Journal 2018

Mark 4:35-41

The waves crash over the little boat, and the disciples shake Jesus awake. Their accusation intrigues me:

Don’t you care if we drown?

I hear the same cry from some of my clients: Don’t you care that I’m hurting?

Jesus was asleep, oblivious to the storm, so how could they accuse Him of not caring?  In His humanity He was exhausted and needed rest. It’s ludicrous when a client accuses me of not caring because I’m not available to process with her the moment she gets triggered. Of course I care, but there’s not much I can do for her in the moment except pray she’ll have the strength to keep rowing.

Fear drove the disciples’ words and deeds. What did they want Jesus to do when they woke Him up? Help row? Be prepared to swim if they sank? Perhaps they felt alone and wanted His comforting presence. The storm was bothering the ones who were afraid. It wasn’t bothering the One who was resting.

What if the disciples hadn’t woken Him up? Would they indeed have drowned? What if they’d stopped struggling, stopped rowing and gone to sleep? They weren’t really in any danger, for God still had work for each of them to do. At the right time, Jesus stilled the storm.

May I rest in you today, Lord, no matter what storm rages around me.

Mark 6:5

He was not able to do a miracle there [in Nazareth], except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

Why?

Mark says, “Because of their unbelief.”

Perhaps this verse is the source of the false teaching that if you’re sick, it’s your own fault because of your lack of faith—you just didn’t believe hard enough. The issue, however, is not about one’s self-effort but a disbelief in who the Healer is. If you don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the creator of the universe, no amount of “faith that I will be healed” is good enough.

Faith is not quantifiable. How do you know when you have “enough faith”? Either you believe that Jesus is who He said He was, or you don’t. Faith is better demonstrated in, “If You will, You can make me whole.” The focus is not on me, but on Him.

Mark 6:56

After the incident with the woman who had an issue of blood, people would ask Jesus if they could touch the edge of His cloak, and all who touched it were healed. I suspect her story spread like wildfire—that she had the audacity to believe and act on it, but Jesus had called her out for it, so now they asked first.

Were there any who asked that got turned away by him? Did He ask them questions first and interview them? Did He simply ignore or tune out the ones who were suspect? Did He have the human capability of selective hearing and blocking out extraneous noise or visual cues? Did He take time with each person to connect with him or her, or did multiple people touch Him, and there were mass healings? Did touching people and ministering to them drain Him physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Was He more introvert or extrovert? (Even an extrovert requires downtime.)

We learn from other people’s successes. The bleeding woman had audacious faith. She was desperate, willing to do whatever it took to receive her healing. Her act of boldness, in turn, I believe, gave courage to others to try the same thing.

May I, Lord, have audacious faith, believing You are all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent. But I want to be polite enough to ask if You’re okay with my actions to find healing.