MANY VOICES—ONE CHOICE
I have COVID Brain. A mind is overwhelmed with external messages and internal thoughts. And yet, it seems as if the world has come to a standstill.
Today I am looking at a rather large section of Scripture.
I don’t want to assume this all happened in just one day. We know that Mark gives himself great freedom in how organizes his material. Yet, verse 11:27 begins with, “And they came again to Jerusalem. And he was walking in the Temple…” and we don’t read of him leaving the Temple until verse 13:1, “And as he came out of the Temple…”.
Further, the section of Scripture we are reading has: The Chief Priests and Elders coming to him (v.11:27), the Pharisees and Herodians coming to him (v.12:13), the Sadducees coming to him (v.12:18), and a lone Scribe (v.12:28).
After no one dared speak to him again (v.12:34), he then teaches by quoting Psalm 110:1, with what must have seemed a riddle.
The culmination is the warning against listening to Scribes with their volumes of teaching, as compared to this poor widow who speaks not, but only acts in faith.
We could plumb the depths of each of the scenes, yet taken in total, for me in this current season, they remind me of these COVID-19 Days. Days when it seems there are many messages—but in the end, there is only One Point.
Considering each:
When asked, by whose authority Jesus is teaching and ministering—he reveals their blindness, and actually opens their eyes through the parable of the tenants. They now know if they are right, then they will be okay. However, if Jesus is who he is claiming to be, then they have killed the Father’s son. They chose to kill him (v.12:12).
Determined they seek to trap him by having him speak against the State and Caesar. They fail, left only to marvel at him (v.12:17)
Yet again another salvo comes his way about the resurrection of the dead. This time he uses the very Word of God, and He ends with you are quite wrong (v.12:27).
Finally, one lone scribe attempts to challenge him, only in the end to completely agree with him (v.32).
Jesus goes on to say, by juxtaposing his views on the teachings of the scribes (v.12:38-39) and the widow’s offering, we must seek to simply:
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
There are many voices coming at me these days: some from outside my ears and others from inside my head. I need to keep focused on the ONE True Voice.
For all of Jesus’ followers, next Sunday is Easter Day. For some of his followers, this week is observed as Holy Week. Jesus’ followers all have different traditions. Some will spend this week walking more intentionally with Jesus, as a way of preparing themselves for Easter.
Please hear me. There is no one right way. Yet I am struck by the need, now more than ever, to keep myself intentionally locked-in on the One True Voice—and as the widow—to completely trust Him.
How are you finding all the voices? What are you doing to not become overwhelmed?