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| Nancy Bates Photography |
This passage is on the cusp of revealing who Jesus is. As we read the gospel of Mark we follow a narrative that takes us on a journey from the veiled messiah to the revealed messiah. We are told Jesus is the messiah. However, for most of the book even his disciples do not understand who this man is as he leads them on a journey to Jerusalem, and ultimately his death and resurrection. Amazingly, demons recognize Jesus, but it's not until Peter says, "You are the Christ!" that we see his followers begin to have faith in him.
Jesus is talking to his disciples. Before he asked them this question he performed two provision miracles. Jesus asks them about both: "How many loaves did we gather from the first miracle?" Their response, "5000." He comes back with a second question, "And how many from the second miracle?" Again they respond, "4000." Like a poker player laying down a royal flush Jesus relies simply, yet with solidarity: "(then) Do you not yet understand?"
Jesus as Provider
It's impossible to hear this story without asking this question in our context: "Where do we need to realize he is our provider?" or more poignantly, "Where is Jesus veiled in our life?"
Insurance Bill
"Now will you trust God?" Nancy said as I hung up the phone with the billing agent. We'd been battling our insurance company who charged us $800 for an ultrasound in December. This 20 minute ultrasound plus a few other office visits in January left us with almost $1200 to pay off. We had no savings in the bank. I called repeatedly begging for them to lower their ultrasound charge. I argued that it was unfair and wrong to charge a young family so much for a 20 min outpatient visit. I suggested that perhaps they could make an exception in our case. It was no good. Our insurance company refused to budge on the bill.
The Letter p.1
Then the letter came. You know the letter. You may have gotten them before. The problem with letters like these is that they somehow package them with an extra special ora to let you know this is a final bill. After this it goes to collections. I picked up the letter from the stack of bills. I called to Nancy in the other room, "Hey babe, has our insurance company called at all this week?" "Oh, yeah!" she called out from the back room, "they've been calling all week and leaving messages on my phone." "Dammit!" I muttered quietly. "What was that?" she asked. "Nothing," I said, "I'm going to give them a call." I braced myself for the please don't sue my pants off or send me to collections phone call.
The Phone Call
As Brian, our insurance representative, walked me through the rigamarole of account disclaimer information I paced back and forth across our living room floor. "I'd like to check on an account bill please," I said wondered: When's the point I stand up with my tough voice and be assertive? When do I break down and cry? He walked me through our accounts and said finally, "You owe a total of $627." "I beg your pardon?" I hesitatingly asked. "Your total balance is $627." "I think there must be a mistake? We owe more than that for one charge in December alone." "Ok, let me check into that….(pause for a minute)…oh, yes. It looks like there's been a reduction in the amount we billed you for an ultrasound in December. With that new bill plus your remaining charges in January your final bill is $627." "Really?" I said. "Really," he said. I asked, "there's nothing else?" "No other outstanding bills, sir," Brian said and hung up the phone.
I started to dance around the room, but then something else happened…
The Letter p.2
Up until this point, I hadn't opened the letter. It was still in my hands. Something felt different as I opened the bill. And here's the kicker to this story: It wasn't a bill! It was a check! See, we just switched insurance companies and our last month with our previous company was January. Apparently, so the letter informed me, we overpaid our monthly premium. The check I held in my hands was the difference of what we overpaid to the insurance company. And here's the incredible part, the total on the check amounted to $730. This covered our final bill, now at $627. Where we should have been almost $1200 in the hole, we are now able to pay our entire medical bill and have an extra $100 to spare.
Now Will You Trust God?
I yell this to Nancy in the other room; to which she yells back, "Now will you trust God? Now do you know he is going to take care of us?"
"Do you not understand?" Jesus says to my family.
AB.
AB.
*written by Abraham Bates - photos by Nancy Bates Photography - Copyright AbrahamBates.com
