Fri 5th June - #56. Perdu le fil
In today’s reading we move from the feeding of the thousands to another amazing miracle (Jesus walking on water) -
47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and He [Jesus] was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn He went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw Him and were terrified.
Immediately He spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ 51 Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognised Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried those who were ill on mats to wherever they heard He was. 56 And wherever He went— into villages, towns or countryside— they placed those who were ill in the market-places. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
When I was in school there were some subjects where I had a mental blockage. So take French lessons for instance. In September of 1985 I thought I was going to love French.
Mr Cooper started the first lesson with a few familiar words such as ‘Merci’ and ‘Bonjour’, I thought I’m a natural at this even if I don’t have the accent. Lesson two was great, the teacher came in with a French stick also known as ‘a baguette’ and a pastry known as ‘a croissant’. I was loving the lessons!
However, by the first half term I wanted to end my French education. I had lost the plot or as the French say - ‘perdu le fil’. By now we had moved on from words and eating yummy French food to grammar and squiggly things above letters.
In our reading today (in verse 52) Mark says these words 'for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened’.
The disciples had an idea about who they following. Jesus was after all the Messiah who was going to turn their lives and the world (that they knew) upside down. But how? When? The disciples were confused and they did not understand what Jesus had come to do. The disciples couldn’t see Jesus’ true identity, they could not understand His mission and their response to Him was, as the French would say, they were ‘confus’.
We also read that ‘their hearts were hardened’. As we read through Mark we will see that it is only Jesus who can soften their hearts.
This morning, I pray that you will know Jesus for who He is and not have hardened hearts.
I will leave you with a well loved song that we have learnt at Hook over the last year, oh and it’s in French - https://bit.ly/30gZHI5
Passez un week-end béni
Much love
Tim
Notre Père éternel
‘Our Father Everlasting’
Thurs 4th June - #55. The One and Only
Football crowds do have some silly chants. I remember being at a European Final between Tottenham and Anderlecht. It was a thrilling match that went to penalties… and Danny Thomas missed his penalty! He was devastated. Suddenly 46,000 people started singing “One Danny Thomas, there’s only one Danny Thomas, one Danny Thomas…”
But actually there’s not is there? There must be dozens, even hundreds of people called Daniel Thomas!
But, for sure, there is only God. In Deuteronomy 4v35 Moses declares, “know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.” In Isaiah 44v8 God himself says, “Do not tremble, do not be afraid. … Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” There may be many idols that people make and call “gods”; there may be other gods that are created by the human imagination (Calvin said that “the human mind is a factory of idols”). But there is only one true and living God.
And this God is awesome. There is no-one like Him. He is majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, and works wonders. He exists in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not 3 gods, but one God in 3 persons. He has told us what he is like: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Exodus 34v6). Absolute Truth. Mind-blowing reality. Impenetrable mystery. We worship Him.
And this One God is for us. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8v31). He is on our side, He watches our backs, He stands with us, He upholds us, He provides for us and protects us. He actually loves us!
So, disciple of Jesus, in the midst of your busyness or boredom, your loneliness or work Zooms – lift your thoughts to the One and Only God, the Awesome God, who is with you and for you today, tomorrow, for the rest of lockdown and forever.
Love from Paul
To God the Trinity
be endless honours done,
the undivided Three,
and the mysterious One:
where reason fails with all her powers,
there faith prevails, and love adores.
ISAAC WATTS 1674-1748
Wed 3rd June - #54. A humble brag
Today we are going to look at two verses.
Mark 6:45-46
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, He went up on a mountainside to pray.
This verse strikes me because my inclination following such a miracle (feeding over 20,000 people) would be to talk about it with my friends and have a humble brag. So I would say something like this “wasn’t it terrible that no one had any food today but wasn’t it fabulous that by the end there was too much food for us to eat”.
Jesus wasn’t like me (thankfully). Jesus, we read, dismisses the crowd and He went on His own to pray on a mountainside.
Jesus’ relationship with His father was the most important part of who He was. Prayer was the way that He drew close to his father.
Today I want to leave you with 5 quotes from Tim Keller’s book on prayer *1 -
“Prayer is both conversation and encounter with God. . . . We must know the awe of praising His glory, the intimacy of finding His grace, and the struggle of asking for His help, all of which can lead us to know the spiritual reality of His presence.”
“The infallible test of spiritual integrity, Jesus says, is your private prayer life.” (p23)“Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray, healed people with prayers, denounced the corruption of the temple worship (which, he said, should be a ‘house of prayer’), and insisted that some demons could be cast out only through prayer. He prayed often and regularly with fervent cries and tears (Heb. 5:7), and sometimes all night. The Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed Him as He was praying (Luke 3:21–22), and He was transfigured with the divine glory as He prayed (Luke 9:29). When He faced His greatest crisis, He did so with prayer. We hear Him praying for His disciples and the church on the night before He died (John 17:1–26) and then petitioning God in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally, He died praying.”
“God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything He knows.”
“Our time frames are not in touch with ultimate reality. Our perspective on timing compared with God’s is analogous to a two-year-old’s with an adult’s. God has good reasons for making us wait a long time to see some prayers answered.”
“We know God will answer us when we call because one terrible day he did not answer Jesus when He called. . . . Jesus’ prayers were given the rejection that we sinners merit, so that our prayers could have the reception that He merits.”
Right I don’t know about you but I’m off to pray.
See you at Prayer Central later.
Much love
Tim
Tues 2nd June - #53. Remembering
How good are you at remembering? Do you remember a special event or day? Do you remember to buy something at the shops, or to do something you said you would do? I’m not that good at remembering… unless I write it down in my diary, or scribble it in my notebook!
God has no such problem. He remembers. He remembers His covenant. He remembers His people. He remembers us.
So there was Noah in lockdown on the ark for a very long time. He went in at God’s command and the longer the flood went on maybe the more Noah thought that God had forgotten him. But we read in Genesis 8v1: “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” God remembered Noah in his lockdown experience.
And there were the Israelites in Egypt. They were undergoing n terrible time of extra hard slavery by cruel taskmasters, and even their children were being killed by the Authorities. They must have thought that God had forgotten the covenant He made with Abraham to make His people like the sand on the seashore. But we read in Exodus 2v24: “God heard their groaning and he remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.” God remembered the Israelites,
Yes indeed God remembers his people, He remembers us. You may feel forgotten during this lockdown; forgotten by friends, by family, even by God? But you are too good to be forgotten; what more can I say, too good to be forgotten, He’ll never ever let you go away.
God remembers you today; he remembers you now.
Take heart and talk to Him.
Love from Paul
Mon 1st June - #52. I'm starving
At certain times of the day one of my girls will say ‘I'm hungry or I'm starving’. They obviously aren't hungry because only a few hours before they had their porridge or beans on toast but their call is often ours too at times.
In today's reading there were not one or two saying they were hungry but perhaps twenty thousand.
Mark 6:30-44
The apostles gathered round Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’
So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.
By this time it was late in the day, so His disciples came to Him. ‘This is a remote place,’ they said, ‘and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’
But He answered, ‘You give them something to eat.’
They said to Him, ‘That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’
‘How many loaves do you have?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’
When they found out, they said, ‘Five— and two fish.’
Then Jesus told them to make all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
It is always worth thinking about our motivation for things. So when I preach/teach is it because it is my job or because it is my turn on the rota or do I preach like Jesus who's motivation was compassion?
Compassion means to be inwardly moved so as to have to do something about it. *1
Compare Jesus’ response to that of the disciples who are thinking practically. The disciples can see the time, the location and the problem. Their only solution is to send them on their way.
Jesus’ response to the disciples is one that they were not expecting - ‘you give them something to eat’. Again the disciples are thinking out of their experience and practically as they do the sums to work out how much it will cost to feed this number of men, women and children (half a year’s wage).
Jesus looks at what food there is (5 loaves and 2 fish) and does an amazing miracle.
So what do we learn from this?
We are not called to copy this miracle but maybe we might need to think outside our box and experience and let Jesus do things his way.
What might this be? I don't know! But maybe you have lost hope of a person coming to know Jesus or you have stopped thinking how Jesus could solve the impossible? Maybe you have a weakness and you are resigned to say that's never going to change.
Look to Jesus who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. *2
Much love
Tim
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1 The message of Mark - Donald English (IVP)
2 Ephesians 3:20