Frustrated

Mark 8:17-18 “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?


I've had those moments when the light went on in my head and I came to some momentously clear understanding about Jesus or faith. That feeling often was accompanied by the feeling that Jesus must have been so frustrated with me that I did not understand some of the most simple things. I can see that same frustration in passages like the one above. Jesus spent every waking hour with his disciples trying to teach and enable a group of followers who would be able to pass on His teaching, but at times they seemed to miss the most elementary truths. Jesus in His humanity must have wondered if these followers were ever going to be able fulfill  their mission after Jesus death.

It is clear that God entrusted the reconciliation of the world to those disciples teaching about the forgiveness found in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course we are the ones to whom that task has been passed in this time in history. I'm not so sure we understand even as well as those frustrating disciples in the boat with Jesus.

I think that when we fail to listen and fail to see, we also are showing signs of hardened hearts. When the truth cannot penetrate as a reality, when we deny or hide from one or more aspects of the truths of God. It is hard to fathom why we resist what is right so much and so often. At least we are in good company. Even the chosen disciples seemed to do the same.