GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 8:16
Point of View
In some novels, writers depict everything from every character’s point of view (POV). Sometimes authors know every thought and feeling of every character, a literary practice known as the omniscient POV. Writers must keep in mind the view from which the narration flows. Writers sometimes shift the POV, which can leave the reader confused. So, when the POV changes, there must be adequate signals for the reader.
“What’s this?” Alice said, handing me the Bible. She was reading one of the Psalms in which the writer speaks from Yahweh’s POV. It’s an interesting literary device in which a writer tries to consider an issue from someone else’s point of view; in the Psalmist’s case, how would Yahweh see the Psalmist’s behavior?
According to Mark, the disciples faced a similar situation. After an unpleasant conversation with some Pharisees, Jesus and the disciples boarded their boat to sail back across the Sea of Galilee when the disciples realized they had only one loaf of bread for thirteen men on an all-day voyage. At that moment, Jesus warned them to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. “What?” the disciples seemed to be asking. “And they were discussing with one another that they did not have any loaves.” (Mark 8:16) Was it because they did not bring enough bread that Jesus mentioned leaven? What was he thinking?
Seeing my behavior from the Father’s point of view is sobering, to say the least.
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