Mark 8:1-21, “Jesus Miraculously Feeds The 4,000”
By
1.
INTRO:
2.
In our last study, we looked at verses
24-37 of chapter 7 of Mark.
2.1.
We looked at the
only story in the gospels where Jesus went out of
2.2.
A Syro-Phoenician
woman, a Gentile, came and implored Jesus that He might cast a demon out of her
daughter. We saw that Jesus initially
refused to grant this woman’s request.
We analyzed Jesus’ motives for doing this and whether Jesus was being
mean to this woman. We saw how this
woman’s faith was applauded by Jesus, as she importunately came to Him on
behalf of her daughter.
2.3.
We next looked at
how at Decapolis a man who was both deaf and dumb was brought to Jesus, and He
healed Him in such a miraculous way that the man began to speak plainly.
3.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 1-21 of chapter 8.
3.1.
In our text, we
will look at Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the 4,000.
3.2.
This is a story
about how God worked at a point in time in the miraculous that is designed to
show how God can and will provide for His children. I think of this miraculous feeding as being
for the New Testament times perhaps very similar to how God worked on behalf of
the Jews in the Old Testament with all of the miracles associated with the
deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt with the plagues and the crossing of
the Red Sea, and then His sustenance of the multitude for all of the forty
years of wandering in the wilderness.
This miraculous feeding is also to be looked back to for the bolstering
of our faith in God to protect, provide, and sustain His people.
3.3.
We will discuss
not only how great this miracle was, but also what it means in our lives as
believers in Christ. We will see that
the disciples had not learned anything from the previous miracle of the feeding
of the 5,000 which we studied in chapter 6 of this gospel. They still do not realize that the Lord can
and will work in a miraculous way for the meeting of people’s needs. Before we become critical of these disciples,
we need to take stock of ourselves and ask ourselves how often we forget the
Lord’s miracles? How often do we let
the stresses and pressures of life overtake us rather than simply looking to
and trusting Him for His provision in the midst of the things we go through?
3.4.
The events in this
story are not in sequence with what we have read to this point in the gospel of
Mark, for we read that these people had been with Jesus for three days when
Jesus performed this miraculous feeding.
3.5.
All of Jesus’
miracles are called “attesting signs” for they prove that He is who He
claimed to be. We will see here that
though the Pharisees had seen and heard of Jesus performing many miracles,
miracles which should have convinced them of Jesus’ credibility, they ask Him
here for a sign. They want Jesus to
perform some miracle that they might devise, some display of raw power such as
fire coming down from heaven, however Jesus would never perform miracles just
for the sake of wowing people with His might.
Rather, Jesus miracles were performed out of love and care for people,
and they showed great power channeled through the love and compassion of God
for humanity. But, these displays of
Jesus’ power weren’t good enough for most of the people.
3.5.1. I wonder if sometimes we as God’s people are at least
in our hearts wanting Jesus to perform some miraculous work before we are
willing to obey and serve Him? He has
clearly spoken to us in His word concerning His will and calling for our lives,
but why do many claim that they know Him yet they consciously walk contrary to
His revealed will in His word?.
4.
VS 8:1-10 - “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, 2 “I feel compassion for the people
because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 “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.” 4 And His disciples
answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this
desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5 And He was asking them, “How
many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” 6 And He directed the people to sit down on the
ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started
giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the
people. 7 They also had a few small
fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. 8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked
up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9 About four thousand were there; and He sent
them away.” -
4.1.
Verse 4 tells us
that this feeding of the 4,000 happened in a wilderness area.
4.2.
This is the
second miraculous feeding of multitudes that Jesus performed during his 3 ˝
year public ministry with His disciples.
The other miraculous feeding was of 5,000 men. Those who would want to deny Christ’s
miraculous powers have tried to make both events into the same, however this is
not logical and the texts do not support this.
The Bible Exposition Commentary includes the following table that
contrasts the two miracles:
|
Feeding 5,000 |
Feeding 4,000 |
|
Primarily Jews |
Primarily Gentiles |
|
Galilee, neer |
The |
|
5 loaves, 2 fish |
7 loaves, “a few fish” |
|
12 baskets over |
7 baskets over |
|
Crowd with Him 1 day |
Crowd with Him 3 days |
|
Spring of year (green
grass) |
Summer season |
|
Tried to make Him King |
No popular response |
4.3.
I would add one
more point here. Jesus in our study
today speaks to His disciples of both miracles, the feeding of the 5,000 and
the feeding of the 4,000. It is evident
from what He says that they are two separate events.
4.4.
When we studied the
feeding of the 5,000, we saw also that that miracle was used as the backdrop
for Jesus’ Bread of Life teaching in which He stated that a disciple must eat
His body and drink His blood, metaphors for knowing Him in reality and in
substance not just superficially or externally only.
4.5.
Notice here in
our story, that it was Jesus who realized the people’s need and that this
miracle was performed by Him not so that He might wow people by His power
(though all of His miracles do this), but rather because He had ‘compassion’
for the people in their need.
4.6.
The people had
been with Jesus for three days here, and Jesus knew that some would faint out
of hunger if they had to walk home without first being fed: ‘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.’
4.7.
Notice here that
it was Jesus who prodded the disciples in regard to responding to the needs of
the people as He says, “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus wanted
His disciples to learn to look to heaven to meet needs as they encountered
them. The disciples responded, “Where will anyone be
able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy
these people?”
4.8.
Jesus also wanted
His disciples to learn that they needed to lift up to the Lord what resources
they possessed trusting Him to bless and multiply and use those for His
purposes.
4.9.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary includes the following about how the language used here
explains how incredible was this miracle:
“The sufficiency of the miracle is seen in the statements that they were
filled and that there was an abundance (Gr.) that was left. The word
meat, inserted by the translators of the AV, refers to food in general.
These baskets were a different type than those used after the feeding of
the five thousand. This is indicated by the distinction made between two kinds
in 8:19, 20 (Gr. text). The kind of basket used this time was often quite
large. It was the kind used to let Saul down over the wall at
4.10.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary says the following about the tense of various Greek words
used by Jesus here and how those tenses explain this story: “Here, as in the feeding of the five
thousand, the words took, gave thanks, and brake are all in the
aorist tense in Greek, but the word gave is in the imperfect tense,
showing that Christ kept giving the bread to the disciples for distribution
(cf. 6:41).”
5.
VS 8:11-21 - “10
And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the
district of Dalmanutha. 11 The Pharisees came out
and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. 12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to
you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to
the other side. 14 And they had forgotten to
take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. 15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the
leaven of Herod.” 16 They began to
discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?
Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 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 you picked up?” They said to Him,
“Twelve.” 20 “When I
broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of
broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” 21 And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?””” - Jesus and
His disciples go to Dalmanutha where the Pharisees asked Him for a sign to test
Him
5.1.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary tells us where this city of ‘Dalmanutha’ was
located: “a town (also called
Magadan; cf. Matt. 15:39) near Tiberias on the lake’s western side (cf. Mark
8:13, 22).”
5.2.
Here we see that
the Pharisees asked Jesus to show them some sign to prove that He was who He claimed
to be, but He had already performed miracle and miracle for them, and these
should have been sufficient proof to them of who He was. But, the Pharisees were asking this request
in order ‘to test Him’, and their asking for this sign was not so that
they could believe after seeing it, but rather to have an excuse for not
believing in Him. If they had been
asking such a request desiring to believe in Him then their request would have
been granted, and Jesus would have handled them much differently.
5.3.
The Wycliff Bible
Commentary says the following about Jesus’ language here about grieving because
the Pharisees were asking Him for a sign:
“Such persistent refusal to believe caused Christ to sigh deeply
in his spirit. The word, appearing here in its intensified form, probably
means that he actually groaned as the sense of weariness and grief penetrated
to the depths of his heart”.
5.4.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary: “The words this
generation denoted the nation of
5.5.
In Matthew’s
account of these things he writes to Jewish readers, and thus he gives some
significant detail Mark (who wrote primarily to Gentiles) leaves out about
Jesus’ confrontation of the Pharisees for having asked Him to show them a
sign: “Matthew 16:1-4, “1 The Pharisees and
Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from
heaven. 2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair
weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 “And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today,
for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance
of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? 4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and
went away.”
5.6.
Here we see that
after the feeding of the 4,000 that Jesus got back into the boat with His
disciples, but they had forgotten to bring bread, and possibly fish as
well. The disciples were arguing with
each other because they had forgotten to bring bread and fish with them for
their trip. We can just imagine they
arguing about who messed up and forgot to bring bread and/or fish for their
trip, and why someone hadn’t thought to bring one of the leftover baskets of
bread or fish with them. They were
probably wanting to really pin this on someone, and they were probably accusing
that person of trying to kill them…
Jesus overheard their discussion, and we see here that he was not
pleased with them, and then began to admonish them by asking them some very
probing questions.
5.7.
Note here Matthew’s account of Jesus’ chiding of His disciples
for not understanding the point of the miracles they had seen Jesus perform
already: Matt. 16:5-12, “5 And the disciples came to the other side of the
sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 And Jesus said to them, “Watch
out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They began to discuss this among
themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.”
8 But Jesus, aware of this,
said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among
yourselves that you have no bread? 9 “Do you not yet understand or remember
the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you
picked up? 10 “Or the seven
loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked
up? 11 “How is it that you do not understand
that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that
He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.””
5.8.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary says the following about Jesus’ comment to beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees: “A small
amount of yeast can affect a large amount of bread dough when they are mixed.
Yeast was a common Jewish metaphor for an invisible, pervasive influence. It
often, as here, connoted a corrupting influence. In this context the yeast
referred to a gradual increase of unbelief. This lay behind the Pharisees’
request for a sign even though their minds were already made up (cf. 8:11-12;
3:6). So it was with Herod (cf. 6:14-16; Luke 13:31-33; 23:8-9). As indicated
by Jesus’ question (Mark 8:12), this attitude had affected the whole nation of
5.9.
Wycliff Bible
Commentary also says the following about:
“Luke 12:1 explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is
hypocrisy. The leaven of Herod may be the influence of the Herodians,
which was a spirit of worldliness, an infectious secularism.”
5.10.
We as Christians
do just as the Pharisees were doing on this day when:
5.10.1. God does some great work or miracle in our life and
later on we forget what it was that He did and we act as if we have forgotten
His power and ability to work on our behalf to fulfill His promises. We forget that He can be the solution and
resource for our every problem.
5.10.2. We want some kind of sign from God before we are
willing to be obedient and led by the Lord.
5.10.3. Are you allowing any kind of leaven into your life O
Christian, some sin or compromise with the world that will have an invisible
pervasive influence on you?
5.11.
The disciples are
impervious to the things that Jesus was teaching them prior to His resurrection
from the dead, and here we see Jesus chiding them because they hadn’t learned
anything from the previous time when He fed the 5,000. Note the five penetrating and haunting
questions Jesus asks His disciples:
5.11.1. “Why do you
discuss the fact that you have no bread?
5.11.2. Do you not yet
see or understand?
5.11.3. Do you have a
hardened heart?
5.11.4. “Having eyes, do you not see? And
having ears, do you not hear?
5.11.5. And do you not
remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five
thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?”
5.11.5.1.They said to Him,
“Twelve.” 20 “When I
broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of
broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” 21 And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”””
5.12.
Many years ago
now, after my wife and I had sold our house, quit our jobs, and moved to Helena,
MT, a city we had never even seen before, because we felt called to plant a
church, one day after we had been there a while and things were not easy for us
nor going the way that we had hoped and expected they would, we began to
discuss the Israelites after they had been delivered out of bondage and
Egypt. The Lord had rescued Israel via
10 miraculous plagues that He had sent against the people, He had parted the Red
Sea and led the people out of the land, and He had even led them about in the
wilderness many days providing daily for their food, water, shelter, and
clothing. Yet, they began to discuss
among themselves whether or not the Lord had let them out of
5.13.
The Lord during
His earthly ministry refused to satisfy people’s curiosity by performing works
of power at their whims. Using a Hebrew
idiom to indicate the strongest of denials, Jesus says, ‘no sign will be
given them’. Jesus did however
promise that He would provide one sign for all time that proved who He
was. He promised to the people what He
called ‘the sign of Jonah’. In
another passage, Jesus explained that this sign was based upon the fact that
just as Jonah was in the whale for three days, so the Son of Man would be in
the heart of the earth for three days.
6.
CONCLUSIONS:
6.1.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary gives the following summary of applications to be learned
from this teaching: “The disciples
learned some valuable lessons on this trip, lessons that they would need to
remember and apply in later years of ministry. We today need to learn these
same lessons: (1) don’t seek after signs, but live by faith in His Word; (2)
trust Jesus to meet needs; (3) avoid the leaven of false doctrine; (4) let
Jesus work as He wills, and expect variety in His working.”