Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  What will YOU do with Jesus? Mark 12:1-12        Jesus frequently used scenes from everyday life to teach in parables. This is an example of that. It was common in the ancient world for families to live on and farm land that didn’t belong to them. They plowed the owner’s land, planted the owner’s seeds, and picked the owner’s harvest. In return for their hard work, they kept some of the food they produced and gave the rest to the landowner.   God is the Landowner. He created the universe, it is His. Jesus is indicting the past leaders of Israel for rejecting the messengers sent by God, and now these leaders, for rejecting the Son . Of course, that imagery also applies to us all. We don’t own anything; we just manage a part of God’s creation. We can make the same mistake the tenants in this parable made. We start imagining we own the vineyard! Truth: God owns it all! Jesus here uses that imagery.   Context : It is the passion week, and...

  ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH! (Or, “You’re not the boss of me!”) Mark 11:27-33 Introduction : Growing up in a family with seven children we had a fair amount “constructive disagreements” between the children at different times… (OK, we fought a lot!).   Whenever there was some misunderstanding about the “pecking order” the immediate reply would come: “You’re not the boss of me!” Since the Fall, that has really been the cry of sinful humans to holy God: “You’re not the boss of me!” One preacher said, “Sin is like a tiny drop of protoplasm, floating on a little speck of dust in space, shaking its fist at the God who created a hundred million galaxies.” The famous last line of the poem “ Invictus ” by William Ernest Henley says, “ It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. ” Henley reflects the pervasive desire of unregenerate humans to affirm their supposed autonomy and to ...