Today’s chapter is Mark 11

Tom writes:

Peppered all across the gospels are little quotes from the Old Testament. Often they are laid out differently from the rest of the narrative and have little letters next to them which, if you look up, show you the specific passage being quoted. A great way to enrich your understanding of a New Testament passage is to follow the trail back to the Old Testament passage and see the context the quote has been taken from. If you do that here with the “den of robbers” quote it is pretty EXPLOSIVE. Jesus was not messing about. The “den of robbers” quote is from Jeremiah’s most visceral lambasting of the worthless religion of old Jerusalem. You know; the old Jerusalem that God poured out his wrath upon, plundered, destroyed and left empty for many generations. By hitting the temple rulers with the stick of Jeremiah, Jesus is saying “you have learnt nothing; you are as despicable before God as the old leaders of Israel.” And it wasn’t because they were charging a bit much for a pigeon. The Jeremiah passage shows the real sin of old Jerusalem was preferring their own words to God’s words. “I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen” says Jeremiah. “You are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless” he wails.

That is the rebuke of Jesus to the temple leaders. When people prefer their own words to Jesus’ words God tends to come and tip things over a bit - just to make a point. This is why we are going to make so much effort to read the New Testament in a year. This is why I’m labouring hard to write these commentaries. This is why we advocate for preaching the bible and not just giving christian pep-talks; God wants to be listened to. God wants to be listened to by you. Our christian culture enjoys re-posting soundbites and sharing glamorous preaching / worship / testimony videos. They are easier to watch and quicker to “get done” than finding a little letter next to a quote, looking up the reference and then reading its passage in the Old Testament. But the latter gets you right into God’s voice. The former… well, it might not.

Question for reflection

Are you listening to God’s actual voice, or are you preferring an echo?

More resources are for you at www.anewtestamentjourney.net

Paperback and eBook versions of the devotional available at https://amzn.eu/d/0tDbKny

Mark 11 - Tuesday 16th April