Only Half-Blind - Mark 8:22-26 - June 28, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for June 28, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 8:22-26 Only Half-Blind

Good Morning! We are continuing our study in the Gospel of Mark this morning with chapter 8 verses 22-26, page 844 in the pew Bibles.

We are going to be looking at a very interesting and odd event in the ministry of Jesus, the healing of a blind man near the village of Bethsaida. What is unique about this event is that Jesus healed the man in stages, a partial healing and then a complete restoration of his sight.

It’s also important to understand that this event takes place outside a village called Bethsaida. There are two Bethsaida’s around the Sea of Galilee, one on the western side and one on the north eastern side called Bethsaida Julias, and that is where this event takes place.

So let’s look at our text, Mark 8:22-26.

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Let’s Pray.

The Gospels record something like seven blind people were healed by Jesus, this wasn’t the first and it wasn’t the last, but it certainly is the most unique.

We must remember that Jesus was not unaware of the Father’s program for Him here on earth, the things that He did and said during His earthly ministry were strategic, they always had a purpose. 

I try very hard to not take these individual accounts from the Gospels and turn them into parables or fables as if they are merely imaginary object lessons. There are certainly lessons for us to learn from these accounts but here Jesus is working to instruct His disciples and point to things that were coming.

You may have heard it said that Jesus holds the offices of prophet, priest, and king.

The prophet declares the Word of the Lord, calling God’s people back to Himself. The prophet puts on display the Word, works, and wonders of the Lord, speaking as the Father’s mouthpiece. That is what Jesus ministry had been up to this point, preaching repentance with power and authority accompanied by signs and wonders.

But Jesus also holds the office of priest, High Priest, offering sacrifice to God on behalf of His people for their sin. The High Priest would bring the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it on the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the Temple in Jerusalem, once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Last week we looked at verses 11-13, when Jesus was pressed for a sign by the Pharisees, Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit because He was accepting the first steps on the path of the Ultimate High Priest, a way of suffering and pain, a way of not merely offering the blood of bulls and rams on the altar but His own blood offered for the sins of the whole world.

Moses held the offices of both prophet and priest, speaking on behalf of God to the people and behalf of the people to God. David served as prophet and king, speaking on behalf of God and ruling over God’s people. But only Jesus could serve as Prophet, Priest and King.

The people of Israel knew these offices even if they didn’t recognize Jesus, they knew who the prophets were, and they knew who the priests were, and they knew who the king was, but they didn’t understand who Jesus was, and neither did the disciples. The disciples were just like this blind man.

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

It would be easy to settle for shallow sermonette-type thoughts on the surface:

Some people brought their friend to Jesus for healing. We should bring our friends to Jesus for healing. This is not wrong.

Jesus led the blind man by the hand out of the village. We should trust Jesus to lead us even if we can’t see where He’s taking us. This is not wrong.

Jesus spit on the blind man’s eyes and laid His hands on him. Sometimes Jesus uses different methods to heal people and sometimes we don’t understand them but we can trust Him. This is not wrong.

The man wasn’t completely healed at first, his healing came in stages. Sometimes healing is a process, sometimes it’s gradual, so we should be patient. This is not wrong.

Sometimes Christ’s healing in people’s lives is gradual, sometimes it takes a process. Our part is to reach out our trembling hands to the Savior and trust Him. He will lead us and He will heal us, maybe not physically, maybe not even emotionally, or mentally, but spiritually. Our ultimate healing will come in His eternal kingdom where we will be made like Him free from sin, and pain, and death.

What a wonderful truth! 

But it’s not the only truth here in this passage.

Scholars have speculated that the two stage healing of this blind man was somehow due to a lack of faith in the village of Bethsaida or in this man. Both could not be further from the truth. That idea suggests that Jesus was somehow wanting in power, no, this was deliberate, Jesus was up to something.

This man knew what it was to see once upon a time. That is evidenced by his comparison of people to trees walking, but either by disease or some tragedy he was blinded. After Jesus spit on his eyes and laid His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?”

What the man saw was a foggy, misty, incomplete image of people, they looked like trees walking around to him. You may relate to that if your prescription is strong enough!

But who really should have related to that statement was the disciples, because that’s exactly how they saw Jesus. Their image of Him was foggy, misty, and incomplete. They couldn’t yet comprehend who He was or what He was there to do. In fact their picture wouldn’t be clear until after His resurrection from the dead, after the Holy Spirit was given to them.

They needed a second touch from the Lord to fully comprehend His person and work which they received on the Day of Pentecost.

In a way, this blind man also represents humanity.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked with God, they saw Him and talked with Him in the sweet fellowship of innocence and holiness. 

But then the ultimate tragedy when they disobeyed God and sin entered the world. They were blinded by sin, they could no longer walk with the Father in the Garden in the cool of the day, they could no longer see Him face to face. Sin marred them and forever scarred the human race, and now all the generations that followed share their spiritual blindness.

But then Jesus appeared, bringing hope and healing and forgiveness through faith by God’s grace. 

Through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead He offered healing for the blindness of mankind through a method that didn’t make sense to us, much like spitting on the eyes of a blind man.

He could have healed Him with a word, He could have made it so the man was never blinded, just as He could have prevented mankind from falling from grace, but He didn’t. 

He didn’t so that He could display the wonders of the Father and just how great His love is for His creation, for you and me.

For now, we are bound to see things as foggy, as misty, as incomplete. 

Through faith in Jesus we are no longer blind but we are not yet complete, we are not yet completely healed. That complete healing will come with Christ’s return as King to gather His church to Himself, when every eye will see Him as He is and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

One day we too will see clearly, but you have to ask yourself right now, do I even see partially? 

Have I offered my hand and my heart to Jesus for healing and forgiveness and restoration? 

If so, do you trust Him as King, does He have complete rule and reign in your life?

I’ll close with a quote from Charles Hodge,

“We as fallen [people], ignorant, guilty, polluted, and helpless, need a Savior who is a prophet to instruct us; a priest to atone and to make intercession for us; and a king to rule over and protect us. And the salvation which we receive at his hands includes all that a prophet, priest, and king in the highest sense of those terms can do. We are enlightened in the knowledge of the truth; we are reconciled unto God by the sacrificial death of his Son; and we are delivered from the power of Satan and introduced into the kingdom of God; all of which supposes that our Redeemer is to us at once prophet, priest, and king.”

Amen.

Do You Not Yet Understand? - Mark 8:11-21 - June 21, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for June 21, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 8:11-21 Do You Not Yet Understand?

Clearly we are going through a hard time. A global pandemic, protests and riots, conspiracy theories, and fear and hate abound.

In Mark 8 the disciples were also having a hard time, like us they had difficulty interpreting what was going on around them. They had seen some amazing things, done some amazing things, but still had trouble staying on track with what was happening, what their role was or was to be, and who Jesus really was.

But I have to ask, are we any different? Is our warning from the Lord any different? Are the questions He posed to them any different for us?

We are going to look at Mark 8:11-21, page 843 in the pew Bibles and consider Jesus’ warning to the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod as well as His barrage of questions for His disciples about bread.

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. 14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 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 did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Let’s pray

So once again, we find Jesus and His disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Here in this account Jesus was confronted by a group of Pharisees seeking a sign from Heaven. Now these Pharisees were not just after a miracle, they had already witnessed miracles. In fact, Mark even uses a different word for a miracle than he did for a sign from heaven.

What these Pharisees were after was Messianic proof, they wanted Jesus to prove to them that He really was the Messiah. For Jesus, this was another temptation in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted here to depart from the Father’s program, to depart from the way of pain and sacrifice and choose the path of political salvation instead of spiritual salvation. 

Many of us are faced with the same temptation today, to trust in the ways of the world, to vote the right way, to protest the right way, to support the right cause, to count on politics to make the world right again, instead of trusting the Lord and counting on the gospel  to make the difference in the world. The world needs to trust in Jesus and accept His sacrifice for their sins for things to really change.

When faced with this test from the Pharisees, this demand for a sign from Heaven, Jesus makes a difficult choice. He sighed deeply in His spirit, His sigh the sigh of silent resolution to enter the path of tribulation. If He had given in, no doubt the Pharisees would have used Jesus Messiah as a political pawn to further control and exploit people. But that was not the Father’s design. This conflict was the first step down the path of scorn and rejection, of betrayal and suffering, and salvation.

The Pharisees were hypocritically offering Jesus a way out, but it was a way that betrayed the Father’s will, a way that would only further the way of the Pharisee, the way of outward religion and empty ritual and control.

But Jesus stood firm. Verse 12 says, “He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ And He left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.”

Matthew, in his account expanded little bit. He wrote that, “No sign would be given this generation except the sign of Jonah,” a detail that Mark elected to leave out.

So what is the sign of Jonah? As Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so would Jesus spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The only sign that generation would receive to prove that Jesus is Messiah is His resurrection from the dead.

So from here Jesus and the disciples get into the boat to sail for the other side and once again they are faced with a bread shortage.

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And [Jesus] cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

Now something to keep in mind at this point, it’s very important so listen closely: the disciples… are idiots.

They had yet to figure out that Jesus was usually talking about more than just what you could see on the surface. He warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod, but they assumed that He was talking about their lack of bread and started pointing fingers at each other as to whose fault it was that they only had one loaf of bread with them in the boat.

So why did they make this incorrect connection? In order to understand that, we have to understand what leaven is. So what is it?

Leaven is yeast, it is a key ingredient for making bread, it’s what makes bread rise and form all the little air pockets that you see that get filled with peanut butter and jelly.

Jesus uses the picture of leaven several times in the Gospels and Paul also refers to it in his writings. Leaven doesn’t always represent sin in Scripture but it does always represent an invisible, pervasive influence, something that works its way all the way through the lump of dough and affects the whole thing.

So what was the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod? They weren’t really two different things, more like two sides of the same coin.

That coin is the coin that says, “all that matters is what’s on the outside.”

For the Pharisees, their doctrine said, “All God wants is outward performance, follow all our religious rules and you will be acceptable to God.”

For Herod, his doctrine said, “All that matters is what people think of you, as long as you are accepted by people you’re good.”

Both of these doctrines are still pervasive in the church and they both lead to spiritual dullness and death.

But Jesus offered the disciples a way out, and thus He offers us a way out. It seems harsh at first but Jesus’ barrage of questions to the disciples and thusly to us, gives an alternative to those pervasive thoughts and a way out of the spiritual dullness that they bring.

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 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 did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

When the disciples couldn’t understand what was happening or what Jesus meant, their minds went to bread not sin, so Jesus asked them: why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? They could only see what was on the surface, so Jesus questions them to train them, and us, to look deeper.

Jesus’ questions for them fall into four categories, mind questions, heart questions, spirit questions, and history questions.

First Jesus starts with their minds: Do you not yet perceive or understand? Perceive or understand what exactly? He is asking them if they could perceive or understand what was true. What was true is that Jesus is Messiah, they were in His care, they didn’t need to worry about bread, or provision, or anything else, He had everything under control.

So I pose the same question of you: do you understand what is true about who Jesus is and your relationship to Him and with Him? Understanding that truth will chase off spiritual dullness.

Then Jesus moves to their hearts: Are your hearts hardened? He’s asking, how will they respond to what they know is true. He is the Son of God and has taken them as His own, does that pull at the strings of your heart at all? 

I like to look at it this way: We all understand that gravity works, right? We are all stuck to the ground and we don’t go flying up into space, cool, right? It’s always been that way, we all know that gravity works. Stop there and you just shrug your shoulders as if it’s no big deal, this is the condition of a hardened heart, “Meh.” But if you move beyond that gravity works and stop and think about how gravity works your appreciation for the truth that gravity works will explode!

The next question is a question of the spirit: Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? This is a challenge to see beyond the physical, a challenge to appreciate that the Lord is at work even if you don’t understand how or why. To look beyond the surface, to dig in, to see more than just the words but get to their meaning, to hear beyond the sound of the trombone playing, “wah, wah, wah,” like Charlie Brown’s teacher and listen for the voice of God in His Word.

And then there is the question of History like we talked about last week: And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.”

Remember what He has done: He has provided before, he will do it again, He has delivered from trial before, He will do it again, He has dragged you through the keyhole of tribulation, through things you thought you couldn’t endure, He will do it again! Don’t forget what He has done, he will do it again!

All this to answer Jesus’ main question: Do you not yet understand?

Do you not yet understand that it’s not about your outward performance or looking spiritual? Do you not yet understand that it’s not about what other people think of you or being socially acceptable? Do you not yet understand that it’s about what is true, really true, that it’s about how you respond to what is true, that it’s about looking beyond the physical realm to see the Spirit at work?

We would all do well to pause and consider, to remind ourselves of His goodness and faithfulness, to examine ourselves and the purity of our own doctrine, to consider what the Bible actually says not just our interpretations or biases, to consider what Jesus has actually done for us, in His teaching, on His cross, and through His empty tomb.

Do you not yet understand?

Let’s pray.

CrossRoads Return Plan Update

According to the Governor’s new emergency order we are allowed to welcome 50% of our building’s occupancy (which is 80 people in the sanctuary plus the fellowship hall) provided six feet of distance can be maintained. Cloth face coverings are recommended and youth programs are still suspended. The fellowship hall will still be available for overflow and we will still need to be strategic in our seating arrangement in the sanctuary.

The following text is the section of the Governor’s emergency order #52 concerning churches:

R. Places of Worship 

Effective immediately, in person religious services may resume in accordance with the following guidance and religious services taking place under this guidance shall be exempt from Emergency Order #16. This guidance applies to indoor and outdoor religious services, including weddings and funeral services.

The guidance below is intended to help protect the staff, attendees/congregation, and the surrounding community; this guidance can help mitigate, but not entirely eliminate, risk of COVID-19 transmission in a house of worship and surrounding community.

Review and follow the New Hampshire Universal Guidelines.
Review CDC’s Interim Guidance for Communities of Faith

Additional Guidance:

1. Places of worship are encouraged to continue conducting services online or through means that allow participants to remain in their homes. This is particularly important for people at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 who are still advised to avoid group gatherings for the protection of their own health and safety.

2. If possible, services should be held outdoors to avoid the increased risks of transmission in an enclosed building.

3. All places of worship shall limit building occupancy to 50 percent of the building’s maximum permitted occupancy level as documented in its occupancy permit on record with the municipal building department or other municipal record holder. However actual occupancy might need to be lower than 50% occupancy in order to comply with social distancing and other guidance contained in these Guidelines. For outdoor services, the maximum number of attendees shall be the highest number of attendees for which the social distancing requirements contained in this guidance can be met using the space available for the service.

4. The occupant count shall include all persons inside the place of worship, including attendees and staff.

5. To meet demand, leaders should consider hosting multiple services that are staggered and spaced apart to avoid one group leaving while another is arriving.

6. Staff should be actively screened each day according to the NH Universal Guidelines.

7. All attendees should be informed of the symptoms of COVID-19 before entering the worship facility (using signage and other forms of messaging). Risks include:
a. Person has any of the following symptoms of COVID-19:
i. Fever (feeling feverish or a document temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher);
ii. Respiratory symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, or shortness of breath;
iii. Whole body symptoms such as muscle aches, chills, and severe fatigue;
iv. Changes in the person’s sense of taste or smell?
b. Person has been in close contact with someone who is suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 in the past 14 days? (note: healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients while wearing appropriate personal protective equipment can attend)
c. Person has traveled in the past 14 days either: i. Internationally (outside the U.S.);
ii. By cruise ship; or
iii. Domestically (within the U.S.) outside of NH, VT, or ME on public transportation (e.g., bus, train, plane, etc.)

8. Assign a dedicated staff member (i.e., a safety officer) who is tasked to monitor and improve compliance with social distancing and other protective policies, including education, hand hygiene and cloth face covering use.

9. To avoid having to turn people away at the entrances, it is recommended that places of worship develop a schedule of worship services, specifying days and times that members and attendees can sign up for in advance of the service (online or by phone).

10. Places of worship should develop a system and process that builds in social distancing at all times so that participants are separated by at least 6 feet of space when entering, kneeling/sitting/standing and participating in worship, and leaving the service.

11. Attendees who are not part of the same immediate household must be seated/positioned at least 6 feet apart..

12. Places of worship should develop a one-way flow of traffic utilizing a different entrance and exit for the facility. As people enter and arrive at their seat, there should be a process and space for people to get to their seat without coming in close contact with others.

13. When possible, places of worship shall allow enough spacing between people for them to move from their seats as needed (for participation in worship activities or to move to and from the restroom) without coming into close contact with others.

14. Where lines of people may form (e.g., entry, exit, receiving sacraments, veneration of religious objects, processionals) the floor should be clearly marked to delineate 6 feet distances between participants.

15. Shared cups, serving utensils, books of worship, or passing of plates must be avoided:
a. Donations, for example, should utilize a single drop-off receptacle for any collection of donations that might occur.
b. Communion and Eucharist, for example, should not involve a shared cup or passing of a plate between people. Having individual elements that are picked up by attendees upon entry to a facility is recommended.
c. Veneration of communal religious objects should occur without physical contact.

16. When possible, alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be made available at entrances and exits of the facility, in addition to within the place or worship for staff and attendees to use. Leaders of a religious ceremony, ritual or service must sanitize hands before and after the event.

17. Cleaning and disinfection of frequently touched surfaces, restrooms, objects and utensils should occur at the end of each service following guidance outlined by the CDC and highlighted in the NH Universal Guidelines.

18. The following activities are discouraged:
a. Close or physical contact with other attendees, staff, including handshakes, embraces, and kissing.
b. Nursery, childcare, and in-person youth education programs must remain closed.
c. Pre- or post-service communal gatherings (e.g., coffee hours or other food services) are not allowed. Places of worship running food pantries or other prepackaged food distribution may continue to do so. 

Feeding the Four Thousand - Mark 8:1-10 - June 14, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for June 14, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 8:1-10 Feeding the Four Thousand

Welcome back! We are returning to our study of the Gospel of Mark with chapter 8, verses 1-10, page 843 in the pew Bibles.

I am tempted to entitle this sermon, “What a Bunch of Idiots.”

We are going to look at Mark’s account of the feeding of the four thousand, otherwise known as the Assistant Pastor’s crowd feeding sermon text, Senior pastor’s get to preach on the feeding of the FIVE thousand…

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.” 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.” 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. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Let’s pray.

So does this account sound familiar to you? Didn’t we go through this just a few weeks ago?

In fact, we did. Mark chapter six details the account of Jesus feeding five thousand men, and here we are again in chapter eight with a very similar account. Some scholars believe that they are the same but both Matthew and Mark make it clear in their Gospels that they were in fact separate instances. The feeding of the five thousand took place near Bethsaida in Galilee and the people were predominately Jewish where this account takes place near the Decapolis and involved mostly Gentiles. Instead of five loaves and two fish, here Jesus started with seven loaves and a few small fish. In the earlier account the disciples picked up twelve small baskets (kophinus) full of leftovers, where in this account they picked up seven hamper sized baskets (spuris) full of leftovers.

Later in this same chapter, chapter eight, Jesus also refers to both events as separate instances.

As we talked about in the last instance of Jesus feeding such a large crowd the frail humanity and powerlessness of the disciples is put on full display. At the feeding of the five thousand the disciples were pretty high on themselves after coming back from a very successful ministry trip where they had proclaimed that people should repent, and cast out demons and healed a lot of sick people. When they returned from their trip and were faced with a shortage of food Jesus challenged the disciples to feed the people since they were so powerful, but of course, they couldn’t.

Here at the feeding of the four thousand Jesus doesn’t ask them to feed the people He just simply points out that the people who had been with Him for three days in the wilderness had nothing to eat and if He sent them away with no food that they would faint on the way.

So how do the disciples respond? “Hey Jesus, you’ve fed more people than this before!”

This is why I want to title this sermon, “What a Bunch of Idiots.” 

The disciples don’t mention the feeding of the five thousand at all, they just said, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

How quickly they forgot. 

They were the living embodiment of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29…

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

And we should be thankful for that because that’s us too, we are no different. How quickly we forget when the Father answers our prayers, how quickly we forget when He miraculously provides for our needs.

How quickly they forgot – but so do we. The truth is, there is one major difference between believers today and the disciples here in Mark 8. The only reason any of us who have faith in Jesus have a clue at all, unlike the disciples here, is because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. So don’t get too down on these idiots, we are all in the same boat without the Holy Spirit.

So we can learn from the disciples here, pay attention to what the Lord has done and look for Him to do it again. But also be mindful of asking for more before being thankful for what we have been given.

We can also learn from the Lord Himself here: a lesson in compassion.

Jesus had compassion on the hungry crowd, they had been with Him listening to His teaching and witnessing His healing for three days and now had nothing to eat when the time came for Jesus to move on. He was concerned that they’d faint on the way home.

He also had compassion on the disciples, He didn’t expose their arrogance like last time by insisting that they feed the crowd since they were so powerful.

Jesus paid attention to the needs of the people. He had love and sympathy for the distress of each one. He trusted in the Father for provision and translated physical care into spiritual care.

Here is the example set for each of us. 

We are all surrounded by needy people, we ourselves are needy people, we need to pay attention to the needs of the people around us, we need to have love and sympathy for the distress of each one, we need to trust the Father to provide for those needs even if it’s through us, and translate that physical care for spiritual care.

This is what ministry looks like for all Christians, this is the framework, this is the pattern. Compassion for people that translates from physical care to spiritual care.

The disciples remind us to be mindful and thankful, Jesus reminds us to be compassionate, and the people remind us, that like them, we will have our bellies fed by the Lord.

I don’t mean necessarily that Jesus is going to buy your lunch today, though it’s not out of the question. What I do mean is that when we feed on the Lord He will fill us up.

Jesus said in John 6:53-58,

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

What Jesus meant is that if we take Him in through faith, He will abide in us by His Spirit. Those four thousand plus people were fed physically, their bellies were full. Our bellies will be filled, we will be spiritually fed if it’s Jesus that we’re hungry for.

Is it Jesus that you are hungry for? Feed on Him, feed on His Word, feed on Him through prayer. He is all sufficient, He will provide everything that we need. Though we starve to death in this life, if we feed on the Living Bread, that is Jesus, we will live forever in his eternal kingdom.

So our lessons for today:

From the disciples, look to what the Lord has done and be thankful not forgetful.

From Jesus, look with compassion to the needs of those around us, every person and every need holds an opportunity to serve and glorify the Lord.

From the four thousand plus, Jesus has and will supply all of our needs, we can trust Him.

So what has the Lord done in and through you? What are the needs around you, who do you know that needs your help? And, do you trust the Lord Jesus, with your life, with your sin, with your eternity?

Let’s pray.