Jesus overheard and said, “Why are you fussing because you forgot bread? Don’t you see the point of all this? Don’t you get it at all? Remember the five loaves I broke for the five thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?”
They said, “Twelve.”
“And the seven loaves for the four thousand-how many bags full of leftovers did you get?”
“Seven.”
He said, “Do you still not get it?”Mark 8: 17 – 21 (The Message)
Ok, Ok, Jesus has just fed 4000 people. The Pharisees have just been on at him to do a miracle. Makes you wonder if they were not around at the feeding of the 4000. he refuses to show them a miracle, the text says that Jesus “gave a deep groan” and said they would not be given proof. And then, and then to sum it all up, after having seven baskets of bread left over from the feeding of the 4000 Jesus is in the boat with the Disciples and it says that they had not brought enough bread with them.
Doh!!!! Literally! You can perhaps imagine at this point that Jesus might be a little frustrated. Mark gives us little record of the time frames here, but it Jesus comes up with 7 questions in 5 verses, one after another, bang, bang, bang! Staccato style.
We don’t have a firm answer to fully understand if Jesus really is venting his frustrations on the Disciples. It would be too much to draw a firm conclusion but I would like to think that it is perfectly possible knowing what I do about Jesus. The problem comes with our understanding of frustration. Jesus is not just venting his feelings in a moment of frustration but he is asking the Disciples to get a grip. He wants them to get a grip on the stories he tells and the miracles that happen because they will help the Disciples to understand. Get a grip so that the key will start to fall into place. Get a grip so that the penny will begin to fall.
But I can identify with the Disciples too. Someone once asked when they had been reading Mark’s gospel if it was supposed to be taken literally or metaphorically. Fives loaves are enough to feed a crowd of 4000, surely that is figuratively? No, Doh!. The evidence of the next 30 minutes means it is literal.
Then a little later he says he is the bread. He warns against some types of bread from the Pharisees. What is going on?!!!!
Jesus also treats the Disciples with some disdain in other parts of their life together. The Disciples are in a boat with Jesus, remember some of them are fisherman and know about boats and how to boat them. They would have been in storms before and known what to do. But here they are in a storm and Jesus is asleep at the back. The Disciples panic and wake Jesus. (It reminds me of Daniel when in London and Jack was sick, he slept through the lot). He seems to rebuke them, he questions their faith. “Where is your faith?” And then he rebuked or scolded the storm and all was still again.
Why was Jesus so hard on them?
I like to think the Disciples got it partly right. We talk a lot in the Bridge about following Jesus and relying on him 24/7, At 11am on a Monday morning, following Jesus has to make a difference. Surely this is exactly what the Disciples are doing – going to Jesus to ask for his help in a situation. But the problem they have is one of how they approach Jesus. In the boat they approach Jesus in an attitude of panic. They are worried they will drown. And Jesus asks them on more than one occasion “where is your faith?”
Faith is very different from belief. I often think that we make a mistake in calling Christians believers, it would be better to be called ‘faithers’. Belief is impersonal agreement, faith is trust, it is about relationship. The Disciples believe that the storm is deadly, they believed that Jesus could change things- otherwise they would never have woke him in the first place! The beliefs are in order. The problem they have it with their faith, it seems to have deserted them. They come to him and demand to know if Jesus cares about them at all. But they have lived with this man for more than a year by now and still they don’t know him. It is not a question you ask someone you’re really connecting with. It seems that you are not as close as you think you might be.
Here we see a Jesus who is sharp with his friends, his followers, we might even say he is abrasive. But he is not making it difficult for the sake of it. Jesus is sharp or abrasive with the Disciples because he believes that they can do better.
There is a healing in Mark 8 when Jesus comes to a blind man. He takes him out of the village and spits on the mans eyes and places his hands on them. He asks the man if he can see and he replies that it is only partly. Jesus places his hands on the mans eyes again and this time he can see clearly. I might have talked before about how Mark puts one story next to another to help us understand what Jesus is doing and saying. This is a classic.
It is almost as though the Disciples can see partially and not completely. Remind you of anyone?
Jesus asks us hard questions for our own good, not to trap us us or make us look silly or small
Did you know it was OK not to understand everything and follow Jesus? It is OK to follow Jesus and be dull! But Jesus will be tough on us and ask us difficult questions, because, well,…. simply because he has faith in us and a big enough faith that we can do better!
Based on, with permission, Jesus asked. What he wanted to know, Chapter 5 Rebuke by Question, Conrad Gempf, Zondervan, 2003. http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Asked-Conrad-Gempf/dp/031024773X. To learn more about Conrad go to http://www.lst.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=71