Mild Master

Those of us who follow him have made our Christ too pretty, our Master too mild. We've turned our faith into a theme park with rides that only pretend to be scary and lots of sweet snacks to tide us over until dinner. The King we’ve created in our minds comes to us like a smiling figure on a parade float, grinning, waving, doing nothing to fight off our personal demons.

But a king like that is alien to the Jesus of the Gospel of Mark. As soon as his coronation was over, the Great King climbed down into the pit of hell for us to fight the monstrous dragon and beat him at his own game, and then, short years later, to suffer and die in unimaginable agony. He knew nothing about a theme park, nothing about sweet snacks. He had none of the comforts due to the mightiest Ruler who ever lived.

What does that say about us? What do we want from our lives? - All the comforts due to children of the heavenly King, all the freedom from pain that God just plain owes us because we threw our lot in with him? I hope not. Jesus didn’t call us to a sweet life of comfort any more than he sought it for himself. He called us into the desert to face off against the tempter.

An untested life is a boring life. A life without turmoil and challenge and battles to fight isn’t meaningful. It’s just safe.

In the battle, a child of the Kingdom first begins to understand life.