22 February 2010
Psalm 41, 52; Gen. 37:1-11; 1 Cor. 1:1-19; Mark 1:1-13

You would think after seeing the results of favoritism in his own life Jacob would have avoided it when he became a father in order to have peace in the family, but we see here that Joseph was his favorite of all his children. Joseph makes his entrance on the scene by being a tale-teller on his brothers, certainly not a way to endear yourself to your older brothers. His brothers already hated him for the favoritism shown him and now he tells these two dreams to them and I can’t imagine how they must have felt when they heard them. The arrogance of the young man is amazing. He had to have known how they would have received him as we were already informed they “could not speak peaceably to him” even before the dreams. While Jacob rebukes his son for the telling of the dream when even he would bow before his son, at the end of the story the brothers hate him but Jacob “kept the matter in mind.” Is that like Mary pondering prophecy of her son in her heart?

Mark’s Gospel begins abruptly and gets things moving. He tells us this is good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There is no mystery about his perspective. He moves right into the story of John the Baptist and his mission, Jesus’ baptism and the Holy Spirit impelling Jesus into the wilderness for forty days of fasting and temptation by Satan, all in 13 verses. In Mark’s telling of the Gospel, everything is in a hurry, get used to the pace and the language itself will hurry things along, everything seems to happen immediately in the Gospel. Remember that John had already established himself as an important person with his urgent message of preparation for the imminent coming of God in judgment, and now Jesus breaks onto the scene and John is willing to take a step back from the spotlight and allow Jesus to ascend. Both he and Jesus show infinitely more grace than Joseph and the brothers,

Just as Jesus prayed for the unity of the disciples and us, so here Paul encourages the Corinthian church to be in unity as well. The way in which he begins this letter tells us something about the divisions that potentially exist among them. He extols Jesus and centers the community around all that Christ has done for them. In the first few verses he has identified the following benefits: their sanctification, their calling to be saints with those who call on Jesus’ name, the grace given them through Jesus, He has enriched them in every kind of speech and knowledge, they do not lack in any spiritual gift, they will be strengthened to the end as they wait, and in the end they will be found blameless. Paul says that it is foolish to identify yourself with the preacher of Good News and ultimately meaningless. It is the message not the messenger that is important. Again, we see that grace in pointing to Jesus and away from self. In this season of Lent, let us seek to become less while He becomes more in our lives.

I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.