Week 12: Monday, November 16th
SILENCE, STILLNESS, AND CENTERING BEFORE GOD:
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few minutes in silence, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
READ:
Let your mind settle. Silently read the Scripture for this week: Mark 14.
ASK:
Read the Scripture again, this time aloud. Listen for a word, phrase, or section that grabs your attention. Write down any questions about the passage that you have. When you finish, close your eyes. Recall the word or phrase, taking it in and mulling it over. Write down what comes to mind.
REFLECT:
In verses 3-9, some of Jesus’ disciples are dismayed when a woman “wastes” a whole bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Note that they object not because they want money for themselves, but because they want to give it to the poor. This tells us that a core element of the kingdom of God is helping the marginalized. However, Jesus declares the woman’s actions “beautiful” because she anointed Him. Reflect on what it means that Jesus is worthy of extravagant worship. How can you follow this woman’s example, ignore critical and distracting voices and lavishly, almost wastefully, worship Jesus this week?
In verses 22-25, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. You may be very familiar with this passage and perhaps you can picture Jesus saying picking up the bread and the cup and telling His disciples that they represent His body and blood. However, consider the scene with fresh eyes. Jesus and His disciples are participating in the Passover meal together. Jesus is about to become the final Passover lamb, sacrificing Himself so that His blood covers over our sin and rescues us from death. So why didn’t Jesus compare Himself to the roast lamb that they were eating, which symbolized the Passover lamb He was about to become? Instead, he compares himself to two common dinner items – bread and wine – which were part of almost every dinner in Jesus’ day. Perhaps Jesus wanted to show that His sacrifice wasn’t just a sacrifice for special occasions, but that he was going to be the everyday provision for those who put their trust in Him. Just as Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, He will “give us today our daily bread” – both the bread for the salvation of our souls, and the bread that provides for our physical needs. How does the truth that Jesus is your savior in the everyday parts of life, not just the “big” parts of life, affect your life? Ask the Holy Spirit to make this known deeper.
In verses 32-42, Jesus earnestly prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. In his prayer, he beseeches God the Father to spare Him from bearing the pain of His impending torture, crucifixion, and death and the wrath of sin and judgement that will soon be poured out on Him (“let this cup pass from me”). Then He says, “Yet not what I will, but what You will”. In verse 39, He prays this prayer again. Then, in verse 41, He says, “It is enough, the hour has come”. This is the moment Jesus resolves to die for our sins. Consider how significant it is that Jesus truly chose to die on the cross, and that He willingly submitted to the agony He was about to endure. He was not an automaton, blindly doing whatever God the Father asked. He had a will, and both exercised and submitted His will to the Father by choosing to go to the cross. How can you imitate Jesus’ example? What areas can you choose to submit to God this week?
PRAY:
Read the Scripture one last time, then stop and listen for who Jesus is inviting you to become or what He is inviting you to do this week. Write down what comes to mind.
Talk with Jesus about it.
PRACTICE:
Our practice for this week as a community is a prayer of surrender. A few times each day we are going to pause to be with Jesus and surrender to Him our thoughts, feelings, will, and soul through prayer. Remember, God delights to be with you and have a conversation with you. One example of how to do this, if you’re willing and able, is:
Close your eyes and open your hands in front of you palms up (rest them on your legs if you are sitting down)
Take a few deep breaths, and focus your attention on God’s presence. Breath in His peace, breath out anxiousness. Breath in His love, breath out self-criticism.
Then, for 30 seconds to 5 minutes, rest in His presence, His love, and His grace toward you as His daughter or son. You are God’s Beloved.
Then, for 30 seconds to 5 minutes, surrender and cast your cares on Jesus. Say, “Jesus, I trust you” as many times as you need.
End your prayer and conversation with Jesus with remembering Jesus’ words to His followers, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20. Whether it was 1 minute or 10 minutes does not matter, the goal is be with Jesus and surrender your day to Him.