We made it to Palm Sunday! We’re only two days late. This rendition focuses on a borrowed colt and an interesting aside that after he checks our Jerusalem he leaves and goes to Bethany. His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived there so it seems likely that’s where he spent the night. But it reminds me how many moments of Jesus life were temporary. Yeah parade! Let’s move on. He’s always moving on to the next thing in life. He had a mission during those 3 years of his ministry and he made them count. Let’s do the same!
This is the cursing chapter in Mark. He curses a couple of things- one a fig tree of all things for not making fruit out of season and then the folks in the temple making money off the things of God. Then we see the fig tree has whithered- the point Jesus and Mark makes is about faith. A recurring theme here- believe in your prayer and fig trees may wither, mountains may shake. Believe in what you pray for! I know when it comes to most things I don’t typically pray that way. I often have hopes that way- but over the last few weeks I’ve been concerned about giving at my church- not so much about money- but that our staff could be paid so they could feed their families. I had this suspicion but not a prayer that maybe giving could go up even though we don’t have church as people seem to be loving our online services and some of our bigger givers are retired so their jobs aren’t really affected by this and they may even have less to spend on right now. I don’t have a large sample size but last Sunday was a huge Sunday for giving over double the week before. That’s a huge sign of hope. Should I have prayed earnestly for that? Yes. But I feel weird about praying for money- but God wants to be a part of all aspects of life so maybe I should. But even here- Jesus ends his statement about prayer saying the most important thing you should be praying for is forgiveness. And that I’m used to praying for- but why do I pray more for spiritual things than physical things? I don’t know.
Then we see the teachers of the law trying to trap Jesus. Jesus turns it around and traps them. Almost a political answer.
So what’s the take away- curse fig trees and avoid confrontation? No. I think the point is stand up for what’s right like Jesus did in the temple. Pray for what’s right and believe that it will be done. Pray for forgiveness and shout Hosanna to Jesus. And when the crowd gives you a parade, enjoy it, but enjoy time with your friends more.
Marking It Up 