“And whenever evening came, they would leave the city. As they were passing by in the morning.” (Mark 11:19-20 NASB)
To get started, let me defend my one-word title. If an old black and white fictional movie about giant ants invading the earth could be released decades ago, designed to entertain us; if it could be simply titled “Them,” well, I surely can present you with a new fact-filled release, designed to edify you and therefore I also can assign a one-word title, “THEY.” Let’s look at “They” and then get to you.
Jesus and His disciple had left Jerusalem, went out of the city, on a Monday during the week where He would end up on Calvary, paying the price for our sins. Jesus had just purged the temple and taught, quoting from The Book of Isaiah, “Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer?” When morning came, Jesus returned. It was on Tuesday morning and He began teaching on faith and authority, for starters. He was not alone when He returned after the passing of the night. In the morning, His disciples were still with them. I think that is commendable, especially in view of the fact that Jesus had already instructed His disciples about His upcoming death, which would take place a few days later, on Friday. Look at the disciples. They kept following in spite of the fact that the chief priest and the scribes had begun seeking how to destroy Jesus. The disciples, they kept following.
They did not fail, they followed. They did not flee, they followed. They were not frozen with fear, they followed. They did not fall away quietly, one by one; they followed. They did not feel it was time to retire from being a disciple of Christ, they followed. They did not find it appropriate to walk away from being a devoted disciple because of the dark times that came with the evening hour. No! They kept following Jesus.
Now that we have looked at “They,” as stated at the end of the first paragraph above, lets get to you. Just a question: Will you keep following Jesus as one of His disciples, regardless of what is going on in your life, or in view of the fact that many in today’s world have abandoned their Hosanna declarations? Will you keep following Him when you are faced with nighttime, even though you have been taught that suffering only last for a nighttime, but joy comes in the morning? What about you? Will you continue to follow Jesus as one of His disciples? Will you be like the they in our text above? I pray that your answer is “Yes!” Be blessed!
“Then He said to them all, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 Modern English Version)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King