Today's readings are Genesis 21.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+21.1-21 ) and Mark 6.35-56 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+6.35-56 ).
How many of us actually understand what the Lord is doing in redeeming the world to himself? I would observe that none of us understands. We have in today's readings examples of people who don't understand what God is doing. Abraham doesn't understand how the care God has lavished on Ishmael fits into the plan, especially now that there is Isaac, the child of promise. The disciples don't understand that Jesus can and will feed the people who are gathered around him. They also don't understand Jesus' way of crossing the lake. The people who flock to Jesus don't understand that he is providing them with what they need eternally. They like the food so they come.
How we are like these people. Our Lord and Savior is redeeming the world to himself by doing what we don't understand - dying for sin, having people baptized into his name, feeding them true bread and true drink which does not perish. We substitute our own plans, our ideas of what Jesus must mean, our impressions of which people Jesus really came for and which he did not. We are stubbornly unwilling to let God's plan be God's plan.
Lord, grant us a spirit of repentance. As you have said, let it be. May we rejoice in the works of your hands.
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