David Bahn – Reflections

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Today’s readings are Mark 11-12; Psalm 6. I hope you will join me in reading these passages.

Psalm 6

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
    nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
    heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O Lord—how long?

⁴ Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The Lord has heard my plea;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
    they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

I used to watch so-called Professional Wrestling on TV as a kid. It was many years ago – so many that the programs were in black and white. Dick the Bruiser had a tag-team partner, The Crusher and they would inflict pain and injury on their opponents beyond belief. Arms twisted four times around, chairs crashed across faces, and body slams that would kill a mere mortal. Double-teaming their opponents while tagging out. Now I know that was all scripted, but even though the outcomes were predetermined, the physicality was very real, and the “work” (the scripted performance) often blurred into a “shoot” (legitimate physical struggle).

The tag team effort to confound and discredit Jesus was at first successful only in providing fodder for Jesus’ confrontation of the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and chief priests. They couldn’t touch him. No matter the sly posturing Jesus always had an answer. “Whose wife will she be?” the Sadducees ask. “You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God,” Jesus answers. They ask, “By what authority do you do these things?” Jesus responds, “I’ll answer you if you tell me whether John’s baptism was from God or from man.” (These examples are from today’s Mark readings.)

Tag-team tactics against Jesus just don’t work. And when they’ve exhausted their energy trying to take him down, he teaches a parable about those who should have provided the fruit but who did not and quotes, “The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” They would reject Jesus, but he would not be discarded. He will stand.

I can imagine that Jesus considered Psalm 6 more than once. And in the end his prayer in that vein was answered. He was delivered – even though he would go to the cross and die. And, sadly, his foes would be ashamed by their rejection of God’s Son our Savior.

Maybe you feel like you’re being tag-teamed. You might wonder whether God has abandoned you. But he has not. Just as surely as he rescued his Son from the grave, we will be rescued as well. We have been redeemed. We will stand with Jesus before God in humble faith and eternal praise.