Fixing your obstacles could miss out on the miracles

The “longer ending” of Mark’s gospel points out exactly 4 obstacles that obstruct miracles - and they’re still around today:

Status

It’s no secret that women didn’t have a lot of credibility in the first century.

Couple that with the fact that many had known and experienced Mary Magdalene as possessed. People would’ve had substantial reason to dismiss her claims of having seen the resurrected Jesus.

Circumstances

It’s not exactly the “fired out of a cannon” beginning we’d want.

Mary Magdalene shows up to share the news, and walks into a room full of people mourning and weeping. Common sense would dictate we keep our mouths shut in that setting. Should we be surprised they didn’t believe her when she told them she’d seen Jesus?

Then we read of two disciples filled with disappointment on the way to Emmaus.

Jesus shows up next to them. How would you make your appearance? I’m thinking press conference, fireworks, and live-streaming. Not Jesus. Just a walk down a dirt road and some conversation.

Track record

It’s like handing car keys to our wide-eyed 15-year-old: the hesitation is there’s no track record of driving there yet - or at least not much.

But this is even worse. When you consider the faces this task of sharing good news was handed to, their track record reads like a judge reading charges to a defendant at trial. They each had individual shortcomings. But collectively? Even worse.

They’d all abandoned Jesus - and very recently.

Unbelief

This is the most head-spinning piece.

No less than 6 times in these verses, we hear the word ‘believe.’ But a majority of those mentions have to do with this group of disciples who didn’t believe the good news of Jesus. Of all the obstacles, this one’s the most glaring.

And what does Jesus do?

He shows up and sends these disbelieving disciples to share the good news that Jesus is alive.

Honest question: how do you deal with obstacles like status, circumstances, track record, and unbelief?

I imagine your response is something along the lines of “I try to fix them.”

In fact, it’s what most people live life trying to do - improve their status, shift their circumstances, polish their track record, and manufacture faith. And some people succeed at it. Here’s the problem: when one has succeeded at all this fixing, the end result is faith - in themselves.

It’s really not good news. Exert and strive and sacrifice, and you might overcome the obstacles.

That news is neutral at best.

How to actually overcome life’s obstacles

God has a different idea: leaving the obstacles in place.

He used someone of lowly status at that time. Disappointing circumstances. Poor track records. Disbelieving disciples. None of it is anything you or I could fix. What a mess.

And from that mess, God brought a message we still proclaim today.

Did he remove the obstacles? No - instead He authored miracles.

The first is a ‘fixing’ thing. The second? That’s a faith thing. And while fixing is often a human deal, faith is God’s deal. He’s the originator, author, and perfecter of it.

That is good news.

It’s a sad reality that those who go about life centered around fixing obstacles often miss out on faith’s miracles, like those we see in Mark 16:9-20.

While there’s an ongoing debate about whether they still take place, don’t dismiss them too readily or easily:

1. Dealing with demons, snakes, and poison - It could still be literal today. But at minimum I know this: these are all images people use to describe the fears and dangers of their lives. The miracle is that people regularly experience delivering from their fears and dangers.

2. New tongues - The miracle isn’t just ecstatic speech. You might just find some new language that reflects new life within your heart. Life-giving words to others. New ways of speaking to them that make connections not there before. New languages of love instead of anger, disappointment, and cynicism.

3. The laying of hands - No, laying hands doesn’t always cure disease. But it still brings about miracles of healed relationships, comfort in grief, lightened moods, and a salve on difficult days.

Fixing obstacles is a good thing. But if you ask me, it can’t compare to faith’s miracles. That’s a God thing.

Perhaps the greatest thing we can do is cry out to Jesus with the man in Mark 9:24: “Help my unbelief!”

Nathan