chronicles 20:12, he says, “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (ESV). The Lord sends a prophet explaining God will defeat the enemy and the Judean army won’t have to do a thing. In 2 Chronicles 20:21-23, Jehoshaphat places the singers in front of his army who sang, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.” When they began to sing praises, the Lord set an ambush against the enemy armies and they rose up against each other. Judah didn’t have to fight. Their praise and song was their weapon.

On a much smaller scale, this is akin to Proverbs 25:21-22. “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you” (ESV). Surely, our goal in this is not simply to heap the coals on the enemy for whom we are praying and whom we are learning to love. But, our best weapon is not to take up our own sword against the enemy, but rather to serve him or her and let God deal with it.

“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, ESV). When Israel praised God, they let God be the two-edged sword. He would execute vengeance when vengeance needed to be executed. He would punish the peoples and bind their kings. He would execute the judgment on them that was written.

This is honor for the Lord’s chasid, the Lord’s godly ones. It is honor for them to praise and worship God and leave vengeance up to Him. He will do it when it is the appropriate thing to do.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 149

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 148 prompt or improve your hope in God?