Faith . . . Not as Hard as We Thought Pt. 2

Mark 6:35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages^[e]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."

My last blog was about something on faith that I had learned (or re-learned) from Mark 5 through the story about the woman with the blood problem. In Mark 6 we see a similar story. Not similar in its content but similar in its relevance to faith.

Earlier in chapter six, Jesus and the disciples had gotten on a boat to find a place where they could rest. (He had just sent them out to spread the Gospel and cast out demons, and they were reporting back to Him.) Anyway, because Jesus is such a celebrity at this point, finding a solitary place to rest is difficult and soon a crowd of over 5,000 people are there wanting to be spiritually fed from Him. Jesus has compassion on them and instead of running from them He decides to teach them. Well, eventually it gets late and the people are all hungry.

What I found so funny about this entire episode is the dialogue above. The disciples have seen Jesus do many miracles to this point. I mean, I know it's only chapter six, but to this point they've seen Him AT LEAST cast out demons, heal Peter's mother-in-law, heal leprosy, heal a paralyzed man, call Levi to be a disciple (this isn't supernatural . . . but in a way it is.), heal a deformed hand, calm a storm, cast demons from a man into swine, heal a woman of a blood affliction, and raise Jairus's daughter from the dead. All those miracles (and more) are recorded in chapters 1-5, and John tells us that Jesus did many more miracles than have even been recorded.

So for the disciples to expect Jesus to solve the hunger problem without a miracle, seems a bit strange to us. Let me factor in a few more variables that should have tipped them off that something miraculous was likely to happen. First of all, they were in the middle of nowhere, so food was not available. That's why they went to Jesus in the first place, because they were trying to be prudent; however, you'd think being in these dire straights would have earmarks of a possible miraculous situation. Secondly, they had just come from performing miracles themselves! Jesus had sent them out to preach and cast out demons. That's why they needed rest in the first place! So you'd think they'd be primed for the supernatural.

However, before I come down on the disciples for being simple-minded, I have to look at my own life. How many times have I just heard a great sermon and fervently prayed along with the pastor at the end that I would have more faith and then two minutes afterward complained about my job or my car or my future? Many times. It's an embarrassingly human trait. The disciples were just being human.

At least they wanted a solution to the problem, right? At least they were thinking of others, right? I think this is an excellent example of how "brotherhood of man" is not the highest goal. True they were thinking of others, but they forgot all about God at that point. This is a backwards mindset. If our minds are fixed on God first, the solution to help others becomes blindingly obvious, but not the other way around.

What I find downright hilarious about this passage is how Jesus answers them. They come to Him telling Him to send the people away for food and Jesus just goes, "You feed them." Jesus is the King of well-placed sarcasm. This was such a great thing to say for a few reasons. First of all, the disciples had JUST been performing miracles themselves, right? I wonder if Jesus is trying to remind them that they probably have this power too if they would just ask for it, "You have just cast out demons. You feed them." Secondly, their request--if they were dealing with a normal rabbi--would have been completely appropriate; however, they are dealing with Jesus. It sounds like Jesus is also chiding them for forgetting His supernatural divinity. "If you are going to come at this problem thinking horizontally, then deal with it horizontally. You feed them then."

Of course after hearing Jesus' instruction and not REALLY listening they all freak out because they don't have money and there are too many people.

Patiently, Jesus sends them out to see if anyone anywhere has any food to offer. What I think is particularly amusing is how he says it, "How many loaves do you have?" Now . . . maybe the word loaves is just a common word for food. Maybe the typical lunch back then was bread and this was a normal question, but I can't help thinking that Jesus is kind of leading them on. This situation reminds me of a mother with a child who can't find his toy. The mother knows the toy is on the top shelf, and the boy starts crying because he doesn't see it. Instead of getting the toy for him, the mother plays the "hot and cold" game with him until he finally looks up and sees the toy on the shelf for himself. This is how Jesus question seems. "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." I wonder if Jesus even looked at the loaves in question as he asked this.

The disciples come back with five small loaves and two fish. The pastor on this podcast study on Mark pointed out something really funny about this situation. According to similar accounts of this story in different gospels, it was probably Andrew who brought this little boy's lunch to Jesus. The pastor explained that the situation probably went like this:

Jesus: How many loaves do you have? Go and see.

Andrew: (seeing a willing little boy volunteer) Five!--

Other disciples: --Not now, Andrew! We're trying to solve a problem, man!

Andrew: ....And two fish.....?

I mean, think about it. There were well over 5,000 people there, and some little punk kid offers his meager little lunch. It's not even a man's lunch. It's a little boy's lunch. The only thing worse for this situation would have been a little girl's lunch.

And yet, Jesus not only fed the crowd, but also created a surplus of 12 full baskets.

Again, the point is not our quantity of faith or strength of will. As my pastor said, "It's not ability; it's availability." If we are but willing to be used, God can do incredible things with us.

Faith . . . Not as Hard as We Thought

So....I'm studying Mark right now, right? So...the pastor I've been listening to pointed out something interesting.

You know that lady with the "issue of blood" in Mark 5? Yeah . . . well . . . I'd never considered this before. Like, you know how the point of the story is that Jesus tells her that her faith made her whole and stuff, right? But I hadn't thought of what her faith really meant until going through this study.

Okay, so listen to this. The passage says that this woman had been EVERYWHERE to try to get healed of this disease. Nothing had worked, so she sees Jesus and touches the hem of His garment.

Now . . . let's think about what that faith entailed. It can't have been very big, because this woman had tried EVERYTHING. You know? Like, Jesus seemed like a good idea too. Of course she must have been ashamed of doing this, because when Jesus asks "Who touched me?" (in order to get her to fess up) she doesn't volunteer herself right away. This was probably because of Levitical Law and stuff about women who have blood problems being unclean. How dare she touch this Rabbi, right?

But anyways, think about how little faith she actually had. She was desperate. She'd been to all the doctors, healers, etc. that the area had to offer. Jesus must have been just one more try. I mean, what would it hurt? I think too often we attribute some kind of holy status to these people because of their being in the Bible. Like, that they were all great "Faith Warriors" or something when they were probably just people like you and me. She probably didn't have "beyond a shadow of a doubt" kind of faith.

Besides, "beyond a shadow of a doubt" faith is impossible for us anyway. Of course, a person may THINK they have complete faith in God, but . . . an HONEST person would say, "I WANT to have perfect, complete faith in God, realizing that I'm fallen, but also realizing that the process of sanctification draws me closer to Him" . . . but . . . mathematically speaking it's--at best with extreme optimism--like a point that approaches infinity. Until we get to heaven, we aren't going to love and trust God the way we completely should, and even then the Scriptures tell us that we will marvel about God for the rest of eternity. Not that marveling has to do with faith, but . . . He will still be awesome to us and we will never completely understand Him.

I guess for me this story really showed me two things. First of all, Jesus wasn't lying when He said you need faith like a mustard seed. Secondly, that we are TOTALLY without excuse to trust Him. We don't even have to be 100% SURE, you know? We just have to be willing to accept His gift--even if we don't understand what that gift totally means.

The woman in Mark 5 was willing to let Jesus heal her. That's all it took.

Though He slay me...

"Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him." (Job 13:15) (NASB)

I had always heard the first part of this verse, but for some reason I never bothered to look at the second part.

This was my thought process:

"Though He slay me..." Well, that's depressing. It sounds like that doom and gloom message that people say fills the Bible.

The verse continues, "...yet I will hope in Him..." Now, that just sounds like fuel for a martyr syndrome. "Even though God makes all this bad stuff happen to me, I guess I'll just stay faithful to Him. Even though He wants me to suffer to the point of death--I know He really loves me...somehow... Ho-hum. Waaa-waaa-waaaa."

The context of this passage is Job telling his friends (and what little family he had left) about how God was merciful and deserved praise even though He was allowing Satan to put Job through all these trials. Still,...that doesn't make the above words sound any better. In fact, it sounds down right sadistic of God, and it sounds like Job is a masochistic pawn.

But that's not where the verse ends.

"...Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him." Well, that sounds pretty proactive for a martyr. The KJV says "maintain my ways before Him." Young's Literal Translation even says "to His face, I will argue"!!! This is quite a contrast from the supposed down-trodden spirit in the first part of the verse. It gives the idea that Job is applying the concept in Hebrews 4:16, even though the verse wouldn't be written for several millenia. It completely changes the mood of the verse.

This tells me two things. First of all, that God doesn't change. He was the same from Job's Antideluvian Era to the Apostolic Age. Not only did both Job and Paul come before God boldly, but also that was the right thing for them to do.

Secondly, We can know that God wants us to come boldly before Him not only because this principle is all over the Old Testament (see Judges, the Psalms, prophets,...everywhere...), but also because places like Galatians 4 in the New Testament where it tells us that we are not to act like slaves of Christ, b/c we are His children. We are not to say, "um...umm...Lord?...God?...um...are you busy?....'cause I have to ask you something...but you probably won't want it answered once you hear it...so...um..." We are to say, "Abba Father! You are the only one who can help me! Listen to me."

Now, this is not to say that complaining is right. Look at cases like Jonah or Moses where they made excuses and complained. Look at how God reacted. He was patient, but His wrath was kindled--and rightly so. Here is the God of the universe saying, "Go. Speak. I will be with you," and here are Jonah and Moses going, "Oh, no You won't!" That's not coming boldly...that's disrespect. In Moses' and Jonah's defense, though...I'm not sure how any of us would react. Their doubts were sin, but extremely human. However, they (especially Moses) are regarded in other parts of the Bible as men of righteousness. This shows that while God is holy, He is forgiving.

Also, This is not to say that Job didn't ever complain. He did, and God reprimanded Him...but for the most part, Job remained faithful during intense trial...and for that, he is remembered.

However, regarding the point at hand: there is a huge difference between saying, "God, I am weak, and You are strong. Give me Your strength," and "God! I can't trust you, because it's too hard!"

The difference is faith. Complaining is not placing faith in an infinite God. Requesting boldly is. We are saying, "God, I know you can do it. Please do it." That requires TONS of faith. It doesn't make God obligated to do what we WANT, but it tells Him that we have faith that he CAN.

Anyway, back to the verse. If we only ever look at the first part of the verse, we get a very different idea of God than if we look at the entire verse. In context, this verse displays--instead of a masochistic martyr--a man full of faith. A man who says, "God has the power to kill me, but that doesn't matter. I will still trust in the Creator's power, and I will show Him my trust by pleading my case before Him. I will remind Him of my faithfulness and I will appeal to His faithfulness."

Amazing.

The Great Commission

There are certain churches out there that don't like questions. It's rather humorous since the Bible completely promotes free-thinking. They will say, "You must agree with us, b/c if you question, you are threatening God." Let's not even discuss closed-mindedness right now. Let's focus on the more immediate question of: how can we even HOPE to threaten God? I mean, come on! It's ridiculous. They are so scared of everyone "falling away," and they take stuff like Hebrews 6 out of context. It's like...why do you even believe in God as Truth, if the slightest wind can blow you away? It doesn't speak much for faith at all...and it completely negates the concept of Truth.

Like...this is one I've heard all my life. The age-old line of questioning:

"Why did Jesus hang around with tax collectors and prostitutes?"

"B/c they were the only ones who were open, and the Jewish synagogue leaders in Jerusalem had rejected him."

"So...shouldn't we have a mission to those kinds of people if they are so open?"

"NO!!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"

"Why not?"

"B/c of the danger of lust! And you could so easily fall into sin! And the appearance of evil!!!"

"But...aren't we supposed to follow Christ's example?"

"Yes!...but not in that way!"

"Why not?"

"B/c He was God! He could handle it!"

Okay, before I go another step, let me explain what I'm NOT saying, b/c I've just set myself up. I'm NOT saying that we should have our next Sunday School class at the nearest brothel. I don't know why I would be saying that anyway, b/c Jesus didn't go into strip clubs and adult content stores. However, He was friendly to those people. He even *gasp* went to their HOUSES! Yes, we are not to make ties with the world. But, there is a difference between being a close friend and being friendly.

Get out of your comfort zone and look up a youtube video or two about transamerica with an open heart rather than a wrinkled nose, or start a conversation with the Satanist at work about about the new dog he just bought. These people are searching! They desperately want love and so they look in all the wrong places!!!

They will never see the truth if all they see is hate. Of COURSE they know they are wrong! Their families turn on them. They lose close friends who are appalled at them. They can't walk anywhere without being stared at. You know what that does? It drives them farther in!!! Imagine what an impact we would have if, instead of preaching about staying away, we would actually do what Jesus and the apostles did and love them and talk to them and understand who they are as people.

Instead, we stay in our churches and sing our hymns and talk to our people. We crinkle up our noses at the mention of words like "gay." Like somehow we are being holy and making God happy b/c of our abstinence from a mass of people that He created in His own image.

You know...that argument just does not hold water at all. It's a stupid excuse, b/c actually we are scared of what other Christians will think. Okay...maybe it's not fear. Fear is a weakness, right? We aren't weak. No not us. So we call it "discernment". So...good for us b/c we had the fortitude to stay away from 'bad' people. Whoopti-doo...People need Jesus, and although some will stumble across Him without us, the majority probably will not. Do you realize how serious that is?

What? did the Great Commission say "All the world will go unto ye if they ever clean up their act and show up?" No. It's our responsibility--to ALL nations, it says. And besides, who are we that they should deign to darken our doors of their own accord?

The clock is ticking. Can we waste time waiting for people to come to us? Show the solidarity of a faith in Christ. A faith that can withstand temporary lusts. A faith that is more loving than a support group. A faith that is founded by truth, and a truth that is the essence of love.