And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. Mark 11:15-18

Something dad tried to teach me was willingness to learn from anyone. He knew, and I’ve learned, you can’t know everything. This took years for me to realize. When I was younger, I felt I had to know everything, needing to be the expert. This was fueled by not being willing to learn from those I perceived to not be my equal. My personal pursuit of being all-knowing actually clouded my ability to do my job better. I’m certain I wasted years of usefulness.

Those listening to Jesus sometimes displayed a similar unwillingness to learn from him. Jesus was ‘upsetting the applecart’ for the religious leadership. This message wasn’t aligning with their vision of things. Jesus spoke frequently using metaphor. Jesus knew this stone and mortar temple in Jerusalem wouldn’t last. Its end was coming. If we do a little dot-connecting to Paul and his letter to the Corinthians, Jesus knew the temple as the center of Israelite worship would be replaced by God living in us through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). All the glory historically present at the temple would take place within us, in a personal relationship with God. His message, in many ways, was diametrically opposed to theirs. The message of Jesus was so counter-cultural as to be a serious threat to their existence, at least that’s how they were seeing it. Later, Caiaphas would say it was better for one man to die (Jesus) than a nation (Israel), fearing Roman retribution. They weren’t willing to learn from someone perceived as not being equal.

Jesus’ message is still counter-cultural! Our culture is about consuming. If we seriously consider the way we live our lives, we might just find that we’re crowding our ‘temple’ with things that get in the way of our relationship with Jesus. Just like the mass of people hawking animals and who knows what else corrupting the purpose of the temple, things in our lives are doing the same thing with our ‘temple.’

Devote time today to considering your life and how you’re living it. Are there things in your life diverting you from a deeper relationship with Jesus? Does it inhibit being able to ‘live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus’? As you take this time today, pray for revelation from the Holy Spirit, and if something comes to mind, pray for help in removing it as a diversion. You might find yourself making this a daily practice!

By Rich Obrecht

And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24

Imagine hearing the cry of this father for his son, “I believe; help my unbelief!” We can feel the anguish as he cries out these words! His only desire at that moment is for his son to be cured. He’s so troubled by his son’s suffering, he asks Jesus to ‘fill in the gaps’ in his belief. What a prayer that is! There’s a distant echo of the Shema for me (Deut. 6:4-9), where the Israelites were told to love God with all their heart, soul and might. My Hebrew professor in school said the word for ‘might’ could very well be translated ‘everything else.’ That sounds like what this dad is saying: my belief and everything else. Jesus tells the father his belief in the cure is all he needs.

The simple belief of this father leads to the healing of his son. Our simple belief leads to a relationship with God. Simple is the appropriate word because it really is a simple thing. The hard part is accepting it as simple. It seems in our culture, we believe everything has a cost. There’s got to be something we have to do, pay, or give for this to be palatable. The thing is, the price was already paid! This story happens while Jesus is journeying back to Jerusalem to pay that cost with his own life.

Just like this dad asking Jesus to bolster his unbelief, we have gaps, too. There are areas where our belief is either weak or non-existing. An example might be that pesky warning light on your car’s dash. What’s your first inclination? Perhaps as you go through the day, bumping into things like this, lift them to Jesus, asking him to help you believe more fully. You might be surprised at the increase of fullness in your belief!

By Rich Obrecht

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself…” Mark 8:34a

Denying oneself is so counter-cultural today. We see advertisements all the time about all manner of possessions, food, clothing, reading materials, apps, and many more, all while being told having them will make us happy and live better. It’s really hard to push that clamor to the background when we want to focus on anything else. Is this the sort of thing we’re called to do in order to follow Jesus? Are we to give up all the comforts of life so we might live faithfully? Have you ever thought about this?

What does it mean to deny self and follow Jesus? It doesn’t necessarily mean denying physical needs. In this passage Jesus had just met a major physical need with the 4000 by feeding them. After three days of following Jesus and not eating, Jesus recognized their need for food, and met it. He’d also met the need of the blind man in restoring his sight, with the double attempts perhaps being an example to the disciples the depth of their own blindness. So then, what does it mean to deny ourselves in order to follow Jesus?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is quoted as saying, “The line separating good and evil passes … right through every human heart…”. Good and evil resides in us all! I’m certain many of us bristle at hearing this, but this understanding is entirely scriptural (Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:10-12). In the entire span of eternity, there’s only one human this doesn’t describe, who completely denied himself in obedience to his father, and he’s asking us to do the same for him. Like the hyperbole used by Jesus about eyes and hands causing us to sin, the evil we all carry within us limits in our being true followers of Jesus. Our evil needs to go! But how do we do that? We can’t. But Jesus can!

In this season of Lent, rather than deny something to help you lose weight or feel better about yourself, why not ask Jesus to help us with something standing in the way of our relationship with him? It wouldn’t need to be huge, but perhaps something smaller, which would give you courage to deny other, larger things, like that dark corner in your heart that you can’t or won’t surrender. In your prayer time, ask Jesus to impress you with something to deny yourself, and then lean on Jesus to do it!

By Rich Obrecht

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,  and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. Mark 5:1-13

My vivid introduction to the spiritual realm happened many years ago while reading the book This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.The descriptions of things going on and a peek at those demons unveiled this world to me. One night, after reading a while, I put the book aside and tried to sleep. I started having thoughts run through my head I knew weren’t familiar. I started praying scripture, attempting to push those thoughts away. Suddenly, I heard a husky voice in my ear, as if someone had pressed their mouth to it and spoke. The words were “just kidding.” The weird thing? It was the ear against the pillow. I sat bolt upright in bed, waking my wife. It really shook me up. It still does.

‘Legion’ was tormenting this man. I believe they were trying to drive him to his death at his own hand. Iron fetters couldn’t hold him back, and he spent his time howling in torment, running about the graveyard, scraping his skin with stones, perhaps vainly attempting to release his tormentors from his body. That is, until he looked from afar and saw Jesus. In his torment, he ran to Jesus.

During his interaction with Jesus, the demons are doing the howling in torment as Jesus called them out. The Creator-God is standing before them, with the power to utterly eliminate them, physically and spiritually. Jesus allows them to enter the pigs and drive them off the cliff.

What a stark experience! Jesus, confronted with something unimaginable, changed the tormented man into one full of peace and contentment. While ‘Legion’ knew and acknowledged Jesus as divine, the man knew something, too. He saw it. As you go through your day, know Jesus as God personified and run to him. As you experience life’s ups and downs, read and contemplate Psalm 8 and the power of your God over everything.

By Rich Obrecht

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. Mark 4:30-34

I remember a trip to Israel some time ago where I found a mustard plant. I have to confess, the guide had to point it out as I’d never seen one. The guide mentioned that there should be seeds on the plant, so (thinking of this passage), I ‘harvested’ some seeds. Indeed, they were tiny. And, just for fun, I popped them in my mouth and ate them. While I really enjoy very spicy food, I was surprised at how spicy the seeds actually were! These tiny seeds, specks on my hand, packing the spicy punch, all came from a plant a little taller than me. It’s amazing to think this tiny speck produced such a large plant.

Our journey with Jesus began just like that mustard seed. How much we knew of Jesus was small, matching our formation in the Spirit. Similar to how the environment impacts the growth of the mustard plant, our soul environment influences our growth in knowing Jesus and the Spirit. As we surrender ourselves to Jesus, and more of our ‘soul environment’ becomes molded in the way of Jesus, we begin to walk in the way of Jesus, almost without realizing it.

What an amazing experience! Our soul journey takes us down roads and paths that are sometimes easy and sometimes really hard. Like my dad says, our rough edges are ‘knocked off’ by our experiences, and the bumps and bruises are healed. What’s left is a changed soul. We begin to see God’s creation in new ways. We begin to see life just a little bit like God might see it.

As you go through your day, every day, look around you and contemplate how you might have once observed something differently than you do now. Do you see things in a different ‘light’? Are things seeming to be ‘brighter’ to you than they were before? Celebrate the ways God has changed and grown you.

By Rich Obrecht

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. – Mark 3:13-10

For some time, our culture has made liberal use of the word ‘retreat’. It references time where one or more people separate themselves from the day to day. Many things are done on retreats, from seeking a better understanding on a particular subject, or working with others toward a common goal.

It would seem Jesus had the same idea. He took his disciples to a place away from the bustling crowds, to a mountain side. Mountains are frequently places where God is present with those following him, like Moses, for example, and this time was no different. Jesus, the God-man, was physically present with his disciples.

When Jesus and the chosen twelve were up on the mountain side, authority over the Evil One’s minions as well as a commission to preach was given to them. Despite the presence of Judas, the betrayer, Jesus was able to be present with his disciples and they with him. The intimacy of the situation shouldn’t be lost on us. Presence with Jesus is something we can experience today, like the disciples did. The big difference between what the disciples had with Jesus then and what we have today is that Jesus is there, physically with the disciples, and he’s with us, spiritually, whether we know it or not.

Something you can do at any point during your day is to rest in the presence of Jesus, without moving from where you are. Many things can help us enter into this practice, from reading scripture to listening to music, or just being still and quiet. If there’s a physical practice you’ve used in the past to do this, do it now. If you haven’t done this before, listen to a song you enjoy that speaks to you of Jesus, relax, and pray for Jesus to make his presence known to you. And wait in quiet.

By Rich Obrecht

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” Mark 2:1-12

Can you imagine the reality of this passage? This man, crippled in life and soul, brought to full healing. Full healing. Jesus, before his sacrifice, forgave his sins. And, to prove his authority, healed his physical disability, too! What an amazing new start for this unnamed paralytic man.

This reminds me of a story of new beginnings after a rough patch of life from the Old Testament. Job seemed to have it all. A loving family, wealth and prestige, and a dedication to God such that he’s held up as a shining example by God to the Evil One. During the conversation, Job is handed over for testing. His experience reminds me of the phrase ‘being pulled through a knothole.’ What a descriptive statement about having a seriously bad time in life, and it fits so well with Job.

The friends that surrounded Job didn’t help much with his suffering. Job wanted someone to listen to him, not judge him. Even his wife gave the ultimatum ‘curse God and die’ (Job 2:9). I’d collapse into a mass of gelatinous humanity if my wife ever told me that. Job wanted to be heard, for someone to affirm his feeling of tragedy and suffering. Instead he had ‘friends’ in Eliphaz, Bildaz, Zophar, and Elihu judging his suffering as being a result of his disobedience.

I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say many reading this have had this same life experience. Deep in your suffering and wanting someone to just listen, you received judgment instead. But, like the paralytic man (which is how it feels when you’re being pulled through the knothole), with his four friends (oddly, the same number of ‘friends’ Job had) you find yourself lying at the feet of Jesus. Perhaps paralyzed with the situation, he casts his eyes on you, saying your sins have been forgiven and rise.

If this is where you are, and, like Job, those surrounding you aren’t helpful, Jesus is watching, listening, and hearing you! He’s already forgiven you (Ephesians 1:13-14,1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Hebrews 10:12-14). We’re not sinless, but the sins for all are forgiven forever. And there’s powerful healing in the name of Jesus. Perhaps it’s time to grab Jesus’ feet, call out, surrender, and in your surrendering, fully realize his forgiveness and capture the heart- and soul-healing available only through Jesus.

By Rich Obrecht