I'm Focused on the Bread.

Have you ever just not understood?

I feel like I have those moments somewhat frequently... a person will be trying to talk to me about one thing, and I'm just not getting it. Sometimes they're just going way over my head. Sometimes I'm way overcomplicating it. But a lot of the time, it's simply that I'm not understanding. What that person is saying to me is just outside my realm of possibility, comprehension, whatever. I'm not understanding it.

In the gospels, we discover that Jesus' closest followers often just didn't understand. In Mark 8:14-21, Jesus is on a boat with his disciples, travelling. He starts to tell them that they need to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herodians (in other words, "Don't be like these guys!"). The disciples, though, think Jesus is criticizing them for not bringing enough bread on the trip with them.

A little off base, but not terrible, right? Wrong.

Well, it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that already in Mark, Jesus has done two miracles where he miraculously took just a couple loaves of bread and multiplied it to be enough to feed a group of 5,000 (Mark 5:30-44) and 4,000 (Mark 8:1-10). Jesus obviously doesn't have any problems making bread appear if He and the disciples need any. Jesus explains this to His disciples and they still aren't getting it. I can only imagine the exasperation in Jesus' voice as He asks in Mark 8:21, "Do you not yet understand?"

I've read this passage many times before and just thought, "stupid disciples." But as I read, I think I'm seeing something deeper here, and it's this:

Jesus wants to give me something so much greater, but all I can focus on is the bread.

I think we can all agree here that God is a big God. Jesus knows what He's doing. He wants to do some big stuff in my life, and He wants to teach me some big, important things. Yet, just like the disciples, I miss the point by focusing on something totally trivial and mundane that doesn't even matter. Take this story for example. Jesus wants to teach His disciples about the kind of people He wants them to become, but they don't grasp it because they are so fixated on a question as stupid as "Do we have enough bread?"

I wonder how many things in my life I'm missing because instead of focusing on letting God do something amazing and life-changing, I'm instead focused on the little "bread" stuff of my life. I'm never going to experience the incredibly awesome stuff God wants to do in my life if all I can focus on are the small things that a long time ago Jesus showed me He can take care of.

So where are you focusing on the bread? Is Jesus asking you, "Do you not yet understand?"