Week Fifteen

FPCBR

Week Fifteen

Jaime Carnaggio • Mark 10:13–45

In these passages, Jesus teaches us important lessons about the Kingdom of God, which operates much differently than the world. We learn that, in God’s economy, there’s a glorious grand reversal. “The first will be last, and the last first.” Jesus moves the disciples (and us) from being worldly-minded to Kingdom-minded, because as followers of Jesus, we must be Kingdom-minded.

The children in verses 13-16 represent “the least of these.” We can learn a lot from them. They have a trusting spirit and a dependence that set them apart. They’re completely helpless and run into Jesus’ arms with abandon. This is a right posture toward Christ! We receive the kingdom of God this same way; empty-handed and open-armed, like a helpless child, with simple, childlike reliance on him!

Reflection: When have you experienced the love of God in sweet, tender ways (like he is with the children)? When have you experienced his love in more corrective, shaping ways (like e is with the disciples)?

Salvation isn’t something we “do” or “earn” by being good. It’s something we receive by grace. (If our salvation was up to us, NO one would be saved! Left to ourselves, salvation is impossible!) Another way to put it: Salvation isn’t based on what YOU DO, but on what HE’s already DONE (vs. 32-34).

Reflection: When have you, like the young rich man, been tempted to cling to money/possessions/enter any idol here, tighter than you cling to the Lord? Perhaps if we would only focus MORE on what’s being stored for us in heaven, we would loosen our grip on the worldly things that we cling so tightly to.

Wealth/money/possessions aren’t bad or wrong. It’s wrong when we “trust in riches” more than we trust in Jesus. It’s wrong when our wealth/success feeds our pride, when we lose sight that all we earn (financially or otherwise) is because of God’s grace and belongs to him.

The call to “take up our cross” and follow him requires humility, sacrifice, and service. We give up a lot to follow Jesus, but we gain so much more. The blessings far outweigh the losses. Why would we put our trust in anything in this world, when our ONLY hope is found in Christ alone!

Jesus never asks us to do anything that he hasn’t already done. Or give up anything that he hasn’t given up. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 8:9: “Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

Reflection: What have you had to give up in order to follow Christ? And what have you gained in doing so?

The disciples are “amazed” that Jesus “set his face like flint toward Jerusalem” (as Isaiah 50 says), knowing full well the agony he faced there. But we can’t have the CROWN (which they’ve been focused on, eternal life) without the CROSS!!

In God’s economy, greatness is not about how HIGH you climb, or how many people serve you. It’s about how LOW you go in serving others. Jesus is our primary example of this. He came not to make servants, but to be a servant. He came not to gain anything, but to give everything–his very life–as a ransom for many. What a picture of our Lord Jesus: our Suffering Servant.

Week Twenty-Five

May 4, 2023 • Jaime Carnaggio • Mark 16

The evidence is undeniable. Mark’s Gospel leaves no room for doubt. The angel clearly and plainly states, “Jesus was crucified. See the place where his body was laid. He is not here. He has risen.” Fear is a powerful emotion, one that can deeply affect us, impact us, and transform us. The women at the tomb experienced an appropriate fear in the face of the Lord’s resurrection. It should stir up the same in us because it’s both historically certain and eternally significant. Even though we may be scared and uncomfortable, even though we doubt, we are called to be disciples. We are to go out and share the good news of the gospel, trusting that he goes before us and with us, with the assurance that Jesus has risen from death to life. And we will too!

Week Twenty-Four

April 27, 2023 • Jaime Carnaggio • Mark 15:21–47

Take notice of the “circles of rejection” in verses 29-37. Reflect on where you are in this story. In what ways does the world reject and mock Jesus today? Read Psalm 22 and feel the ways that it illuminates Jesus’ time on the cross . . . how it moves from the suffering to the glory! “The cry from the cross represents the deepest possible pain. The Father and the Son have enjoyed perfect, unbroken harmony and fellowship in the Trinity for all of eternity . . . until now. THIS is the moment that the Father places the sin of the world upon his Son as the Lamb of God, as Jesus carries the full measure of the pollution of our wickedness, an obscenity God is too pure and holy to behold, so he must turn his face away for the first and only time. Jesus endures a moment of separation from God, which is far worse than the mocking, scourging, and crucifixion . . . it’s the searing pain of forsakenness . . .” R.C. Sproul.

Week Twenty-Three

April 20, 2023 • Gerrit Dawson • Mark 15:1–21

Gerrit points out how much Jesus’ composure changes from the Garden of Gethsemane to his time before Pilate. In the garden, he was greatly distressed, crying out to his Father, in agony. Before Pilate, he’s resolved, accepting, humble, even peaceful. What changed? He submitted to his Father’s will. “Not my will, but yours be done,” he prayed. The same freedom is available to us when we submit to God’s will for our lives. It's difficult to read these passages because we shudder to think our Lord (holy and innocent) had to endure such harsh things. But it’s also sobering because WE are in this story. “Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers.” as the hymn says. In what ways are you like Pilate? Like the “stirred up” crowds? Like Barabbas? Like the soldiers mocking Jesus?