1. Hardened Hearts
Mark 6:52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
Mark 8:17Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
Mark 8:20-21 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
I temporarily named Mark 6:1-8:26 as "Missionary outreach beyond Galilee in spite of the disciples' limitations". The 2 verses above came at the end of the 2 feedings - 5000 and 4000. And the conclusion is the same: their hearts were hardened ( one may developed this as a series of 'harden hearts' cos the Pharisees in chpt 7 were very obviously hardened at heart).
Many a times, we saw God's outpouring of his love in our lives, yet we disbelieve or discredited him. The disciples here, despite seeing the 2 miracles+ walking on water episode, still didn't get the point. Do not drift through life without getting the point. Jesus is not here for a political kingdom. He is here to establish the spiritual kingdom. Don't miss it! Another highlight for me is that Mark is a good book to study BEFORE the pentecost; hence a good observation of what is truly important in the kingdom before the Spirit came. And Mark clearly highlighted this through 'teaching' and 'preaching'; clearly Jesus is here to preach about repentance - not the whoo ahhs about spiritual gifts and signs and wonders- although the general public thought otherwise - DONT miss the point.
2. Driftwood
Still at drifting... Remember the incident in Acts 16 (The Macedonian Call)"Acts 16:7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them....And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." Well, a similar event happened in Mark 6.
Mark 6:45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.;
compare Mark 6: 53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him
Here's what ESV Study Bible says:
Mark 6:53 The northeasterly wind had caused the ship to drift southwestward, bringing them to Gennesaret (see note on Matt. 14:34) instead of their intended destination of Bethsaida (see Mark 6:45 and map).
Well, what does it mean? Sometimes, God allowed circumstances to happen to lead us to different places for His advancement of the kingdom. I have to trust in Jesus who says this:“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Some call it open and closed door of God.
3. The Syrophoenician Woman and a Deaf Man
This 2 characters just captured my imagination today. Both events happened around the region of Tyre and Sidon. These 2 folks were mentioned at the end of Mark 7 , where the first portion was delicated to Pharisees who hold fast to their tradition as their obedience to God. Mark smartly uses a gentile woman and a deaf man to contrast against the Pharisees. The Syrophoenician Woman and the Deaf Man just point towards a future reality that will happen: Gentiles coming to saving faith, and the opening up of deaf man's ears(eventually it is his heart) IVP QT study: "those who are spiritually deaf—whether through hardness of heart or through substituting traditions for true obedience—can be healed by Jesus. Pray for yourself and others who need Jesus' healing touch."
From IVP: BIBLICAL IMAGERY
The quality of being hard rather than soft, stiff instead of pliable, is hardly mentioned at all in the Bible as a physical property. Instead it is a psychological, moral and spiritual quality that covers a range of attitudes, including refusal to listen, inability to understand, irrationality and rebellious disobedience. The part of the body that most often gets metaphorically hardened is the heart; the image of being “stiff-necked” is a variant.
A final cluster of usages treats hardness of heart as a spiritual blindness, an ignorance, even an irrational distortion in one’s mental processes. Jesus is grieved at his adversaries’ “hardness of heart” when they object to his healing the man with the withered hand on the sabbath (Mk 3:5), with the implication that they simply do not understand his redemptive work in the world. When Jesus walks on the sea, the writer comments that the disciples “did not understand,” that “their hearts were hardened” (Mk 6:52; see also Mk 8:17). Jesus equated blinded eyes with a hardened heart (Jn 12:40). Other passages speak of a hardened mind (2 Cor 3:14) and darkened understanding and ignorance “due to their hardness of heart” (Eph 4:8).
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