Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Mark 8:21 He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
MEMORIES!!
There are so many things that little children do not understand. Sometimes they do not understand when someone is just playing with them. On a ride through the country a mischievous uncle might tell them that those cows over there are called "horses," and they don't understand that he is just joking.
As children grow older, and have more experiences in life, they understand more and more. Yet even adults have trouble understanding a lot of things, don't they? The disciples were grown men but they were worried because they had forgotten to bring bread on the boat trip across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus wanted to talk to them about the Pharisees and Herodians, who enjoyed lording it over the rest of the people, and whose teachings called for putting confidence in human deeds.
But the disciples did not understand. Their thoughts were occupied with their next meal and that they forgot to bring their daily bread along. Were they not supposed to buy any bread from the same place that the Pharisees did?
Jesus' answer was to call to their minds how He had so easily fed them on more than one occasion. Surely they could then lay aside their concerns about physical hunger and learn about far greater threats, from which Jesus would also deliver them.
Do we sometimes get so wrapped up by physical needs and concerns that we don't seem to understand spiritual threats around us? Then remember how the Lord has provided for us in the past. And, since our material fortunes go up and down, remember especially how "He who did not spare his own Son ... will ... along with him, graciously give us all things" (Romans 8:32).
