I'm back at Purdue to help with some coffee shop stuff. It's coming along nicely, they did a lot of work in the week I was gone! I'm in a computer lab and just saw my friend Ashley Isenberg, and then I got a call from a mysterious 231 area code that two or three times called and didn't leave a message. I picked it up, and it was Spring Hill Camps, telling me that they are understaffed, and need counselors for the summer. I told the guy I didn't know what my availability was, if at all, but that I was semi-interested and told him to put me down as a "yes" so I could get more details about it.
I woke up this morning and read Mark 3-4. I'm trying to better understand why Jesus did the things He did--like how He went about doing things and saying things. There are a couple times in the Gospels when I'm like.... "What? Why did He do that..." But today, I was just flat out flabergasted. In Mark 4:10-12, Jesus tells why He uses stories to speak to the people. Jesus says to the Apostles in verse 11, "You can know the secret about the Kingdom of God. But to other people I tell everything by using stories so that: 'They will look and look, but they will not learn. They will listen and listen, but they will not understand. If they did learn and understand, they would come back to me and be forgiven.'"
The Scripture Jesus is quoting is from Isaiah 6:9-10. I read this passage after reading the quotation in Mark 4. I still do not understand it. I just don't get it. Jesus is basically saying--it would seem--that He speaks in stories so that people will not understand. WHAT? Is this the God that came down to save us? He knows that He is speaking in stories on purpose. This doesn't call my faith into question; it actually makes me love Jesus even more, in light of Isaiah 55:8-9. I want to get a hold on this, if it's possible. Maybe it has something to do with what Jesus said earlier in Mark 2:17, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to invite good people but to invite sinners."
I don't know. If you have any thoughts at all, please share them with me. I'm trying to get a grasp on how Jesus lived so that I can have a more eternal, Godly perspective on things that happen in my life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I´ve thought about that a lot, to be honest. I mean, God says that He wants no one to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
But then I was thinking, that if God straight out said it, no one would SEEK Him. People wouldn´t prove to Him that they thought Him worthy of time, effort, hardship, etc, if He came right out and told them. The people who have a heart and passion for him, are those who dig deep and search for answers.. they are the ones who don´t give up, even if they don´t understand it right away.
Post a Comment