Do We Understand?
Good Morning Friends,
Today we have Noah in a boat from the Genesis Flood account and Jesus and the disciples in a passage from the Gospel of Mark also in a boat and the interesting thing is that in both situations the people along for the ride were being asked to trust, obey and believe with faith in the provision of God. Both stories are about how both good and bad things can grow in our lives and in the world and that changing that is not such an easy thing and requires us the think differently. But, Do We Understand?
Scripture: The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. And after seven days the waters of the flood came on the earth.
Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 (NRSV)
Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Mark 8:14-21 (NRSV)
Message: Even though it makes a wonderful children’s story with lovely smiling animals with a colorful rainbow at the end, floodwaters are not such a romantic picture. Children died in the flood and the reality is that the story of Noah is not a nice story about a cozy boat ride. I do not completely understand the story of fallen angels having children with human women. But I do understand that such creations on earth would pose a disastrous consequence of us all and if that is the reason that God sent the flood then such devastation seems more in balance with the damage that resulted. The world was messed up and undoubtedly God grieved. But the thing is that whether it was fallen angels of just people who refused to follow the ways of God, the inhabitance of earth before the flood made God angry. Unfortunately friends the world is still messed up and given the status of the situation any change requires God to act even in granting us faith and belief to make a commitment to at least in some small ways make a difference. The challenge then is with each of us accepting God’s grace and daring to be different. And a major part of that is understanding the miracle of Jesus and how He alters our thinking and being. We like the disciples need to believe differently and not be slow to trust. We are to venture into the world of faith understanding that Jesus is the only hope we have. We are not to forget the miracle of Christ calling us to His purpose.
And So, we are not only to know and understand but we are called in love to do. The story was that the world messed up before the flood and then thing is that it was still messed up when Jesus and the disciples were in another boat centuries later even though they had as we do the hope of a new covenant in Christ. In that love we are to act.
Pray we realize that there is no hope for any of us unless God wills it. Pray we live within the boundaries of behavior that follows God’s will. Pray we not overstep God’s desire for us. Pray that no matter how ungodly the environment we are in that God will find a way to be with us in the challenge of facing evil. Pray our impulses and imagination leads us to glorify God and in so doing gives us a purpose worthy of the life we have been given. Pray we trust God more and obey God more and have faith in abundance. Pray we be aware of false doctrine and not succumb to its lies.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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