Dealing with Doubt
Mark 6.1-6
Some of the first sceptics Jesus meets are the people he grew up with. They find it the hardest to accept him as anyone but the carpenter, and the illegitimate son of Mary. They prove the saying that familiarity breeds contempt. This can be true today also: that people who’ve grown up in the church can be afflicted by strong doubts, and often walk away. How should we deal with doubt in this situation?
A father in a crisis with a sick daughter, and a woman in a state of chronic suffering: both come to Jesus, both witness the power of his brief touch, and both experience their lives changed from that point on. The amazing events that took place on that day show us how Christ comes to touch the humble, the defiled, and the broken, then and today.
Jesus encounters a man whose life has been wrecked by sin and evil. He is alone, tormented in mind, and engaging in self-harm. But Jesus radically turns his life around, and immediately charges him with purpose by turning him into a missionary. While this man’s life is an extreme picture, this is exactly what Jesus wants to do with each of us.
Life is fraught with situations that make us feel out of control, anxious, vulnerable, and afraid. When the disciples were caught in a vicious storm, we see the way Jesus deals with the storm, but also the way he deals with them – exposing fear and teaching them to have faith. Christ wants to show us that he is both with us in our suffering, but that he is also Lord over our suffering.
What did Jesus say about the future? What did he expect for his own ministry, and the work he had begun in founding the church? In three short parables, Jesus paints a picture of the future that is either massively deluded or totally accurate. He speaks of his own prominence in God’s plans, of the way his kingdom would grow, and of his expectations of global impact through his church. Has any of this come to pass, and what does this mean for us today?
