Mark 6:45-56
The disciples could not wrap their minds around Jesus’ walking on the water. Their explanation was a ghost, not the Lord doing a miracle. Their heart (and note the singular there) was hardened. Why the singular ‘heart’ and why did they assume it was a ghost? They were an influence on each other; in this case, a bad one. They shared their opinions until it became their opinion. That opinion was a lack of faith having not learned the lesson of the feeding of the multitude. This new world view, this new understanding of what the universe is like, namely God is here and active, had not rooted it out and replaced their old world view of superstition and fear. The default setting of the heart was not yet changed. In the moment that the miracle happened, they saw and believed they had faith, but away from that moment in a moment of crisis they reverted back to their hardwired hard-heartedness.
Mark contrasts the disciples with a people who just a chapter before asked Jesus to leave (Mark 5:17). These people may not have got it perfectly, but they did get it enough to believe that Jesus was greater than their previous worldview. They didn’t trust Him yet but they saw the miracle and they knew nothing was the same. The disciples didn’t get even that yet.
"Lord, protect me from an unbelieving and hard heart. AMEN"
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