Thursday, March 4, 2010

Mark 8 -- never make excuses

"Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them, and your enemies won't believe them." In Christian thinking, unbelief is primarily an ethical issue, a failure of character, rather than of intellect. The whole universe shouts the glories of the Creator -- and so many of us stop up our ears. Such as the rivals who dogged the steps of Jesus:
Mar 8:11 Ferisiler gelip İsa'yla tartışmaya başladılar. O'nu denemek amacıyla gökten bir belirti göstermesini istediler.
Mar 8:12 İsa içten bir ah çekerek, "Bu kuşak neden bir belirti istiyor?" dedi. "Size doğrusunu söyleyeyim, bu kuşağa hiçbir belirti gösterilmeyecek."
They demanded to see a sign from heaven -- "Show us, and we'll believe." This was just after a miraculous feeding of thousands. Which was in the context of an ongoing ministry of healing and exorcisms. The heart-felt reaction of Jesus is quite colorful in Turkish:
  • İsa içten bir ah çekerek
  • içten -- from the inside
  • bir -- a
  • ah -- An exclamation, expressive of surprise, pity, complaint, entreaty, contempt, threatening, delight, triumph, etc., according to the manner of utterance.
  • çekerek -- brings forth
Or, as the Greek has it, ἀναστενάξας τῷ πνεύματι αὐτοῦ (groaning in his spirit). What does it take to convince some people? May the Almighty deliver us from hearts that refuse to believe.

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