Last time we began reflecting on those experiences that only make sense if we grasp how our growing in relational faith is so colossally, eternally, massively valuable.
Let’s read on in the second part of Mark. We’ll see how this fundamental challenge to relational faith gets re-emphasised repeatedly. We’ll be blessed as we come to understand it…
In fact Mark 6:47-52 is a good example. Once again, the disciples are having a hard night voyage. They’ve just helped out in Christ’s feeding of the five thousand, but now they’re tired. Suddenly, to their horror, they see something approaching on the water; in their exhaustion they fear it’s a hostile spirit. It turns out, of course, to be the Lord. `Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid’, he says, and as he climbs into the boat the wind dies down. `They were completely amazed’, says Mark, `for’ – and here is the unexpected phrasing, the one to look out for – `they had not understood about the loaves.’ Loaves? Loaves aren’t usually what matters when you’re facing a headwind or an evil spirit; but those loaves that had fed five thousand should have assured them (us too) that they were in fact competently cared for.
We find the theme again in 8:17-21. The disciples get anxious about having forgotten to bring bread. (Here, they’re overlooking not only the recent miracle, but also Jesus’ challenge not to worry what they should eat, drink or wear.) So again he reminds them of the spectacular revelations of God’s kingdom provision they had witnessed; in the feeding of the five thousand (v19, 6:30-44) and the four thousand (v20, 8:1-9). And then his question is this: `Do you still not understand?’
`Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ (4:40). Sometimes they didn’t. And maybe we need the same question; I do anyway. Agreed, it seems God has more than one way of working, and there is a special clarity about how he revealed the kingdom around Jesus. The coming of the old testament law, we recall, was likewise surrounded by an unusual flood of miracles; that `flood’ wasn’t permanent, lessening considerably (though not totally) by the time of David and Solomon. (But the old testament shows how God retains the sovereign right to act in a more `miraculous’ mode whenever he chooses. Solomon’s era doesn’t contain much of the `supernatural’; but when Israel gives in to paganism in the days of Elijah and Elisha, the supernatural returns with full force. That can happen in our situation too!) Just so (Hebrews 2:3-4 implies) God released a special outburst of `signs’ to validate the new testament revelation, and this too wasn’t permanent. Indeed, even within the gospel period, the kingdom’s powers are manifested differently in different phases. Toward its end, Jesus reminds his disciples how he had taught them faith by sending them out without purse or provision; God had answered prayer, all their needs had been met. And then he asks them: `”When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing”, they answered. He said to them, “But now, if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag: and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one”‘(Lk 22:35-36). They were in a different phase now, where the kingdom would operate differently. There’s something equally `special’ about the Acts period; we don’t expect healings by a Christian leader’s shadow (Acts 5:15) or his handkerchiefs (19:12) to be normal for ever after, because these were, as 19:11 says clearly, `extraordinary miracles’ for a particular moment of revelation. So the kingdom has seasons, it works in different ways at different times. (Still, Mark does also hint (2:5, 6:5-6, 11:22-23) that that difference can be linked to the collective faith, or lack of it, that there is on our side (meaning, importantly, the faith within a community (eg `their` in 2:5), rather than that of an individual); as well as it also may to the seasons of God’s developing plan.)
But on the other hand, Mark cannot be irrelevant for us! Its early chapters with their multiple revelations of God’s goodness and power are obviously given us for a purpose; and at their very heart lies Jesus’ `good news’ that we began with last time, in Mark 1:14. His challenge is, Believe that the powerful and good reign of God has come; that he cares, that things are being put supernaturally right – on earth, right here. We know that that caring reign may vary in style, and indeed will remain “incomplete” till the second coming (1 Cor 15:24, Heb 2:8, Rev 11:17); and we can’t be sure what precisely it will mean in each and every situation for us (how and when it will operate through the release of God’s miraculous power, or how and when it may be the way of real growth in `living by faith’ under pressure like Habakkuk). Most of us have experienced both those times when God heals wonderfully, for example, and also those very tough times when he doesn’t; we have, in our family. Growth in humble faith includes accepting how God chooses to work at a particular time. But — Mark is written for us; we certainly cannot be facing a total loss of what Jesus announced and demonstrated; and that should certainly shape our prayers!
And this is clear also if we turn back to Acts, isn’t it. The kingdom is the theme signalled both at its start and its end. It’s the kingdom that Christ is teaching about in Acts 1:3; and it’s when the disciples ask (uncomprehendingly) when the kingdom will be restored to Israel (v6) that he responds, `You will receive power’ (God’s reign is obviously, among other things, about power for good) `when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses’ (1:8). We the Church, then, are right now the presence and gateway of this kingdom of goodness spreading into the world. Again, Acts’ final summary of Paul’s message, in the book’s closing verse, is `Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ’ (28:31). Implying, surely, not that God’s kingdom of power and goodness is in some way suspended, but that, as Acts closes, it is what the Church is still announcing, living by, and expecting to experience – in our own situations too….
So Mark’s `good news of the kingdom’ is for us! The exact nature of the continuity between our era and Jesus’ may not be clear, may indeed vary quite sharply; but continuity there must be. The wonders recorded by Mark don’t belong on another planet; whatever the kingdom goes on meaning as Acts closes, it absolutely must be related to what Christ wonderfully demonstrated. The kingdom isn’t locked away from us in the past, on the wrong side of the closing of the canon. Christ challenges us to trust (and to pray!) on the basis that his reign is come; that he really is acting lovingly, wisely, powerfully for good; in the way he lovingly chooses, but yes, in our situation too; right here, right now…
(Lord, it’s not always easy, but I do believe in your loving goodness; and in the wisdom of what you do; and in your loving power. Please help my faith, please help my unbelief!)
