Mark 8:1-21
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Mark 8:1 (HCSB)
1 In those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. He summoned the disciples and said to them,
This is wrapping up a little mini series Mark has been on showing that the kingdom is for Gentiles too.
Jesus has been laying building blocks throughout this book.
He’s established that He has power.
He’s established that He is sent by God.
He’s established that He can heal and restore.
He’s established that He can command even demons.
He’s established that He can forgive sin.
He’s established that He commands nature.
He’s established that He can raise the dead.
He’s established that this kingdom will be for Gentiles too.
So these are the building blocks, what is He building.
In Mark’s Gospel there are critical high points in the story.
The tension is building to answer the question “Who is this man.”
It will come to a head next week when we see Peter declare that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. The first time in Mark’s gospel that this word is used.
After this it won’t be long before we head towards Jerusalem where the all of these building blocks will be used to build something.
The Gospel.
As Jesus is lifted up on a cross, something is happening
The gospel is not so much a math equation i.e. sin+cross=salvation, so much as it is like a special edition newspaper, where every page unfolds new dimensions of the banner headline, "The Kingdom of God is here!". Christ crucified is the message, but it's only the front page. Interested parties ought to inquire within.
2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a long distance.” 4 His disciples answered Him, “Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to fill these people?” 5 “How many loaves do you have?” He asked them. “Seven,” they said. 6 Then He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks, broke the loaves, and kept on giving them to His disciples to set before the people. So they served the loaves to the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish, and when He had blessed them, He said these were to be served as well. 8 They ate and were filled. Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces. 9 About 4,000 men were there. He dismissed them 10 and immediately got into the boat with His disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
This is a powerful sign of the kingdom.
If this is indeed done for Gentile recipients, then the message is astonishing.
This New Exodus will not be a ethnic exodus, but an opportunity for ALL peoples to leave the kingdom of darkness.
Bread, Yeast, and Signs
11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, demanding of Him a sign from heaven to test Him. 12 But sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? I assure you: No sign will be given to this generation!”
The warning here is for people who want Jesus to perform on their terms.
When I look around at how people in the church view Jesus today I see opposing factions.
Those who want powerful Jesus but not His cross.
And those who want Jesus the teacher but not His authority.
We have people who want Jesus to be an emperor and not a slain lamb.
I think the reason why we’ve seen such rampant confusion about Donald Trump being “God’s Chosen One” or something is because we can’t conceive of a plan of God’s that involves anything that looks like weakness.
So when we see a leader who positions themselves as powerful, and willing to say the right words to pander to a Christian audience, we flock to them.
On the other hand, I see tons of Christians who don’t seem to acknowledge the authority of Jesus at all. And they don’t want power to be a dynamic of the gospel. Like Jesus is some sort of limp wristed social worker who will never tell you what to do but will always have something nice to say.
That’s the “Well He was a good prophet fallacy” sneaking it’s way into the church.
You know, in a parallel account...
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s proclamation; and look—something greater than Jonah is here! 42 The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look—something greater than Solomon is here!
There is 1 sign that cannot be ignored.
If the Apostle Paul had to pick a favorite Gospel, maybe it would have been the gospel of Mark.
Why?
Because both Mark and Paul are fixated on the simplicity of the cross.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize—not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect. 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. 20 Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
“The Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ Crucified.”
Christ crucified IS the wisdom of God.
And so we have to ask ourselves, What do I do with Jesus?”
What do WE do with Jesus, collectively as a people?
Are we going to be a people of the cross or not?
I think we have to be careful to not say, well I’m not Jewish sooo or I’m not Greek soooo.
If you’re the type of person who wants powerful Jesus without the cross, you must come to grips with the fact that the way of Jesus includes weakness and suffering.
That’s the Greek way of thinking.
The Greek mythology is chock full of hero worship.
How could God die?
How could He be stripped naked and beaten?
How could He be mocked?
Earliest image of Jesus?
“Alexamenos worships his God”
That’s foolishness!
Paul says YES. Foolish to us, wisdom to God.
If you’re the type of person that wants Jesus the teacher without His authority, then you have to come to grips with the fact that in God’s wisdom, the crucifixion of Jesus was actually His enthronement.
He is the King of the World.
He’s ruling NOW.
He rose from the dead.
And He said “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.”
Liking parts of Jesus but rejecting His authority is the Jewish way of thinking.
“You’re a good prophet but you’re not God.”
Stephen the Martyr.
All fine and dandy until.
51 “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit; as your ancestors did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They even killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. 53 You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 56 “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58 They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
They don’t want a Jesus who actually has authority over them.
They actually love themselves, not the Lord.
13 Then He left them, got on board the boat again, and went to the other side. 14 They had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then He commanded them: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
What was the problem?
Unbelief, and powerful men who had already made up their minds about Jesus sowing those seeds of unbelief.
Yeast was a Jewish metaphor for something small and invisible that spreads throughout a whole thing.
This is why we stick to the gospel.
This is why we preach Christ crucified.
If we stick to that message it is difficult to use it for false gain.
The warning here for us is we need to be careful who we are willing to listen to.
I am not an isolationist.
I want our church to experience the benefits of the global body of Christ.
But their are many. many. many. teachers who simply do not believe in Christ.
And the reason I know they don’t is because their is no fear of God before their eyes.
Meaning they are telling people things about God that are not true.
16 They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread. 17 Aware of this, He said to them, “Why are you discussing that you do not have any bread? Don’t you understand or comprehend? Is your heart hardened? 18 Do you have eyes, and not see, and do you have ears, and not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of pieces of bread did you collect?” “Twelve,” they told Him. 20 “When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of pieces of bread did you collect?” “Seven,” they said. 21 And He said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?”
This is an appeal from Jesus and not a rebuke.
The the thing that stands between us and those men sitting around Jesus in the boat IS the Cross and the Resurrection.
I’ve always been captivated by the stories of rescue missions.
Frodo and Sam
Raid at Cabanatuan
Jesus is leading us on a New Exodus.
But on the road out of the kingdom of darkness there is sign:
Only the dead may pass.
The sign of Jonah shows us that we may pass out of the kingdom of darkness because dead people in Christ don’t stay dead!