Part 1: Beware!

Mark 12:38-40 As he taught, he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

Context: In this passage we learn a little more about the "scribes" and the power they wield in the temple as they teach and interpret the law ... yet we must understand that Jesus isn't condemning all scribes, he is condemning a certain type of religious behavior. Remember that just a few verses earlier we find a scribe agreeing with Jesus about the greatest commandments: Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells this scribe that with this understanding he is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. It remains to be seen whether this understanding will result in changed behavior ...

Going Deeper: How dangerous this kind of power is! Jesus warns his hearers to beware of people who behave in such a way for they often obtain their power by way of the oppression and abuse of others. Perhaps he is even warning us to examine ourselves so that we are not guilty of oppression by association. When should we wonder about our own motives? Perhaps when we begin to desire
1) to parade around in long robes (or fancy clothes with our nose in the air?)
2) to be greeted with respect (and bask in the esteem of others?)
3) to seek the best seats in the synagogues (and guard our seats with an unwillingness to give them up to visitors?)
4) to have a place of honor at meals (always being served and never serve?)
5) to cheat widows out of their property (taking advantage of anyone who is in need or who is different from us?)
6) to appear pious by saying long prayers (using many meaningless words from our head rather than worshipping God with our heart?)

Pondering: Who have I "climbed over" in order to have the life I live? What kind of people ... what kind of children in third world countries make the clothing I wear? How many people could I feed with the food I throw away each day? How often do I make decisions to please others rather than standing up for what I believe in? What does it really mean to love my neighbor? What do I need to give up or how do I need to change in order that I can live a just life ... with peace from within rather than peace that comes from feelings long dead?

Daily Bread by Gregory of Nyssa ... "May you give bread; that is to say, let us have nourishment from our just efforts. If your profit does not belong to others, if your income is not the result of another’s tears, if no one is hungry because you are full, if no one groans because of your abundance, such then is the bread of God, the fruit of justice, the ear of the corn of peace, undefiled by being mixed with the seed of tares. But if you cultivate what belongs to others and fill your eyes with injustice, confirming your unjust gains with written documents, then you may indeed say to God, “give bread,” but another will hear this cry of yours, not God. One who pursues righteousness receives bread from God, whereas the man who cultivates injustice is fed by the inventor of injustice."

Praying: In this time of prayer allow God to challenge you to change your heart as you slowly and meditatively pray this prayer of David from the Psalms, savoring each word and thought …

Psalm 139
The Inescapable God
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.


Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.


For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.


O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
those who speak of you maliciously,
and lift themselves up against you for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.