Day 47: October 29, 2025 – Deuteronomy 26-28 and Mark 12-14

The Deuteronomy Scriptures contain a sort of ying and yang of what happens when you obey: you are blessed, and what happens when you disobey: you are cursed. You see the same result of both, but the opposites. Your enemies will flee from you seven different ways when you approach them one way if you obey the commandments. Or, you will flee seven different ways from your enemy when they approach you one way. The insistence of God that His people obey him never wavers in Scripture. This is a truth that we seem to have forgotten thinking that morality is relative to the individual or to the situation. No, there are mandates in Scripture that we obey God in all things and that obedience, or disobedience, has serious implications that impact and affect the rest of the life of the individual, the body, and the world. We see that in the story of the people of God, both good and bad.

In the Gospel we find ourselves in the most intense portion of Mark, and the chapters that are the longest as well. We see Jesus with his disciples on the last day of his life as he shares with them the last supper, as they head out to Gethsemane and as Peter denies him three times before the cock crows twice. The innocence of Jesus is undisputed, but also his willingness to go to the slaughter like a lamb without protest and without a fight. He clearly could have changed his station if he wanted, but he chose not to change it. This is a message for all of us who might want to change our station following a way that is clearly disobeying Scripture, but we must choose not to change it. The two Scriptures a linked by this. The obedience that Christ shows leads to the redemption of humanity, Ephesians talks about this. The obedience that we are to show will have an impact that we cannot predict, but it will be an impact that demonstrates the power and the faithfulness of God. Just obey.