Plymothian

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ² “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, ⁴ and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. ⁵ “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸ When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹ The poor you will always have with you,^[a] but you will not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Beautiful Waste

Jesus, you seem to have been less pragmatic than we are.  There is a beauty in extravagance, it shows how we value the one we lavish our resources upon.  The temple in the Old Testament reflects this.  The churches of the Middle Ages reflect this.  However, our protestant churches are mostly pragmatic architectural embarrassments.  We worship you in spirit and in truth and we reject the love of icons that catholics have.  So we worship you in shades of beige, darkened boxes, and hospital green.  We create Starbucks in the lobby with the hope that people will ignore the drab exterior.  We wouldn’t dare lavish funds on the creation of a house of worship when so many people are starving in Africa.  People were starving in the world when the temple was built.  People were poor when a woman poured expensive perfumes on you.  Cut flowers die and that is part of the reason they are valuable.  They are a sign of extravagant love.

Jesus, we are still extravagant.  We are extravagant toward ourselves.  We let your church live in poverty, unable to fund great architecture, acts to stem social evils, and unable to invest in education, whilst we get fat on too much food, whilst we buy clothes that are more expensive than we need, whilst we buy tickets to events we need not attend.  Our financial acts of lavishing riches show the kind of love the woman in the story above showed you, but we lavish resources on ourselves.  We excuse ourselves from wasting our resources on you.

Questions

1. Where is Jesus?
2. Why were the disciples upset?
3. Why do you think expensive things are ‘wasted’ on God (e.g. the excess of resources that went into building the temple)?
4. How has a selfish view of pragmatism made the church ugly?
5. Upon whom or what do you lavish resources?

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Getting God Wrong

Jesus, it strikes me that when we come to you we don’t really know who you are.  We get you wrong.  We think of you as the sugar-daddy who will fix our problems; we think of you as the one who will remove our addictions; we think of you as a kind and careful servant pandering to our whims; we form you often in our own image.  Perhaps the worst distortion of you and your Father is the depiction of the cruel, self-obsessed tyrant.  I see this distortion of biblical understanding in popular works like the Brick Testament (http://thebrickbible.com/) where a man makes cute, Lego depictions of  biblical events but subtly makes God look fierce and angry and his servants look vengeful and cruel.  My own family struggles with the God of the Old Testament as if he were different than the God of the New Testament.  However, you and the Father are one and whoever has seen you has seen the Father.   The problem with the man who had less talents was not his work with the talent so much as his caricature of the one who gave him the talent.  He was afraid of the master, but he didn’t really know him at all.  It is good to be afraid of the Father, he is treated with far too much irreverence today.  However, he is loving and kind and not unjust.  Why do we make him so when we don’t get our own way or we don’t get as much as others from him?

Questions

1. How does the servant with 5 talents perceive God?
2. How does the servant with 1 talent perceive God?
3. What happens to those who perceive God incorrectly?
4. How does one get to know the true character of Go?
5. Look through some stories in thebrickbible.com How does the author represent God?

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Ditsy

Jesus, you masterfully preached in ways that utilized the forms people were familiar with. People were used to wisdom and folly being personified and so you gave them five wise and five ditsy women. It is wise to live as though your return is imminent; to be mindful of you and live as though you could return at any moment. However, when it comes down to the final assessment, our actions are an indicator whether we know you or not. If we are prepared for your return, it shows that you are a priority. If we live with carelessness and lack of thought, then we may doubt whether we are known by you. the story shows that those who are known by you live wisely, and when the end comes they will be ready.

In know that I have lived foolishly, but I think that I am wiser now than I once was. This gives me confidence that I know you. I come from a background where not wishing to presume too much is important, but sometimes my fear that I am not known by you denies the facts: My life is changed by your touch. In my marriage I am more resolute; in my teaching I am bolder; I care more and more for the fate of the individuals in my small group; and also my prayer life has improved this fall. I may not be perfect at your return, but I am looking for it. I see it as a homecoming, and I am glad that in your arms we have rest and security.

Questions

Who is waiting for the groom?
How do you think weddings in Jesus’ time were when compared to ours?
What did Jesus say when the foolish (ditsy) virgins came to his door?
How do you compare to the wise or foolish virgins?
Does Jesus know you? What does this have to say about revealing yourself to him and seeing what he has revealed to mankind?

¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

²² “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time.

²⁶ “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days

³⁰ “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth^[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.^{[d] 31} And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[e] is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Distress

Jesus, I get annoyed when I have a headache, but nothing compares to the trauma in these verses.  I think a lot of this is yet to come, but that 70 A.D. acts as a sort of indicator of what might come in the future.  I believe that Jerusalem will be pivotal in the future as it once was in the past.  I believe the temple will be restored.  Just as the invading armies set up an ugly abomination that desecrated the temple in A.D. 70, so another enemy of God will set up some horrible abomination again in the future.  However, the rebellious people of the future will see your return and it will strike fear into their hearts.  Finally, you will be the king that everyone expected.

Questions

1. What event happened in 70 A.D. that sheds light on this passage?
2. How do you think 70 A.D. and the future are related?
3. What might a future leader set up in the temple?
4. How does this passage help you in present trials?
5. Do you really want Jesus’ return?

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[c]”

Fit For Garbage

The Pharisees and Sadducees were not going to be able to escape from hell.    They killed the prophets and murdered their teachers.  They wanted to maintain a lifestyle of decorated emptiness.  We, too have a lifestyle which is empty and yet we all aspire to it.  I remember listening to a Eurythmics’ Shame in the late 80′s which had these lyrics:

Now there’s a lifestyle

With  painted lips

Now there’s a lifestyle

Everybody  wants it

But it don’t exist and I  said

Shame:  In the dance halls and the cinema

Shame: On the TV and the  media

Shame: We loved you”

Now  there’s a lifestyle

With fashion  chic

Now there’s a  lifestyle

Everybody in it wants to  be elite
And I said, You with  your brand new shoes and

You with  your greasy hair and

You with your  mother’s pride and poetry

Don’t you  want to feel the

Shame? In the dance  halls

Can’t you feel the  shame?

And the TV

Can’t you feel the shame?

We loved you, oh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ynPRqBwqv8

It seems that we have only become more fixated on this kind of lifestyle.  It isn’t religious, but it has replaced faith in something transcendent with a façade that promises everything and delivers nothing.

Help us not to get sucked into the fashion chic that has all eyes on us in the club.

Questions

1. What lives do the Pharisees cultivate?
2. Why does Jesus condemn them?
3. What is Jesus foreshadowing?
4. What fake lives do people lust after today?
5. What is better about following Jesus than building an empire where we are emulated and adored?