Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: The Compassionate Provision of Christ (Part 1)

Mark 8:1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,

Mark 8:2 “I feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

Mark 8:3 “And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”

Mark 8:4 And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”

Mark 8:5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?”

And they said, “Seven.”

Mark 8:6 And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them.

And He kept giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the crowd.

Mark 8:7 And they also had a few small fish; and after He blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.

Mark 8:8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.

Mark 8:9 Now about four thousand were there, and He sent them away.

Mark 8:10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.

Thesis: If we are His disciples, Christ gives us what we need to serve others.

Intro:

Matthew & Mark only two gospels to record feeding of 4,000.

All 4 Gospels record feeding of 5,000

Back in chapter 6, Jesus tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37), but they can’t, so the Good Shepherd feeds His sheep.

Here, Jesus again feeds a large crowd, but in the text today, the food clearly goes from Jesus through the disciples - and we’ll break that down as we go.

We see a real hunger for Jesus within this crowd - yes, they come to Him for healings, for miracles, but we see they stay for His teaching.

His preaching.

They will be so enamored with what He is feeding them spiritually, they won’t eat to sustain themselves physically.

Christ will show His compassion on the crowd as he multiples, again, loaves and fish.

There’s much to be said about the disciples, and ourselves, as well as the crowd.

Yet when it is all over, we should all leave satisfied, and well fed spiritually.

First, we must understand the hunger for Jesus this crowd had.

Mark 8:1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,

In those days - If you recall last week, Jesus was spending anywhere from 3 to 8 months within Gentile country.

He’s gone very far north into the Gentile regions.

Now, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus seems to have went from Tyre, through Sidon, and then finds his way through to the Decapolis - the route that some scholars think was a bit out of His way.

This story picks up with “In those days”, so we know Jesus is still within that region.

Whether this happens in the Decapolis right after the healing of the deaf/mute man, we’re not told, in fact, this could have happened prior to the healing of that man.

The Gospel writers do not write so much “Chronological”, as they do “Thematical”, and this is a part of the theme Mark has taken up - Jesus and miracles among the Gentiles.

That’s not to argue that it isn’t chronological - if word is spreading, as it likely did after the healing of the mute man (Mark 7:31-37), and the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (Mark 7:24-30) - it only serves to prove what the Demoniac had been preaching: This Jesus is the Jewish Messiah!

And so a Large Crowd Gathered.

They probably came for the miracles, but they stayed for the preaching.

We see this evidenced in Matthew’s Gospel, and though I read the text last week, I’ll read it again here:

“And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.

So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.”

(Matthew 15:30-31 LSB)

They had heard about the signs and wonders, now they’re going to stay - and continue to gather - because they want to hear what Jesus has to say.

And Mark tells us that they had nothing to eat.

Some of this crowd could have left, and come back - but again (like we saw last week) we see a bit of irony in Mark’s writing.

The hunger they would feel in their physical body was nothing compared to the hunger they had in their spirit.

These people were starving for the teaching of Jesus.

In chapter 6, we saw something similar.

The people saw where Jesus was heading, and so they ran to meet up with him.

To continue to hear him speak (Mark 6:33).

But he’d only spoke for a day to that crowd and they got hungry.

How long had this crowd been listening to Jesus speak?

Mark 8:2 “I feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.

Three days of being with Jesus - not just to get miracles, but listening to him.

Hearing his message, listening to his preaching.

Some might people get upset if we have a service go past 11:30 and they’re not first in line at Pizza Ranch.

I know, because I’m one of them!

(Lifechurch, Indy, M&M’s?)

But three days in, and these people aren’t budging.

They’re spiritually starved.

Remember, this is a people who lived amongst idols, who had tolerated a man who had been possessed by a Legion of Demons.

This is a region that desperately needed to hear the truth of God’s kingdom and His promised Messiah.

And, truthfully, these were a people under judgment.

Their hunger shows us this.

The Old Testament makes it clear that the worst kind of famine, the worst judgment, is a famine of the word of God.

“Behold, days are coming,” declares Lord Yahweh, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of Yahweh.

People will wander from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of Yahweh, But they will not find it.”

(Amos 8:11-12)

AND THESE PEOPLE HAVE FOUND IT!

AND THEY DON’T WANT TO LEAVE IT!

I was in town recently, and I saw firsthand the hunger the people of our county have for the word of God.

A young lady asked me, “Aren’t you the pastor who went verse by verse through Revelation?”

I said yeah.

“I’ve never been in a Bible study like that.

I don’t think I’ve ever studied a book of the Bible like that.”

Long story short, she found out through someone else, who doesn’t even attend our church, but watches us on-line.

They go to a different church, and I won’t say where, and I don’t say this as an attack on that church, this person just said, quite clearly, they’re not getting the word of God.

Blew her mind when I told her I’ve been preaching verse by verse through Mark.

I’ve said this to some of you, because of a few comments some folks have made, but I’ll say it publicly now - we’re probably the best kept secret of some Christians in this area because they go to their church because of their specific denomination, but they go home and watch our services because they’re getting something their soul craves - the word of God.

I don’t say that today to brag, I don’t say that to put down any pastor or any other denomination, please understand me today.

I say it to say this and I want to speak to the camera and those watching: Keep coming back.

You don’t have to be here.

You watch, we’ll keep giving you the word of God.

You need it as badly as we do here at Faith.

It’s okay.

You’re always welcomed here in person, but we know you’re watching that’s why we share it.

Keep watching.

If you’re hungry for the word of God you know where to find it.

If you’re hungry, we want to feed you.

Now, here in our text, Jesus vocally says he feels compassion, previous Mark just records that he does have compassion (Mark 6:34).

Jesus openly confesses his heart for the gentile crowd.

This compassion is that real fun Greek word, “spankneedzomai” (σπλαγχνιζομαι) and it means he is moved with pity, or mercy.

He is moved to his very depth with love for these people.

Likely he had such a deep compassion for them because He saw them for who they were, starving, lost sheep.

And He desires so badly to bring them into the fold, to heal them, to help them, and most of all, to feed them.

At this point, though, they weren’t just spiritually hungry, they were physically hungry.

This crowd had been listening, what food they had brought had likely ran out, so hungry in fact, Jesus continues and says...

Mark 8:3 “And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”

They will faint if they try to go home.

They haven’t eaten in days - they aren’t fasting, they aren’t willfully going without, but they’re so captured by his preaching, they weren’t concerned with food.

Back in chapter six, the disciples said, “send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” (Mark 6:36)

And Jesus’ reply was “You give them something to eat!” (Mark 6:37)