DAILY DEVOTIONAL – May 6, 2020

“Fast-Pass to Nowhere“

Prayer:  Almighty God, we stand amazed by Your long-suffering patience with us.  You endure a wicked and sinful world for the sake of Your great love for us and Your desire that all would come to repentance and a knowledge of the Truth, found only in Your Son Jesus Christ.  Father, help us to endure faithfully in this life that we may bring glory to Your holy name.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Scripture: Mark 10:35-45

³⁵ And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ⁴² And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Devotional – “Fast-Pass to Nowhere”

Here is a riddle for you. What is always moving forward but always leaving you behind? Traffic.

Traffic exists in every city. It is a necessary and ironic evil. It is something that no one likes and everyone complains about, but it is something only we ourselves create. It’s also quite oxymoronic that we refer to the heaviest periods of traffic as “rush hour.” Though everyone on the road is no doubt in a rush, no one is rushing anywhere fast.

Where I grew up in Southern California, as traffic became exponentially worse over the years, more and more toll roads were built in order to help mitigate the horrendous traffic that plagued your attempts to get anywhere on time. At first these roads seemed like the perfect solution. You could zoom along the highway at over 65 mph in the middle of rush hour, only having to stop once or twice to pay your toll at the toll-booth. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for everyone to find enough spare change in their glovebox to pay the toll. Pretty soon, the lines to pay to use the toll road were nearly as bad as the traffic on the regular highway.

So to solve this traffic jam, the toll roads came up with what they called a FastPass. If you kept a minimum dollar amount in your toll roads account at all times, then they would send you an electronic pass to put in your car and that would automatically charge you the toll whenever you passed by the sensors. If you could afford a FastPass, rush hour traffic was now only to be seen in your rearview mirror.

Don’t you wish there was a FastPass for bad days? Or a FastPass for financial difficulties, illnesses or strained relationships? Who wouldn’t want to be able to bypass all of life’s heartaches and headaches and just keep on cruisin’? Well, that is pretty much what the disciples James and John were asking for from Jesus in our text today from Mark 10.

Just previous to this passage, Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew 19, “In the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones.” No doubt, this vision of the new world and their dream of relief from the suffering of earthly life and the oppression of Roman rule remained at the forefront of their mind. The disciples were so eager to realize this promise of glory Jesus made, that they completely overlooked and/or forgot how it was Jesus said He would come to bring about this new world and the Kingdom of God.

On many occasions Jesus told the disciples how He, the Son of Man, would have to suffer and die a horrible death at the hands of the very people He came to save, so that through His death and resurrection three days later, Christ would satisfy the wrath of God against our sin and serve as our perfect atoning sacrifice. Only then, only once the sinfulness of this world was dealt with, would salvation be available and a new world possible.

Having seen Jesus’ power through His teaching and miracles, the disciples wanted a FastPass to avoid the pains and trials and disappointments of this broken and sinful world. They wanted Jesus to expedite the process and guarantee them the reward of following Him without having pick up their own cross, remain steadfast and endure faithfully to the end. As Jesus told them in response, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

As they would soon see, because of our sin, the road to salvation is far from an easy one, and no one knew that more that Christ. If anyone deserved a FastPass, it was Jesus, yet He set aside His own deity and His own glory in order to be crucified and die a criminals death in our place. Had God or Jesus simply created a FastPass for sin, then God would no longer be a God of justice and righteousness. Sin must be answered for if there is to be salvation. Christ Jesus our Lord answered for all of our sins.

By God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven freely by God. Though you and I no longer have to fear answering for or suffering God’s wrath against our sin, that does not mean that this life is not still plagued by the evil and wickedness of sin. We do not experience the joy of salvation and the glory of God’s presence with us by trying to get a FastPass through this life. We find joy and fulfillment and experience the glory of God in our lives when we endure faithfully to the end, following Christ, picking up our cross and allowing God to work His miraculous love in and through our broken lives as we serve Him and serve one another. As Jesus told the disciples in verse 43, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So my friends, the next time you’re stopped at yet another red light, or crawling your way home in rush hour, take a moment and thank God for what He might be sparing you from by allowing you to be late to your next appointment. The next time someone cuts you off, instead of calling curses down on them, pray for them and remember what the Lord prayed for you as He hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Thanks for joining me for another daily devotional in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.