I am reading the Gospel of Mark with The Message this morning. In Mark 6, after feeding the 5, 000, the text says that “Jesus insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead across to Bethsaida…After sending them off, he climbed a mountain to pray.” He didn’t travel with them in the first place. He sent them off. He was in solitude instead. The storm hit late at night. The text descriptively says, “The boat was far out at sea.” In the middle of nowhere, the disciples fought and struggled with the nature. Jesus walked towards them on the sea. They got scared. Jesus comforted them. The wind calmed down. “They were stunned, shaking their heads, wondering what was going on. They didn’t understand what he had done at the supper. None of this had yet penetrated their hearts.”
Mark draws a statement here: “They didn’t understand what he had done at the supper. None of this had yet penetrated their hearts.” We are constantly exposed to a lot of things, such as graphics, images, concepts, noise, etc… What penetrates our hearts is what shapes us inwardly. Once it penetrates, it starts to be working in our hearts. Once an idol penetrates, it deforms us. When the Word of God penetrates, it forms, reforms, and transforms us.
I find it interesting that the miracle of feeding the 5, 000 just happened in front of the disciples, the whole incident did not affect their hearts at all. I believe that there is a reason why Mark’s Jesus started to discuss the source of pollution in chapter 7: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes…,” said Jesus.
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