I’ve been spending time in the Gospel of Mark lately, keeping pace with Jesus’ march to the cross as our days press on toward Easter. One of the things that has stood out to me on this reading is the disciples’ failure. We see it throughout the gospels, but Mark accentuates the disciples’ shortcomings.
In Mark, the disciples consistently fail to grasp Jesus’ mission as the one who will suffer for our sins. They have moments of insight, but the recurrent theme is of their failure.
- The disciples see the hungry people and overlook the Bread of Life—twice (Mark 6:37; 8:4).
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I stared into the blue water of the pool, then down at my flip-flops. I lifted a wary eyebrow towards my brother. His eyes wide, he nodded, encouraging me to take a step.
“You’ll walk on water – just like Jesus,” Jay told me. I had completely dried from our summer dip in the pool and stood wrapped in my faded Kodak towel my mom got for sending off the UPC codes from film boxes. Kneeling down beside the pool, I removed a flip-flop and gently placed it on the water.
To my seven-year-old delight, it floated.
My brother, almost three years older and wiser, stood smug beside me.
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