providence

Forgotten bread

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Why do you seek a sign? Mark 8:10-21

The Pharisees show up again, arguing with Jesus and demanding a sign from heaven to test his claims. Jesus refuses. Why not give them a sign? Wouldn’t that settle the matter once and for all? If that were true, what about everything Jesus had said and done up til now? The problem with signs and wonders lies not in who performs them, but in the hearts of those who demand them.

Such things, no matter how spectacular and amazing, are often easily discounted and forgotten. Don’t think so? What about the mighty works God performed to free Israel from Egyptian bondage? All it took were some blisters and some desert and the people promptly forgot. Oh, those signs? That was so yesterday – what can you do for me today?

The disciples forgot. They thought they had only forgotten to bring some bread with them for their trip across the lake. Just then Jesus warns them to beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. Missing the point, this made the disciples even more concerned about bread.

So, what is leaven? Jesus uses the term to describe something else. Leaven is something small that gradually and persistently expands unseen until it permeates the whole. It is a state of mind that governs how we view life and the world. The Pharisees and Herod had different expressions of it relating to theology, politics and power but the underlying thought for both was unbelief. Put another way, they trusted in only what they could see and touch.

Jesus had been carefully nursing the seed of faith within his disciples and the people. He was not going to allow anyone to destroy that budding belief. He quickly administered the antidote: Haven’t you seen or heard anything that I’ve said or done? What about the 5,000 and the 4,000? How many baskets of leftovers did you have to pick up afterwards? How could you fail to understand that I can and will provide for you?

Copyright 2020 David J. Cooley

Twelve baskets

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“You feed them” Mark 6:30-44

Once again, the disciples come face to face with an impossible situation. There were 5,000 men plus women and children out here in the wilderness with them. They hadn’t invited them or advertised that Jesus would be there. The people had figured out where Jesus was headed and got there on their own.

Now it was getting late. They had purposely selected a “lonely place” to get away from the crowds and get some needed rest. Now they had a multitude on their hands and no means to provide for them. They had already calculated the amount of provisions needed to feed a crowd like this and five loaves and two fish just weren’t going to cut it. Better send them back to the towns and villages where they could at least get some food.

“You give them something to eat.” Why did it seem at times that Jesus was completely out of touch with reality? They didn’t have enough food and had just recommended that the people be sent to town to get some. Instead, Jesus has them sit in groups of hundreds and fifties. That made it worse. Now they knew for certain how many people were there. And not a morsel more to feed them with.

Jesus gave thanks and broke off a piece of bread and gave it to Peter. Then he broke off another piece and gave it to John. Peter passed it on to someone in the crowd and John did likewise. They returned to Jesus and had to wait in line while Jesus gave more bread to the other disciples. This could take all night! Soon they were carrying armloads of fish and bread and running out to the fringes of the crowd delivering food.

When did it dawn on them what was happening? Or were they too busy serving to realize Jesus had just performed a major miracle? Were they just settling down to eat their own portions when the call came to start cleaning up and pick up the leftovers?

One of the greatest disappointments of my early Christian life was discovering that there were people who could – and would – explain away the supernatural miracles of Jesus with rational and natural means. These things were to be seen as nothing more than the fortuitous coincidence of favorable circumstances. I naively thought that a miracle would be indisputable, that there could be no possible explanation for it other than that God had intervened in the lives of us here on earth with heavenly power.

But that is hardly ever the case. There always seems to be a gap, a missing piece in the otherwise incontestable evidence. A gap that allows for a rationalistic or scientific explanation, negating the need for faith or God. In reality, these gaps are meant for us to bridge them with faith.

Are we ready to embrace even the little miracles of God? Do we continue to see his hand at work in our lives and praise and thank him for his care?

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

No smart phone?

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“They went out and preached…” Mark 6:7-13

Jesus now sends out the disciples in pairs to preach a message of repentance. He also gives them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal the sick. Preaching and miracles! No wonder the world was later “turned upside down” by these guys.

We remember this story not by what Jesus provided them, i.e. a message and miraculous power, but by what he denied them: no bread, bag, money or change of clothes. Sounds like a few poorly planned hiking trips I’ve been on.

Jesus’ purpose is not to make them suffer or practice self-denial, but to continue teaching them to rely completely on God. They would be his laborers; he would clothe, feed and house them. Nowhere does anything indicate that they would be hungry, exposed to the elements or without support and assistance. In fact, Jesus expected them to learn that he would care for them through the people they would meet.

But all this is just a secondary issue in commissioning them for this “mission, quest… thing.” First and foremost was to reach the people with the good news of God’s kingdom. It was like having twelve more of Jesus out in the field.

We know the results of their efforts by the reports: many demons were cast out, many sick people were healed. But what of the message they preached? And why was it so brief? Wasn’t there more that could be said besides “repent”? Couldn’t they have given a less blunt message, one with a more appealing approach, perhaps?

Well, it was what they knew. After all, John the Baptist and Jesus himself had preached the very same thing. A well-crafted, reasonable and compelling message is not necessarily what is required. More than words are needed. The apostle Paul expressed this perspective as well in First Corinthians 2:4,5 – “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley