Repeat: Feeding the Multitude, Again

Mark 8:1–10 ESV

1 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.

Why a Repeat?

Questions

Q: This sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

A: Jesus had disciples gather fishes and loaves back in Mark 8 — The only real major difference is there were 5,000 in chapter 6 and in this chapter it is 4,000 people fed.

Q: Why is an almost identical story included in Mark twice?

Think about it, Mark is the shortest gospel so it is taking up space in a very short book — It is also recorded in the Gospel of Mathew.

Why spend time on 2 nearly identical stories?

Reason 1: A different focus

Q: What is a gentile & what is a jew?

A: Jews are jewish and gentiles are everyone else.

The first feeding was in Galilee near Bethsaida, it was mostly a Jewish audience

He was in Decapolis for the second feeding

Q: What do you think Decapolis stands for?

A: Answer

Where did Superman fight crime? Metropolis

meter = mother

polis = city

Metropolis is the main city, we are in the city of Deerpark right now, but it is part of the Cincinnati Metropolitan area. Cincinnati is the mother-city of the area

So what about Deca?

Like a decagon = it means 10

Decapolis means 10 cities. It was one of the few areas that Jesus traveled that was mostly occupied by gentiles. — There were also a lot of helenistic Jews

Q: Have you heard the term helenistic before?

A: It means Jews that acted like gentiles

Makes a Point

Jesus is illustrating that the same grace that is available to the Jews is also available to the gentiles

The most amazing question

Have you ever heard the expression: “There are no such thing as dumb questions”?

Well, there are.

Here’s your sign

Q: Have you ever heard of the comedian Bill Engvall?

He got famous telling a joke where he said that stupid people should have to wear a warning sign saying “I’m Stupid” so we would know to protect them from themselves.

Here are some of his top jokes:

a guy is working on his roof, when a nearby neighbor comes by and says "fixin yer roof there?" the man on the roof replies "nope...just practicing being Santa Claus for this winter" heres your sign

A couple of months ago I went fishing with a buddy of mine, we pulled his boat into the dock, I lifted up this big 'ol stringer of bass and this idiot on the dock goes, "Hey, y'all catch all them fish?" "Nope - Talked 'em into giving up. Here's your sign."

I stayed late at work one night and a co-worker looked at me and said, "Are you still here?" I replied, "No. I left about 10 minutes ago. Here's your sign."

You get the idea.

The Disciples Stupid Question

Now, take a look at Mark 8:4

Mark 8:4 ESV

4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

This is a dumb question. Just 2 Chapters ago — I’m not sure how long ago it was, but it was less than a year ago that Jesus fed more people with just about the same stuff.

Asking Jesus “How can one feed these people” is a stupid question. — Don’t get me wrong, If I were there I would probably be asking the same stupid question, but that wouldn’t make it a good question!

Jesus Rebukes the Question

We will get to it in more detail in a little bit, but he ends up saying to the disciples starting in v17

Mark 8:17–21 ESV

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?”

A Greater Point

There was a much bigger point to be understood here, but to understand it we need to rewind a little bit, back to what happens immediately after the 4,000 are fed.

Look with me at Mark 8:11-13

Mark 8:11–13 ESV

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.

First, understand that the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus.

There were 2 main schools of Jewish thought at the time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The Sadducees didn’t believe in the miracles. And, as the joke goes, that is why they were sad-u-see.

Jesus performed miracles all of the time, starting from the turning water into wine and up to what just happened, feeding the 4,000.

A great question: Why don’t we see more miracles today?

Answer: They really weren’t that common in biblical times. — Moses, Elijah & Elisha, Jesus and the disciples. That’s really about it. — Now, I do believe God works and does things in the world outside of our understanding or science’s understanding. — but big sign miracles really only happened to give credit to God’s prophets.

Miracles and Signs are slightly different. A miracle is just a miraculous event. A Sign is a miraculous event that gives validity to a prophet. Jesus said they wouldn’t get one, except for his resurrection, Matthew is a little more clear on that.

A Little Leaven

Look what ends up happening staring in v14 (we already read some of this)

Mark 8:14–21 ESV

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?”

Leaven is yeast. We didn’t know that it was a living organism until 1859 when Louis Pasteur figured it out. — What they did know in Jesus time was that they could take a piece of starter bread, put it in with the rest of the bread ingredients and viola, bread dough would happen. — It is almost exactly how sour dough is made today.

Leaven is used as symbol, not always evil symbol either. Some people say that leaven is a picture of sin and it just isn’t. It has the idea of something small invisible force making a huge impact.

So here we have the disciples with food problems again. They only brought one loaf of bread. This and the recent feeding of the 4,000 provides an opportunity to warn them about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.

What is most true about Herod and most true about the Pharisees? We just saw an example of it. — They didn’t believe.

Think of how a little unbelief grows, let me give you an example: What happens if someone decides that they don’t believe in the creation story of Genesis?

They have to come up with an alternate theory for the creation of everything: example big bang and evolution

They don’t believe that Man is created to be the image bearer of God since man evolved from something more primitive. Ultimately they have a lower view on the sanctity of life.

They don’t believe that sin was introduced into the world by Adam and Eve eating a forbidden fruit

And if you don’t believe in the sin of the first Adam, why would you need salvation from it by the second Adam?

I love science. What is always amazing to me is how often theories from sketchy science is built up as if it were fact.

The Big Bang Theory had been presented as fact, but now so many discoveries have contradicted it that most serious scientists have rejected it.

The Theory of Evolution requires more little changes over time that the odds of us evolving from a single cell organism are 1 in 10 to the 2,680th power, or 1 followed by 2,680 zeros.

But a little bit of that leaven in there allows people to not have to accept that there is a God who they are ultimately accountable to. So they take the out and do whatever they want, rejecting Christ until they face judgment.

Beware a little leaven.

Pray