Mark 8:1-10, CEB - In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they won’t have enough strength to travel, for some have come a long distance.”
His disciples responded, “How can anyone get enough food
in this wilderness to satisfy these people?”
Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
They said, “Seven loaves.”
He told the crowd to sit on the ground. He took the seven
loaves, gave thanks, broke them apart, and gave them to his disciples to
distribute; and they gave the bread to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said a blessing
over them, then gave them to the disciples to hand out also. They ate until they were full. They collected
seven baskets full of leftovers. This
was a crowd of about four thousand people! Jesus sent them away, then got into
a boat with his disciples and went over to the region of Dalmanutha.
Only Matthew and Mark include this story
in their accounts along with the feeding of the five thousand (which all four
gospels include). This should cause us
to ask, “why tell a very similar feeding miracle only few paragraphs after you’ve
told the first story. If you are the
gospel writer and you want people to know about the second similar miracle, why
not just quickly mention that Jesus “did it again” and move on. Mark does this with other types of miracles
saying things like, “He healed many others.”
Why not do the same thing here?
The reason is in the details.
Many of the details are exactly the
same. Jesus has compassion for a crowd
that has been following Him and is hungry.
The disciples are almost offended that Jesus asks them to feed the crowd
and they complain about how much it will cost. Jesus asks them what they have,
the disciples take inventory, report to Jesus, and then Jesus uses whatever
they have to feed everyone. There is not
only enough to feed everyone, but there are leftovers. Mark takes care to use a lot of the very same
words to tell the two feeding stories. What He wants to stick out like a sore thumb
is that the disciples have learned nothing from the previous feeding
miracle. If they had, they would not
wonder about where the food is going to come from. They would have known this meal will cost
nothing because Jesus will provide. Jesus
will take whatever they have available and multiply it. There will be enough and then some. In fact, in both the feeding of the five
thousand and the feeding of the four thousand, there is at least as much
leftover as they had to work with when they started.
We, the church of Jesus’s
continuing disciples, are the people Jesus has chosen to continue His
compassionate ministry to those who are hungry and in need. Like Jesus’s first disciples, we sometimes “don’t
get it” either. Though we have seen Jesus provide in the past,
we wonder if He will provide in the present, even in almost identical
circumstances. We complain that we don’t
have enough resources or the cost is too high.
We fail to believe that, somehow in miraculous and mysterious provision of
God, the little bit we have will not only be enough, but we will not really
lose anything; the needs will be met and we’ll still have as much as we had
before if not more. As we’ll see a
couple reflections from now, Jesus is frustrated with His disciples lack of
understanding. I’m pretty sure his
frustration persists with us.
Questions: When have
you witnessed God’s miraculous provision when it seemed obvious that there
would not be enough? When have you
witnessed ministry not being undertaken because the cost is high or there didn’t
seem to be enough resources?
Prayer: Lord Jesus,
forgive us for our lack of faith and inability to learn from what You have done
for us and through us in the past. Have
patience as we learn to trust in Your provision. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for churches that are struggling to stay open right now.
Song: Battle Belongs –
Phil Wickham
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