Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Mark 14:8-9
[Jesus said:] “She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”
Jesus said this after a woman had anointed him in Bethany. It was clearly an amazing moment. It was quite usual for a house guest to be greeted by being given a few drops of perfume, but the woman deliberately broke open the whole perfume bottle. The onlookers immediately responded to the apparent waste of money. The perfume was made from nard which came from far off India and was, therefore, extremely expensive – the equivalent of one year’s wages.
Jesus vigorously defended the woman’s actions. The people who suggested that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor weren’t wrong, but they missed the point. This woman was preparing Jesus’ body for burial, and nothing could be more important than that. Jesus’ death on the cross was going to bring salvation to the world, so her action was of the first importance. I am particularly struck by the fact that Jesus commended the woman for doing [itals]what she could[end itals]. That’s the challenge we all face. God may not call on you and me to lead countries or armies or change history through great social reforms, but He does ask us to do what we can. Perhaps He is calling us to encourage the elderly people next door, or write a note of encouragement to a colleague, or pay a debt on behalf of a family member. Our action may hardly be noticed, but that’s not the point. We will have done what we could.
In his letters, the apostle Paul constantly encouraged his readers to keep doing God’s will. He knew that life was full of challenges and distractions, but he commanded them: “Be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Question
What will you be able to do for God today?
Prayer
Loving Father, thank You for the opportunity of serving You today. Amen

Mark 12:29-31
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
The Jewish teachers of the law were famous for two things. Firstly, they took hold of the 613 laws that were given to Moses and added layer upon layer of other regulations, but they also enjoyed being able to reduce the whole law to a short sentence. That’s what Jesus does here. He took the vast weight of the Jewish law and summed it up with the command to love God and one’s neighbour. He was the first person to bring together these two instructions into a single command.
The words that Jesus used would have been very familiar to any Jew. They were known as the Shema and they opened every act of Jewish worship - and still do today. Jews are constantly reminded of them. On every doorpost in a Jewish home, there is a small cylindrical box called a Mezuzah. Inside the box, there is a tiny copy of the Shema. It was also contained in the phylacteries which devout Jews wore as they prayed. These were little leather boxes, and you will still often see them being worn by Jews at the Western Wall (otherwise known as the Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem.
We can so easily make life complicated, but Jesus continually calls us back to the simplicity of his message. Love is the key. We can never go wrong if we love him and live in obedience to his loving commands. St Augustine summed this up well with the famous saying: “Love God and do as you like.” Often when we think about laws, we think about the negative ones – the long list of things that we shouldn’t do – but God’s fundamental law is entirely positive. When we love him and show love to our neighbour, the thought of hurting them in any way disappears. Our whole interest is to encourage and strengthen them in just the same way as God constantly seeks to build us up and make us stronger.
Question
What will it mean for you to love God today with all your heart, mind, soul and strength?
Prayer
Loving God, I thank you for your perfect love for me. Help me to learn more each day about how I can pass that love on to others. Amen

Mark 11:16-17
[Jesus] stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
The Temple in Jerusalem was an impressive building and occupied a vast 30-acre site in the heart of the city. The temple area was divided into distinct parts and the commercial activity all took place in the extensive Court of the Gentiles, the wall of which was covered in notices indicating that the penalty for any non-Jew entering further was death. The Court of the Gentiles trading area was often extremely busy. It is said that on one occasion a trader offered 3,000 sheep for sale on a single day! The priests were also involved in the trading, and the high priest seems to have owned shops in the area. If you have ever been to what we now call The Old City of Jerusalem or any other middle eastern bazaar, you will have a good idea of what it was like. It was noisy and hectic as traders went about their business. This was all too much for Jesus, who was furious at this abuse of the temple and energetically drove out the traders.
The temple was, of course, principally the focus of worship for Jews, but the Court of the Gentiles was there to show that non-Jews were welcome. Jesus observed that it was to be a house of prayer for all nations, so seeing it dominated by noisy traders was deeply offensive.
I’m sure we all share Jesus’ sense of outrage at the abuse of the temple, but the same thing can happen in our own day. It is perfectly possible for churches to become distracted by secondary matters. They may become so focused on their buildings, music, social engagement or fellowship that prayer gets crowded out. All of those things are good, but they should never be our priority.
Question
Is prayer the priority of your church?
Prayer
Lord God, help me to always make prayer the priority of my life. Amen

Mark 11:9-10
“Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessings
on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!”
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem shows us his extraordinary courage. He could easily have slipped quietly into the city, but in deliberately entering the city on a donkey, he was making a powerful statement. He was declaring for all to see that he was indeed the Messiah, the one who had come to save his people. Their praises show that they were entirely clear what was happening. Some may even have recalled that this was exactly what Zechariah had prophesied: “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey – riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9).
The people were delighted to welcome their Messiah, but there were clearly very different ideas of what such a person would do. Jesus wasn’t offering himself as the one who would kick out the occupying Roman forces, and that was probably the kind of liberation that most people were looking for. The thought that their Messiah was going to face crucifixion within a week wasn’t in their minds at all. Not even Jesus’ closest disciples had understood how the week would unfold.
As we celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, it is good for us to remember that he is the one who sets us free, but not always in the way that we expect or want. We may want him to be the powerful authority figure who comes on an impressive war horse to sort out the problems of our lives and of our world, but he comes on a donkey and gently shows us how we need to forgive, love and support the people around us. Jesus’ ways are not our ways but, like the people of long ago, we need to welcome him with enthusiasm and joy because he is coming to us in the name of the Lord.
Question
What kind of Messiah are people looking for these days?
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, I praise you. You are the one who has come to give me peace and salvation. I welcome you into my life today. Amen

Mark 11:1
As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead.
Jesus lived most of his life in the Galilee region, which was about a four-day journey north of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he paid many visits to Jerusalem and had some good friends in the area. His particular friends were Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, just outside the city. In one of his visits there, he had clearly prepared the ground for his final triumphal entry into Jerusalem, so he was able to send two of his disciples on ahead to get hold of a donkey with the instruction that if the owner asked why they were taking it, they were to say that the master needed it and would return it soon.
Jesus had prepared the way for this decisive journey to Jerusalem, and that was an important principle for the disciples to remember in the years to come. When they went on their missionary journeys around the world, they needed to know that the Lord had gone ahead of them. His Spirit had prepared the way. As they headed out in search of the donkey, the disciples simply had to have faith in their master. Sure enough, it worked out exactly as Jesus had promised.
Whenever we set off to do God’s work, it is just the same. As we go forward in obedience to him, we will find that he has prepared the way. At the moment, I’m working with a church on a new venture and we are facing lots of questions about how it will work out. I need to keep reminding myself of this fundamental truth that Jesus has already prepared the way.
It's significant that Jesus sent two disciples on this mission. He had done the same in chapter six, sending out his twelve disciples two by two. This is an important and encouraging reminder that the Lord does not send us out on a solitary journey but on one in which we have a relationship of support and shared faith.
Question
In what ways have you seen the Lord going ahead of you to prepare the way?
Prayer
Lord God, help me to trust you and to listen carefully to you as I live for you each day. Amen