DAY 268 - Extravagance

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John 12:1-9 (NIV) 12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. ⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Do you find the actions of Mary appealing or appalling? Do you regularly experience the bountiful life God wants for you? I invite you to go with me on a visit to the home of Mary and Martha to see and feel what happened that day and to remember that it can happen to us as well. It was probably a Sunday or Monday when Jesus and His disciples made the trip to the small village of Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem. This was the place where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. They came to the house of Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. Martha had prepared supper and that was her way of expressing her extravagant love for Jesus. Meanwhile Mary was sitting listening to Jesus. Suddenly, without explanation she dashed to bring into the room a jar of very expensive perfume, and she began pouring the perfume on Jesus’ feet and spreading it with her hair. Though perhaps shocked or surprised, everyone breathed in the fragrance of Mary’s extravagance, except Judas, who pointed out that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

Judas was not really interested in the poor, and partly because of his greed Judas did not get the message of Mary’s act. Her act was not a wild, reckless deed. Rather, ointment was what was used to anoint kings. Mary was saying and showing in the most complete way she knew that Jesus was her king.

It may not be greed that keeps us from seeing and appreciating Mary’s act. Maybe it is other insecurities of life, or the sheer lack of faith in the generosity of God towards us. So we find the spirit of Mary appalling? Are we alive with energy, extravagant with emotions, totally in love with life? And if we find the spirit of Mary appealing which kind of anointing do we need to give Jesus?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 1, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 267 - Repent And Trust in God

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Luke 13:1-9 (NIV) 13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

“Why me?” is one of those questions that seems to be buried deep and no matter what our theology we raise the question. Sometimes there are truthful and reasonable answers to that question based on consequences to behavior, but that is not the kind of answer we’re seeking. One day as Jesus was teaching a crowd of people, he noticed some in the crowd who had been discussing the “why them?” question. Why did God allow some Galileans to be slaughtered while they were in the Temple preparing to offer sacrifices to God? Popular thinking went like this: God was all-powerful, God was just, and therefore these calamities must happen because of some human sin, and they got what they deserve.

Were the Galileans worse sinners than anyone else? No, but unless you repent …  Were the eighteen people killed at Siloam worse sinners than anyone else? No, but unless you repent … Isn’t that a strange thing for Jesus to say when life has just dealt us a hard blow? When the pain of grief, the pain of a divorce, the pain of a lost job, when these big bolts of pain his us, they tend to turn us inward upon ourselves. We begin to utter “me, me” prayers. And soon we are cut off from any awareness of God’s love. But, God does hold us accountable for the way we use the gift of life God has given us. On that we can be absolutely sure. Unless you repent, you too will all perish … in your resentments, your regrets, your self-pity and your pain.

There is an old tale about a person who is lost in the woods on a dark, dark night. Danger is all around him. Suddenly a storm hits. A bolt of lightning flashes across the sky. The wisdom is that the fool looks at the lightening; the wise person looks at the path illumined before him. You have cancer – do you look at the lightning or at the path? Your marriage is over – do you look at the lightning or at the path? You will have to look for another job – do you look at the lightning or at the path.

Repentance is choosing to look at the path. This is a decision of the soul and not just the mind. The decision can happen because of the way God has worked with us. Lightning strikes. Do you look at the path that leads you to a deeper trust in God? The lightning strikes.  Do you look at the path that leads you in a direction you have wanted to go for years? The lighting strikes. Do you look at the path that leads you to a security in life you have never known before? When lightning strikes it can be distracting, but when lightning strikes there is always light.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 18, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 266 - Like Money in the Bank

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Ecclesiastes 7:11-14a (NIV) ¹¹ Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. ¹² Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it. ¹³ Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? ¹⁴ When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other.

I Corinthians 1:30 (NIV) ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Security is a legitimate need that all human beings share, and insecurity is a legitimate fear. It is in the way we seek to meet this need and to avoid this fear that we often cause problems for ourselves. The wisdom that gives true and lasting security to our life has been defined as the God-given ability in Jesus Christ to see life with rare objectivity and to handle life with rare stability. That ability is like money in the bank, but indeed it gives our life security that money cannot buy. The gift of wisdom is received in trust that God is true to His word, that He has bestowed this gift upon us. The gift is received in trust and the gift is realized in trust.

That security is not safety from life’s problems and difficulties. There is no protection from that. Rather, it is protection from folly. Both prosperity and adversity bring the temptation to folly. In adversity the folly may be thoughts like I’m no good - the cards are always stacked against me - if only - I’m not going to let this get me down - or a thousand other futile thoughts that ground in our minds during difficult times.

Wisdom gives us rare objectivity to see the truth beyond the dark and discouraging times, and a rare stability to deal in faith with the challenges that come from times of prosperity. Wisdom gives protection from folly in times of adversity, and also protection from folly in times of prosperity when all is going well. With wisdom, no event will derail us from our call to be faithful.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 10, 1986

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 265 - Inward Compliance, Outward Cooperation

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I Peter 2:11-25 (NIV) ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. ¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. ¹⁷ Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

Submission is an underlying theme to the Christian style of life seen in the New Testament. Submission is the highest meaning of love. Submission is the secret of patience and hope. It is the doorway to peace and faith. And submission is probably one of the most unattractive words in the English language. The root of our English word submit has the connotation of being forced to comply. The Greek word means “to order life under.” Submission is the admission of needing some outside help in structuring life. Submission is subjecting life to the constraints of discipline so that we may live freely and fruitfully. Submission is as much a matter of attitude as it is of action. It is inward compliance as well as outward cooperation. And it is freely chosen. We can force a person to surrender, but submission is voluntary.

Submission to God, other people, and to organizations can be difficult, but we are told to submit for the Lord’s sake as obedience to God. Submission out of fear carries a message, submission with resentment carries a message, and submission for the Lord’s sake carries a message - and a power. Submission for the Lord’s sake carries power because it is a life that has won at least a partial victory over our own inward tendencies toward both fear and domination. And, we have won at least a partial victory over our own inner bondage. In submission for the Lord’s sake we find a kind of focused freedom. Since our submission is a free act of cooperation and not a forced act of conformity we can still see where the lines of resistance are drawn. We are better able to distinguish where taking a stand is rooted in the rich soil of conviction or in the concrete of our stubborn will.

It is from the position of submission that we are best able to see what the moment calls for us to do. Submission for the Lord’s sake gives us power. It gives us freedom. And submission carries with it its own reward. I know the problems of pitfalls of living to please others or of simply trying to please ourselves. And I know of the burden of trying to please and always feeling that we have failed. We have been trying to please the wrong one. The tension between our desire for freedom and the necessity of conforming to the demands of an imperfect organization or relationship is relieved by the free decision to submit ourselves for the Lord’s sake. Our submission gives our lives the flavor of cooperation even in places of fault and imperfection. 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 25, 1986

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 264 - If God Does Not Care

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Job 42:1-5 (NIV) Then Job replied to the Lord: ² “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ³ You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. ⁴ “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ ⁵ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

Questions about suffering will not go away, and they cannot seem to be answered. We fight against suffering. We remove it when we can. And we wonder why there has to be so much suffering.  The book of Job is one of the oldest and most widely read efforts to answer some questions about suffering, especially those questions about God’s control or lack of control over suffering in our world.

Though we are generally not counseled to rebel against suffering, that is perhaps the most instinctive response. We do not necessarily blame God for causing it, we simply ask Him for relief, and when none seems to be coming we bear it for as long as we can, then we get angry. This rebellion against suffering is at least an honest and open way of dealing with it, and if we are going to cry out and complain, God is probably the best one to turn to. The problem is that such rebellion can also make us a kind of bulwark, a person putting up walls against the very answers we seek.

Sometimes we are advised to accept our suffering as our own responsibility and are advised against fighting it. It’s our own fault after all. If we would only open our eyes we would see we invited all this trouble on ourselves. Of course, there is an element of truth in all of this advice – some suffering is punishment, some is self-inflicted - and some suffering can make us stronger.

So what help does the book of Job offer us? It offers us a “resolution without a solution.” The key that unlocks the mystery is the revelation to Job that in the past he knew only what others had told him, but now he has seen with his own eyes. It is the answer of encounter, of an event, of a happening between Job and God in which God speaks of Job being Job, with all the limitations and liabilities that lay therein, and of God being God, with all the knowledge and power that lay therein. It is in that moment of first-hand understanding that the problems and questions about God’s control or lack of control are resolved. It is the moment when we can receive what is being offered and be satisfied. Before that time, nothing that is offered will help, whether from the heart of a human being or from the hand of God Himself. But, after that encounter with God, we receive the one thing we need more than an answer, and that is the ability to recognize and to accept the answer we are given. This acceptance is not passive resignation, but active affirmation of what we ourselves have discovered to be true.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 8, 1986

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 263 - A Word to the Wise

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Proverbs 25:11-14 (NRSV) ¹¹ A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. ¹² Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise rebuke to a listening ear.  ¹³ Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest are faithful messengers to those who send them; they refresh the spirit of their masters. ¹⁴ Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of a gift never given.

Luke 6:43-45 (NRSV) 43 ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; ⁴⁴for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

By the power of His word, God created everything that was created. And, the irony is that if humanity destroys that creation, the end will begin with a word. Before the first button is pushed, before the first missile is launched, there must first come the word of command.

One fourth of the book of Proverbs deals with the wise use of words, of wise words spoken with accuracy that goes beyond honesty. A word fitly spoken is accurate, direct, and to the point. It is also well-timed, spoken under the right circumstances. One of our goals as Christians is to use words in the service of Jesus Christ, and to the degree we are able to do that, we speak wisely.

Most of us want to speak with wisdom. Most of us do on occasions, yet most of us still have room to grow toward this goal. How can we take a few steps forward in learning to speak wisely and to use our words in the service of Jesus Christ? Do we have the gift that will enable us to speak wisely? Jesus said, “…it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”  The Christ who has committed Himself to live in our hearts gives us the abundance out of which we can speak. If we have the gift of His life within us, we have the ability to speak wisely.

The next question is whether or not we will dig for the treasure through discipline. Discipline is what we do to nurture the gift of word already given to us in Jesus Christ. It is learning to give in to the higher urge, which is the work of Jesus Christ offering us wisdom out of the abundance of our hearts. Discipline begins by listening to that wisdom and by responding to the work He is doing in our hearts. Discipline includes, if we are fortunate, having someone who cares enough about us to hold us accountable.  God has given us the gift of “a word fitly spoken” in His Son. Are we willing to undergo the discipline to release the power of that word in our lives and to our world?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope, June 22, 1986

© Rhonda H. Mitchell

DAY 262 - A New Lease on Life

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John 11:17-44 (NIV) ¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” ²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Lazarus has died, and in John’s gospel we see how Martha, Mary, and Jesus cope with his death. Martha copes with her loss with a vain effort of faith. She still has a certain confidence in Jesus. She finds some comfort in His presence with them. She is still able to hold on to some small hope that what she has been taught about the resurrection is true. But she is struggling at best, trying to fight back that terrible sense of despair and hopelessness that death so often brings.

 Then Mary speaks the same words as Martha, but with a different spirit. Here the words are not so much an expression of slipping faith as complete despair. Mary doesn’t struggle. She doesn’t try to hope. She caves in to the pain, the grief, the despair, prostrate on the ground because she has been overcome by the devastating loss of her brother.

Again, I think we can sympathize. However we sought to cope we know what it feels like to be beaten down by our grief, to lose the struggle to maintain our balance, our composure, and our calm. And we know what it is to turn to someone, not because we want or expect anything from them, but because we have got to turn somewhere, to someone who might at least by their presence take the edge off the sharpness of our pain. When Jesus saw her and the Jews who came with her weeping, He was moved and the emotion ran deep. Then Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” The raising of Lazarus is the last and seventh sign in John’s gospel. The sign is not a message that condemns Martha and Mary for the reaction to the death of their brother, but neither is it simply an act to comfort them by restoring their loss. This is not a resurrection to eternal life. This miracle is reviving a person to mortal life that once again would be lost.

The seventh sign is a visible, living message meant to give Mary and Martha and all on-lookers then and all on-lookers for all time to come a new understanding of death and of life, and a new foundation for their faith. Now Jesus is going to show them in an unmistakable way what He meant: place your confidence in me and not in the finality of death. This is the work of death – to erode or even explode confidence in God, and death had succeeded with Mary, Martha, and the crowd. At the command of Jesus, in response to His call, Lazarus, the dead man, came out. The God who creates life by the power of His word now restores life by the power of His word. That is the confidence Jesus calls and commands and creates in us to believe. Our body may decay in the ground, but our life is not beyond the life-giving power of His word.

The revival of Lazarus was also a resurrection of faith and hope and confidence in the minds and hearts of Martha and Mary and at least some of the crowd. This resurrection of confidence is more than relief from grief. It is more than release from fears. This confidence is given as the foundation for our obedience to God. Obedience grows in resurrection soil. Obedience is saying yes to the call and command of God that gives life.

We are all called to be Lazarus, to come to life at the command of Christ. That is the message of the miracle, a message that no one guessed in their grief. Certainly death will continue to bring pain to our life. The miracle did not even relieve Jesus of those deep feelings of grief. Will this miracle leave a residue of confidence and a readyness to respond to the commands of God that give us life? Most of us are probably acquainted enough with our own mortal weakness that we are not going to leap to a “yes” answer to that question. But perhaps a new beginning can be made in the sincere and simple response of “Yes, Lord, I hope.”

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 30, 1986

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell