Mark 12:1-12 page 1
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Mark 12:1-12 page 1 |
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He took the box home, found a good location for it, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to the bar to have a drink. So he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to Frank's with me and have a beer?" But there was no answer from his new pet. This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, "How about going to the bar and having a drink with me?" But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. He waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation, and decided to ask him one more time ... this time putting his face up against the centipede's house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Frank's place and have a drink with me?" A little voice came out of the box: "I heard
you the first time! I'm putting on my shoes." Patience. It's something we struggle with. As the prayer of the impatient person goes, "Lord give me patience and give it to me now!" We know others struggle to be patient, too, so the t-shirt slogan says, "Please be patient with me: God hasn't finished with me yet." And we live in a culture where everything is instant: from coffee and microwave cookery to 24-hour news channels and the Internet. Against that background of an impatient world we have contradictory attitudes to God. On the one hand we want God to be instant, too: waiting for a response to prayer isn't what we want. But on the other hand we want God to be patient with us. So the Parable of the Wicked Tenants that Jesus told after his entry into Jerusalem makes fascinating reading for a frantic culture such as ours. We'll use it to explore some basic aspects of God's patience.
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Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration. |
