Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Mark 9:1-13

Mark 9:1-13 
The Message 

  What's the most amazing thing you've ever seen?  
  I can't decide...  I've seen the Reds come from behind to win a game on a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th.  I've stood at the end of the tunnel in Yosemite and looked out over that valley.  I've seen a newborn child taste the air of the world for the first time.  I've seen an entire stadium react to the preaching of Billy Graham.  I've seen sandy beaches so beautiful it'll make your heart ache.
  I could go on.  I'm blessed to say I have a lot of choices.  But whatever it is, it pales in comparison to the Kingdom of God.  
  Here, Peter, James, and John get a glimpse of it, and they were so stunned they couldn't think what to say.  What I love about the book of Revelation is that John is clearly at a loss for words, because there aren't words to describe what he sees, so he describes things as what they are like, but words fall short.  In the Gospel of Mark, the women run from the empty tomb because they're so stunned at the glimpse of the Kingdom's power over death.  
  Our words fail us when we try and describe the Kingdom.  Our eyes cannot take in tis beauty.  Our hearts cannot beat quickly enough when we anticipate the Kingdom.
  It's like the most beautiful things in the world, only moreso.  It's like the purest love, the greatest joy, the most wondrous beauty, only richer, deeper, grander.  I cannot tell you what the Kingdom is like -- Jesus used parables to help us see snapshots of what it was like, but he knew we weren't ready for it.  We struggle to imagine a place where the hungry are fed and love has conquered all and people of every race and creed sit at a table together and do not want for anything.  
  The Kingdom is greater than we can imagine, and so we pray for the Kingdom to come, and we pray for the Kingdom to lead our hearts, that we may live in such a way as to both sample the foretaste of the Kingdom and to invite others to come and see the wonders of God's Kingdom.

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