NOTES for Mar 9:30-50

Today's passage is devoted to one of the main themes of the entire New Testament: the theme of the Kingdom of God. What is especially important here is that Jesus Himself gives the explanations concerning the Kingdom. At the center of His story is the image of a child, who symbolizes those who occupy the first places in the Kingdom of God (vv. 36-37). A person who causes a child to stumble is worse than a murderer, for even a murderer deserves trial, while Jesus compares such a tempter with a person who is thrown into the sea to be drowned without any trial (v. 42). This image, of course, does not appear by accident. In a traditional, patriarchal society, in large families, children as a rule did not occupy the honorable first places they often occupy in modern families. Children were regarded as natural servants and helpers, as the younger members of a large family or patriarchal clan. They truly were younger, and therefore the position of such a "natural servant" did not wound them at all and was not perceived by them as humiliation or as a lack of attention or love. Almost any adult in such a position feels a certain second-class status and dependence, which is understandable, given how important social position and the status connected with it are in an adult's eyes. Children do not think about this, and therefore for them there is no problem here. Apparently this is exactly what Jesus has in mind when He gives a child as an example, as the model of a resident of the Kingdom of God: for those who want to be its residents, it is important to renounce traditional ideas about the importance of social position and social status. Of course, in this case there always remains the danger that nearby there may be people who want to take advantage of such a state of affairs, just as in every age there have been people ready to take advantage of a child's familiar naivete and abuse it. It is precisely this sin that Jesus says is worse than murder and unworthy even of trial, for the person who acts this way not only rejects the fullness of the life of the Kingdom of God himself, but also prevents others from receiving it. Meanwhile, in a person's life there is always something that prevents him from becoming a child in the sense in which Jesus speaks of it: it may be a "hand," or a "foot," or an "eye," in short, anything a person uses in order not to be the child who can enter the Kingdom. Jesus advises getting rid of whatever interferes without regret (vv. 43-48). Sometimes it may seem that in doing so one loses something vitally important, something without which life will become damaged; but on closer inspection it turns out that the imagined "fullness" leads somewhere very different from the place where the fullness of life can be found, while apparent impairment at the end of the road turns into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

Everyone who reads the Gospel is struck by a characteristic difference in Christ's words about those who are not with Him and about those who are not against His disciples. With regard to Himself, the Lord says: "Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters." But when the disciples complain to Christ about a certain man who works miracles in Christ's name but does not go with them, the Lord says to them: "do not forbid him... whoever is not against you is for you."

The disciples can be understood. If this unknown man believes in Christ so much that he casts out demons in His name, how can he not follow the path of the Twelve apostles? Is their path deficient, mistaken? No, the path of the Twelve is not mistaken - but it is not the only one. For centuries, people coming into the community of Christ's disciples have tried to "forbid" those who do not go after them. Today's passage from the Gospel of Mark directly rejects such attempts.

It is characteristic that the evangelists tell us nothing about such people, who did not go after the disciples but did walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. Only occasionally, in passing, do we learn that there were not so few of them. At one moment the apostle Paul finds a community baptized with John's baptism, and by his apostolic authority passes on to them the gift of the Holy Spirit. At another, he himself testifies in a letter to the existence of more than five hundred witnesses of the Resurrection... In the end, all who have believed in Christ enter one holy catholic and apostolic Church. But people do this by following Jesus Christ, and not anyone else.

The question of power has always been the main one for the fallen world. Whoever has more power is greater in this world in every other sense as well. The matter, of course, is power in the real meaning of the word: power over souls, over people, over human lives, which can be manipulated at one's own discretion. This is power as such. Everything else is only means, and crude coercion is not even the most terrible among them. The true goal, though the one striving for power may not know it, is always one thing: to seize for oneself another person's life. Not physical life, but what the Bible calls the soul, the stream of life given to a person by God and unique in every case.

This is what the one striving for power wants to seize. He longs to gain access to this very life of another or of others; he wants to subject it to himself so as to dispose of someone else's life force and spend it at his own discretion, just as he spends his own life. Of course, each person understands life according to the measure of his own spiritual state, but one thing turns out to be common: the one striving for power longs to dispose not only of himself but also of others, whatever that may mean for him. Of course, if a person has not yet been completely corrupted by power and has not become a finished cynic, he tries as much as possible to hide even from himself the true motives of his striving, justifying it by lofty and far-reaching goals that he will achieve once he obtains the power he desires.

In reality, however, as the whole experience of the fallen world shows, one can avoid becoming captive to acquired power only by remaining God's person first of all, and everything else second, as King David managed to do, for example. He always remained first of all a prophet, and only afterward a king and everything else he was in life. For the Kingdom, the question of power in the earthly sense does not arise at all. There, power in that quality simply does not exist; in principle it is incompatible with the Kingdom and its life. A person's place in the Kingdom is determined only by the measure of the fullness of his life, and therefore by the fullness of his action, which draws into itself those who want to participate with him in his activity.

The initiator, of course, is responsible for the work begun, but the possibility of any manipulation of others is completely excluded here, because the goal of every activity in the Kingdom is the spiritual formation of the person, which is in no way compatible with manipulation, while all other goals are secondary and derived from the main one. Therefore there can be no power in the Kingdom in the form in which it exists in the fallen world. It can exist there only insofar as in the fallen world, according to its laws, the person is never the main goal of any activity. In the Kingdom this is impossible, and this is what Jesus is trying to explain to His disciples.

The Lord, astonishingly, does not reject in the disciples the natural, innate desire to be first. One might expect that an ordinary person would condemn this desire for primacy as unworthy and say that one must not exalt oneself. The Lord does say this, for example, in the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee.

But in wanting to free the disciples from arrogance, He does not limit Himself at all to pointing out that wanting primacy is bad. He proposes using this natural desire, as we would say now, "for peaceful purposes." In Christ's words, the path to primacy turns out to be the path of service to others, the path of making oneself small. This is the very path He Himself follows. In the apostle's words, He took the form of a servant and was obedient unto death on a cross, so that He might have first place in everything.

We all strive for primacy among people like ourselves, and Christ offers us a radical way to seek it without betraying Him, but by following Him.

This verse is one of the most difficult verses, and virtually at the same time one of the most significant declarations of the Lord Jesus Christ. His utility consists of the fact that these words give us the possibility of transforming arrogance and queer for honor proper to us in something that would not be sin. Actually, since Man wants to be better than the others so much, why not try to be better than others using the way indicated by the Lord Jesus? It is a way of service, a way of renunciation of our own glory and honor for the welfare of our neighbor. It is a well defined way in essence. The difficulty is that human determination is not always enough for following this way, so we need the Gracious help of Jesus.

It is also essential to listen attentively what the Lord really means. The New American Standard Bible translation does not give with exactness certain semantic nuances. The evangelist Marc uses the Greek word "eskhatos ", delivering Christ’s words “be last of all”. This Greek word means particularly "last" in the sense "of the smallest ", “the least honorable ", the least significant ". It has however some other significations, among which one of the most important is "extreme". This word has acquired a slangy character in our contemporary language, but especially this meaning is important for us: "Extreme" is the one who bears the consequences of other people behaviors, who sacrifices himself for others. It is effectively this signification that we attribute to Lord Jesus, Who according to His own word “came to serve and to give His life a ransom for many" as it is written in the next chapter of the book of Mark (Mark 10:45).

Two important radixes coincide here too, in the words "servant" and "serve" (diakonos in Greek). Thus, the Lord says: "Take example from Me, who wants to be first". Evangelist John supplements this thought with these other Jesus’ words: "if anyone serves Me, he must follow Me" (Jn 12:26). We follow Jesus and are His servants by serving others, by accepting the position of "extreme" and of least honorable.

The Savior's words about those who cannot at the same time perform miracles in His name and immediately revile Him seem quite reasonable and understandable in human terms. Sometimes a newly appeared religious movement needs not even support, but only more or less favorable neutrality. Yet Jesus also said something else: whoever is not with Me is against Me; whoever does not gather with Me scatters. It would seem that these are two mutually exclusive statements. And if Christianity were simply one more religious movement, even a messianic one, this would be so. But the point is that Christianity is not a religious movement, but a path into the Kingdom and life in the Kingdom.

Here everything is not as it is with ordinary religious movements. The Kingdom is an objective reality. It came into the world through Jesus, and however we relate to this fact, our attitude does not change the fact itself in the least. And in order to enter the Kingdom, trust in the Savior is important. That very trust which, in the traditional language of most Christian religions, is called faith in Jesus Christ.

But even for those who remain outside the Kingdom, it is not completely closed. For now that it is in the world, its breath is felt everywhere. And anyone can feel this breath. Of course, such a breath, sensed by outsiders, is not the same as the fullness of life in the Kingdom opened by Christ. But it is still better than nothing. To sense it, one need not even be a disciple of Christ in the proper sense of the word.

The only thing that protects one completely reliably from the breath of the Kingdom is an unambiguously negative attitude toward it and toward the One who brought it into the world. This means that anyone who has not said an unambiguous "no" to Christ or to any of His disciples doing His work is not lost for the Kingdom. Of course, for a Christian this is not enough. For a disciple of Christ, another principle is in force: if you do not do Christ's work, if you do not gather with Him, then time has been lost in vain, something has been missed. But here there is already another path and another measure. The measure of one seeking the Kingdom and striving to live its life.

Usually this saying is repeated as: "Whoever is not with us is against us." In this way the overwhelming majority of people are enrolled among our enemies. Here two different sayings of Christ are confused: the one we have just read, and "Whoever is not with Me is against Me" (Matt. 12:30).

Where Jesus speaks about Himself, this is simply a statement of the fact that in relation to Christ one cannot be neutral; failure to receive Him inevitably turns into hostility. In Christian spirituality there is no state "between Christ and Belial." Jesus explains further: "Whoever does not gather with Me scatters." In Christian life there are no stops: a stone that has stopped flying upward is already falling.

But in relationships between people Jesus proposes a completely different logic. We are called to find the possibility of friendship, peace, and love with all people who do not feel unequivocal hostility toward us. Besides, we are called to love enemies too.

This assertion is usually said like: "who is not with us is against us ". So, most people are registered in our roster of enemies. Two maxims of the Lord Jesus muddle here: what we have just read and "He that is not with me is against me" of Matthew 12 30. We see in the second case that Jesus speaks about Himself, it is just an observation of fact, which means we cannot be neutral as regard to Christ, and His rejection from our life will inevitably turn into enmity. There is no posture "between Christ and hell" in the Christian spirituality. Jesus continues by elucidating that "he who does not gather with Me scatters". There are no stops in Christian life: stone falls when it stops going upward. But the Lord Jesus proposes absolutely a different logic in relationship within people. We are called to find out means to do friendship, peace, love with all those, who are not hostile to us. By the way, we are also called to love our enemies.

The motives behind our actions, even the largest ones, sometimes turn out to be secondary and insignificant things. Passing considerations distort our vision, and we are guided by what we should never have been guided by. This is exactly what Christ's words today are about: "it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire." The point is that we violate the commandments for the sake of passing gains and pleasures. The Lord calls us to see ourselves and our whole life as a single whole.

At the end of the chapter, Mark the Evangelist gives His words about salt, without which, according to the Old Testament, no sacrifice can be offered. In the ritual context, salt serves as a symbol of faithfulness and faith, and the New Testament mentions of it with reference to the disciples give reason to think that the Lord Himself used this symbol in the same way. Therefore, as an alternative to the petty impulses that lead us into sin, the Lord gives us precisely faith and peace among ourselves.

According to the Law, sacrificial meat, before being placed on the altar, had to be salted. Salt became a symbol of purity and readiness for sanctification not by chance: it prevents spoilage and decay in many foods, including meat, just as the keeping of the commandments prevents the spiritual corruption of a person. But salt by itself is not enough for meat to become sacrificial: for this it must be sanctified by the presence of God that dwelt by the altar.

Jesus, however, compares His followers with sacrificial meat prepared for sanctification. The issue is life in that Kingdom which He brought into the world. It is impossible to enter this Kingdom without sanctification and transformation, and participation in its life takes place according to the measure of the fullness of such transformation. The breath of the Kingdom that accompanies the Christian on his spiritual path is sometimes called grace.

In the New Testament books Christians are usually called "saints" not by chance, meaning not righteousness as we understand the word today, but the fact of their sanctification as a result of belonging to the Kingdom. Sanctification was always regarded in the early Christian church as a distinguishing feature of Christians. And the Savior speaks of the same thing: a Christian cannot fail to be ready for sanctification; if he loses this readiness, he is no longer a Christian.

Salt that has lost its strength is something utterly incredible. Salt does not lose its properties under any circumstances; it can only become unnoticeable if its concentration, for example in a solution, is too small. Salt that has lost its strength is no longer salt, and most likely it was not salt from the very beginning. The same is true of a Christian: a Christian who does not desire sanctification, who does not seek the life of the Kingdom, is not a Christian at all. Most likely such a person never was a Christian, having come to the Church by mistake or through misunderstanding. For Christianity is not a new religion and not a new morality, but a new life.

We are used to the fact that deceit and malice act in our world through anyone at all, including through ourselves. But the Lord does not call His disciples to this. He wants them, that is, us, to be like salt, preserving the surrounding world from decay. Having peace within ourselves, bearing His presence within ourselves, we should sow this peace around us, as a candle pours a small but real light over the surrounding objects.

But if those who are called to be salt themselves bring hatred and temptation into the world? Who will be light for us if we do not shine? With what can salt be salted if all its taste has vanished? We are used to the fact that we are not saints. Where, then, is holiness to come from?

How did people discover the properties or the characteristics of salt? It was certainly at first by instinct - for even animals lick salt when they find it. Then through the gustatory sensation - the small additions of salt make food delicious. After those who salted the food encountered salt’s preservative effect. This scenario may not be correct, but salt really has useful properties indispensable to Man, what made it {salt} to be almost a precious thing at that time.

Jesus uses repeatedly the image of the salt in His sermons. The most mattering in what we read today is certainly the idea according to which salt exists as the biggest degree of saltness, we can give taste to anything that" lacks salt "adding more salt, but we can do nothing more if the salt itself becomes unsalty. There is something very indispensable to our life - it is the relationship with God; all the rest can be salted, can find a “raison d’être” through these relationships, but it will be impossible to replace these relationships with anything if these are lost. That's why Jesus exhorts His followers to preserve this "salt", these relationships with God; good relationships between men - peace turns out to be the reverse side of these relations hips with God.

How did people discover the useful properties of salt? First, perhaps, through instinct: after all, animals lick salt wherever they find it. Then through taste sensations: small additions of salt make food tastier. Then, by salting food in advance, they discovered salt's preserving effect. Perhaps it was not exactly so, but salt really does have a number of very useful properties for people, properties that made salt almost a treasure in former times.

Several times Jesus uses the image of salt in His preaching. In what we read today, the most important thought is perhaps this: there is salt itself as the highest degree of saltiness; any "undersalting" can be corrected by it, but if salt itself "loses its strength," then nothing can correct that. There is something absolutely necessary for our life: our relationship with God. Everything else can be "salted," can gain meaning, through this relationship, but if this relationship is lost, nothing can replace it. That is why Jesus calls His disciples to preserve this "salt," this relationship with God, and the other side of this relationship turns out to be right relationships with one another: peace.

We meet several times in the Bible the image of salt; Jesus also uses it in His teachings. We have less concern about it now: actually, it is indeed almost the cheapest of food products! But it was different in the time of Jesus; salt had a very big value. It was difficult to extract pure and tasty salt; its demand was not lesser, but more than today.

We all know the wonderful properties of salt. Even a small addition of salt gives taste to food; it doesn’t just make salty, but also gives a certain taste. Besides, salt is the oldest preservative agent, it protects foods from putrefaction even under high temperature. Man also needs something like this in his spiritual life, that can protect him from inward “putrefaction” and allow showing the hidden gifts that the Creator endued him. The Lord Jesus Christ compares to salt whatever we receive when we have addressed him: faith, the Kingdom of God, Peace etc..... But still, He warns about the necessity of receiving and keeping these gifts. Because we can salt soup or add salt inside soup if this one is not salted, but if this salt becomes insipid, then whether we add it or not, nothing will change. Thus, our task consists of being constantly turned towards the One who gives genuine salt, salt that never loses its saltness.

According to the Torah, the sacrificial meat, before being put on the altar, must be necessarily salted. Salt became the symbol of purity and readiness to consecration not accidentally: it prevents the damage and the decomposition of several products, in particular meats also, quite as the observation of the commandments prevent the spiritual damage of man. But salt in itself is not enough in order for the meat to become sacrificial: for that it must be sanctified by this God's presence that dwelled at the altar. Jesus compares his followers with the sacrificial meat prepared for consecration.

It is about the life in the Kingdom that He brought in the world. It is impossible to enter this Kingdom without sanctification and transformation, and joining its life takes place according to the measure of the fullness of such a transformation. The breath of the Kingdom accompanying the Christian on his spiritual way is sometimes called grace.

It is not accidentally that in the books of the New Testament Christians are usually called "saints", meaning not righteousness, as we understand this word today, but the fact of their sanctification as a result of belonging to the Kingdom. Sanctification was always seen in the first Christian churches as a distinctive feature of Christians. And the Savior speaks about the same thing: it is impossible for a Christian not to be ready for consecration, if he loses this willingness, he is no more a Christian.

The salt that lost its savor is something completely improbable, salt doesn’t loss in any way its properties, it can only be imperceptible, if its concentration (for example, in solution) is too small. The salt that lost its savor is not already any more the salt, and most of all it was not salt from the beginning. It is the same thing with Christian: the Christian not wishing sanctification, not looking for the life of the Kingdom is not at all a Christian; probably such a person had never been Christian, coming to the Church by mistake or by misunderstanding. Indeed, Christianity is neither a new religion, nor a new morality, but a new life. Life in the Kingdom.

Today in the Gospel according to Mark we read Christ's words as if they were addressed especially to our time. The point is that in life there are many things that in one way or another draw us toward sin. As a rule, when faced with these temptations, we permit ourselves many unacceptable things. God told Cain long ago: "sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must rule over it" (Gen 4:7). In today's passage the Lord says the same thing. He calls us to renounce and free ourselves from what draws us into committing sin. We are not to justify ourselves by saying that we cannot resist our "natural needs," but to be freed from them.

In the fourth century, morals in the Roman Empire were no better than they are in our world today. Most people believed it was impossible to resist the thirst for pleasures of the flesh, the thirst for wealth, and the striving for success and power in life. And the Lord called an Egyptian named Anthony to renounce all this, so that we might see that the temptations of an age can be overcome. Thus monasticism was born, bearing witness to all of us through celibacy, poverty, and obedience that the words of Christ read today are possible to fulfill.

Today we read some of Christ's most difficult words, words that trouble the reader: "O faithless generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?" A faithless generation is not about traitors, but about unbelieving and unsure people. About minds and hearts that, as soon as they take up a task, are already convinced that it cannot be done. About those who hide their weakness, coldness, and laziness behind constant accusation, criticism, and reproach. About those who cannot acknowledge their weakness and blindness and entrust themselves to people and to God. About those who have lost their connection with God and are always in depression and a bad mood.

In such a state, few people can even recognize this condition in themselves. But one of those struck by such despondency cried out: "I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief." He saw in Christ the One who has power, the only One who can help. And his "I believe!" is the words of a person who, in his suffering, seeks and finds support in Christ's eyes, words, and actions. And he knows that he asks Him to help because he knows no other way. He sees in his soul the absence of faith and trust. And he does not want to be an intermediary; he cannot stand on his own. But he asks not for himself, but for another.

And Christ heals the demon-possessed man at his request. And then He says that this kind is cast out by fasting and prayer. Here He is speaking about how to acquire faith, not about why the disciples were unable to heal.

The ancient Christians, when compiling the order of church readings, most likely assigned today's passage from the Gospel of Mark to this Sunday of Great Lent because of Christ's words: "This kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting". From these words of the Savior the conclusion suggests itself that prayer and fasting are not merely important, but at times irreplaceable means of a person's spiritual life. At the same time, of course, it must be kept in mind that the word "fasting" (as in the analogous phrase in the Gospel of Matthew) is a comparatively late Byzantine insertion here, and in the original the evangelist Mark most probably wrote, "this kind cannot come out by anything except prayer."

Nevertheless, the question of why one cannot make do in spiritual life with something more convenient seems quite natural at first glance. Yet Christ's words set every accent precisely, for without prayer you can engage in moral self-improvement or charity, but that will hardly be spiritual life.

But in the evangelist Mark's account there are words that may be no less important for us in our relationship with God. These are the words of the father of the possessed boy: "I believe, Lord; help my unbelief." None of us would dare say that he believes "wholly and completely." The constant movement from trust toward confidence and hope by accumulating the experience of faith is a natural and, I dare say, necessary part of spiritual life. And in this it is very important for us to know that we can choose not to hide unbelief, shamefully pretending to be some hypothetical confident person. This man's example says that we can bring our weakness in faith to Christ and find help and strengthening in Him Himself.

In the story of the healing of the epileptic boy, the word "unbelief" is heard twice, so that it becomes a troubling refrain, simply the dominant note of the story. Jesus seems to address these words to everyone, not specifically to the boy's father, but still he is the main person on whom the whole weight of these words falls. And the father humbly acknowledges unbelief in himself, though just think how hard that must have been for him. For us, words about unbelief sound like something ordinary. We have already lived through the postmodern era with Hermann Hesse's words that faith and doubt condition one another like inhaling and exhaling, but then "unbelief" sounded frightening.

The risen Christ "rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart" (Mark 16:14). The Lord Himself equates unbelief with hardness of heart. And it is even worse than hardness of heart, because the apostle Paul asks: "What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?" (2 Cor 6:15), that is, the faithful and the unfaithful differ as much as Christ and the devil. We must understand this and feel it in order to understand what the boy's father experienced, and what the disciples experienced, since these words were addressed to them too. For we have become used to an educated tolerance of belief, and in recent years in our country people have even begun to respect atheists in a special way, as those who have not joined the majority, the crowd, the mass.

But "if we are faithless, He remains faithful" (2 Tim 2:13). Therefore the healing takes place. These words draw attention to themselves: "And He said to them: this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." It is unclear what else they could have tried to use to drive it out. After all, Christ did not teach them medicine or magic, and everyone who heard these words understood that they had tried to drive it out by prayer. But He very simply, and in a way that allowed no objection, made them understand that not every prayer can be called prayer.

The episode of healing the possessed man, of freeing him from the power of dark forces, is remarkable for a detail to which the evangelist pays special attention. He writes that Jesus' disciples could not drive the demon out of the man possessed by it, and that only the Savior Himself succeeded. His words about the faithless generation, or "race," are often understood as addressed to the possessed man's relatives, first of all to his father, who had brought his son to Jesus' disciples.

Yet the question of the addressee of these words remains open. They could equally have been addressed to the disciples, who could not do what they had already had to do more than once, at least during the mission on which their Teacher had once sent them. Then, during that mission, they had had to drive out demons and free possessed people from the power of dark forces. Perhaps this is precisely why the possessed man's father turns to them: reports of healings performed by the disciples of this mysterious Man had most likely reached him.

It turned out, however, that even the disciples were not as strong as people said, and then all that remained was to turn to their Teacher. If even He could not help, then the case was hopeless. Jesus, of course, succeeds, and He pronounces those very words about the faithless generation. Later the disciples ask Him: why did it not work for us? The question was reasonable. They remembered that it had worked before, and they must have perceived their failure as an annoying mistake whose cause they needed to learn in order to avoid such errors in the future. Jesus answers by speaking about prayer, without which nothing will work.

In later editions of the Gospel text, a mention of fasting is added to prayer; it is absent from the earlier editions. But this addition, which probably existed originally as a marginal note, changes nothing essential, since fasting has meaning only when it contributes to intensified prayer. The meaning of the answer is clear: the disciples' main mistake was that they decided they had already achieved something, received something, acquired some new quality of spiritual life that was now inalienable. Jesus tells them this is not so, that all their achievements are possible only in the context of continuous spiritual movement connected with continuous prayer; only then are miracles, healings, and the casting out of evil spirits possible.

Once a person stops spiritually and falls out of this spiritual movement, he loses everything and becomes completely powerless, as the disciples were before the possessed man. This is no surprise: miracles and healings are possible only by the power of the Kingdom and its breath, and they exist only in continuous movement, which in turn is possible only with continuous conscious relationships with Christ. It is no accident that Jesus speaks of a faithless generation, for precisely such relationships are called faith, and this is what the disciples lacked.