You're Amazed? I'm Amazed !

I always smile when I page through chapters 5 and 6 in the Gospel of Mark.

In chapter 5,  Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who then gratefully tells people about Jesus and the miracle. Mark recalls at the end of the passage that "All the people were amazed."

Who wouldn't be amazed at the miracles of Jesus?

The irony comes in the very next chapter - a little time has passed according to Mark. Jesus has left Jairus' house, where he raised Jairus' daughter from the dead - no small miracle - and returned home to Nazareth for a visit. 

Again, Mark recalls, that many of the neighbors who heard him preach in the Nazareth synagogue were amazed at his teaching.

But...

Others took offense - perhaps jealous of the attention he was getting.

"Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?"  (I can picture today's news media questioning his credentials, 'He's just a plumber!') 

None of this irony was lost on Jesus, the Bringer of miracles. As Mark recalls,

"He was amazed at their lack of faith."  Mark 6:5

I healed the blind man, raised the dead girl, and now you're wondering why I can preach the Word of God? 

And today...

I'm sure he's still amazed -  and mercifully compassionate - at our lack of faith, despite the blessings and miracles surrounding us every day.

I'm amazed that he could love a sinner like me. But I'm glad he does.

What do you believe?

What's in that Light?

"Isn't it something how we take light for granted, despite how complex it is?" my wife said during our drive along Lake Michigan last week. We were trying to decide if the evening sky was "slate" or "midnight" blue (slate). Throughout the weekend we saw a stunning range of colors in the snow and ice of the frozen Great Lake. Piercing blues. Dazzling whites. And the time of day, and the angle of the sun continuously gave new life to the same scenes.

God's Light is like that. It's not just that we can know him - there's so much nuance and depth - continuously revealing new blessings and insights, if we only look (or listen, or read, or pray...).

A retired pastor gave the sermon at our church today.

He fondly held up a simple gold chalice that his family had given him way back when he was ordained. Somewhere on the chalice's base, too small for us to see, was a diamond from his mother's wedding ring. He said his dad told him about the days before he was going to propose to the pastor's mom. His dad was showing some friends the ring and suddenly realized that the small diamond had fallen out of the setting onto the ground. He crawled and searched in the dirt to no avail - until the sun came out of the clouds and the diamond glinted, catching the light.

Look for the Light of the Son shining on, and perhaps revealing, the countless blessings of this life - even if we sometimes have to wait for a cloud to pass by.

What do you believe?