Burnishing Bigotry - 3rd edition

*Another time, after asking the seemingly innocuous question ―Who do you think I am?‖
(see Mark 8:27) his disciples gave him answers that were all over the place. Yes, Peter eventually
gave a response that seemed acceptable to Jesus (―You are the Christ‖ – see Mark 8:29), and yet
even Peter obviously didn‘t understand what Jesus meant by this title; as evidenced by his
incorrect belief that ―the Christ‖ was a conquering military hero (see Mark 8:31), whereupon
Jesus (who had been teaching a Way of selfless sacrifice for the downtrodden and unconditional Love
even for one‘s enemies) sternly rebuked him for this mistake (see Mark 8:33) … And things didn‘t
get any better for Peter, who – despite believing (as Paul later mistakenly believed) that Jesus was
the Davidian Messiah who would save them all and reward them in Heaven thereafter – still
ended up denying Jesus three times after his post-Gethsemane abduction! (see Mark 14:66-72)
*In another dramatic example of intellectual ineptitude, we see Jesus telling the disciples
quite clearly that they must each take up their own cross of self-sacrifice in order to serve others
(rather than be served by them – see Mark 8:34 & Mark 10:45), and then not long afterwards we see
the disciples sitting around and cluelessly wondering about which one of them was going to be
considered the greatest in the Kingdom to come in the Hereafter (see Mark 9:33-34).
*Shortly thereafter, we see Jesus explaining his Gospel-Purpose to the disciples yet
again, and we see the disciples yet again either fully failing to comprehend what he was saying
&/or being completely surprised by the same (see Mark 10:24-32).
*And of course, in the greatest showing of their complete miscomprehension of Jesus‘
greatness, in the hour of his greatest trial, the disciples all turned, fled, deserted and denied him
(see Mark 16:13 & John 20:9).
While this list is not exhaustive, the proof has been made clearly enough –
Jesus‘ disciples were not only not the brightest of men, they had hopes for Jesus that
in no way resonated with his true, self-proclaimed Purpose. And because of this
powerful combination of ignorance-inducers, Jesus chose to wait until a very late
date (if at all) to speak clearly to them – not only about his revolutionarily moral
principles, but also about his revolutionarily courageous plans.
―Do you still not understand? How will you understand all the parables? … Do you have
eyes, and yet still fail to see? Do you have ears, and yet still fail to hear?‖
~ Jesus Christ (Mark 4:13 & Mark 8:18)
―I have said these things even
to you in figures of speech. The
hour is coming when I will no
longer speak to you in figures, but
will tell you plainly of the Father.‖
~ Jesus Christ (John 16:25)
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