Trying to See (Lessons of Mark 8)
Jesus and his disciples were in "Gentile territory." Dun-dun-dun...The disciples were probably feeling a bit awkward and restless, and wished Jesus would just leave these people alone. He was their king after all. What was with these side-trips? It seems that each time Jesus did something special for the Gentiles, the disciples were shocked. They just couldn't wrap their mind around it. They loved Jesus, but they just didn't get it. He healed a Gentile woman's daughter, then he healed a Gentile deaf man. And thanks to that deaf man who was then able to talk, along with the earlier testimony of the former-demon-possessed-men-turned-missionaries, 4,000 people showed up to see Jesus.
But they were 4,000 Gentiles. After the first few days, the disciples must have hoped the crowd
would just leave on their own. But they didn't. Finally, it was Jesus who broke the tension. "I feel sorry for these people. They've been here three days without eating, and they'll pass out on their way home if I send them away now." The disciples knew what He meant: Get them something to eat.
Now this is where I used to think that the disciples were just dumb. Jesus had already fed 5,000 people in the exact same situation. Did they already forget that? Why didn't they just ask Jesus to do that again? Well, because...those were 5,000 Jews. These were 4,000 Gentiles. Obviously Jesus would not do the same miracle for the Gentiles. Obviously. So the disciples repeated the scene.
"How are we supposed find food out here in the wilderness?" Last time they didn't have money to feed the people. This time they had to admit they were lousy hunters.
Jesus didn't even respond. He just asked them to bring what they did have: seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. And, of course, Jesus shocked them again by feeding 4,000 Gentiles, and having plenty of left-overs. Then He said it was time to go, they climb in the boat, and left for Dalmanutha (wherever that is).
This time, instead of an excited crowd, Jesus is met by skeptical Pharisees: "Show us a sign." Translated: We don't believe you. You're making us look bad, so you must not be from God. If you are from God, then do something so crazy that we can't deny it. Then we'll believe you.
And Jesus basically said: "Nope. If you don't want to believe, you don't have to. I'm not going to make you believe by performing some big miraculous sign. That's not what God is like."
Then they got back in the boat again and left. Everyone was kind of quiet for awhile, thinking about these last few awkward days. Then somebody mentioned that they were kind of hungry, which was when they discovered that Thaddeaus (perhaps) forgot to bring that basket of left-overs, and now they only had one loaf of bread to share between the 13 of them. Dang it. Then Jesus, who was still thinking in the back of the boat somewhere, commented, "Whatever you do, just watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod."
The disciples kind of looked at each other, trying to act like they understood. But really...Uh...did the Pharisees even sell bread? Nobody liked Herod's bakery anyway, so...Ok...mental note: when we land, don't buy bread from those guys.
Then Jesus got frustrated. "Really? You think I'm talking about bread? Why are you so worried about food? When are you going to get it? Your hearts still aren't ready for this? You have eyes. Why can't you see? God gave you ears. Why can't you hear? Ok, let Me break this down for you, since you can't seem to remember anything: I fed 5,000 with five loaves of bread. How many baskets of leftovers were there?"
Disciples: "Twelve."
"Ok, and then I fed 4,000 with seven loaves of bread. How many baskets of leftovers?"
Disciples: "Seven."
"And you still don't get it?!" Jesus just shook His head. The disciples just looked at each other again the way a high schoolers look in Algebra II class after their teacher has gone over the same thing 15 times...and it still doesn't make sense.
To interrupt the story briefly, here's an attempted explanation. Jesus was basically pointing out the uniqueness in each of the "feedings"--uniqueness that would have been best understood in their culture, including numbers that were important to Jews and Gentiles. Even the word "basket" was referred to with a different word for the Jews and the Gentiles, describing the style of basket each culture used. But the main point is...there's enough bread for everyone. Enough of Jesus for everyone. Nobody is going to starve. But when people like the Pharisees and Herod (who worked together at times) got mixed in with their corruption and stubborn unbelief, the picture of who Jesus was got corrupted, the way yeast completely changes bread. For the disciples to stay away from the Pharisees' "yeast," they would need to stay away from what corrupted and blinded the Pharisees--they're view of what the Messiah should be like. Because if they too expected Jesus to be the Pharisees' kind of Messiah, they were in for a rude awakening.
But the disciples didn't get it. So Jesus tried a different method. They arrived in Bethesda and people brought a blind man to Jesus to be healed. Things went a little differently than usual this time. Jesus spit on the man's eyes (not really sure what that's about, to be honest), covered them with his hands, then took his hands away, and asked the man if he could see. The man said, Yes, kind of. He could see people, but they looked like trees walking around.
In my imagination Jesus paused to looked at his disciples, and raised an eyebrow. Hint, hint! You're starting to get it, but you're just not there yet. But no worries. I'm not finished with you yet.
Jesus put his hands over the man's eyes again, and then removed His hands. The man looked hard...and soon he could see perfectly.
A little later, Jesus was walking with His disciples, and He asked them who people said He was. They started rattling off all kinds of things they'd heard: Elijah, resurrected John the Baptist, or other random prophets.
Jesus stopped. "Who do you say I am?"
Maybe there was a pause, or maybe Peter just burst out like a 2nd grader who knows the right answer to the teacher's question: "You are the Messiah."
Disciples: We might be kind of slow, but we know who You are.
Jesus: Good. You're going to need to see that very clearly because...
Jesus went straight into talking about what it actually meant to be the Messiah: that He would be killed, but would rise again. Peter disagreed. He pulled Jesus aside for a little lecture. No, that's not the way it works. The Messiah doesn't die. You shouldn't say things like that. Which is why Jesus reacted pretty strongly: I know that voice, and it's not yours. It's Satan's, and I don't want to hear it. This is the truth about the Messiah from God's point of view--not yours.
Then Jesus went a step further. Not only did they need to see clearly what His mission really was, but they also needed to see clearly what their mission was as His disciples. Right now, they were still seeing trees walking around--trying to hold on to Jesus' radical and strange teaching and their hopes of earthly honor and power. So Jesus finally drew a line in the sand. This is how it is. Not only am I going to die and be raised again before this is all over, but YOU have to put aside your selfish ambition, and take up your own cross and follow Me. You better figure this out now and start seeing clearly, because you can have your selfish world and all your honor and power if you want, but you'll lose your soul. On the other hand, if you can let go of that old-fashioned, false idea of what a Messiah should be, and the blessings you should get by following Him...then you'll find true life. But what in the world could be worth giving up true and eternal life for? Why would you want to stay blind and sacrifice life the way it's meant to be lived? So here it is. This is the real Me, and the real calling. If you can accept it, I'll accept you. But if this is embarrassing and you can't handle this, then I'm not going to be proud of you either when I do come back in the glory you're hoping to see.
What about now? What keeps us from seeing Jesus clearly? What expectations do we have of who He is and the way He should work that might hold us back from accepting Him when it comes down to making a decision? Who are we surprised to see that there is enough Bread for?
The good news is, there is always hope as long as we know who Jesus is, and keep following, even when we don't understand everything. He will be faithful to show us what's blocking our view. He will reveal to us a clearer picture of who He is and what He wants to do--in our lives, and for all He wants to save. Part of that is accepting that there really is enough of Jesus for everyone, even those who make us feel awkward. Let's be open-minded enough to accept Jesus as He is, not as we wish Him to be. It's not easy to take up a cross, or even to share the Bread, but Jesus promises that the results will be more than worth it.
But they were 4,000 Gentiles. After the first few days, the disciples must have hoped the crowd
Now this is where I used to think that the disciples were just dumb. Jesus had already fed 5,000 people in the exact same situation. Did they already forget that? Why didn't they just ask Jesus to do that again? Well, because...those were 5,000 Jews. These were 4,000 Gentiles. Obviously Jesus would not do the same miracle for the Gentiles. Obviously. So the disciples repeated the scene.
"How are we supposed find food out here in the wilderness?" Last time they didn't have money to feed the people. This time they had to admit they were lousy hunters.
Jesus didn't even respond. He just asked them to bring what they did have: seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. And, of course, Jesus shocked them again by feeding 4,000 Gentiles, and having plenty of left-overs. Then He said it was time to go, they climb in the boat, and left for Dalmanutha (wherever that is).
This time, instead of an excited crowd, Jesus is met by skeptical Pharisees: "Show us a sign." Translated: We don't believe you. You're making us look bad, so you must not be from God. If you are from God, then do something so crazy that we can't deny it. Then we'll believe you.
And Jesus basically said: "Nope. If you don't want to believe, you don't have to. I'm not going to make you believe by performing some big miraculous sign. That's not what God is like."
Then they got back in the boat again and left. Everyone was kind of quiet for awhile, thinking about these last few awkward days. Then somebody mentioned that they were kind of hungry, which was when they discovered that Thaddeaus (perhaps) forgot to bring that basket of left-overs, and now they only had one loaf of bread to share between the 13 of them. Dang it. Then Jesus, who was still thinking in the back of the boat somewhere, commented, "Whatever you do, just watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod."
The disciples kind of looked at each other, trying to act like they understood. But really...Uh...did the Pharisees even sell bread? Nobody liked Herod's bakery anyway, so...Ok...mental note: when we land, don't buy bread from those guys.
Then Jesus got frustrated. "Really? You think I'm talking about bread? Why are you so worried about food? When are you going to get it? Your hearts still aren't ready for this? You have eyes. Why can't you see? God gave you ears. Why can't you hear? Ok, let Me break this down for you, since you can't seem to remember anything: I fed 5,000 with five loaves of bread. How many baskets of leftovers were there?"
Disciples: "Twelve."
"Ok, and then I fed 4,000 with seven loaves of bread. How many baskets of leftovers?"
Disciples: "Seven."
"And you still don't get it?!" Jesus just shook His head. The disciples just looked at each other again the way a high schoolers look in Algebra II class after their teacher has gone over the same thing 15 times...and it still doesn't make sense.
To interrupt the story briefly, here's an attempted explanation. Jesus was basically pointing out the uniqueness in each of the "feedings"--uniqueness that would have been best understood in their culture, including numbers that were important to Jews and Gentiles. Even the word "basket" was referred to with a different word for the Jews and the Gentiles, describing the style of basket each culture used. But the main point is...there's enough bread for everyone. Enough of Jesus for everyone. Nobody is going to starve. But when people like the Pharisees and Herod (who worked together at times) got mixed in with their corruption and stubborn unbelief, the picture of who Jesus was got corrupted, the way yeast completely changes bread. For the disciples to stay away from the Pharisees' "yeast," they would need to stay away from what corrupted and blinded the Pharisees--they're view of what the Messiah should be like. Because if they too expected Jesus to be the Pharisees' kind of Messiah, they were in for a rude awakening.
But the disciples didn't get it. So Jesus tried a different method. They arrived in Bethesda and people brought a blind man to Jesus to be healed. Things went a little differently than usual this time. Jesus spit on the man's eyes (not really sure what that's about, to be honest), covered them with his hands, then took his hands away, and asked the man if he could see. The man said, Yes, kind of. He could see people, but they looked like trees walking around.
In my imagination Jesus paused to looked at his disciples, and raised an eyebrow. Hint, hint! You're starting to get it, but you're just not there yet. But no worries. I'm not finished with you yet.
Jesus put his hands over the man's eyes again, and then removed His hands. The man looked hard...and soon he could see perfectly.
A little later, Jesus was walking with His disciples, and He asked them who people said He was. They started rattling off all kinds of things they'd heard: Elijah, resurrected John the Baptist, or other random prophets.
Jesus stopped. "Who do you say I am?"
Maybe there was a pause, or maybe Peter just burst out like a 2nd grader who knows the right answer to the teacher's question: "You are the Messiah."
Disciples: We might be kind of slow, but we know who You are.
Jesus: Good. You're going to need to see that very clearly because...
Jesus went straight into talking about what it actually meant to be the Messiah: that He would be killed, but would rise again. Peter disagreed. He pulled Jesus aside for a little lecture. No, that's not the way it works. The Messiah doesn't die. You shouldn't say things like that. Which is why Jesus reacted pretty strongly: I know that voice, and it's not yours. It's Satan's, and I don't want to hear it. This is the truth about the Messiah from God's point of view--not yours.
Then Jesus went a step further. Not only did they need to see clearly what His mission really was, but they also needed to see clearly what their mission was as His disciples. Right now, they were still seeing trees walking around--trying to hold on to Jesus' radical and strange teaching and their hopes of earthly honor and power. So Jesus finally drew a line in the sand. This is how it is. Not only am I going to die and be raised again before this is all over, but YOU have to put aside your selfish ambition, and take up your own cross and follow Me. You better figure this out now and start seeing clearly, because you can have your selfish world and all your honor and power if you want, but you'll lose your soul. On the other hand, if you can let go of that old-fashioned, false idea of what a Messiah should be, and the blessings you should get by following Him...then you'll find true life. But what in the world could be worth giving up true and eternal life for? Why would you want to stay blind and sacrifice life the way it's meant to be lived? So here it is. This is the real Me, and the real calling. If you can accept it, I'll accept you. But if this is embarrassing and you can't handle this, then I'm not going to be proud of you either when I do come back in the glory you're hoping to see.
What about now? What keeps us from seeing Jesus clearly? What expectations do we have of who He is and the way He should work that might hold us back from accepting Him when it comes down to making a decision? Who are we surprised to see that there is enough Bread for?
The good news is, there is always hope as long as we know who Jesus is, and keep following, even when we don't understand everything. He will be faithful to show us what's blocking our view. He will reveal to us a clearer picture of who He is and what He wants to do--in our lives, and for all He wants to save. Part of that is accepting that there really is enough of Jesus for everyone, even those who make us feel awkward. Let's be open-minded enough to accept Jesus as He is, not as we wish Him to be. It's not easy to take up a cross, or even to share the Bread, but Jesus promises that the results will be more than worth it.
Wow. Thank you for writing this. This blessed me today, more than i can tell.
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