Daniel N. Lee

Sure, I’m a Christian. I go to church. I listen to Christian radio sometimes. I sing when I feel like it. I even listen to the sermons sometimes. I where Christian t-shirts. I went to Six Flags with the youth group last summer. I try not to cuss. I guess I’m a pretty good Christian…

Is this where we’ve come as Christians? Have we watered down discipleship to church attendance and a list of dos and don’ts? Do we realize that the term “good Christian” isn’t even in the Bible?

It’s as if we think there are degrees of Christianity – I’m a better Christian as so-and-so, but I guess I should try to be more like that person. She’s a great Christian.

Really? If only it were so simple.

Following Christ is much more than that. It’s supposed to be a challenge. If it’s easy to follow Jesus, you’re probably doing it wrong…

In Mark 8, Jesus gives a wake-up call to his disciples and the crowds following him. It’s gut check time.

According to Jesus, here’s what it takes to come after him:

1. Deny yourself.

Now, we want to add something to that. We think Jesus is saying, “Deny yourself (x).” If you want to be a Christian you’ve got to deny yourself this TV show or that movie. You’ve got to deny yourself those friends or these vices. But he doesn’t say to deny yourself things. He says to deny yourself. Deny your very self – the thing that makes you you. Your identity, your self-worth, your image, your reputation. You no longer define yourself by yourself. You define yourself by Jesus. Your life is no longer about you – it’s about Christ. It’s not about what you want – it’s about what he wants.

2. Take up your cross.

This imagery has been so skewed over the years that it’s hard to break people out of their old notions. To be clear: Jesus is not equating a cross with your own personal burdens. I’ve heard it preached that we all have a cross to bear, and some are heavier than others. But if we stick with it and bear our burdens, God will reward us in the end.

That’s Paul talking in Galatians, not Jesus talking in Mark. Jesus’ words are much scarier than that.

If the cross equals burdens, then that implies that some people will have an easier time following Jesus than others. Compared to prison inmates or homeless drug addicts, my burdens are extremely light. Does that mean I have a better chance at following Jesus? If the cross equals burdens, then that opens us up to the comparison game. But if the cross means…the cross – an instruments of painful execution – then we’re all on the same level.

Sure, some people may be stronger and more able to carry that bit piece of wood, but the physically strong and the physically weak will both die on that cross. Your strength won’t save you. No matter what our lot in life may be – whether rich or poor, smart or uneducated, strong or weak – the cross and the death it represents is the great equalizer of us all.

3. Follow Me.

Two points on this one. First, we can’t have salvation on our own terms. It’s either God’s way or no way. Sure, mankind has come up with all sorts of alternatives throughout the millenia. But God has shown us the way to eternal life – and it comes through self-denial and death. Jesus never once taught that we could follow him and come to God any way we want. He never said that we should choose whatever way seems best. He says, “Follow me.” And we can only truly follow him once we’ve denied ourselves and taken up our cross.

Second, Jesus is not asking us to do anything that he has not already done. In coming down to earth and becoming a man, he denied himself to a degree that we cannot even fathom. He “emptied himself” and “made himself nothing” (Philippians 2:7). And it was he who would first carry that cross all the way to his death. He’s not asking us to do anything he has not already done.

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I think we fall into the trap of comfortable Christianity. But there is nothing comfortable about Jesus’ words here. In fact following Jesus is a commitment that is guaranteed to break you out of your comfort zone, to tear down the walls of safety you have built up around yourself, and to get you outside of yourself. Once you wear the name “Christian,” your life is not about you anymore.

Paul summed up perfectly what it means to be a follower of Christ:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

So Jesus is the Messiah. Period. Done. Pack it up and let’s get going. We have a military to organize.

If Jesus is the Messiah, that means Israel is about to regain its power. God is going to overthrow Rome and the Herodian dynasty in order to establish the throne of David once again in Jerusalem. No more oppression, no more slavery, no more Gentiles telling God’s people what to do.

This is it.

At least that’s what the disciples thought. That’s what everyone thought the Messiah was coming to do. He would be God’s anointed one to lead Israel’s armies into battle against their oppressors. He would be the one to become the great an final king of Israel whose throne would last forever. God’s shalom would finally come to fruition.

They were ready for war.

And they would get war, but not for another 30 years and definitely not with Jesus as their general.

And that war did not turn out so well for them.

Just when the disciples had finally caught on to who Jesus was (“You are the Christ”), he turns their whole understanding on end. They were right in calling him the Christ, the King, the Anointed One. Now he says that he’s going to be killed.

The Messiah, the deliverer, the King of all kings – had to die?

This did not compute.

The Messiah must suffer and be rejected by the chief priests and teachers of the law? The Anointed One must be killed and rise again on the third day? What?

Imagine you are just putting the finishing touches on a 20 page research paper, about to press save, when suddenly the computer freezes and displays the dreaded blue screen of death. All that work – just gone. It’s like a punch to the gut.

Now imagine the fate of your entire country – your spouse, your children, your friends – was in the hands of one man, and he tells you that he’s going to be killed. Enter Peter.

There’s got to be a better way. Jesus, you must be confused. Don’t say things like that. You’re only joking, right?

But Jesus says something striking:
“Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”



Ouch. When was the last time you called someone “Satan” and got away with it? But Jesus says that Peter doesn’t have in mind the things of God but the things of men. How often are we guilty of the same thing? We want Jesus on our own terms. We want God to act how we think he should. We think, like Peter and the Jews, that if God would just wipe out every evildoer and punish the wicked, everything would be great! Just swoop down with his army from heaven and be done with it.

But, like Yoda says, “Wars not make one great.” No war has ever made as much of an impact on the world as the sacrificial death of one man. Wars make history – they can’t change it. Wars will never redeem the world. Wars will never bring life – only death. Wars only breed hatred – not love.

So no, Peter, there will not be a war. There will only be sacrificial love and complete surrender to God. Wars do not make one great – only God can do that.

I’m serious. Don’t read it.

I don’t want to be guilty of doing the very thing Jesus told his disciples not to do.

I don’t want to make the mistake of telling people that Jesus is the Christ. I think that would probably get me in trouble. Not with the government or friends or family, but with Jesus. He didn’t want his disciples to spread the word, so I’m not going to.

So stop reading this post.

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Okay. Now that nobody is reading, here it goes.

I believe that Jesus, the Jewish teacher from Nazareth, is the Christ and that he is the Son of the Living God. I believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, the promised One who came to take away the sins of the world. I believe that Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life. I believe that he was killed on the cross anyway. I believe he was put there on that cross not by the Jews, not by the Romans, but by me. He came to save me, and I killed him.

I believe that if there is any hope for the world, it is Jesus. I believe that Jesus died not just for me but for the entire world. He bled out on the cross so that his blood could cover over our sins. And I believe that he rose from the dead three days later. And if Jesus was raised from the dead, I believe that I will also be raised with him.

People talk about Jesus like he was a good teacher, a moral example, a visionary, or even a peace-loving hippy. I don’t buy it. I believe that he either is who he says he is, or he is not. If he claimed to be God and he knew he really wasn’t, then he is a deceitful liar who doesn’t deserve a second thought. If he claimed to be God, believed he truly was, but in reality was just a normal guy, then he is certifiably insane. He belongs in an asylum, not venerated in church buildings. But if he truly is who he claims to be, then he is Lord. There is no way around it.

I believe he is Lord. I believe that he is reigning in heaven this very moment. I believe that his Spirit is at work within me and those who believe. And I believe that because of Jesus I have hope of an eternal home with him from this moment forward.

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If you’re still reading this, I hope you figured out that I was being facetious. I also hope you see the irony in these statements.

Throughout Mark’s gospel account, Jesus keeps telling people not to tell anyone else about the things he has done. And do they listen?

No.

But then Jesus plainly tells his followers to teach the good news to all creation…and what do we do?

We treat the gospel as if Jesus wanted us to keep it to ourselves. We hold it close, not wanting others to be put off or offended by what we believe and know to be true. Dare I say we seem ashamed of Jesus and his words (Mark 8:38)?

Just compare for a moment: Have you ever shared your faith with someone only to have them reject you? Have you ever intentionally suppressed your faith around someone, never even mentioning Jesus?

Which situation leaves you with more regrets?

We live in a country in which we have BOTH freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But, shh… don’t tell anybody about Jesus.

Right now I’m reading though Miracles by C.S. Lewis. I’m trying to read more as a goal for 2012, and in reading more I would like to read a wider variety of authors. I have read quite a bit of Lewis’ stuff in the past, but it has been a while…and my brain can tell.

For being such a prolific and popular author and apologetic, I wonder how well-accepted his material would be if he were just beginning his writing career today. We’ve become so accustomed to the happy-go-lucky, feel-good material from the likes of Lucado and Osteen that we seem to have lost our desire and ability to think deeply and critically about the Faith.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some authors out there who do present their material in a concise, simple way while still challenging their readers to think for themselves. But I can’t help wonder what Lewis’ reaction would be to the spiritual and intellectual depth of the current Western American church?

Walt Mueller, a leading youth ministry guru, recently posted about a new book debuting soon. It’s called The Juveniliazation of American Christianity by Thomas Bergler. I would encourage you to read the article and watch the interview at the end. His premise is basically that we are not pushing ourselves to pursue spiritual maturity, and the church is suffering because of it.

Since when did Christianity become something that must be palatable for the masses? Why do we think that we must dumb down or simplify the message of Christ so that everyone can get it?

Last time I looked, it’s not man’s job to bring understanding. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-15).

Jesus didn’t grade his students on a curve. He didn’t give extra credit. He didn’t cut them any slack just because they were “unschooled, ordinary men” (Acts 4:13). In fact, Jesus held his followers to a higher standard than even the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law (Matthew 5:20).

But check out this interaction between Jesus and his disciples in Mark 8:14-21

  The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them.“Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”  They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”  Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”   “Twelve,” they replied.   “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”   They answered, “Seven.”    He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

I’m afraid that Jesus would have very similar things to say to us today. The disciples had been with Jesus for probably over a year at this point, if not longer. They had traveled with him, ate with him, lodged with him, preached with him, and they had witnessed incredible miracles. Yet they still had no understanding.

We’ve had the words and accounts of Jesus and Jesus’ followers for the last 2000 years. And we still haven’t figured it out either? We have the entire story readily accessible in hundreds of different languages. Scholars and theologians have been pouring over the words in red for centuries. Thousands of preachers across the world proclaim the message Sunday after Sunday. And yet Jesus’ words still ring louder than ever: “Do you still not understand?”

I know this post sounds a bit harsh. I hope I haven’t crossed the line into arrogance or self-exaltation. That is not my intention, especially since I am speaking to myself as well. I’ve got to hold myself to a higher standard.

My point (and Jesus’ point) is that we need to stop making excuses. It’s time to open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts. I don’t want Jesus to say these words to me. Furthermore, I don’t want Jesus to say these words to anyone under my care.

I pray that God will give all of us Christians eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand.

A little switch up today. Here’s one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands from my high school years.

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows by Brand New

How many of you have ever thought that it would be SO much easier to believe in God if he would just give you some sort of sign? If he would just speak to me directly… If he would just show me once and for all… If he would just (________), then I would (____________).

Throughout history mankind has desired and sought after “signs and wonders” from the gods. Especially now that we live in such a science-driven, secular society, we think that the only way to truly believe something is to have tangible evidence. Honestly, the ancients weren’t much different. They didn’t just blindly believe in things they could never experience or test.

Ever since humanity first stepped on the scene we have been faced with death. It’s the one experience we know better than any other. Was it any easier for the ancients to believe a dead person had come back to life? Absolutely not. They needed some type of proof.

And some of them got proof.

And that seems unfair to us.

The thing we need to realize, though, is that even when we are staring the evidence in the face, it doesn’t mean we’ll automatically believe and everything will be better.

• Some people got to see the resurrected Christ face to face – and they still didn’t believe (Matthew 28:17). 
• Peter was able to hear God’s voice and see Jesus transfigured into his true divine nature right before his eyes (Mark 9:2-7), but he still denied him three times (Mark 14:66-72). 
• The Israelites were given so many signs from God that it’s hard to count. They heard God speak, they saw his power, they witnessed his Glory fill the Tabernacle and the Temple – and they still rebelled and sinned against him.

The reality is that seeing doesn’t always lead to believing.

Maybe on some cognitive level it would be reassuring to know for a fact that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. But that cognitive assurance does not equal faith. Those who want to believe will believe. Those who refuse to believe will refuse to believe even in light of solid evidence.

Faith is a choice.

In Mark 8, some Pharisees came to “test” Jesus. They asked for a sign from heaven. Note that they didn’t ask for a sign from God, but a sign from heaven. The implication, according to some commentators, is that they were seeking some type of apocalyptic sign, i.e. a sign that would demonstrate the restoration of Israel and the judgment against their oppressors and the Gentiles. Simply put, they probably wanted a sign to show them that Jesus was who they thought he should be.

But Jesus did not come to bring judgment on the Gentiles. In fact he had just come from feeding thousands of them. Can you sense the irony? So, no. That sign would not be given.

Another irony is that Jesus had given signs time and time again. Mark’s account is full of them to this point. He had calmed the seas (twice!), he had healed incurable diseases, he had shown his ability to forgive sins, he had even raised a dead girl back to life.

And they want a sign? No, Jesus did not owe them another sign if they are simply going to ignore all the others.

So what about us?

Well, if we’re honest with ourselves God has given us plenty of signs already. We just have to open our eyes to see them.

• We want God to speak to us. He already has through his Son, Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2). 
• We want to know what God’s will for us is, how we’re supposed to live, what we’re supposed to believe, etc. He’s already given us everything we need (2 Peter 1:3-4). 
• We think that if we could just see a miracle or a sign we would believe. Like Thomas we want to see for ourselves the power of Jesus before we fully commit. But we have something better! The Holy Spirit actually lives in us and is there for us always (John 16:7).
• We just want God to make his presence and his power plain to us. But all we have to do is look around (Romans 1:18-20).

Mark 8 tells what seems to be a very similar story to the feeding of the 5000 recorded just 2 chapters earlier. I say seems to be similar because there are some key differences that help us understand what Jesus’ mission entails.

The most obvious difference is that Jesus feeds 4000 men in chapter 8, slightly down from the 5000 men of chapter 6. But this figure seems to be somewhat arbitrary in light of the other glaring difference. The focus this time is not so much on how many but on who.

This miraculous feeding takes place in Gentile territory!

The first feast was given somewhere slightly north and west of the Sea of Galilee – prime Jewish hill country. This second feast is hosted in the region of the Decapolis, south of the Sea and east of the Jordan river. This crowd of 4000 men would have been predominately Gentile for not many Jews lived east of the Jordan.

It’s also possible, when comparing the two stories, that the Gentile crowds had stayed with Jesus longer and traveled farther than the Jewish crowds had. They were truly hungry for the Bread.

Another interesting, more subtle difference is that in chapter 6 the disciples were the ones who brought to Jesus’ attention the need for the crowds to eat something. In chapter 8 Jesus is the one who first brings up the physical needs of the people. Could it be that the disciples cared more about their fellow Jews while Jesus cared equally for both Jews and non-Jews?

In both events Jesus had compassion on the people, which was the motivating factor behind the provision. In both events Jesus took a small lunch and turned it into enough to feed thousands. In both the crowds ate until they were stuffed. And in both Jesus actually provided more than enough to meet the need.

One crowd was Jewish. One crowd was Gentile.

It’s brilliant that this miraculous feast in Gentile territory comes almost immediately after Jesus’ run-in with the Greek woman in Tyre. Jesus told her that it’s not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their dogs. The woman answered that even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table.

In a way we’re all dogs, simply begging for whatever scraps God might toss our way. We believe that we’re not worthy to sit at the table with him and eat a whole meal – so we become content with low expectations. But even the crumbs from God’s table are more than enough. The crumbs healed the woman’s daughter. The crumbs fed thousands of men until they had to loosen their belts.

If that’s what God’s crumbs can do, imagine the day when we get to sit down with him and share in the ultimate feast!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed that this is an election year. There are currently four men trying their best to secure the Republican presidential nomination to run against President Obama. One reality about which every single candidate is fully aware is the intense scrutiny they face for every word that comes out of their mouths. Every sentence is subject to intense dissection and criticism. It could be the death of their campaign to let something slip that is not deemed “politically correct.” One misplaced word, one misspoken phrase, could turn thousands of people against a candidate.

Somebody forgot to tell Jesus that.

In his bestselling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie includes a section “Six Ways to Make People Like You.” Here’s what he says it takes:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely

So, he completely ignores her. He doesn’t even ask her name or anything about her daughter. He doesn’t take stock her her feelings or interests. And then he uses a severely degrading term. By all accounts, this is a PR disaster! We would expect this from the Westboro Baptists, but not from Jesus.

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

The disciples didn’t get it. Herod didn’t get it. The Pharisees and religious leaders didn’t get it. This Greek Syrophoenician woman got it. She understood Jesus’ mission and power more than any other human thus far in Mark. That’s because her only expectation was healing. She didn’t have any baggage. She didn’t have any rights to stand on. She didn’t consider herself to have special privileges. She simply and humbly placed herself and her daughter at the mercy of the one who could help.

For some reading this, “tradition” might be a four-letter-word. Even thinking about the word makes your skin crawl, just like the terms “doctrine,” “systematic theology,” or “plan of salvation.” And in some sense, your distaste is warranted.

For others, the word “tradition” gives you the same reaction as a big plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. It’s a source of comfort. It gives you ties to a beloved past. And in some sense, your comfort is also warranted.

Jesus has some interesting things to say about traditions of men, especially when it comes to the church.

There are some who think that traditions were made to be broken. Traditions are stifling, restrictive, boring, and out of touch. They want to move forward in a direction that seems best to them, leaving the past (and the missteps of prior church-going generations) far behind. They want to take Christianity and their faith into the 21st Century and beyond.

But there are those for whom tradition has been an anchor for their faith through some harsh seas. If it weren’t for those traditions and “doing the same old same old,” their faith may have been swept out from under them. When all around them life was chaos, tradition brought order and peace. And now to say that we should just do away with all these things and stir the pot…it’s essentially saying that those truths they held onto for so many years are just an illusion, a lie. They experience God in the way they know how, and to say that it is wrong would be detrimental.

So who is right?

The answer seems to be…Yes.

Tradition: The Good
Traditions are set in place for a reason. Even those who want to break away from what they consider to be outdated traditions will for themselves create NEW traditions – which will eventually become outdated and discarded.

But those lasting traditions – those events and rituals you can count on week after week, year after year – those actually give a sense of continuation from one generation to another. They preserve family history. They promote identity and community. They are the grounding wire in an electrically charged world.

For the Jews, traditions were not everything, but they played a HUGE part in preserving Israel as a nation throughout the times of exile and oppression. In fact, some of the “traditions or the elders” (Mark 7:3) were instated by the Pharisees to bring people closer to God. For instance, the first dispute in Mark 7 is over ceremonial hand washing. In the Jewish Law the only persons commanded to wash were the priests. The priests were expected to keep their bodies, eating utensils, bowls, cups, and food pure. The Pharisees expanded this command to apply to all of Israel. In doing so they were reminding the population that they were indeed a kingdom of priests and that the average Joseph can approach God during the course of an ordinary day.

Traditions can be good and healthy. There is no teaching explicitly against traditions. Were it not for the traditions and the rituals set in place by the Pharisees, the Jewish religion may have all but vanished well before Jesus came onto the scene.

Tradition: The Bad
Traditions can have a dark side to them. If we let them, our traditions can begin to divide people into groups – who’s in and who’s out. WE follow these traditions that we believe are right. THEY follow other traditions were are directly contradicting what we know. Tightly held traditions can begin to build walls instead of bridges because other people do things differently.

You may begin to hear, “This is how we’ve always done it;” “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it;” or even “It’s always worked in the past.” When traditions begin to block people out instead of inviting people in, they can begin to surpass Scripture itself in importance.

When this begins to happen, Jesus gets very angry. We see some of his harshest words yet in Mark’s gospel on this very issue.

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

One reality that most ministers face is that people can sometimes be really thick-headed. You try and explain the gospel to them – who Jesus is, what salvation is about, what kind of lives God wants us to live, etc. – but they just don’t get it. It can be so frustrating to see people about whom you care deeply worshiping God on Sunday and then falling back into old habits on Monday.

It makes you want to grab them by the shoulders and shout, “What are you thinking?! Don’t you get it yet?!”

I’m sure Jesus must have felt that way with his own disciples quite often. They may not have been the best and brightest theologians of that era, but they were with Jesus 24/7 for three years! What I wouldn’t give just to be with Jesus for one day during his earthly ministry. Sheeesh…

However, one feature of the gospel accounts that speaks to their authenticity is this very fact. The disciples, the earliest leaders of the church, were just as flawed, prideful, and clueless as the rest of us. If these were made up stories for the sake of gaining a respectable following, they probably wouldn’t have made the leaders of the movement look so ridiculous! Mark, especially, holds nothing back. Time and time again we see the disciples lacking faith, doubting, arguing, and failing to understand who Jesus is and what he came to do.

In Mark’s account, the disciples look like idiots, especially when compared to the random people whose faith Jesus commends.

The end of Mark 6 is precisely one of those moments. I can just imagine Jesus shaking his head, saying, “Really, guys? Really?”

Jesus had just finished feeding 5000 men. It had been a long day, so Jesus wanted some alone time to reconnect with God. He sent the disciples across the lake while he stayed behind to pray. Evening came and they had only made it about halfway because the wind was against them. Jesus waited several more hours for some reason, but then around 3am he decided to make his way across the lake – without a boat.

The disciples were probably exhausted, mentally and physically, from trying all night to get across the lake. It’s 3am, pitch black, and then they see a figure walking across the lake! I’d probably have a little freak out moment, too. “It’s a ghost! Are you getting this Zak Bagans?!”

I love the little detail Mark gives that Jesus was about to pass them by. He was just going to keep going! Ha.

“Chill out, guys. It’s me.” And Jesus climbed in the boat with them and the wind stopped dead (sound familiar).

Then Mark says they were amazed, not because they just saw a human walking across the water, but because they had not understood about the loaves. **What?** Yeah, because if Jesus can make 5 loaves and 2 fish feed a small army with some left over, then naturally he can defy the laws of physics and take a late night stroll across the water.

I think the point is that they still had no idea who he was. After all that he had done and said, they still didn’t have the slightest inclination that Jesus might actually be God in the flesh. In the vary beginning we see the Spirit of God hovering over the surface of the waters (Genesis 1:2). If Jesus is God, then of course he can move across the surface of the waters.

They had no idea.

But then they came to the other side of the lake and people started flocking to him. They brought their sick so that they could be healed. We’ve seen this before. But now the crowds knew that they only needed to touch the edge of his cloak! It worked once, it could work again.

Random crowds were understanding more about Jesus than his own disciples. They had heard about the woman healed by touching the edge of his cloak, so they wanted to give it a try. The disciples had seen Jesus calm a storm, drive out demons, heal diseases, raise someone from the dead, and feed thousands of men in the middle of nowhere…but they still weren’t making connections like this!

In fact, they’re not going to make these connections until after the resurrection. It’s going to take the miracle of miracles to make them finally realize who Jesus is.

But now the question turns around on us: What is it going to take for you to believe?