Sermon Tone Analysis

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.