ApprehendingGrace.com

¹During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ²“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

⁴His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

⁵“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

⁶He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. ⁷They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. ⁸The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ⁹About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, ¹⁰he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

…

¹⁷Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

²⁰“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Mark 8

As I read this story, the disciples come across as pretty dense! I mean isn’t it obvious that you can’t feed four thousand men (and the women and children present) on seven loaves of bread and a few small fish? Just for fun, I did some calculations. If it were only the men you were feeding, that would make each loaf of bread capable of feeding 571.4286 men. That’s a mighty big loaf of bread! If you’ve somehow been able to accomplish that, you surely can’t pick up seven basketfuls of broken pieces of bread when you’re done! Yet that’s just what you’ve done. Don’t you think that you’d realize the tremendous miracle that had just occurred? Somehow the disciples didn’t see it.

It got me thinking: how many “obvious” miracles do I miss in the course of my everyday life? I’m betting there are LOTS of them. I’m going to look for them this week. In invite you to do the same.

Lord, help each of us see past our busyness and our preoccupation with self and see the miracles You’re doing every day. Help us to see You at work each day this week. Give us a sense of anticipation even before we see our first miracle. Thank You, Lord, in advance, for opening our eyes to see You.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Experiencing God, Reading through the Bible in a Year. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.