The hungry crowds continued to follow Jesus.
In Mark 8:1-4 (NIV) we read this extraordinary account."During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said,'I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance. His disciples answered, 'But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?''How many loaves do you have?' Jesus asked. 'Seven,' they replied."
There are several things that strike me about these verses. First, why would a large crowd of people follow someone around, without eating, for three long days? The mostly Gentile crowd is at a point of total exhaustion! They have been physically worn down! They are near collapse!
Let me ask. How many of you have gone three days without food? How about two days? How about one day? How many of you never miss breakfast, lunch and dinner? When I was in grade school I got in a bicycle accident and bruised my pancreas. I was laid up in the hospital for a week and they wouldn’t let me eat a single bite! I thought I was going to die! My stomach was roaring like a jungle cat. But that was different. I had a drip IV and the doctors kept bringing me these delicious strawberry-flavored barium shakes.
4000 people were waiting for Jesus to feed them.
I don’t know, do you think it is extraordinary that a crowd would hang around for three long days without food? We are talking men, women, and children here. Would you let your children go hungry for three days? Would you be able to tolerate their fussing, groaning, and moaning for that long-- let alone the fussing, groaning, and moaning of your own stomach?
Second, and this is even more mysterious, why would Jesus let the crowd go hungry for three days? Does Mark 8:2 (NIV) make any sense? "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat!" Jesus, you’re the Son of God! Turn stones into bread. If you really care, do something! You just fed 5000 back in Mark 6,but they had barelygone a day without food. Three days? Really?
Third, and this is the clincher. Jesus, are you really going to let your disciples try to solve this one again? Throughout the gospel of Mark the disciples are like Sherlock Holmes' Watson. They're dense! They lack insight! They’re soooooo sloooooow. Jesus said it best when he asked them in Mark 7:18 (NIV), "Are you so dull?"
How many of you have had the bread at Olive Garden? How about the bread at Red Lobster? How about the bread at Texas Roadhouse? Am I right or am I right? There is nothing more annoying than twelve bumbling waiters in training when all you want is some bread."Come on already, just bring out the bread."
Don’t get too worked up because it gets better. When the bumbling waiters finally bring out the bread, you realize there isn't enough for everyone sitting at your table. Who should get first dibs? The oldest? The youngest? The quickest? The guy picking up the tab? Understand the situation-- there were 4000 people sitting at the table with seven teeny tiny loaves of bread! This is a desperate situation!
And then, right as you make your selfish grab for one of those few glistening rolls,some towering spiritual giant at the table decimates your conscience. "Hey, let’s have a word of prayer first.Andwhy don'twe let the kids go first. They're hungry." "Those Brats", you scream inside your mind!
Jesus feeds the crowd.
Mark 8:6-7 (NIV) says, "He (Jesus) told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so.They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them."
So next, you're watching the bread being passed around the table and you're praying for some leftovers. And wouldn’t you know it,there is plenty for everyone.
Mark 8:8-10 (NIV) says, "The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away,he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha."
I’ll tell you something about this text you wouldn’t know unless a Bible scholar told you. The original Greek, in which the New Testament was written, is very precise. Back in Mark 6:43when Jesus fed the five thousand, the twelve disciples picked up twelve baskets of bread. The Greek word there is "kophinos" which means a small wicker basket, or lunch-sized basket.
But the word used for basket in Mark 8:8 is "spyris." In Acts 9:25 a spyris was used to lower the apostle Paul from the wall of Damascus to save his life. By the time the disciples had gathered up all the leftovers, they had seven man-sized baskets of bread!
The Gentile crowd stuck around three days because they trusted Jesus to provide for their needs. How many of us would have stuck for one hour, let around three days, to wait on God to provide? We live in the now. We want instant gratification. If we don’t see it, smell it, taste it, touch it, or hear it coming, we're packing our bags. The Gentile crowd of 4000 had extraordinary faith to wait on Jesus.
The Pharisees ask for a sign from heaven.
Now please stay with me a bit longer. In Mark 8:10 the crowd is dismissed, Jesus and his disciples get into a boat, and they go to the unknown region of Dalmanutha. Mark 8:11-13 (NIV) continues, "The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven."
The Pharisees are the antithesis of the Gentile crowd. The Pharisees refuse to believe in Jesus. They are seeking physical, tangible, material confirmation that Jesus is the Son of God. They wanted a sign from heaven, from God himself. The Pharisees were just like their unbelieving ancestors. God delivered the Israelitsfrom Egypt, he brought the plagues on Egypt, he parted the Red Sea, and in the wilderness he miraculously gave them water from a rock, manna (bread) from heaven, and quail. God led them around in the form of acloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. But nothing was ever enough. The Israelite nation persisted in sin and unbelief.
God led the Israelites around in the wilderness forforty years in order to teach them that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. It only took the Gentile crowd three days to learn what it took the Jewish nation Israelforty years to learn!
In Mark 8:12-13 (NIV), "He (Jesus) sighed deeply and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.'Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side."
God reveals himself to us, but on his own terms.
The Pharisees weren't willing to follow God in their hunger. They weren’t willing to wait on God, or to trust in his goodness and faithfulness. They wanted something immediate, something tangible, something physical and material. They wanted God to break into their senses. But God's answer was a resolute no. No sign was to be given to this unbelieving generation.
Here’s the deal.We don’t get to see God on our terms! God reveals himself on his terms, not ours. He reveals himself on the basis of faith, not sight. He reveals himself in our moments of hunger and pain and suffering and uncertainty and doubt, and rarely in our satisfaction. The Gentile crowd saw the Son of God; the Pharisees did not.
The disciples were also hungry.
The disciples were teetering somewhere between the Gentile crowd and the Pharisees. Mark 8:13-14 (NIV) says, "Then Jesus left them (the Pharisees) got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat."
Are you beginning to catch on to the fact that Mark 8 has nothing to do with bread?
Mark 8:15-21 continues," 'Be careful,' Jesus warned them. 'Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.' They discussed this with one another and said, 'It is because we have no bread.' Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: 'Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? (Jesus is indignant here!) Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?''Twelve,' they replied. 'And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?' They answered, 'Seven.' He said to them, 'Do you still not understand?' "
As human beings, we are so powerfully consumed by our physical senses.The only thing real to us is what we can experience now-- what we can taste, touch, see, feel, and smell.The trouble is that we worship an invisible God, and God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. The only way we can see God and experience his kingdom is through faith. Faith allows us to transcend our material, physical attachments so we can see God. Faith is hoping and believing in what we cannot see, touch, feel, taste, or smell.
We must have faith to believe what we cannot see.
The Pharisees lacked faith altogether. The twelve disciples, like most of us, struggled to live by faith and not by sight.Even after Jesus had just fed the 5000, and had just fed the 4000, the disciples sat in their boat grumbling amongst themselves, "Gee, we hardly have a loaf of bread and there are twelve of us here."
The Twelve didn’t realize that right there, sitting in their midst, was the bread of life! If they'd but trust in Jesus, and wait on Jesus, they’d receive his graceful provision again and again!