February 16 - Mark 9:1-13: An Unexpected Christ

You have probably said about someone, "That day I saw the real Ted." (if you know someone of that sort.)  Not that the Ted you knew for the past two years was a fictional character or a simulation of Ted.  What you meant, if you had known a Ted and this had happened to you, was, I saw through to one of his essential qualities.  We have shared jokes and done jobs together but that day (imagine some experience you shared that allowed you to see something that truly represented Ted's inner, more permanent character) you saw something that was central to his identity.

In the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw, that day, the real Jesus.  Jesus had always been divine; He did not hide from them His true identity.  For reasons we would probably have well understood, the disciples could not come to grips with the Messiah's true identity.  In this story, Mark reveals not only the real Jesus, but also the disciples' sense of shock.  Peter was stupefied by what he saw to the point that he blurted out the only ceremonial suggestion he could think of; the sight left James and John dumbfounded.  The man they had been following around was in fact God.  Sure He claimed to be the son of God, but anybody can say the words.  And yes He did miracles,  but even Pharaoh's wise men could turn staffs into snakes.  But for this... there was no explanation.  Jesus, still with a fleshy body, revealed His true character - a timeless, glorious God who talked with the long dead founders of their religion, culture, and national identity.  He shone with an unparalleled radiance and participated in resurrection.  Such a sight would have been as unbelievable then as now and his closest friends had no way of processing it.  They beheld the divine and lived - this was the real Jesus.  When he came back to them He was the man they had come to know, but now there was something more to him.  Just think, if the disciples had a difficult time believing in Jesus as the incarnate God, how tough is it for us?  The eyes of faith see what the disciples fleshy eyes beheld - the unbelievable truth: Jesus as God and man.

January 5 - Mark 6:41-56

I put my oldest daughter on my shoulders when she was three.  The verbal screech she let out was accompanied by an anaconda like grip around my neck and the weight of her face pressed against my hat.  I tried desperately to convince her that I would not let any harm to come to her - she would not believe me.  Her reaction bothered me not because she was afraid, not everyone deals well with heights.  What hurt me was that in spite of her fear, she did not trust me.  If not me, whom would she trust?

The disciples found themselves in a situation similar to my daughter's, one which revealed more about themselves than about the one they called the Christ.  I think I would have been afraid of my mentor gliding along the top of a raging sea.  No matter how much time we spent with Jesus, actually watching him walk across a raging sea would have terrified even the most dedicated believer.  Doubt would be natural but that is not what Mark says about the disciples.  Mark reveals something else about the disciples in the boat.  They did not believe in Him.  The question is, if they harbored disbelief, in whom did they believe if not Jesus?  Mark's statement is more telling than at first glance.  When it comes to our relationship to the creator God, we either believe in and trust Him or we believe in and trust something/someone else.  Scripture is clear, there is no position of neutrality.  Christ warns that we are either for him or against him; to disbelieve is to trust in an idol.  My guess is that the disciples trusted in a Christ who was different than the one they encountered on the water.  That different Christ was an idol.  Their disbelief revealed their misplaced loyalties - they wanted their idol back, not this son of man who walked past them on the water.  The text does not say what they wanted and so we are left to guess but the fact is, they did not want the Jesus who had come to them.  The disciples' response is instructive to us, doubt and fear are normal, but disbelief is an act of idolatry.  Whom do we believe in if not Christ?  Whom do we trust?  Who else do we credit with having the words of life?