Childlike Faith (Mark 10:13-16)

Sitting on my bureau in my bedroom is a statue of Jesus embracing a little lamb. Sometimes when I look at it my mind travels back to a time when I was a little girl sitting by my grandfather’s bed.

My grandfather had come to America from Italy as a young man to help build the railroads. When World War I began he went back to Europe to fight. He was gassed in the trenches in France. After the war he immigrated to the USA and worked as a coal miner. He survived the Great Depression and then sent his two sons to fight in World War II. When I was a little girl I was quite sure that my grandfather was the strongest man who ever lived. That is, until the Summer that he had his stroke. When he was finally able to come home it was in a wheelchair. They set up a hospital bed in the living room, and his world was reduced to the kitchen, living room and front porch.

After his stroke I spent many hours sitting with him listening to stories about the “old country”. He told me how he missed the country of his childhood. One day when he was telling me about his father, his voice choked with emotion. That’s when I remembered the picture that he had in his bedroom upstairs. I knew that he would not be able to climb the stairs again, so I brought his father’s picture downstairs and hung it where he could look at it from his hospital bed.

My grandfather filled my mind with stories about his childhood in Italy. As I listened to him it was as if the years were melted away. All the hardships that he had known, the war, the struggle to survive, his concerns about providing for his family, faded into the background. It was also during this time that I began to read the gospel to him. I can still hear his voice in my memory saying, “Sada, tell me again the story of Jesus.

One day I found granddad crying. I now know that depression often comes when people have had a stroke. One of the stories my grandfather had told me was about how he had cared for sheep when he was a boy. I found a picture of Jesus holding a little lamb and brought it to him. “Granddad, you are like this lamb Jesus is holding in his arms. When you were young and strong you were like the other lambs in this picture, running all over the field. But now Jesus holds you close to His heart.”

I think about my grandfather when I read that Jesus said, “Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will not never enter it” (Mark 10:15). I can still hear the echo of my grandfather’s childlike faith saying, “Sada, tell me again the story of Jesus.”

The Challenge (Mark 10:1-10)

It was to be a place to know and to be known, a place where you could be completely vulnerable and safe because you were loved. It was God’s design; a miracle where He would take that which was ordinary and by His presence make it extraordinary. It was a subject close to the heart of God, a perfect target for the Pharisees to strike. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2)

Into whose face did the Pharisees spit this challenge, this question about their right to break the covenant of marriage and send away one whom they had promised to love and cherish? It was Jesus, whose first miracle was to change water into wine at the wedding feast. Jesus, who represented God’s faithful unfailing love despite His creation’s unfaithfulness. Although Jesus knew the law He asked, “What did Moses command you?” (Mark 10:3)

Jesus asked what was commanded by Moses, but they responded with what was permitted, not commanded. The law written on stone tablets had been given to show an unholy people how to relate to a holy God. Jesus used this exchange to expose the hardness of their self-righteous hearts. The Greek word that Jesus used for hardness of heart is sklerokardia. It means “hard because dry”, hardness of heart because of a lack of moisture (lubricant); an obstinate, hard heart which lacks the oil of the Holy Spirit and hence implies rebellion -- i.e., someone refusing to be receptive ( obedient) to God’s inworking of faith.*

Then Jesus took them back to the garden before man’s heart had become hardened by sin, before the rebellion. He took them back to the time when the Creator had surveyed all that He had made and had declared with great satisfaction that it was very good. He had given to the man someone who was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. The gift of love was given, a place to know and be known, where they could be naked and unashamed. 

What the Pharisees didn’t know was that this same Jesus with whom they spoke was the very one who spoke the world into being. He had been there after the serpent came to tear the hearts apart that He had joined together. He had grieved when the dream of love had turned to shame. They had sought permission to rip two hearts apart, but Jesus had come to restore what was lost in the garden. He came to heal every broken heart. He came to turn the water into wine.

*HELPS Word-Studies

“Salted By Fire” (Mark 9:49,50)

There was tension among the disciples as to which one of them was the greatest, and so the argument ensued. This was possibly due to Jesus’ taking Peter, James and John up on the mountain while the other disciples were left in the valley.  However, when Jesus asked what they had been arguing about they were silent. Jesus’ response to their prideful jealousy reminded me of Isaiah 66:2: “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” In other words, God looks with favor on those who have a correct view of themselves because they have a correct view of God.

Jesus ended this chapter by say, “For everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49). As I meditated on this verse another story came to my mind that involved both jealousy and fire. As the Israelites were traveling across the wilderness to the Promised Land an argument arose among the sons of Levi. The tribe of Levi had been chosen by God to serve Him, but Aaron and his sons were appointed as priests. Korah was also a Levite, but he became jealous of both Moses and Aaron which led to a rebellion. Korah came against them and said, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (Numbers 16:3).

The book of Numbers says of Moses that he was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. So the contest was a picture of how, when we are called into God’s service, we should present ourselves. God Himself settled the issue that arose between Korah and Moses and Aaron. He told Moses and Aaron and all the followers of Korah to meet before the tent of meeting. Each man was to take a firepan, place fire in it and put incense on it. When God’s glory appeared a fire came out from Him and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. The fire of the Lord sanctified His humble servants but destroyed those who came before Him in pride.

Chapter 9 in Mark begins by talking about the kingdom of God coming in power and it ends with a warning about judgment. “Everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49). Fire can be purifying. When I look at Peter’s life I see how his faith was tested and purified by fire. He rebuked Jesus when Jesus spoke of His suffering. However, when the test came and Jesus was being mocked by the high priest, Peter denied that he knew Him. Fire came in a blaze and exposed Peter’s heart. He wept as the fire burned away his pride, leaving him humble and contrite.

“Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50). Pride causes dissension. But where the fire is truly burning, all that can be seen is the blaze. So it is with the glory of of God. When we see Him in His gory we will have a right understanding of who we are, because we’ll have a  right understanding of who He is. Where there is humility towards God and others, there is peace.