This
is the second in a series of five messages looking at Mark chapters 6-8. In this series it is important to note this
pattern:
6:30-44
Feeding Miracle
6:45-52
On the Sea of Galilee
6:53-56
Healings
7:1-33
Conflict with Religious Leaders (and conflict with a foreigner)
7:34-37
Jesus uses his spit to cure a deaf man.
Then
(minus the healings) it happens again in almost the same order!
8:1-10
Feeding Miracle
8:11-13
Conflict with Religious Leaders
8:14-21
On the Sea of Galilee
8:22-26
Jesus uses his spit to cure a blind man.
We’re
looking at these chapters with the pairs Mark has created. Today’s pair is the Sea of Galilee. Here are the texts:
Mark
6:45-52
Immediately
he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to
Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After saying
farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
When evening came, the boat was out on
the lake, and he was alone on the land. 48When he saw that they
were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early
in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by. 49But
when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried
out; 50for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately
he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ 51Then
he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly
astounded, 52for they did not understand about the loaves, but
their hearts were hardened.
Mark
8:13-21
13And
he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other
side.
Now
the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf
with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch
out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ 16They
said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ 17And
becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no
bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do
you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you
not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five
thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to
him, ‘Twelve.’ 20‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many
baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ And they said to him,
‘Seven.’ 21Then he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’
Our first thought on reading the
first scene, where Jesus walks on the water, is to focus on that miracle. But in both cases Mark takes the topic to the
feeding miracles which preceded them. That’s
our nudge to put our focus on the miraculous feedings. Or perhaps, focus on the disciples ongoing
disbelief despite the miracles.
We want to upbraid the disciples for
their ongoing lack of faith. After all,
how many miracles will it take for them to believe?!? I think we all have a part of our faith that says,
“If only I could receive proof, if only I could receive a miracle, then my
doubts would be erased and my faith would forever be stronger.” And yet, would that be the case?
I think there are two issues at work
here. Actually, maybe it’s two levels of
the same issue. When all is going
relatively well in our normal daily lives we tend to experience faith as a part
of our consciousness. Maybe it is a
bigger or lesser part depending on the moment, but it is somehow present. Yet I
think it is kind of off to the side.
Perhaps as long as we feel like things are under control we are okay on
our own. But when things get out of
control we want to be able to grasp onto it for support. (I don’t mean to make any judgments as to whether that’s
right or wrong. It is just a statement
of what is - or what I assume is - in the lives of many people.)
Whenever faith calls on us to do
something drastically outside of our normal lives is when we start asking for
more proof. At issue with the two
feeding miracles is God’s ability to literally provide for “daily bread.” The question for us is can we really step
away from our normal patterns of secure life and really trust God? Have radical trust in God?
How much faith and trust would that
really take? How many miracles would we
have to see? I suspect quite a lot! And I hope that opens the door for us to
understand the disciples’ feelings.
Mark’s gospel say in both scenes that their hearts were hardened. I think ours would be too. It is really scary to step away from all the
security we build for our lives and trust God whom we cannot see or feel as
reliably as we want – or as reliably as we can our own abilities.
With that in mind I think we can
look at the other things going on, especially with the miracle of Jesus walking
on the water. Notice Jesus does it out
of care for them. Jesus is firm with the
disciples quite often. He’s not always
cuddly sweet and nice. But he is always
watching out for them and caring for them.
In 6:50 Jesus is approaching the boat
on the sea. They are terrified and think
they are seeing a ghost. But Jesus says,
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
That might be better translated as, “Take heart. I AM.
Do not be afraid.” Jesus uses the
same name for God that God uses with Moses in the Old Testament. We are to recognize that is has been present,
is present, and will be present with us always.
Perhaps life will be easy. Perhaps it will be hard. Perhaps food will be abundant or it will be scarce. Perhaps we will die of old age, or of some disease, or a freak accident, or an act of our own stupidity, or something else. Whatever the case, God is with us. I AM sees us and holds us.
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