Month: March 2021

Morning Musing: Mark 9:2-3

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“After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them, and his clothes became dazzling – extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Men have a reputation in this culture. Okay, that’s a setup for a political and cultural fight which is not what we’re going to have this morning. Let’s try that again: One of the stereotypes men carry in this culture (and most cultures, honestly, because this is a human trait) is that we don’t like to quit when we’re behind. Perhaps to put that another way: We don’t know when to quit. Admitting we’re lost when driving is a perfect example. The stereotypical man doesn’t look at a map and insists he knows right where he is even when he’s hopelessly lost. And heaven forbid he stops and asks for directions. Well, sometimes what is true about men on the road, is true about all of us when we read the Scriptures. There are places and stories that are hard to understand. Let’s talk about one of them this morning.

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Morning Musing: Mark 9:1

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“Then he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things that seems to mark wisdom gurus is the fact that they spout off things that don’t make a whole lot of sense. This is particularly true in the various religions of the East. I think about the child in the Oracle’s house in the first Matrix film (which was heavily influence by Eastern philosophy). He’s sitting there bending spoons with his mind and when he explains what he’s doing to Neo he says, “Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try and realize the truth: There is no spoon.” Now, in the context of the movie, this eventually makes sense; as a metaphor for something outside of the movie, though, it is nonsense. One of the things that makes Jesus so different from the various New Age gurus with whom He is sometimes compared is the fact that He tended to say things that made sense. Most of the time. Sometimes He shot a little over our heads. Let’s wrestle with one such statement together this morning.

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The Trouble with Holes

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The next stop in our journey of understanding in a bit more detail just what we believe as followers of Jesus isn’t an easy one. This is going to be one of the more difficult conversations we’ve had together. This isn’t a fun subject. But it’s one we have to talk about or else we run the risk of missing out on something absolutely essential to a relationship with Jesus. This week we are talking about sin. Hang on tight and stay tuned for what comes next. This one is hard, but it gets a whole lot better.

The Trouble with Holes

Have you ever been in a deep pit, but managed to pull yourself out of it? I remember crawling over and around and through some boulders at a park somewhere near Gettysburg, PA on a family vacation when I was growing up. We were playing tag or something with some other kids and I went into a passage that was pretty narrow. I remember crawling in and thinking, “I’m not going to be able to get through this.” Thinking about it today still makes me feel claustrophobic and panicky. Fortunately, I managed to stay calm then and squeeze through the passage to get out the other side.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 7:24-25b

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“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes when you set out to do something, you just don’t get it right the first time. That was the general reaction to the much-hyped Justice League movie when it hit theaters in 2017. DC Comics was desperately trying to achieve with their major characters what Marvel was accomplishing with theirs. By all accounts, they should have been successful. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are names easily as recognizable and arguably more famous than Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. Or at least, they were. But they came late to the party and rushed to get their parity product into the theaters. The result was largely panned even though they hired Joss Whedon, the creator of the original Avengers magic, to helm the ship after the original director, Zack Snyder stepped down following the tragic death of his daughter. And that should have been it. But in a remarkable twist, HBO decided to take a risk and give Snyder the chance to make the film he had planned from the beginning. The final product released yesterday…and is over 4 hours long. I’m most of the way through it, but here are some thoughts I’ve had along the way.

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Morning Musing: Mark 8:38

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“For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been really ashamed of something? When I was in seventh grade math class one time I passed gas. Loudly. There was really no denying where the sound came from. It was like something out of a middle school coming of age movie. I could have been Greg Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I wanted to crawl inside my backpack and hide. Fortunately, I had befriended one of the kids in the class who everybody else thought was kind of weird. He spoke up loudly and said, “Man, I’ve done that before,” and somehow that held back the wave of ridicule that was building and nothing ever came of it. I’m still not sure how I managed to escape a month’s worth of ribbing over it. Let’s change the question a bit: Have you ever been ashamed of someone? That’s a different animal, but one to which Jesus draws our attention here. Let’s listen in because what He says here matters.

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