“Sight Without Insight” by Colleen O’Sullivan
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. (I John 4:11-12)
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save. (Psalm 72:12-13)
About the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out. They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!" He got into the boat with them and the wind died down. They were completely astounded. They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:48b-52)
Piety
Lord, open our hearts to your often-unexpected mercy and grace.
Study
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| Jesus Walks on the Sea, James Tissot, c. 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons |
“Their hearts were hardened,” Mark says. This strikes me as an unusual use of the phrase. When I think of having a hardened heart, I think of being unremittingly unforgiving, and that isn’t how Mark is using it in this context.
The disciples have just witnessed the feeding of the 5,000. Where they would have sent the crowd to the nearest Burger King and forgotten about them as they disappeared over the horizon, Jesus shows compassion toward the hungry people. Where the disciples throw their hands up and say there isn’t nearly enough food, Jesus takes what is on hand and makes it enough, with leftovers to boot.
At this point, the Lord desires a bit of solitude for prayer, so he puts the disciples in a boat and says he’ll meet them in Bethsaida. At nightfall, Jesus begins walking across the sea. The disciples’ little boat has been caught in a storm and is being tossed around on the waves. Jesus passes by his friends in much the same way God passed in front of Moses. They are sure Jesus is a ghost, but he identifies himself and gets into the little vessel with them. Immediately, the storm is stilled. The quaking men’s fears are put to rest.
It’s here that Mark makes his remark about the hardness of their hearts. He says they didn’t understand about the loaves. They had no clue about the calming of the waters. The eyes and ears of their hearts were not open. They witnessed the mighty deeds of the Son of God, but they lacked any insight into what or who they saw. They were the same people they were before they ever met Jesus.
Action
What about you and me? We have the advantage of having the four Gospels at our fingertips. We know who Jesus is as well as the signs he gave and the mighty deeds he performed. But can we see Jesus at work today? What miracles might we be missing in our very midst? What healing could Jesus be working to bring about in our lives that we’re missing? Do we, too, sometimes suffer from having sight without insight?
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