Nothing is Essential

Mar 12:38-44: In His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation." And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."

Compared to the large sums of the many rich people, the two coins of the poor widow was almost nothing. Nothing and everything, because it was "all she owned". So it became a very important nothing.

These verses have become very important for me. Most of you know that I have recently come back to Romania from two semesters at the L'Abri centre near London, and the manager of our community's publishing house (Koinónia publishing, www.koinonia.ro) has asked me to again be the editor of our popular mission magazine (Kis tükör, "Little Mirror"). Before this request, I had returned with no employment prospects, feeling that I have nothing to offer in this difficult job market. And in thinking about filling this position, felt that I had so little to give or share in this confusing and difficult period of my life.

But I have realized from this passage that my only hope to make a meaningful contribution, to bear fruit, is to accept my nothingness and to confess it, to give it to the Lord. I know a story about a man who wanted to become a novitiate at a monastery, and in his interview with the abbot told him that he had no spiritual qualifications, no wisdom, no experiential or theological knowledge, no personal spirituality. "Very good," was the abbot's surprising reply, "your room will be number 23 in this corridor." Of course common sense would suggest a response more along the lines of "I'm sorry to hear this; may God prepare you so that you can re-apply when you are truly ready." Instead, the abbot continued, "Of course it is not good, not good at all, that you possess none of these very important spiritual attributes; but I am confident that if you remain with us being who you are and giving of what little you have, you will acquire them and share them with us all."

So the nothing that I am and have can be the very source of God producing fruit in my life and work. For God, only my nothing can be like the bread ("Master, the crowd is hungry and we have nothing but five loaves.") from which Jesus fed the thousands. Here Jesus says to us that the scribes "devour widows' houses": in other words, they suck something into themselves from others, they consume rather than produce. This is why their luxury, honor, and long prayers "will receive greater condemnation". These are less, not more, than the required nothing.


[EM, from the opening devotion of the a TSI (Bible college) board meeting, September 2010]

The Greatest Thing

"The source of cruelty is always fear... Whoever tortures you has a great fear inside of him. He is more afraid than the one being tortured. And you have to understand his state, because if you don’t understand, then you have lost, and the torturer has also lost. You [the torturer] are not authentic with the man who tortures me. No! No!

Here lies the problem of suffering. Here is the greatest thing: when you will see that the man who is torturing you is more afflicted than you who is being tortured."


[Ferenc Visky, speaking in a trailer for Prisoners of the Light]

As if

...Suffering is difficult as long as it is senseless. Suffering makes it clear that God is not playing games with us, that He is deadly serious not just about our redemption, but about our sanctification also (Barth). Justification is our life. Sanctification is our death.

"From now on, even those who have wives should live as if they had them not; and those who cry as if they cried not; and those who rejoice as if they rejoiced not; and those who have bought something as if they acquired it not; and those who enjoy the goods of the world as if they enjoyed them not; for the face of this world shall pass away." (I Corinthians 7:29-31) We could continue, "and those who are in prison as if they were free, for the face of the barred-in world shall likewise pass away."

This free "as-if" state can be attained by no human effort, by no self-persuasion. It is God's gift. And when we share in this gift, we are pierced with joy. Jesus promised His disciples that no man could take away their joy. He did not say that no one would try to do so. They would do everything possible to take it away. But they would not succeed...

There are situations in prison when we can't understand God. How can we understand Him Whom we can only grasp by faith? Yet, even when we can't understand Him, there is still an opportunity. We can praise Him.

How can we overcome fear? Right here, on the other side of the cell bars, are those who continually threaten us. Our lives are in their hands.

The antidote to fear is love. There is no other way. We are free to love our enemies. We cannot fear those whom we love. Fear is the curse of mankind. (Dostoevsky)


[FV, TFOG, 2010]

"And those who followed were fearful."

"Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.... They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.'" (Mark 10:1; 32-34)

We find here those gathered around Jesus divided into two groups: those who are amazed, and those who are afraid, yet follow Him. Amazement is maybe the easiest reaction to Jesus and shared by many, many people -- think of Pilate, of Nicodemus, of Herod. This is not to suggest that it is wrong to be amazed. It is great and very important because to be amazed is to be a little bit like a child. But we must experience Jesus beyond this: if we follow Jesus only in our amazement, we will soon find ourselves afraid of Him and of where He is leading us. Because He is going to Jerusalem. And even though terrified, we cannot help but follow Him.

To Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection where Who Jesus really is will be revealed, and, irrevocably, who the disciples are as well. After what happens at Jerusalem, their identity in Him can never be revoked or effectively denied, though, as in Peter's infamous denials, we often attempt to do just that.

After teaching the crowd for a while (v. 1), Jesus does something very dramatic: He walks resolutely on ahead of them, and then takes the twelve aside to tell them where He is going. This is one of the special times when Jesus turns to the disciples and speaks with such directness and plainness.

He tells them that He will be humiliated, tortured, and killed. And finally resurrected. He could have gone on by Himself without telling them -- it was only He Who was appointed to die there. Nonetheless, He is telling them in this dramatic tenderness that He wants them to share in His suffering and death, and -- though they did not, like we, know the end of the story -- finally in His resurrection. He does not invite and include them because it is somehow noble for them to share in His fate, but simply because He longs to have them with Him. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem..."

And He longs for you and me to go with Him as well. If we are to never get over being amazed by Jesus, let us follow Him in fear and trembling to the Jerusalems in our lives so that our identity in Him may never be revoked. When we are truly "in Christ" we are surrounded and engulfed by Him so that we can see only Him; maybe we will not always see where He is going and taking us. But seeing Him is enough.


[GEN, 2001]