The Bread of Life!
Mark 8:1-10
Introduction: Yogi Berra died a couple of years
ago and even Red Sox fans will have to admit that he had a great career as a
catcher for the NY Yankees! He was an 18-time all-star, and played in 14 World
Series with the Yankees, of which they won 10 (more than any another player in
history). He is also well known for some of the sayings he came up with over
the years (OK, most of which are memorable because they don’t make sense!),
like… 1) “No one goes there nowadays,
it’s too crowded!”; 2) “A nickel
ain’t worth a dime anymore.”; 3) “Baseball
it 90 percent mental and the other half is physical!”; 4) “The future ain’t what it
used to be!”; 5) “When you come to a
fork in the road, take it.”; 6) “It
gets late early out here!” and finally, 7) “It’s like déjà vu all over again!” That is kind of like
someone saying, “Christmas Eve is on December 24th this year!” Oh
well!
At this point in
Mark’s Gospel, we encounter a story that sounds really familiar, a large crowd,
a few loaves, some fish, and a miraculous feeding! Is it “déjà
vu all over again,” or could it be something new? John tells us that if everything Jesus did was
written down, the world could not contain the books that would be written. Why
did God inspire Mark to write down another, similar, feeding of a multitude? Some
commentators actually say that it is a repetition of the same miracle story we
saw in Mark 6. That doesn’t make sense since they are only a couple of chapters
apart, and as we’ll see, there are significant differences in the stories. Also
in 8:14-21 Jesus talks to the disciples about the two events! I think that may be a key: the disciples
were slow to learn the lessons Jesus was teaching. He shows compassion on
the multitude, and patiently He reinforces and deepens some lessons the
disciples needed to learn. We never have to hear a lesson twice before we
learn, do we? I do, and often more than
twice! Like Yogi, “I learned that lesson
before, I just forgot it!” That brings us to…
The Maine* Idea: If we remember what God has already
done for us we will trust Him as we face the challenges of life in this fallen
world.
Context: Jesus continues to minister in the
region of Decapolis, a predominantly gentile area on the southeast side of the
Sea of Galilee. The deaf man had his ears opened by Jesus, may He open our ears
and our hearts to the message here!
I. Look up and
trust in the Lord:
He is compassionate and knows our needs (1-3).
As we trust Him, we should learn from His example!
In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered,
and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to
them, 2 “I have compassion on
the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to
eat. 3 And if I send them
away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have
come from far away.”
“In those days” connects this story with
the previous context, and tells us that Jesus was still in Gentile territory, not
far from where the deaf man was healed, on the southeast side of the Sea of
Galilee. The fame of Jesus was spreading beyond the context of Judaism, and
even though He came first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, His
compassion extended to the nations. From the time Jesus had set free the
Gadarene demoniac (chapter 5) and sent him back to his own people with a
mandate to tell them what God had done, the fame of Jesus was spreading through
the region of the “Ten Cities” (Decapolis). Again, that location makes it
highly likely that this crowd was predominantly gentile.
A great crowd gather to hear Jesus, and the
people apparently didn’t come prepared for a lengthy stay. After three days, it
seems that whatever meager provisions they had with them were all but gone. Yet
the teaching of the Master was so compelling they stayed, seemingly hungering
for the truth more than for physical food. Have you ever been so engaged in
something that you forgot to eat?
(Rarely does that happen to me!). Spiritually speaking, remember what
Jesus said after forty days of fasting when He was being tempted in the
wilderness? “Man does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus knows
who is in the crowd. He even knows where they came from. And He knows they will
need nourishment for the journey home. It’s another opportunity to
compassionately meet a need, and also to continue to teach the disciples. These
guys had to be ready to continue the mission without Jesus being physically
present! Their faith needed to be
stretched.
The similar
miracle back in chapter 6 had some important differences from this one. The
audience was different first of all. The first time the crowd was mostly Jewish.
This time it is almost surely predominantly gentile. The first time the
disciples came to Jesus with a problem, asking Him to send the people away to
get food. Here, Jesus is the initiator. He calls the disciples to himself, and
begins to tell them what He is feeling and thinking. He feels compassion for
the multitude, and He is concerned that their strength might fail, that they
might not have the energy they need to even make it home. Why does Jesus lead
the disciples through His thinking process? He knows what He is about to do,
He also knows these men need to have a lesson reinforced in their hearts and
minds. He is seemingly revealing his thoughts to them, that they might know
Him better, and one day, follow His example. It seems they had forgotten, or at
least grown a bit dull with respect to who Jesus is and what He could do in
this situation. This lesson will help prepare them for the next phase of the
mission, as they are challenged to consider their understanding of Jesus’ identity,
and to wrestle with what He would soon tell them must happen in
Jerusalem (His betrayal, death, and resurrection).
We have the whole story, but
do our hearts sometimes grow dull? Do we
not even notice the hunger in our own hearts, the longing we have for the Bread
of Life? If we remember what God has already done for us we will trust Him as
we face the challenges of life in this fallen world. So we Look up and trust
and…
II. Look back
and remember what God has done (4-5). Don’t tell God you have a big problem, tell your
problem you have a big God! Is anything too hard for God?
4 And his disciples answered him, "How can one
feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5 And he asked them, "How
many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven."
As I read this,
I wonder when the disciples might have started to think, “This is déjà vu all over again!” Was it in their
minds already when they ask Him the question, “How can we feed these people?”
Did it come into their minds as soon as they got out the question, or was it maybe
when He asked them how many loaves they had? Did they feel the earlier miracle
was unique and that it would be presumptuous to bring the idea up, “Lord, maybe
you could it again?” We don’t know for sure. Later Jesus does ask them, “…Do you not see or understand? Are your
hearts hardened?” (Mark 8:17). Sometimes we too can be spiritually dull.
A couple of
weeks ago, when the temperatures dropped below zero, I got in my car and
noticed the “low pressure” light for my tires had come on. I stopped and added
some air, but I think the warning light had come on not because the tire had a
leak, but simply because the very cold temperatures caused the air to contract
and so the pressure dropped. We might look at the disciples here and wonder if
they had a “brain” leak to forget so quickly, but it may be that in midst of
the mission, their hearts had grown a bit cold to the lessons the Master was
teaching them. Maybe, like me and Yogi, they learned that lesson before,
they just forgot it! A crowd, a little bread, a desolate place… but little
is much when God is in it!
Before we judge
the disciples too harshly, we should each take our own spiritual temperature!
Are there any “low pressure” warning lights coming on in your life or
mine? Was it hard to get up and out and come to church this morning? Did you
come with joy, expecting a blessing, expecting to meet with the Lord? How is your devotional life going? Do you
have a time when you can pick up your Bible and read the Word, systematically,
consistently? Here is a tough one, how
is your prayer life? If it is a struggle, don’t despair! Persist, humbly
calling on God. You know when I stopped that cold morning and added air to
my tires, the pressure warning light didn’t immediately turn off! But as I kept
driving, it seems the tires warmed, the pressure increased, and the warning
light hasn’t come back on! Like driving in sub-zero weather, the tire pressure
will come up as the tires heat up! Keep seeking! Ask Him for ears to hear
and eyes to see! The Lord is compassionate, merciful, and gracious. He
knows our weakness, and as we seek Him we will have the joy renewed! James
said, “Draw near to God and He will draw
near to you…” (James 4:8)! Keep knocking, keep seeking, keep asking. God is faithful and compassionate. If we remember what God has already done for
us we will trust Him as we face the challenges of life in this fallen world. So
we 1) look up and trust, 2) Look back and remember, then we can…
III. Look ahead,
knowing He can do more than we would ask or think (6-9!) Don’t doubt what God can do!
Little is much when God is in it!
6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground.
And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave
them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the
crowd. 7 And they had a few
small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set
before them. 8 And they ate
and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets
full. 9 And there were about
four thousand people. And he sent them away.
At each
stage this scene is different than what we saw in Mark 6. Jesus takes that
initiative, pointing out the problem, directing the crowd to sit down on the
ground, and asking about the available food. In the earlier story the disciples had come to
Jesus with the problem. In the first miracle, there were five loaves and two
fish. Here, there are seven loaves of bread, and then we learn in v.7, a “few
small fish.” The word for “fish” is different form, implying something very small,
like a sardine or something. It wasn’t much, but little is much when God is in
it! From our post-crucifixion / post-resurrection perspective it is hard not to
“hear” the language of the Lord’s supper anticipated in Jesus’ handling of the
bread…
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after
blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take;
this is my body." 23 And
he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they
all drank of it… (Mark 14:22-23).
The blessing, the taking the bread, giving thanks,
breaking it, and giving it, the same sequence of verbs that appear in this
scene appear also in Mark 8. Only John gives us the extended “Bread of Life”
discourse after the first feeding of the 5,000, when Jesus said, “I AM the Bread of Life….” But it may be
that Mark would expect us, who have the whole story, to understand what the
disciples, at that moment, could not have understood. All of these miracles,
including the acts of compassion like we see here, were anticipating the
greatest act of compassion, the demonstration of God’s love when Christ would die
for us on the Cross. The need for physical bread is real, but there is a deeper
hunger, a deeper need, that can only be met by the Bread of Life. The psalmist
said,
“For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul
he fills with good things...” (Psalm 107:9).
God alone can
satisfy the longing soul! Remember that the miracles that Jesus did were
glimpses of the future, the blessing of the messianic kingdom breaking into the
present. When Jesus fed the Jewish multitude of the 5000 men (plus women and
children) we said that was a look ahead to another meal, spoken of in Revelation 19:9,
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are
those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These
are the true words of God.”
One day there will be a messianic banquet with a remnant from
every race and nation gathered at the Lord’s table! The full realization of the
Kingdom is yet future, but as the King reigns in our hearts we see glimpses of
the blessings of the Kingdom even as we live our lives in this fallen world.
That hope empowers us and deepens our faith! If we remember what God has already done for
us we will trust Him as we face the challenges of life. Look up, look back,
look ahead, and…
IV. Look inside,
always ask “What is God trying to teach me in this trial?” (10). He had compassion on the crowd
and met a need, and He continued the training of the disciples for the
mission. As the Lord walked with the disciples and taught them through His
works and words, He is also walking with us through life in this fallen world,
teaching us through His Word, and through His demonstrated faithfulness. The
Scripture tells us, “And immediately
he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha…”
(Mark 8:10).
Mark tells us that
“immediately,” once again, Jesus
moves on. The action continues. He gets in the boat with His disciples and
heads west across the lake to Dalmanutha, which may have been a small area near
Magdala (the home town of Mary Magdalene?). The return to Jewish territory
would mean that the conflict with the leaders would be renewed (in the very next
scene He mentions the Pharisees!) and that the journey toward Jerusalem, and,
according to plan, to the Cross, continues. Jesus is preparing these men to
embrace the mission when He is no longer physically with them. They would be
called on to preach the message of His grace, with compassion, calling men and
women to repentance and faith.
What is God saying to me
in this passage? If
we remember what God has already done for us we will trust Him as we face the
challenges of life in this fallen world.
What would God have me
to do in response to this passage? Jesus here had “compassion” on the multitude. On another
occasion, In Matthew 9:36, we read that “When
He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and
helpless like sheep without a shepherd.” He goes on to say in that context
that, in light of the plentiful harvest and the paucity of workers, we should “Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest
would send forth workers into the harvest.” Remember that in the next
chapter, Matthew 10, He calls the disciples apart and sends them out! Having compassion should move us to prayer,
and if we are praying honestly, openly, prayer will move us to action! Are
we available? We need to pray realizing that we may be part of the answer! The
mission Christ entrusted to the disciples has by extension been entrusted to
us, the church. In His providence God has placed us where we are, and we are
called, by word and by example, to be light in the darkness! And He is with us
always.
Have you ever looked heavenward and asked, “Is this a test?” If you asked that question, it probably
was! But God wants you to learn, to grow through it. Have you ever encountered
a situation, maybe a trial in life, and thought, “I’ve been here before! This
is déjà vu all over again!” Could it
be that God is trying to grow your faith, maybe deepen your understanding of
who He is? As He teaches you, do you always get it right the first time? The
second? He is patient with us, and He
never gives up, I know I am very thankful for that. He can do exceeding, abundantly, beyond all that we would ask
or think. Do you know when you can stop learning? Not in this life. Keep
seeking more of Him! AMEN.
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