(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)
Worship
By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.
Thanksgiving
Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)
Scripture Reading
Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!
Scripture Reading: Mark Ch. 12 (ESV)
Meditation
Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.
Devotional
Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.)
(vv. 1-12) This Parable of the Wicked Tenants was told by Jesus in response to a challenge to His authority by the Pharisees (back in the last paragraph of Ch. 11). The “tenants” in this parable are precisely these religious leaders, and this parable refers to the practice of tenant farming: tenant farmers do not own the land, nor any property rights on the land; instead, they lease the vineyard from the landlord. Now when the time came for the landlord to collect the harvest, the tenants rebelled, killing off the sent servants one after another. Finally, even the landlord’s own son was slaughtered. What would result from this? In the end, the landlord of the vineyard will surely destroy those tenants. As soon as Jesus finished telling this parable, the Pharisees could immediately tell that it was aimed directly at them.
At first, it seems like they simply left, but in reality, these Pharisees went and gathered some other Pharisees as well as a few Herodians, hoping to framing Jesus; later on, even the Sadducees joined in.
(vv. 13-27) The Pharisees and Herodians had set a trap for Jesus with a question on taxation: whether Jesus’ reply was “yes, pay taxes” or “no, don’t pay”, they were prepared to respond. However, not only did Jesus not fall for their schemes, but He also brought up an important truth: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Next, the Sadducees fabricated a story out of thin air, using it to question Jesus on a problem concerning resurrection. Our Lord Jesus responded by saying that they failed to understand not only the Scriptures, but also the power of God. From Scripture, He quotes: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”, illustrating that God is not God of the dead, but of the living.
How will you respond when faced with the authority of Jesus? Are you willing to render full submission to Him, with all your heart and body? And do you truly understand the power of His resurrection? Our regular daily devotionals are in fact a means through which we can live with the risen Christ, build up our relationship with Him, and, through obeying His word and submitting to His authority, offer ourselves up to God in our everyday lives.
(vv. 28-44) This passage is the Great Commandment according to the Gospel of Mark, which mentions the most important two commandments – loving God, and loving people – and this is the theme for our church this year. Jesus’ consecutive emphases of “all your heart”, “all your soul”, “all your mind” and “all your mind”, for a total of four “all”s, to entreat us to give it our all when it comes to loving God. If we consider the degree to which we love the Lord, will we find ourselves measuring up to His command? What can we do to be considered to have “given our all”? One suggestion is this: let us not regard ourselves as “alright” or sufficient, but rather, remind ourselves from time to time that our works are “almost” and still insufficient, and that we need to “go a bit further”, “try a bit harder” or “perfect a bit more” in each and every all aspect; then consider: what else we can offer to the Lord?
Thought of something? May the Lord also guide us in our understanding through the passage of the widow and her contribution of two small coins!
Pray
Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what/where are you going to lead me to today?”)