March 30, 2022 (Lent Week 4)

 

Mark 8: 11-26

 

In some passages in the gospels, the humanity of Jesus is never more striking than in the display of emotion that can accompany his words. Jesus’s tears at the grave of Lazarus are a particularly unforgettable example, but other emotions well up within him: anger in the Temple at the sight of money-changers desecrating its sanctity, sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane, and here a more subtle emotion: exasperation. It first comes out when the Pharisees ask him to come up with a better sign from heaven than all the miracles of feeding and healing that they had previously witnessed. Jesus’s response to the request is to “sigh deeply,” to lament: “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign?” and to walk away. The event weighs on his mind and he tells the disciples: “Be careful, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” An attitude of unbelief can spread like a virus, or in Jesus’s terms, infuse and corrupt a whole society as the chemical effect of yeast spreads throughout an entire lump of bread dough.

 

And speaking of bread, the disciples are down to their last loaf and that’s all they have on board for their journey across the lake. Although they have witnessed two miraculous feedings, it never occurs to them that the miracle-worker might again be trusted to supply this daily need. Jesus’s words are stern: “Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” (In today’s language he might have said: “Hello! Do I have to spell it out to you?”). The fact is, even when people are given outstanding examples of God’s miraculous care and provision they have to be reminded of them. We can understand Jesus’s exasperation. We are not told whether the disciples are left to all munch on one loaf as they row the boat across the lake.

 

Landing at Bethsaida Jesus is met by a blind man who asks to see. Another request for a miracle so soon after one was turned down. But this time Jesus takes the blind man outside the village where the event would attract less attention, and after restoring the man’s sight he commands him not to spread the news of the miracle. Not only is the effect of a miracle short-lived but its immediate effect is often to give Jesus unwanted fame or notoriety. Jesus still has a ministry that must not be imperilled.

 

We like to think of Jesus as offering us nothing but affirmation. We might expect him to indulge us in our desires and needs. Today’s passage reminds us that we can easily exasperate God with our demands, and that our needs and wants exist in a much larger context of the ministry Jesus desires to perform in our lives and circumstances as he causes his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. We too are the blind man in Bethesda, we also need to say: Lord, open my eyes to more of what you are doing. 

 

-  Tim and Patricia Pope

 

 

 John Rutter. “Open Thou Mine Eyes”