Wednesday: Psalm 95-98, Leviticus 20, Mark 7.1-23

from Heather Kaufmann

In Mark 7:1-14, the Pharisees call out Jesus’ disciples for “not walking according to the traditions of the elders” and eating “with defiled hands” (vs. 5). Jesus in turn calls out the Pharisees, saying, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (vs. 6, quoting from Isaiah 29).

What does it mean for the heart to be far from God? Jesus goes on to describe an uncleanness of the heart (in contrast to the ceremonial uncleanness that the Pharisees are criticizing Jesus’ disciples of): “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (vs. 21-22).

Phew. This is quite a list! To be honest, it makes me pretty uncomfortable to think of all those ugly things coming out of my heart. My pride (which made the above list, actually) wants to tell me that I am pretty alright as I am. But in truth, and as God has been gently and graciously reminding me this Lent, I am a sinner. But it does not end there: God promises a renewal of our hearts – a work that He has gently and graciously been inviting me into in this season.

16 th Century English poet and priest George Herbert’s poem, The Sinner* is a prayer that I invite you topray with me this week:

I find [in my soul] quarries of piled vanities,
But shreds of holiness, that dare not venture
To show their face, since cross to thy decrees:
There the circumference earth is, heaven the center.
In so much dregs the quintessence is small:
The spirit and good extract of my heart
Comes to about the many hundredth part.
Yet, Lord, restore thine image, hear my call:
And though my hard heart scarce to thee can groan,
Remember that though once didst write in stone.

*This poem is included in “Lent Week 4” in the literary guide to prayer, Between Midnight and Dawn, compiled by Sarah Arthur – highly recommend! You can read the full George Herbert poem here.

I am currently in a transitional season of life, living with my family out in Bedford, MA. These days, I am enjoying slower rhythms of working from home (or with a friend at coffee shop!), taking midday walks in the woods, and baking bread.

Monday: Psalm 90, 91, Leviticus 18, Mark 6.1-29

from James Flaherty

The story of Jesus sending out his disciples in Mark 6 is one we’ve likely read many times. But on this reading, I’m struck by something that sits right on the surface of the story, a detail about the assignment Jesus gives his disciples that I’ve never considered: He gave them authority over unclean spirits. Hold that alongside what the disciples do: They went out and proclaimed that people should repent, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Are these things related, casting out demons and repenting from sins? My modern imagination envisions a demon, and certainly all the more so a demon exorcism, as extraordinary and unfathomable and not something that plays out in my daily life. This isn’t my calling as a disciple of Jesus, right? Is there actually much that a demon has in common with the sins that are hitched onto my life, the sins that seems pedestrian and acceptable and harmless in my day to day but that really make me unclean, that separate me from God?

God seems to take the threats to my life far more seriously than I do. Read the call to cleanliness in Leviticus 18. On the surface, not a thrilling passage. But to be clean is to prepare yourself to stand nearer to God, to be in his presence. What’s more vital than that? I’m grateful for the refrain that repeats throughout Leviticus 18. It’s love that God speaks. It’s love that he speaks into the confusion of my sexuality and yours. It’s love that he teaches “I am the Lord.”

James Flaherty lives in Jamaica Plain with Lucia, Joan, and Ursula, his family. He's reading Another Country by James Baldwin and Transcendental Style in Film by Paul Schrader. 

Friday: Psalm 84, 85, Leviticus 10, Mark 4.1-34

from Jessica Patton

Often when I read the parable of the sower in Mark 4, I picture in my head an old-fashioned farmer, a bag of seed slung carelessly across his chest, with a weather-beaten hat on his head. He’s ambling around, happy to be outside, scattering handfuls of seed wherever. And eventually some things grow, and everyone is happy, even if we’re a little sad not all of the seed has sprouted.

But then I turn to passages like Leviticus 10, and my mental picture of Jesus as just an easy-going farmer disintegrates. In Leviticus 8, Aaron and his sons are consecrated as priests. The Israelites are in the desert, the glory of God is dwelling in the tabernacle (Exodus 40) and now the priests must begin their ministry. God gives specific instructions for the ceremony, and Moses and Aaron obey. At the end of Leviticus 9, “the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.” This is a huge - and surely fear-inducing - day.

And yet… immediately after this, two of Aaron’s sons make an incense offering to the Lord that He did not require and “fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.” (v 2) God just burned them up?!? For making an offering? What just happened here?!?

God tells us in verse 3: “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy.” God is sinless, pure, righteous and thus must be set apart from us sinful, willful, prideful people. As we pray weekly, we cannot presume to come to Him trusting in our own righteousness, doing what we think will make Him happy or doing what we feel are good things. It is only by God’s grace through Jesus that He has “forgiven the iniquity” of His people, “covered all their sin” and taken away His wrath (Ps. 85.2-3).

My view of God can sometimes be so familiar as to lack a good dose of healthy fear. If I’m honest, this is probably because I lead a life of privilege and relative material ease: I don’t feel the need for God’s consuming fire to devour unrighteousness or injustice on a daily basis. And it’s also because I find digging deeply into God’s holiness to be unsettling - the Bible is full of some scary stuff, today’s reading being a case in point. And, since I’m putting it all out here, it’s probably also because I do not properly assess the severity of my sins...I don’t do anything “that bad” too often, right? Oh Lord, have mercy.   

Yet we do serve a holy God. Yes, He is merciful and yes, He does scatter the seed of His word widely, inviting all to come to Him, but He is also an all-consuming fire. May we all know Him as He truly is in order to recognize our desperate need for His mercy and grace.

I am wife to Brian and mother to Ayelet, Oliver and Zayne. I am thrilled it is finally warm enough to ride my motorcycle again, and cannot wait for all the daffodils to start blooming.