“Heidi, your shoulders are sagging. Can I help you?” Those words spoken by a colleague were like a healing balm to my soul. Immediately I sat up straight, shoulders back and ready to tackle the mountain of files on my desk. But, I have also had people stand in my doorway and hurl destructive and angry words at me. In the aftermath of those encounters I feel exhausted and dejected.

If Jesus performed this miracle in our culture, what might our reaction be? It would certainly draw a lot of attention in the media. Some would turn the miracle into a formula, maybe sell a DVD with a 6-step program for healing. Others might build a cult around Jesus’ saliva. Our human tendency to worship the technique or object rather than our Healer would be evident before long.

This is the second time in a short period of time, in the recounting of the story by Mark, that the reader meets Jesus feeding an incredible number of people. (I would encourage you to re-read 6:30-44. In fact it is well worth while to sit down with the two texts and mark out all the similarities.)

This short story is full of meaning for the reader. Now at sea and heading to the confines of Palestine, the disciples are concerned that they only have one loaf for the thirteen people in the boat. The two incredible multiplications of chapter six and eight have gone right by them. Their actions and attitudes remind Jesus of how religious and political types react to him. For the third time in the Gospel Jesus directly challenges them (see 4:13 and 7:18).

This is about learning to see.

The disciples are blind according to Mark as he leads his readers to the “hinge” upon which his whole Gospel is constructed in the following paragraphs. Just as the healing of the deaf mute in chapter seven completed a cycle of stories that started with the feeding of 5000 people and 12 basketfuls of pieces that remained …

Jesus was the master teacher and Mark does a masterful job drawing us into the story he recounts to his community. We are in the very centre of the Gospel. We arrive at the “hinge” to which Mark has been taking us. Interesting enough, the only ones who recognize him to this point in the story are the evil spirits. It is time to ask the critical questions of his followers. Like a good teacher, he begins with an open question, “Who do people say that I am?” Upon their response, he asks what any perceptive teacher would ask, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

Ever heard of Mother Nature? Many people use the phrase quite innocently, but others believe that nature is manipulated by a plethora of gods. Millennia of human history offer no shortage of religious rituals to these unknown deities. But Psalm 29, written by King David to the tune of thunderbolts, as cleverly stated by C. H. Spurgeon, sets the record straight. God is the One who acts powerfully in nature.