mark 8:1-8:26

what? 4000? is this the same as the feeding of the 5000?

yeah, yeah...jesus did just feed 5000 people in mark 6.
is this a copy/paste miracle? no...not really. the audience is different (gentile).
we'll talk about it - but just note that it is different, and it is intentionally incldued for now.

mark 8:1-10

1. In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and *said to them,
2. "I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
3. "If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance."
4. And His disciples answered Him, "Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?"
5. And He was asking them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven."
6. And He *directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.
7. They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.
8. And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.
9. About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.
10. And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.

why is this story here?

some stories fit so beautifully into an outline that you have to stop and admire the details.
this is one of those sections...

reason 1: it completes our picture of god's favor to the gentiles.

1. the gentiles get the same miracles as the jews.

mark's audience knew this was gentile land (we wouldn't).

a bit like saying that jesus went off to college station; we'd all know that jesus was going to talk to conservative aggies.

the gentiles get the same miracles...

last week, we saw jesus cast the demon out of a gentile girl, then heal lots of people in the decapolis (gentile land)
now...they get a large feeding as well.
basically, the same miracles as have been done among the jews.

not to mention that this completes the metaphor at the beginning of the section (dogs at the table getting crumbs)

2. mark does note the differences in the miracles though.

possibly a funny way of showing the preference to the jews; mark certainly does make a point of these details.

instead of 5000, it's 4000
instead of stretching out 5 loaves and 2 fish, there are 7 loaves and a few fish.
instead of picking up 12 baskets of leftovers, they picked up 7 baskets.

3. mark contrasts the faith of the gentiles with the faith of the jews

note that jesus' interaction with the gentiles is very positive - the primary example given, the syrophonecian woman, had more faith than the jews.
and, just in case we missed his point, when we go back to the jews, we're going to see some failures of belief.

reason 2: it provides the setting to analyze who believes what

we're completing the yankee jesus section...

jesus has worked extensive miracles...now, as we head into the next section, we're going to get a report card.
who believes what about jesus?
what impact has his miraculous ministry had?

mark 8:11-21

11. The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.
12. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
13. Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
14. And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
15. And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
16. They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
17. And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?
18. "HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE ? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR ? And do you not remember,
19. when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They *said to Him, "Twelve."
20. "When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they *said to Him, "Seven."
21. And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

first...the pharisees.

they're opposed to christ.

we've already seen the bad responses from the pharisees, so we know what's up.
to remind us, they're called out here as arguing, and asking for a sign to test jesus.

they don't believe or understand the signs.

jesus has been performing sign after sign...
that is a big clue on the pharisees motives here...

mark notes that this is "to test him".

jesus responds with, "no signs for you", then leaves.

brief note: jesus has given lots of signs.
he's saying that he's not going to give the signs they demand.

jesus is much more fun to read when you read him based on what he means, and don't miss his figurative language or exaggeration.

then, the disciples

jesus warns them to not be like the pharisees

jesus warns them to not be like the pharisees;
classic negative example warning stuff.
"beware of the leaven of the pharisees" (make sure that the sin they have doesn't spread to you)

they don't understand (think he's talking about bread)

we talked about the disciples humility in willing to portray themselves so poorly 3 weeks ago...
in this case, they don't have bread; so when jesus warns them to avoid the leaven of the pharisees, they think oh snap we gonna be hungry.

jesus rebukes their lack of understanding

Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand?
Do you have a hardened heart?
(isaiah 6:9)
18 "HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?
And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?"
They said to Him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?"
And they said to Him, "Seven."
And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

jesus references (not exactly quoting) isaiah 6:9, jer 5:21, etc...
these are some pretty rough verses to quote.
he said this in mark 4 about "those on the outside" - those whom he spoke to in parables so they wouldn't understand.
it's as if he's saying that they are missing what they should be seeing, even though they're on the inside.

the difference between the pharisees and jesus

so...both the pharisees and the disciples suffer from a lack of belief.
what's the difference?

the pharisees are opposed to jesus.
the disciples just don't get it.

does that mean that the pharisees hated god? no.
but they did oppose god.

note: this is the most difficult part of the section/sermon

the specific mistakes of the pharisees and the disciples are in some ways easy to grasp, and in others, very difficult.
i don't feel like i have a good grasp on all the ways in which they are related - i hope you will think about this a bit...

avoiding the mistake of the pharisees

the pharisees were opposed to god.

how are the opposed? they demand that god meet and prove himself to them on their terms.
they will accept jesus, if he:

- fits their expectations
- matches their desires
- proves himself on their terms

this is arrogance, and their opposition. god is fine, if he is theirs (he should fit their expectations, not vice versa)

we need to beware of this attitude.

jesus was warning the disciples of this when they showed their lack of understanding.
if he warns the disciples, we should be careful as well.

that makes a bit of sense... the idea that god should do things for us, on our terms, is very appealing.
it is the very opposite of the humble submission showed by the syro phonecian woman who begs jesus for help, admitting that she doesn't deserve any.

avoiding the mistakes of the disciples

jesus warns the disciples not to be like the pharisees; they think he's talking about bread.
a few things to look at here:

the disciples had trouble remembering/understanding god (i.e. confusing the normal vs possible)

the disciples had been hanging around jesus as he performs miracles for...8 chapters or so.
they still haven't quite grasped who jesus is.

if they understand that he's god, they don't have a very complete understanding of what that means.

the obstacle of 'normal'

evidentally, it's normal for them to eat the bread they brought, not bread jesus makes miraculously.
that becomes a natural limiter on possible, even though they should know better.

is it that they don't know or don't remember?

i at least make this type of mistake, especially in the 'remembering' field.

as christians, we believe that god is the all powerful being.
but though god says that he will cast the wicked into hell, and save those who received salvation through christ, and to live with these hope of heaven as our hope and motivation.... we struggle.
it is difficult to treat the reality of god as a fact in the same way that we do our need to eat lunch after church.

most people are good with the idea here. but implementation is another matter.

how do we believe the correct things about god, even when it conflicts with our patterns of experience?
- intent.

i.e., want to believe the correct things (not as a pharisee)

- consideration.

- humility.

we are remarkably self-centered.
bad things are supposed to happen, but they aren't supposed to happen to us (or god has abandoned us).
watch that this attitude doesn't erode your belief.

the disciples were worried about the wrong things

jesus is talking about the need to avoid a spiritual problem.
the disciples are worried they forgot dinner.
different levels here...

really, this is a symptom of the first problem.
this is also something that
when we worry about what's happening or going to happen more than about having the correct concept of god and reflecting it... we are suffering from unbelief.

we're not believing that god is capable of taking care of the future, knowing what is best for us, etc...

or worse...
we won't believe because god won't give us what we demand.

a bit depressing here...but things will look up

this is a bit of a downer section; the pharisees are always a bit sad, but worse is that the disciples make you feel as if we've gone 8 chapters and haven't really made any progress.
imagine how jesus feels - his closest friends/humans still don't understand who he is, much less what he's supposed to do.

the final section of this story is bit more uplifting though.

some odd stories about jesus

prayer

intro:

outline review

jesus feeds the 4000