It just ain’t happening ... (Part 11 - of 12) ... faithfulness, wisdom, & prayer...when the miracles don’t come. Mark ch9v14-29 (to open in a new window, hold control down as you click the link)
Final remarks:
Various OT references[1],
& an earlier pericope in Mark’s story (Mk 6: 1-13)
help us form a picture of the Jewish mindset[2]
which was likely to see Jesus’ power to heal as an expression of God’s wisdom:
“What’s this wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles?” (Mk6:2). In the light of this, & also
Jesus’ wise responses to this unclean spirit’s tricks, another commentary on
this pericope - again pulling together both “faithfulness” & “prayer”
- might well be James’ admonition:
2 My friends, consider
yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, 3 for
you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the
ability to endure. 4 Make sure that your endurance carries you all
the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking
nothing. 5 But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God,
who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. 6
But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all. Whoever doubts
is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown about by the wind. 7-8 If
you are like that, unable to make up your mind and undecided in all you do, you
must not think that you will receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:2-8).
[1] Gen 41:38-39; Exod 28:3; 31:3-5; Deut 34:9; 1 Sam 18:14; 1 Kings 2:9, 3:9, 7:14; Proverbs 3:13-19
[2] from the Jewish
Encyclopedia
we are told that Wisdom is “...the mental grasp which observes
and penetrates into the
nature of things, and
also the ability skilfully to perform difficult tasks.”
And from an article on The concept of
wisdom in the Hebrew Bible – A comparative-philosophical analysis: “In the biblical context,... the
phenomena of wisdom and understanding and/or knowledge often appear in
parallelism: For Yhwh gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding. (Pr 2:6) ... The blessing and cursing for keeping commandments
(Deut 28), and the moral interpretation of Deuteronomistic history assumes that
wisdom and actual successful living go hand in hand. …”
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