The Food of Jesus

Reminded that we are dealing with a Gentile territory. Remember the Syrophoenician woman’s faith. The conversation is revealing, and what was said by Jesus earlier in seven is now fulfilled. Mark purposely wants to show that the revelation of Jesus is available to Gentiles as well. His work of Messiah is not just a Jewish coming, but a coming for the nations.

This crowd has come from long distances, and Jesus has compassion on them. They were hungry for his teaching, and in turn, didn’t bring food to sustain them physically. Again, this is another instance of compassion not just for the Jews but for Gentiles as well.

The dullness of the disciples is on display again, a reminder of the forgetfulness of then and for us. They had already forgotten of the miracle of the 5,000. But Jesus in his patience with his disciples (praise the Lord he does the same for us), instructs them to take the seven loaves they do have he will break it for the filling of those in attendance.

We see two things that are prefigured here: The Lord’s Supper and the messianic banquet. The giving thanks for the bread is the same language used in the Supper. The reminder is that though Jesus is giving a physical need, it has spiritual significance. Jesus is the bread of Life himself.

John 6:48–51 ESV

48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Messianic banquet is another prefigurement. All the nations will gather around this one bread, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 ESV

16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Though this is a physical act and sign, it is meant to point to the fact that Jesus is the one who fulfills the spiritual needs of those that put their faith in him. To trust in Him as the Bread of Life means that He is enough for us, the food we need in order to truly live. To follow Christ and to live for Him is enough.

II. Demanding A Sign (11-13)

The Pharisees come with one purpose in mind, to argue with Jesus. What was the issue? That Jesus was not proving himself to be the Messiah like they wanted him to.

Let’s do a recap though of what Jesus has done though:

He sent a healed leper as a witness to them

Mark 1:44 ESV

44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

He confirmed his authority to announce the forgiveness of sins by commanding the paralytic to walk, something everyone there could witness

Mark 2:10 ESV

10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—

When challenged, he explained why he ate with sinners

Mark 2:19–22 ESV

19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

He justified his “breaking” of the Sabbath by appealing to OT precedent

Mark 2:25–28 ESV

25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Yet over and over again, they rejected his work.

What these Pharisees want from Jesus is a sign from heaven. What does that mean exactly? What they are asking for is a type of sign that refers to “apocalyptic pheneomena.” In other words, they wanted Jesus to show a sign that signals Israel’s deliverance from their enemies and their crushing defeat.

What was ironic is that this comes just on the heals of Jesus feeding Gentiles and also healing Gentiles. Jesus has come to give of himself, not crush the enemies of Israel. He came to give his life for all of humanity. This should then inform us as Christians that the Good News of Jesus is not that he is coming to crush my enemies, but that he saved enemies like all of us through His own compassion, grace, and mercy, through His own self-giving.

Another aspect of this rejection is with the nature of faith. Jesus refuses to do anything to make scoffers believe. His Gospel must be by faith in the way that he gives his life on the cross and his resurrection.

It’s not by declaration of angels proving his existence. That will happen one day, and our faith will be made sight, but for those that have refused, it won’t be faith. It will be a sobering realization that they rejected the truth and will face the consequences of it.

III. Leaven of Unbelief (14-21)

A third encounter on the boat with Jesus will reveal the lack of belief in his disciples. The first being when he calmed the storm and their fear of Him that He was able to have power over nature. The second was that they feared him walking on water. Now, we see lack of faith again.

On the boat, they apparently are worried about enough food again. They seem to only have one loaf, which Mark is purposely pointing out so that we are seeing Jesus as the One Loaf, the bread that is enough for His disciples.

He as the bread is enough, while the Pharisees are the leaven. What is leaven? Leaven is used to make dough rise, to make it airy and fluffy. The leaven used today is safe. Leaven in ancient times was much more dangerous. It produced by taking a previous weeks dough and storing it in suitable conditions, adding juices to promote fermentation. This homemade agent though could be easily tainted and poisonous. That is what Jesus has in mind when he refers to the Pharisees.

Their unbelief is a poison. Beware of it.

Leaven is also seen as sin for the Christian. Which again, sin is unbelief in God, that He isn’t enough and His standards are not good enough for us.

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

But, the disciples are confused of what Jesus is saying. Is he still talking about physical bread?

Jesus then reminds them that it is He that provided physical bread. But more importantly, it was Him that was the provider. He is the bread of life. He is the life giver.

Do you not yet understand? And this is the case. They didn’t. And they wouldn’t realize in full until the resurrection of Jesus. We will talk about this next week for Jesus will address this very issue with Peter and the disciples when he reveals he must die.

A great encouragement to us as a church, as a pastor and for anyone who desires to see the church grow, is that as Jesus was patient, we can be patient as well. As patient as He has been with me, the good news is this:

The disciples saw dimly in a glass coated with the dust of traditional ways of viewing things and warped by the curvature of their own dreams and ambitions. The glass we look through is no different. We are no less in need of healing before we can see what God is doing, and it may not take on the first try. Many get frustrated with others in their own church or denomination who seem to suffer from a terminal case of spiritual insensibility. We can learn from the example of Jesus’ patience with his own dull disciples. He does not give up on them, even after their disastrous failures during his trail and death. The same one who could transform a few loaves into a banquet for thousands can transform the stony hearts and hardened minds of palsied disciples, who will then go into the world and preach the gospel.