Today I read Mark 8 where Jesus feeds the 4000 who have been following Him for 3 days and have been fasting the entire time. Again Jesus manages to miraculously feed them with just 7 loaves of bread this time and a few small fishes. I wonder if everyone fasted the entire 3 days including Jesus and His Apostles or if everyone ate the food they brought and they ran out by the 3rd day. I suppose it does not really matter one way or the other, but I often wonder about the background of these stories that we are not told and what lead up to the miracle that we read about.
This chapter also contains what is perhaps the most interesting miracle that Jesus ever performs. He heals a blind man, but He does it in stages. Every time I read this chapter I can't help but wonder why the first time Christ heals the man, it does not work completely. Christ spits on the man's eyes and lays His hands on the blind man and then asks him to look and tell Jesus what he sees. The man does and tells Jesus that he sees men walking about as trees. This statement leads me to believe this man was not born blind. How would he know what a tree looks like if he had been born blind? So Jesus lays His hands on the blind man's head again and then he sees clearly. This miracle is so interesting to me, why didn't Jesus just heal him fully the first time? Did it have to do with the man's faith? We are not told. I also wonder if the first time Jesus heals him, if the man needed glasses. The description he gives Jesus sure sounds like blurry vision in need of corrective lenses to me. This is again one of those things that I will probably never know the reason in this life. But it is very interesting to me that Jesus chose to do it this way.
This chapter also contains that warning Jesus gives His Apostles concerning the Pharisees and their leaven. Although in this version it does not state implicitly that Jesus is referring to their doctrine. He merely rebukes them for thinking that He is upset with them for not bringing bread when He just fed 4000. You do have to wonder about Jesus' disciples and Apostles sometimes. They just watched Him take 7 loaves and a few fishes and feed 4000 people and have 7 baskets of leftovers and they think He is rebuking them because they forgot to bring any food with them. It's kind of silly honestly. But they were still learning and we are not told much about His Apostles other than some of them were fishermen and one was a publican. We do not know if they were overly spiritual men before Christ called them. So I can understand them not really comprehending His warning to beware their teachings.
They also did not understand His trying to teach them that He will be crucified and resurrected. Peter upon hearing that tells Christ that he won't let it happen. He doesn't understand that it is necessary and has to happen. But then again, none of the Jews did. When Jesus is killed they all forget that He told them it would happen that way and that He would be resurrected on the 3rd day. But that is because the references to His first coming and Atonement had been removed from their scriptures hundreds of years before this. The Apostles are still learning to use their spiritual ears and all too often, miss what Jesus is actually trying to say to them. But they learn little by little. I also wonder if it was harder to learn the things of the Spirit without the Spirit constantly present to testify of the truthfulness of the things they were hearing or if Jesus' spirit was able to fulfill that role? When we who have the Gift of the Holy Ghost hear truth, and are worthy of His presence, the Holy Ghost testifies to us that it is true. And so it is easier for us to distinguish between truth and error. Although we still make mistakes too and can choose to not listen to the promptings of the Spirit.
As we strive to make right choices though, it becomes easier to make even more right choices and to do that which is right in God's sight. But it is still possible to fall and fall hard, take David from the Old Testament for example. He was about as blessed as a man can be, but he still let temptation get the better of him and lost his place and his reward. It can happen to all of us. We have to remain true to our covenants and listen to the Spirit and His promptings. It gets easier to do it each and every time and our desires change so that we want to be better and do what is right. If that is our goal, we will get there little by little. God will give us what we want and what we ask for, so it is important to know what it is you want and where you want to end up. I know what my goal is, take the time to understand what yours is too and you won't be disappointed when you get there. Until tomorrow.
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