Faith

I'm reading Mark.

I've actually just stopped, because I got to the part where Jesus curses the fig tree because it is out of season and therefore had no fruit for Him to eat, and that part always confuses me, and my parents (i.e. my instant Bible Encyclopaedia Reference Human-Books) are not picking up the phone, and I need to understand that part a little better before I move on with Jesus into Jerusalem.

One thing that was shattered today is that Sunday School concept that Everything Is Possible With God. You know, the one where He can apparently do anything ever, and we're lacking faith if we doubt that. Also the one where the kid who wants to test the little Christian kids who haven't yet had to think about their faith asks some sort of ridiculous question..."Well, if God can do anything, can he put himself in a giant microwave and turn it on?"

What??????

That doesn't even mean anything, kid who wants to make other kids uncomfortable. Really. You're stupid.

I don't remember if that was actually the question, but I know it had something to do with God being in a giant microwave. Maybe He was supposed to turn Himself into a hot dog. I don't know.

The point is, that this whole faith thing is a lot more important than I remembered it being. Like, when Jesus goes back to His hometown, He can't heal anybody. Not can't as in, doesn't want to, but can't as in, is unable to. I looked up the word at one point because I was curious, and the words for "can" as in "to be able to" and the word for "power" as in "miraculous power" were very similar, but different, and in the handful of examples I checked out, translated consistently. So Jesus uses miraculous power to give sight to a blind dude, and his miraculous power goes out when the woman with internal bleeding touches His clothes in the crowd. But the simple ability to do something--and subsequent lack of ability, i.e. cannot, could not--is what happens in such cases as, Jesus went to His hometown, and barely anybody had faith in Him, and He healed a handful of people, but left quickly because He could not do anything for the people without faith.

In case you don't believe me, let Mark tell you: "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith." (6:5-6)

I'm not saying I think that Jesus is powerless unless we believe in Him....that would imply that He needs us, and I'm pretty sure that God likes us but doesn't need us in order to be God and all that jazz. (I'll bet He likes Jazz, too...)

I'm just saying that this is what I'm seeing over and over, and I think I'll go back and study it more closely. And maybe write a really cool, well-thought-out post or mini-book or something.

For now, I think what I'm supposed to do (aside from writing the final papers that will sort of help me graduate in a month) is have faith, too. So, with with the father whose son had an evil spirit, I cry out "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"