Thursday, June 4, 2009

Today's Passage: Mark 8

Every time I read an account like this in the gospels I just want to call the disciples fools and question if they will ever get it.  I mean seriously they walked with Christ daily and they still didn’t understand.  When I get that urge, I remind myself that some day I will be in heaven and there might just be an opportunity for them or someone else to sit me down and say those magical words…what were you thinking when you…?  When I think about this I refrain from my bashing on the disciples.  With that in mind, let us look at the disciples and then see how they are not that different from us today.

Mark 8 tells the story of the second large group that Jesus has fed with basically nothing on hand.  This time it is 4,000 with seven loaves.  They only have seven baskets left over, but there is an interesting side note to add about the baskets they speak of.  The word used for basket here is not the small basket in the previous feeding of the 5000, this basket is the same word used to describe the basket in Acts 9:25 used to lower Paul from a wall.  So seven loaves turned into not only enough to feed 4,000, but more than it originally was.  Like I said, that is a small side note that I found really interesting in my study of this chapter.  The heart of what I want to get to comes in verse fourteen when it says the disciples forgot to pack more than one loaf of bread. 

I think it is amazing that Jesus just fed four thousand people with 7 loaves of bread and they become worried about only having one loaf.  With the rate that he just provided for the people, the disciples and Jesus should have plenty of food for themselves, and about 550 of their closest friends.  Jesus calls them on this and it is an amazing encounter.  I think I probably picture Jesus being more sarcastic than He was, but can you imagine if you were there how you might handle it.  He just fed four thousand and had leftovers, but they still do not get that He can provide and sustain all their needs.  He even reminds them of the great gatherings that they have seen him feed.  Then to close He even asks if they still do not understand.  Again, in my head He is thick on the sarcasm during this discussion, because that is the way I would handle it.  Which brings me back to what I started with and my temptation to just ridicule the heck out of the disciples who cannot ever remember that Jesus provides and they should just trust Him.

That last sentence gets me every time when I read it aloud.  Last week I encouraged you to write down in a journal when God did something amazing for you.  This week I come back with that same challenge.  I can so quickly become like the disciples in this story.  God can provide something above and beyond in a huge way, but then something much smaller comes around and I wonder how it will ever work out.  Right after Suzanne and I got married I quit a job because it interfered with our commitment to the church, and the next day I got a job handed to me that provided above and beyond our needs.  But for some reason occasionally I catch myself now thinking, how is school going to work out, or how is this going to happen, and then I remember how God has always provided for us above what we needed, even when it made no earthly sense.  I want to invite you to share about a time when God provided in an extraordinary way for you.  It does not have to be feeding the 4,000 big, but I would love to hear how God has amazed you with his provision for you.