"They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened." It is often the comments of the narrator of stories like these that bother me the most. I could read through the entire account and contemplate the scene, be impressed with how Jesus could walk on water and control the winds. I could be encouraged about how he sent the apostles away to get some rest and how he pulled away himself. Then I bump into a comment by Mark (as perhaps told him by Peter).
Basically the punch of the comment is "if you think that is amazing it's because you don't understand anything yet. You really don't understand that Jesus is God. You don't get it, do you?"
And the sad thing is that I have to admit that he is correct. If I saw Jesus walking on water or controlling a storm, I would still be impressed. My natural self is so entrenched in the rules of this physical world that I forget that he lives by another set of rules. I forget that God is not limited like me.
I wonder how many times God did something last week so outside of my realm of understanding that I totally missed seeing him at work. How many times did he answer prayers last month but I gave credit to some person changing their mind or some disease not being as bad as we thought. How many times, I wonder, has he calmed storms around me or walked by me and I was so amazed at the change in normal circumstances that I either totally missed him or revealed my total lack of faith in him by the way he answered. In those moments, Mark would say "the only reason that you are so amazed right now is that you really don't understand God."
I really don't like those comments . . . because they cut so deep.
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