Missing the Point

June 21

Read: Mark 8:14-21

Missing The Point

“And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.” (v.16)

You will always miss the point of the Kingdom of God if you are thinking with an earthly framework. One of the earmarks / key signs of this way of thinking is defaulting to a “scarcity mindset”. We see this played out over and over again… this “thinking in the flesh” vs. viewing the world through the lens of the Spirit / the lens of the Kingdom of God. My friend Walt and I were discussing this truth this morning. One of the things he mentioned was the amazing legacy his grandfather left for him; one where he modeled a life go generosity chasing to trust that the Lord would “have his back” and bring back to him far more than he ever gave away or “gave up”. This is a beautiful example of taking God at his word and trusting that the systems of the Kingdom and the systems of the world are at odds.

In this passage, we see the disciples drift back into this “worldly” way of thinking… viewing their situations through the lens of the material… a lens of scarcity. This “closes their ears” to what Jesus was trying to teach them. We will never really get / “hear” / understand what Jesus is saying to us when we are stuck in this mode! Jesus mentions “leaven” and immediately they fixate on bread…earthly bread. Namely, they key in on how they did not bring all that much bread with them. (One loaf to be exact. v.14) The word “only” here paints the seen as a sort of “falling short” or lack of planning… a place of scarcity and deficit. This brings up another point:

We will never be able to “hear” Jesus when we consistently default to viewing the world through our own failures/ short-comings / deficits. You see, the disciples couldn’t get past their mistakes. They began to hear everything with an ear that was tuned into how they fell short! Jesus doesn’t speak to us in that “voice”… he doesn’t speak to us from the vantage point of our scarcity / short-comings… he speaks to us as those who have been redeemed… made whole. We may hear his voice and immediately go to what we don’t have or how we have fallen short… this also stops us form hearing what Jesus is actually talking about. We see that here; Jesus mentions bread and all these jokers can think about is that they messed up and didn’t bring enough.

Jesus does not function from a position of scarcity… Jesus sees no “deficits”, because in the Father there are no deficits! 2 Peter 1 tells us as much: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…” (2 Peter 1:3) When we rest in the grace of God extended to us in Christ, we can be set free from the “guilt” and distraction of our short-comings… we can be set free from our worry of “having only brought one loaf”. Then we are in a position to receive the life giving advice that Jesus offers… in short: we can finally hear AND understand what Jesus is saying to us as his brothers and sisters. When we fall back into “fearful” thinking… into “scarcity” thinking… into fleshly thinking that sees only the material realm… we will forget that Jesus “blesses and multiplies” all good things and that we need not be afraid. Why fret about a problem that Jesus has solved over and over again?

The enemy wants to keep us distracted, trapped in a scarcity mindset, and fixated on our shortcomings so that we don’t understand Jesus when he talks to us. Jesus calls us into remembering all the ways that he has provided and his work on the cross. Jesus does this with the disciples in the boat. He closes with this question: “Do you not yet understand?” (v.21) He asks us the same question.

The truth is we don’t ! We forget. We drift. We need to be reminded. The gentle voice of the Lord calls us to remember. He is the one who feeds us and we leave SATISFIED. He is the Lord of ABUNDANCE, there is always bread and fish left over. It is only when we are freed form these worldly mindsets that we can really “track” with Jesus and tune into what he is truly saying to us. It is time to leave the “scarcity” thinking behind. It is time to be set free from the guilt of our short-comings. It is time to be set free from worrying about the lonely loaf on the boat… Jesus will bless it and multiply! This is the Kingdom. Lord, give us Kingdom “lenses” to view the world in… give us a mindset anchored in you! Free us from our guilt, fear, ignorance, and forgetfulness. Help us to remember the ways you have “satisfied”. Love you guys. - JDP