Day 17 – He can do what now?
Mark 6:45-56
Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.
Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Bern Leckie writes:
Can you imagine being one of Jesus’ first disciples? No matter how much amazing stuff they heard, saw and did themselves, Jesus could always find a way to surprise and even terrify them.
I don’t know what seeing Jesus on the lake had to with not understanding about the loaves, unless it’s a very broad admission from Peter, passed on through Mark, that they just didn’t get stuff about Jesus then. “Their hearts were hardened” at the time, which suggests to me that it takes a long time, even for people right next to Jesus, to grasp him fully.
What about us? When we talk about Jesus with other people, perhaps our friends who don’t yet believe and follow him, what do we say? Do we tell them, and ourselves, that we do understand Jesus, more than his disciples did at this time?
Maybe he still has a lot to show us, and more changing to do in our hearts before we really get what’s going on. Could you take some time today to sit with this, and ask God what he wants to do with you next to soften your heart and firm up your faith?