After two weeks (thanks to Frank Wang and Frank Pugh for ably filling the pulpit in my absence), we’re once again plumbing the depths of The Gospel of Mark this week.  We’ve come to three seemingly unrelated incidents in our passage this week, Mark 12:35-44.  In these verses, Jesus takes on three challenges.  There’s a theological challenge, a moral challenge, and a spiritual challenge.  But all three have the same root cause — a fundamental unbelief in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of David.

As we’ve seen before, Mark likes to make contrasts.  He used a blind person to expose those who were spiritually blind.  He used a man struggling with doubt to expose those who were certain in their unbelief.  He took on their doctrinal questions to expose their faulty doctrines.  And in this passage, He uses an insignificant person who actually trusts God to expose the significant people who love the appearance of trusting God.

Now, I’m greatly relieved to know that our church is filled with people who always see things with the eyes of faith, who never struggle with doubts, who have our doctrine down cold (after all, you do your devotional reading in the Book of Church Order, right?), and who trust God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength all the time. 

However, for those of you who might … I said ‘might’ … not check off all those boxes, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.  Perhaps together, we can figure out what God’s trying to teach us here.  Should be fun, see you then, Dr. Dave

P.S. (which, of course, stands for ‘Pray Seriously’) – Please keep our brother Jon Thompson in your prayers.  Let’s pray fervently, asking the Lord to “do far more abundantly than all we can ask or imagine.”  And that the presence of “the God of all comfort” would be with Alex, Carmi, Caleb, and Velvet at this time.