In the Gospel of Mark much of Jesus' time is spent teaching about how to live life and how to treat others. It blows my mind that during all of this time He knows what his fate will be. He knew it was foretold that the Son of Man would be arrested, persecuted, and ultimately killed. I think that the only source of comfort he had was that this was the reason he lived, and that he would rise on the third day and go back to his father in heaven.
When Jesus was arrested, Pontius Pilot did not want to sentence him to death. But everyone else did. Pilot went along with what everyone else wanted in order to not cause an uprising. It makes me think about how many times I have not stood by what I knew was right in order to please others or not be ridiculed. How many of us do this every day? In Mark Jesus states that whoever is persecuted and dies for him will be rewarded by his Father in Heaven. Would I die for him? Would we all die for him?
The main points in Matthew 1-6 is again not what you accomplish or accumulate in life. In fact, Jesus states that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. He brings up the fact that serving two masters is impossible because you will love one and end up hating the other. How many of us, including myself, focus all of our time and effort accumulating "things" in life. Oh, how we want everyone to know and see that we are successful. But, by working for "things", are we giving up something so much more valuable? I know from my past experiences that when a person is dying, there is no difference in the death process between a wealthy person and an indigent one. How sad and terrifying it would be to face death and know that you had all of the worldly things possible, but have no chance of experiencing the glory of heaven.
In Matthew 6 Jesus reminds us that we should not worry and stress out about things in our life. If we simply seek the kingdom of God, God will provide all that we need. I, more than most, will need to constantly remind myself of this.
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