"… they may
indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand."
It seems I’ve spent a lot of time enjoying my own cleverness. At
work I deal with people problems or technical problems. In school I would figure out how
to memorize the history lesson or math facts. I enjoyed figuring out new strategies for
games. Throughout life we look at what’s in front of us, maybe rearrange things a
bit, try to see from different perspectives, and find an answer. An answer that works,
anyway.
When we try to "figure out" our relationship with God,
however, we don’t know where to begin. We don’t have a clue how to arrange
things, how to begin to see God. The first verses of this chapter in Mark say that Jesus
taught the crowd many things in parables, stories they didn’t always understand. Our
Servant-King has given us everything. But like the crowd, we can’t see it with our
own eyes. We often look at his gifts through sinful eyes, clouded with pride and
arrogance. Seeing, we don’t perceive; listening, we don’t understand.
Jesus’ closest friends and supporters were humble fishermen and
tax collectors in a remote corner of the civilized world. They’d given up all they
had to follow him. They had given him their hearts. They weren’t full of themselves,
they asked for understanding.
But they didn’t really get it either. They knew Jesus was special.
They knew his words were compelling. Yet even they looked at Jesus and listened to him
through the filter of their own culture. It wasn’t until after Jesus had died and
risen and reappeared to them that the mystery was resolved. Only then did they see Jesus,
the Anointed One, as the kind of King he really was.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for being our Servant. Please take our
hearts, so we truly see you as our King. Make our eyes and ears open to you. Amen.
