As dense as…
You have to love God’s sense of humor. In Matthew, Jesus is running all over the place performing miracles–healing the sick, raising the dead, twice feeding thousands with a handful of fish and bread–all the while teaching in His inimitable way through parables interspersed with incisive “Shock and Awe” indictments of the pious but unholy Pharisees.
Some time shortly after leaving the second Preachin’-and-Po’boys Picnic with the disciples and 4,000 of their closest friends–but without the seven baskets of leftovers, mind you–He has another dust up with the religious elites and warns the disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees. Puzzled, they say to each other, “It’s because we didn’t bring any bread.” (Matt. 16:5-12)
I don’t care who you are. That there’s funny! These guys are seriously dense, and Jesus lets them have it.
Just as I begin to snicker, I have a Homer Simpson, “D’oh!” moment. Yeah, He’s talking to me, too. The disciples may have been simple peasants who were a bit slow on the uptake, but once they got it, they REALLY got it. So well, in fact, that all but two would die rather unpleasant martyr’s deaths.
Maybe some of those “slow” folks–you know, the ones who have less education, haven’t traveled the world, and only think of grammar as the old gal who still bakes pies with real sugar in the filling and butter in the crust–have something to teach us sophisticates about a real, abiding faith that carries you through to the end. Maybe I can drop my pretenses long enough to learn something from them. Just maybe.