1/28/10 Mark 4
Sometimes We are Slow
Jesus shows a great deal of patience with His disciples with respect to his teaching and personhood. In Mk 4:10 His disciples and followers ask Jesus about the parables that He was teaching. He responds with a bit of surprise in Mk 4:13. “Do you not understand this parable?” “How will you understand all the parables?” Jesus then shows kindness to His followers by explaining the parable of the sower and the soils.
To end chapter 4 Jesus and His disciples are on the Sea of Galilee and there was a significant wind that was causing the waves crash in on the boat. After being awakened by his frightened disciples Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea. His disciples are very afraid and respond “Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?” Well, it is easy to say they should have known, because the demon in chapter 2 stated that He is “The Holy One of God” and consistently whenever unclean spirits within a person saw Him, the person would fall down before Him and shout “You are the Son of God!” (Mk3:11). But for them to not understand Jesus teaching or personhood was understandable considering their expectations of a Messiah. They did not envision that the Messiah would actually be God in the flesh. I believe this episode with the wind and the sea was when the light bulb went on for some of them. They began to understand that Jesus was not just a prophet or the Messiah that they had hoped for, but He was actually God in the flesh. Jesus was continuing to build His credibility and identity with His own disciples as they are caught in a major shift between how God has operated and how God through Jesus is now going to operate.
Before we judge the disciples too quickly, we must recognize ourselves that we are slow at understanding Jesus teaching and knowing His personhood. The disciples were not privy to “rest of the story” or to the complete revelation of the scriptures. If we had a better understanding of what Jesus teaches in the gospels, then we would know the character of Jesus better and would be imitating His character. We may know that Jesus is The Son of God, The Holy One of God, The Messiah, and the Creator who causes nature to obey Him, but is it just information or does it lead to a transformed life.
Father, be patient with me a sinner, but one of your children, who is slow to understand and slow to recognize what you desire and your great character. My humble request is that I would have a clearer understanding of your teaching and of your character for the purpose of doing your will and looking like You, as much as is humanly possible. In Jesus great name, Amen.