Weird

Sunday, 12. February 2006, 11:45:30

Consider the feeding of the 5,000. After a long day in a deserted spot - a day in which Jesus preoccupied himself with the old-style work of healing and teaching that had marked his ministry so far - the disciples come to him and suggest dismissing the crowd so the people can go and get something to eat. At first, Jesus seems hardly to have heard them:

You feed them

It is only after they have nattered on about the cost of such a project that Jesus even begins to concern himself with the problem. Even then, though his concern manifests itself in an almost minimal way. He simply takes the 5 loaves & 2 fish, gives thanks, and proceeds to have the disciples pass them out. The

miracle

is about as understated as it can possibly be: Jesus, from start to finish, seems largely

out of it

Not only that, but when the miracle is over and everyone has finally caught on to what has happened, it looks for all the world as if

he cannot get away from the scene soon enough

He dismisses both the disciples & the crowd and goes up on the mountain all by himself. Jesus knew they were going to come & seize him

in order to make him king

Jesus seems to be having second thoughts about the style of his ministry so far and he goes off by himself to wrestle with these doubts in prayer.

And pray he does

Then he comes walking to his disciples on the water. The usual interpretation of this scene is that he was coming to their aid in a storm; but Mark 6:48 says that

he was going to pass them by

suggesting once again that Jesus was less involved in their problems than in his own.

In any event, the disciples end up more afraid of Jesus than they were of the storm. The impression given by the account is that something darkly mysterious was preoccuping not just his mind but his entire being. The disciples seem to be have been responding more to that mystery than to the sudden calming of the storm... Mark says

completely amazed and utterly confused, because they did not understand about the loaves, and their hearts were hardened.

Obviously, it is possible to interpret this last comment as meaning that, having failed to grasp the 1st *miracle* they likewise missed the second. Possible, but hardly likely. No their incomprehension was caused not by their inability to know a miracle when they saw one but by an unfathomable scariness emanating straight from Jesus himself.

He was weird

Tone and Truth in Nursery TalesWeird cont...

Comments

It's true. Walking on water is weird.
;-)

By chinajon, # 28. May 2006, 05:47:01

Yes, It would be especially for Modernists searching for The Holy Grail of Cartesian Certainty.... including those of the Rationalistic Empiricists...
;-)

By neonlinux, # 31. May 2006, 23:45:51