the G sides

Be careful of ‘common’ passages in scripture. They will bite you.

Case in point – Mark 14. Yesterday morning a group of us started to tackle it and it seemed pretty straight forward. It’s one of the most famous scenes of the Gospel – a woman with a past shatters a jar of perfume worth 9 months of salary over Jesus’ feet. She lets her hair down to dry Him off, the disciples grumble, Judas actually says something out loud. Jesus rebukes them and tells them her story will be told where ever the gospel is told.

Straight forward, right? Except that it isn’t. It is one of those — “ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,she’sdoingwhat?” awkward moments of complete extravagance and intimacy.

The act was invasive. Intimate. Bold. Audacious. Awkward. It was — so out there. And Jesus praised her for it. Which in and of itself gives me pause because Jesus saw her act as worship. To think that at times I feel funny about raising my hands in worship. Oh, how far I have to go in understanding worship. Unbridled, unrestrained worship – how many of those experiences do I have in my life?

And Judas…Judas is an easy villain. He betrayed Jesus. But why does this story seem to be the one that sends him over the edge? Why is this the last straw for Judas? Is it solely because Jesus rebuked him for being a tightwad?

Judas was the kind of guy we all would have loved. Correction – a guy I would have loved. He spoke his mind. He was smart. He was driven. He was trustworthy – the rest of the crew trusted him with their money. Think about all the finance people you know in the church. By and large, all of them are principled people. I’m guessing Judas was the same way.

I think Judas is the first of the disciples to finally get what Jesus has been saying – the Son of God will die.

There was no way Judas could see that being in God’s plan.

The sinking feeling of unmet expectations collided with his huge sense of pride and intelligence. There was no humility in Judas to think that God could do something other than come in as conquering hero. Then to make matters worse – there was no humility in Judas to think God could even save him. Both instances of betrayal and suicide are acts of a man taking matters into his own hands – which seems to be the tool Satan loves to use most.

Be careful of these familiar passages…they’ll work you over.