By Faith, not Sight

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

BY FAITH, NOT SIGHT

Mark 16:9-14

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. 12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. 14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

NIV

Why would those Eleven refuse to believe that Jesus had rose from the dead? They had been with him for all those years, heard all that he taught, in fact, they had private conversations with him that the crowds did not hear. They had been with him when he raised Lazarus from the dead, they had been with him when he healed all those people, Peter had even had the insight of the Holy Spirit to know that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, a deity, an eternal being. Now it may be true that Peter did not understand the part about Jesus being an eternal being, but nevertheless those Eleven knew everything that could be known, for Jesus had told them what to expect. But they could not believe until they actually saw Jesus for themselves, and in other accounts we know that story about Thomas. Mark does not record that Jesus had told Thomas that he believed because he saw, but that all of us are blessed because we believe and have not seen. Surely they are people today we will not believe Jesus came back from the dead unless he performs some miracle, some supernatural miracle, beyond the capability of any human being, without the ability of science to explain it away. That is not to say God or Jesus has not done precisely that in order to bring someone, a total unbeliever to repentance and complete faith in him, even when that person asks God to prove he is real, and this is known from personal experience. Yet many, if not all of us believe by faith, and not by sight. Many of us have experienced divine intervention in our lives, either with a physical healing, a directive as to way to live, work and attend church, or some other supernatural event, but for the most part we have not actually seen Jesus, and know because of sight that he lives. We are blessed because we have not seen Jesus, but we believe by faith, not sight.