Friday, April 25 — Psalm 54, Leviticus 18:6-19:11; Mark 6:14-29
CLICK HERE FOR THE READINGS
S (SCRIPTURE): Mark 6:14-29
O (OBSERVATION): Speaking truth to power will get you killed.
A (APPLICATION): John the Baptist spoke out against Herod (The king at the time) because he married his brother's wife (which is also mentioned in the Leviticus reading). Herod had a great way of removing people who threatened his power, including his own family members. Regardless of how Herod's wife gets it done, she wanted to shut John up, for the same reason....preserving and protecting power. john speaking the truth to power is what got him killed....if not this way, it would have happened another.
We see this time and time again in our own lives, prophets are not welcome and often time they are killed. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero. It doesn't matter how it is done, speaking truth to power will get you killed. the foreshadowing of John's death for the Gospel of Mark is held up as Jesus marches onward to the cross. "If any want to be my followers, you must die to yourself, pick up your cross and follow me."
We may not be put in such situations that when we speak truth to power, we get killed physically but there is some dying that happens. A lot is done to preserve and protect power yet the truth is spoken not to relieve people from power but that by speaking truth power is displayed, even in dying. That is the point of the cross, real power is shown in weakness.
P (PRAYER): Lord we grieve that you send prophets to us to speak your truth to us and we continue to try and protect our own selfish agendas. Redeem us and remind us of the power Jesus displayed in his dying and rising, that we too, might have the confidence to be the prophets of your future.
CLICK HERE FOR THE READINGS
S (SCRIPTURE): Mark 6:14-29
O (OBSERVATION): Speaking truth to power will get you killed.
A (APPLICATION): John the Baptist spoke out against Herod (The king at the time) because he married his brother's wife (which is also mentioned in the Leviticus reading). Herod had a great way of removing people who threatened his power, including his own family members. Regardless of how Herod's wife gets it done, she wanted to shut John up, for the same reason....preserving and protecting power. john speaking the truth to power is what got him killed....if not this way, it would have happened another.
We see this time and time again in our own lives, prophets are not welcome and often time they are killed. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero. It doesn't matter how it is done, speaking truth to power will get you killed. the foreshadowing of John's death for the Gospel of Mark is held up as Jesus marches onward to the cross. "If any want to be my followers, you must die to yourself, pick up your cross and follow me."
We may not be put in such situations that when we speak truth to power, we get killed physically but there is some dying that happens. A lot is done to preserve and protect power yet the truth is spoken not to relieve people from power but that by speaking truth power is displayed, even in dying. That is the point of the cross, real power is shown in weakness.
P (PRAYER): Lord we grieve that you send prophets to us to speak your truth to us and we continue to try and protect our own selfish agendas. Redeem us and remind us of the power Jesus displayed in his dying and rising, that we too, might have the confidence to be the prophets of your future.
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