Announcements:
Join us for our conference call with a staffer from Savannah Music Festival today at 1 to learn how to serve them. Please read this guide before you do. What a great chance to put the devotional from today into practice!

Texts:

Morning
1. Psalm 51:1-18
2. Mark 11:12-25
Evening
1. Psalm 69:1-23
2. Mark 11:12-25
Hymn
1. Christ the Lord is Risen Today, in anticipation of Easter
Prayer
1. Our Gracious God and Heavenly Father, You have loved us, even when we were dead in our sins. Your grace made us alive together with Christ. You have called us out of darkness and into your light. We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Forgive us, O God, and bless us by your Spirit, that we might have the courage to walk in the good works to which you have called us, to the praise of your glorious name, Amen.

Devotional
"I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed." Was there ever a time when the intent of a statement differs more from how it is received? When a parent says this, they are trying to take the fear away from their child- "I'm not angry!" But they do it by disengaging, by distancing themselves. When a child hears this, they long for anger. "Love me enough to be angry, but please don't be disappointed!" The opposite of love isn't anger. The opposite of love is contempt.

Jesus loves us enough to be angry. On Holy Monday, Mark offers us up a strange story about a fig tree that hasn't borne fruit (Mark11:12-14), and a temple that is full of robbers (Mark 11:17), and a faith that can move mountains (Mark 11:22-25). It was time for the fig tree to bear fruit, but the tree hadn't done so. In the same way, it was time for the people of God, tasked with bringing the blessings of God to all the nations through their worship in the temple, who had actually used the temple to exploit the nations. Jesus' anger calls them to remember that if they had faith, they could accomplish anything- even the blessing of the world.

Jesus loves them, no, Jesus loves US, enough to be angry.

Is it possible that we have used the blessings God has provided us to be arrogant? To look on others with contempt? To hoard the profit of relationship with God for our own benefit? To believe that we have more value as humans, more worth, because we are Christians? Some of the examples of this in the church are all over the news today; but we know that all of us harbor some of this in our hearts. Jesus comes to destroy this part of us with his wrath, that another part of us- freer, more loving, more missional- might live. His anger is surgical, but intentional. Christian, your faith is not for you- your faith is for the world. There is no other kind of faith in the God of the Bible. It is time to stop hiding, time to stop running, time to stop our arrogance and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

For reflection:
1. What are some of the ways that we have failed to bear fruit that blesses our neighbors?
2. Why are we tempted to use our faith as a sign of our superiority, instead of as an acknowledgement of our humility?
3. How does Jesus free you to acknowledge your humility and serve others?