Mark 6:5-6 – Jesus COULD NOT do ANY miracles there, EXCEPT lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was AMAZED at their lack of faith.

I know. If you’re like me you’ve read this verse hundreds of times, but I want you to read the verse again. But this time slow down and pay attention to each word. There are some astonishing truths in this passage.

First, Jesus – the one who raised a dead girl to life, the one who rebuked the storms, cast out demons, multiplied the fish and bread to feed the multitudes, the one who walked on water – this Jesus COULD NOT do any miracles there.

That is an astonishing statement!

Second, healing is either not considered a miracle or the least of the miracles. Mark tells us that Jesus COULD NOT do any miracles there, EXCEPT to lay his hands on a few sick to heal them.

Apparently, physical healing doesn’t impress in the eternal scheme of things. Healings – which we most associate with miracles – is either not a miracle or the least of miracles.

Thirdly, then what is a miracle? The miracle Mark speaks of has to do with a dead sinner destined for eternal damnation in hell and seeing that dead individual come to life in Jesus Christ and become a fellow heir with Jesus.

Think about that – damned for eternal hell to fellow heir with Jesus!!! That, indeed, is a miracle!

Lastly, one’s lack of faith makes this miracle impossible.

Our time here on earth is for the purposes of preparing and training us for eternal life. You weren’t created for just this earth’s existence. You were created for eternity. And that is what the gospels are most interested in.

God loves you. God cannot imagine spending all of eternity without you. That’s why he sent Jesus to die on the cross for you. Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The way you do that is to confess your sins, receive Jesus as your Savior, and commit to following Jesus in all your days like this: “Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Forgive my sins. I receive you as Lord and Savior and I choose to live my life in obedience to your word.”

I try to read through the Bible at least once a year. And right now, I am going through Leviticus.

Not going to lie. Leviticus is tough sledding.

As I was going through the different types of sacrifices I noticed something that I hadn’t before. If the entire community sinned against God, an ox was required as a sacrifice for sins. When an individual sinned against God, a ram was required as a sacrifice for sins.

What is not clear is how often these sacrifices were supposed to be made.

• Was it one ox for every time someone sins?
• Were the sacrifices supposed to be made once a week?
• Once a month?

At the rate I sin, that’s a whole lotta bull!

And then I thought about how much a bull cost back in the day. The closest equivalent to what a bull might have cost is a cost of a car today. Can you imagining butchering an animal equivalent to a car every week? every month? every year?

That’s so expensive! That’s so costly! Who could afford it?

Exactly.

Sin is expensive. Sin is costly.

Just ask Jesus

Suffering sucks.

We do everything to avoid suffering.

Suffering sucks.

Suffering sucks because there’s never a time where I have suffered and it felt good. Every time I have suffered, it sucked because it hurt.

But sometimes, suffering is the only way we grow and mature.

God allows suffering because God is more interested in our growth and maturity than our happiness.

I know. I don’t like that either.

Check out what the Bible has to say about suffering.

“Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy” (John 16:20).

“But we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

There is a blessing, a maturing, a growth that won’t ever take place in ease. There is a blessing which only suffering can teach us.

Earlier I said that God is more interested in our growth and maturity than God is interested in our happiness.

Here is the best part: Genuine happiness and a sense of well-being, shalom is the result of growth and maturity. The happiness that growth and maturity brings is not temporary nor circumstantial. It is a sense of well-being that transcends the temporary and replaces it with a joy and purpose that becomes a state of being.

Why does God allow suffering? Because God wants us to grow and there is a maturity and growth that only suffering can teach. And it is when we grow and mature that we experience joy and fulfillment.