The Promised King

In the course of our time together, I want to show you how we should think about Jesus. In particular, I want to show you how we should think about these miracles of feeding the 5000 and walking on water. And the reason I want to do that is because, although they are widely known, I think that we often don’t grasp the full significance of these miracles, and so we miss out on deeply understanding who Jesus is. These miracles point us not only to his identity, but also the problem he has come to solve. A problem that has plagued humanity for millennia, and a problem that continues to plague us today. And as we more deeply understand what Jesus is doing in the passage, we will not only grow in our love for him, but we will also grow in our knowledge of what he has come to do.

The Promise of a New Exodus

The background to these miracles is the promise of a new Exodus. Let me back up and explain what I mean.

Let me back up and explain what I mean.

One way to make sense of the Bible’s story is in terms of Exile and Exodus. Exile signals a broken relationship between God and His people, whilst Exodus promises to restore that relationship. So exile is the problem, and exodus is the solution. An exodus is necessary because exile is our reality.

And we see these connected themes all the way through Scripture, and they inform Mark’s Gospel. Let me show you how. When God creates a perfect world with Adam and Eve, everything was perfect, God lived in total harmony with His people. Adam and Eve enjoyed harmony socially, environmentally, and spiritually—having access to God all the time. But when sin entered the world through Adam, exile happened: Adam was estranged from Eve, people’s relationship with the environment got injured, and most of all, humanity’s relationship with God was broken. Adam and Eve are banished from the God, exiled from God’s presence. And as you keep reading the Bible, you see that the exile continues. The story of humankind becoming increasingly alienated from God is repeated in the accounts of Cain, Lamech, the flood, and the tower of Babel. The exile continues, it deepens, and—it’s worth emphasizing—the exile is an external manifestation of an internal problem.

So one way to understand what’s happening to the Israelites in Egypt, is to see their time there as an exile. They may not have gone to Egypt as exiles, but they became captives. They were enslaved by the Egyptians, and the exodus is God’s solution to that exile—a solution that required the death of a lamb. So we learn in Exodus that as God seeks to restore relationship, as God seeks to bring His people to himself, a substitution may be required because his people—like Adam and Eve before them—are sinful. If the exile is an external manifestation of an internal problem, then the exodus needs to be able to deal with that internal problem.

And what we discover, as we keep reading the Bible, is that that internal problem has not been solved. Despite all the amazing things God does for his people, the internal problem remains. And you may know some of the things that happen in the Exodus: God provides manna in the desert, God controls the Red Sea, God shepherds His people and cares for them. It’s a powerful Exodus, but…if you keep reading the story, you can’t help but come to the conclusion that the first Exodus didn’t work in the sense that the hearts of God’s people remained hard. You see, as the OT story progresses, we see that people still disobey God, distrust God, and reject him for other things. In their hearts, the seek after all kinds of other things. They reject God’s Word, and they do their own thing. Like sheep who reject their shepherd, OT Israel rejected God. And so that led to another exile: just like God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, so He banishes Israel from the promised land. First the Northern Kingdom, who get exiled by Assyria, and then the Southern Kingdom, who get exiled by Babylon. And the Bible makes it clear that this exile happened not because Assyria and Babylon were military superpowers, but because Israel’s heart turned away from God. The Lord used these nations to banish His people, to exile them. So, once again, we see that the exile is an external manifestation of an internal problem.

And while this exile in Assyria and Babylon takes place, God’s prophets start to talk about a new exodus. They talk about a new King, and a new heart. They talk about returning to the Promised Land and enjoying God’s presence once again.

But when God’s eventually people returned to Jerusalem, they did so in drips and drabs. They did some rebuilding. But it was nothing like the promised new exodus. Nothing at all, in fact, truth be told it was a bit depressing. Not just because physically, the city and temple were unimpressive, but because the heart’s of God’s people had not changed. In the final few books of the OT, books like Nehemiah and Malachi, we see that the internal problem has not been solved: people’s hearts still rejected God, Israel’s priesthood was corrupt, and Israel’s relationship with God was not restored in the way that they would have hoped. In fact, when you finish reading the OT, you get the distinct impression that Israel is still in exile. The promised new exodus has not yet happened.

And this is what makes the Gospel of Mark so electrifyingly wonderful. Turn with me to and let’s enjoy this together. Read .

Because we are not grounded in Israel’s story, we can fail to see the significance of this. Here’s what Mark is saying: the Gospel is about Jesus. Then he quotes two OT prophets—Malachi said that a messenger would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And the Isaiah quote was about how, when God arrived, he would perform a powerful new exodus. So who is Jesus? Mark wants us to know, right from the beginning, that Jesus is God Himself, come to perform a new exodus. Jesus is coming to end the exile. Which means, of course, that Jesus isn’t just going to deal with the external manifestations of the exile, but with the internal root cause.

So we have to understand Jesus in the context of this hope of a new exodus. The salvation that Jesus brings, the things he does and says, are grounded in Israel’s story. In the problem they have and the promise they are clinging to. Jesus has come to fulfill the promise of a new exodus.

And as we’ve gone through Mark’s Gospel, hopefully you can see that that is exactly what Jesus has been doing. Jesus’ story fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy as he heals the sick and proclaims good news. Because of Jesus, the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, and the paralyzed leap for joy. The demon-possessed experience restoration and the unclean experience renewal. Sins are forgiven, the outcasts are gathered in, the dead are raised, and the lepers are cleansed. In Jesus, the new exodus has begun!

The background to these miracles, in , is the promise of a new Exodus: Jesus is coming to end the exile.

It’s really helpful to read Mark’s Gospel against this backdrop—the story of Jesus is grounded in the story of Israel. But sometimes we read the Bible as though it is NOT a story. But that’s not how we read other literature.

For example, you may know that the Harry Potter series consists of 7 novels. Imagine trying to get into the HP series by just reading the 6th and 7th novel. If you did that, so much of what’s going on wouldn’t make sense. The significance of certain phrases and locations and characters would be completely missed.

And if that’s true for reading HP, then it’s even more relevant when it comes to reading the Bible. When we read the Bible as a single story, when we see that Jesus has come to fulfill the promise of a new exodus, it will help us to better understand his words and deeds.

And more than that, I think it will help us better understand just how deeply rooted the problem of our exile really is. Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, humanity has been in a spiritual exile. Jesus alone is the One who can end the exile by accomplishing a new exodus.

So let’s take a look at this passage.

The Presence of the Compassionate Lord

The Compassionate Lord who Provides ()

Read 30-34. Notice his compassion. Firstly, he shows compassion towards the apostles. Although they were still on a post-ministry high, he recognizes their frailty and need for food and rest. Yet he does this with such gentleness and care. One commentator said that Jesus helps them face their human limitations without shaming them.

Secondly, notice his compassion for the crowds. The crowds see what’s happening, and give chase, so that Jesus can’t actually get away with his disciples. But instead of responding to the crowd in frustration, or instead of experiencing compassion fatigue, Jesus just feels compassion. Even though he himself must have been tired and hungry, Jesus responds to humanity with compassion. How different from us.

And did you see, in verse 34, that he has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd. Again, there’s a lot of OT significance in that phrasing. God’s people were often described as His flock, and God appointed leaders for the nation who were referred to as Shepherds. So, for example, Moses and David are described as shepherds. Here Jesus notices that God’s people are without a leader, and so Jesus becomes their leader. In the OT, promises were made about God coming to His people, coming to them as a shepherd and here we see Jesus showing us that he is, in fact, the Lord God Himself. The Shepherd of Israel, the promised King. The contrast with Herod, in the passage just before this, could not be more striking. Herod is an insecure King who uses his power selfishly, whilst Jesus is the compassionate King who uses his power to serve and bless.

But the focus here isn’t mainly on his compassion or teaching, but on his ability to provide. Let’s pick it up in verse 35 (read 35-38). Worth noting:

Disciples getting a bit hanrgy?!

Jesus is drawing their attention to what he’s about to do, and it begins with him getting them to do a stock-take (verse 38). I think what’s clear to them is that the food is insufficient. The disciples realise that there is a resource problem: the resources that they can organise are insufficient.

And this is where Jesus comes in—he tells everyone to sit down in groups, he prays, he breaks bread, and he hands it out. And, unlike Herod, the selfish King who only fed the elites, Jesus, as Israel’s Promised Messiah, as God incarnate, as the Shepherd-King, compassionately provides for all who come to him. Just as God miraculously provided manna in the wilderness during the exodus, so here Jesus provides bread in a desolate place during the new exodus. The promise of the new exodus is being fulfilled in the presence of the compassionate Lord, who provides for his people.

Notice the superabundant nature of the provision: read 42-44.

Everyone ate and was satisfied

12 baskets of leftovers (unlike the manna, which was only enough for every day)

5000 men ate—so that’s a lot of food.

The point? Jesus is the compassionate Lord who provides for his people. And this truth isn’t just something we read about in the Bible—but it is the testimony of God’s children. One of my favourite hymns, Great is Thy Faithfulness, describes the abundance of provision like this:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Is this something you can sing? Is this your song? This is what you sing when you’ve experienced the provision of the compassionate Lord.

The Compassionate Lord who Reveals ()

Read 45-50a. Jesus gets his disciples onto the boat, dismisses the crowd, and goes to pray.

Prayer: significantly in Mark, Jesus’ praying always precedes a revelation regarding his mission or identity. We’re about to get a really big revelation. So Jesus is praying, and he sees his disciples “straining” (being tortured [cf. ] by the wind and the waves).

So he goes out to them. Notice the end of v 48, he meant to “pass by them” again an Exodus echo (from ). In Exodus, God passed by Moses in order to reveal himself to Moses. In the OT, that kind of display is rare, powerful and very relational. Theologians call it a “theophany” and it only happens a few times—to Moses, to Job, and a couple others. But whenever it happens, it takes relationship with God to a whole new level. The intimacy, the awe, the connection. And I think Jesus wanted to perform a theophany for his disciples—he wanted to reveal His glory to them. He wanted to take their relationship to a new and deeper level.

Various elements of what Jesus does echo previous things God has done, particularly the control over the sea which happened during the Exodus. The point is that Jesus can do what only God can do, by walking on the water Jesus is revealing his divine identity to his disciples and, verse 50b, they cry out in worship?

No—they cry out because they think he’s a ghost. Instead of being filled with awe and worship, they are terrified and squeal with fear. I think this must have been one of the big down moments of Jesus’ ministry. Here he is, seeking to deepen their understanding, seeking to enrich their faith—and they respond in confusion, fear, and unbelief. They don’t get it. Jesus is sending a message, but it has not been delivered. In fact, it’s been misunderstood—and now they are freaking out. This must have been incredibly frustrating and discouraging—especially in the light of all that Jesus has done (comment on ). The disciples don’t get it. If I was Jesus, I would have been so frustrated and angry, but look at his response (read 50b-51). This is a remarkable display of his gentleness and compassion. When they land at Gennesaret, Jesus is flooded by the crowds once more, but instead of resenting them, he heals them. By so doing, he continues to reveal his divine identity, doing things that only God can do, yet he does so with gentleness and patience.

This passage portrays both the power and gentleness of Jesus. And they’re connected: it’s because Jesus is so powerful, that makes his gentleness all the more astounding.

Sam Allberry:

Part of the wonder is that Jesus is able to combine what we so easily separate. In our experience those who are gentlest tend to lack strength and force when it is called for, while those who are strongest tend to lack the capacity for gentleness and restraint. But Jesus exemplifies perfect gentleness and awesome strength. No one is crushed by mistake. This combination is why he is such a good Savior to turn to. He is strong and mighty to save: he can take on the strongest of our foes and always be certain to prevail. No spiritual force arrayed against us stands a chance of surviving. And yet he is unspeakably delicate and careful with us. There is no wound or vulnerability he doesn’t understand or handle with the utmost care. He is someone we can trust with our most tender bruises and fragility. He will not be clumsy with us. He won’t steamroll us. He can apply his unimaginable strength to us with affection and sensitivity.

In Jesus Christ, the compassionate Lord, the promised new exodus had begun. But a problem remained.

The Problem of the Hard Heart

Why didn’t the disciples get it? Was it a reflection of their intellect? No—verse 52, it was due to the hardness of their hearts. Ah. The reason why we’re in need of an exodus in the first place. Hardheartedness: the cause of our exile. The last time hard hearts were mentioned in Mark’s Gospel was in chapter 3 with reference to the hostile religious leaders who opposed Jesus. Here, it’s Jesus own followers who have hard hearts. What’s going on? I think Mark is showing us how deep this problem is.

The Problem of the Hard Heart

Remember how we said that the exile is the external manifestation of an internal problem. That internal problem is hardness of heart: hearts that don’t love God. Hearts that don’t believe God’s Word. Hearts that are enamored by other things. OneRepublic, in the song “Counting Stars” put it honestly: Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.

And notice how Mark links the two miracles: if the disciples had understood the point of the feeding miracle, then they would have also understood the point of Jesus walking on water. But because they didn’t understand the first miracle, they also didn’t understand the second miracle.

So we see that the disciples had the same sinful human nature that everyone has had since the fall. And if the exile is ever going to end, if the new exodus is going to be effective, then we’re going to need new hearts. And the amazing message of Mark’s gospel is that Jesus was exiled from God, in order to accomplish our redemption. When Jesus died on the cross, he experienced the exile from God that we should have experienced. But in his resurrection, Jesus was restored to the Father and is now the leader of a new people—forgiven people whose hard hearts are replaced with soft hearts. As the new exodus leader, Jesus has given his people the Holy Spirit, so that we might have soft and gentle hearts—so that we might love God and others. So that we might move towards harmony again.

So as we close, I’d like to ask us all a question: have we recognised Jesus as this new exodus leader? As the compassionate Lord who provides for us—not just in a physical sense but in the most important sense. He has accomplished redemption, achieved salvation for us, if we would appropriate it for ourselves.

For some, this might mean responding to Jesus for the first time.

For others, you might want to do some more investigating.

For many in this room, who have already put their faith in Christ, you might want to reaffirm your trust in the Compassionate Lord who provides what you need. Maybe instead of singing “Great is thy faithfulness” you’ve been struggling with anxiety, or greed, or fear, or discontentment. Maybe you need to ask Jesus to help you get to the place where you can say, “all I have needed, thy hand has provided.”

The promise of the new exodus was fulfilled in the presence of the compassionate Lord. He alone is able to fix the problem of our hard hearts; he alone can transform and renew us; he alone can provide us with what we need.

Let’s pray together.