Do You Have a Heart of Stone?

~~~ James 1: 12-18 ~~~~  Mark 8: 14- 21 ~~~

"Do you not yet understand or comprehend?" I can hear the frustration in the voice of Jesus. The disciples are still missing the point of his words. "Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?" We are in chapter eight and Jesus has been performing miracles. Everywhere he went people were crowding around him so he is loosing patience with his disciples lack of understanding.

James sums it up in the very first chapter "...all good giving and perfect gift is from above..."

In other words everything good comes first through the goodness of our hearts. If we persevere in temptation we will receive the"crown of life"

It seems the disciples were also forgetful. They had forgotten to bring the bread. I guess they were so excited to be on the go with Jesus they were not thinking clearly. Actually they just have a misunderstanding with Jesus. He tells them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod; the rules and the rulers. The disciples are thinking only on the literal level thus being out in left field, which causes Jesus to start his litany of questions. He does not even give them a chance to answer, which does happen when you are trying to communicate with someone who just does not get it. At this point Jesus is about to throw up his hands and walk away, but instead he reminds them of his earlier miracle of the seven loaves. It is as if Jesus is trying to communicate with a group of young children, but they are not children they have been with him days if not weeks now.

The disciples are only able to answer simple questions like how many baskets of fragments they collected after the second multiplication miracle feeding the four thousand. Here we begin to really notice that even the disciples were not quite sure Jesus was the messiah. They too were sort of anticipating an earthly king to make all things better. They were expecting more than a soup kitchen for the hungry. Perhaps they had something a little grander in mind for serving their king than collecting leftover scraps. You probably have seen the mess left behind after a large crowd has been 'picnicing' together in the same space. There is a pile of trash and garbage...not what they signed up for... So basically everyone was confused except Jesus. He knew he was sent to serve those in need.

Jesus cuts with the harshest  question of all, "Are your hearts hardened?" Which is a very good uestion for us to end with as Lent quickly approaches. Jesus is asking us the same question today, "Are your hearts hardened?" What does it mean for you today? What is keeping you from having the heart God needs? What causes the heart to harden? Is it like clay once exposed to the air?

Psalm 94

When I say, "My foot is slipping," your mercy, O Lord, sustains me.

When cares abound within me, your comfort gladdens my soul.

This original picture is of a red glass heart cradled in the hands of a person.
During life our hearts can become hard before we even realize what has happened.
God is always holding our heart even if it grows cold and turns to stone.
This kaliedoscope image I captured reminds me of the light that available to soften my heart. This light can dispel the root of hardness within my heart.

Happy Valentine's Day!
May your heart be filled with unending love.