S - Mark 2:23-28 (NLT): "One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of wheat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, "They shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath." But Jesus replied, "Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest), ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone, and then gave some to his companions. That was breaking the law, too." Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath. And I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath!""O - This tragic perversion of purpose is not limited to the Pharisees of Jesus' day or to the issue of Sabbath observances. This sad and relentless reversal is ever-present and ever working in all religious cultures … ALL. What is meant to be life giving becomes life taking. What is given to benefit people becomes a system requiring people to benefit it. Are we made for Church or is Church made for us? Do we read the Scriptures because they help us come near to Jesus (life) or do we read them because they require us to read since they are words from God? Is my QT an exchange of life or an obligation requiring my life to "make it work"? Culture (religious and otherwise) has no life of its own; it requires our lives to exist. Jesus is life and he exists as life with or without me/us and our cultures. He calls us to himself for this exchange of divine and human, heaven and earth, of the temporary with the eternal. Jesus' caution to the twelve is also his caution for all who follow (Matthew 16:6-12): "Watch out!" Jesus warned them. "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. ..." As we all know a little yeast works through the entire batch of dough.
A - Jesus uses the illustration of yeast in only two ways … the yeast of the Pharisees/Sadducees/Herod and the yeast of his Kingdom (cf. Luke 13:20-21). Both are everywhere and both want into the batch of my little life. One is life taking and wants to take the lives of all others. The other is life giving and wants to bring life (vibrant, irrepressible, resurrection life) to all others. I need and want to watch out for and refuse the one while welcoming and engaging the other. I need the Lord's help for this and fortunately he, as Lord over it all, is more than willing to help. I choose life!
P - Lord of ALL and Lord of me,
I admit my ongoing vulnerability to the yeast which kills and my capacity to miss the yeast which brings life. Lord, enable/empower me to refuse the yeast which kills me and others and welcome and embrace/engage the yeast which brings irrepressible life to me and to all others. Thank you for wanting to help us in this and in every regard. The truth is apart from you I can do NOTHING (not even one thing). So, today while it’s called today … I throw open the batch of dough called Steve and say/pray … let the yeast of your kingdom work in and through all. Thank you for letting me work with you and for calling me to take you at your word.
You are Beautiful,
Steve
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