Even Jesus got discouraged when the disciples didn’t get it. “Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?” And Noah saw God throw up the divine hands at how creation turned out. God “regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.” But the Bible reports that divine discouragement is not the end of the story. When things aren’t working, try something else. Jesus discovered that working miracles did not produce the kind of spiritual transformation that this mission was all about. As St. Mark told the story, Jesus then put his energy in preparing the disciples for his passion and death, for that changed everything.
