Weekly Meditations with Pastor Tom - June 1, 2024

"Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?" ~ Mark 8:18

             In my men's group this morning, we were discussing the passage where Jesus heals a man's withering hand on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees around him seemed to care more that he healed on the Sabbath than the fact that a man was healed or that a miracle had occurred right in front of their faces.

      We could hardly believe that these Pharisees were so completely unable to see Jesus for who he was after doing such miraculous things.  Jesus had given them a stunning peek into God's awesome power and all they could see was a man breaking the law of Moses.

            I'd like to think that I wouldn't be so blind.  I'd like to think that I would recognize that this man was especially anointed by God because only a man filled with God could do such things. The Gospel of John tells us that some Pharisees, including a man named Nicodemus, were able to see at least that much.

            But not these guys in Mark's gospel. At first glance, they seem incredibly dim-witted. But then I remembered reading somewhere that the word miracle literally means, "a sign that points to God."  If that's true, then I am quite sure I am just dense as these Pharisees.  My sensibilities are primarily rooted in the scientific worldview.  Miracles don't neatly fit into that perspective. Perhaps then I, too, have eyes that fail to see and ears that fail to hear.

 The Sermon this Sunday

The Treveyon Henderson Story