he could hardly believe unbelief

The Word for today:
Mark 5.21-6.6a

It’s not often that Jesus is caught by surprise. One of those times occurs in our reading today:

And He marveled because of their unbelief. (Mark 6:6)

There is only one other instance when Jesus marveled at something:

When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! (Matthew 8:10)

These two incidents, when juxtaposed, give us a glimpse into Jesus’ head. But what does that glimpse show us?

At first glance, it seems that Jesus marveled the first time at unbelief and the second time at great faith. But I think a closer reading reveals that he marveled at unbelief both times.

In the first instance, we are specifically told he marveled at their unbelief. The next time, we are only told he marveled. But at what? Let’s look again:

When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! (Matthew 8:10)

It seems to me that his astonishment was, again, over the unbelief of the many in Israel.

Faith never startled Jesus.  Faith was his mindset, his outlook, the way he saw the world.  What amazed him was whenever somebody could see things so faith-lessly.

What if we were to flip our own outlooks upside down, making faith our norm? That would make unbelief unusual, even startling!

These marvel-ous passages reveal something about the mind of Christ which we should begin to ponder:

It was difficult for Jesus to fathom unbelief. It was strange, even foreign to him. It was unnatural. It was a lie.

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