Monday, April 26, 2021
Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 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. And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, Seven. And he said to them, Do you not yet understand? Mark 8:18-21
Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
So far in our journey through the book of Mark we have seen many miracles that Jesus performed. The disciples and crowds had already witnessed many miracles and chapter 8 was beginning with another one. A large crowd was again gathered around Jesus, some had been with Him for three days. Jesus was concerned about them not having food and was talking to the disciples about it. They replied that there was no place they could get enough bread to feed them. Jesus responded to them by asking how much bread they had between them and they told Him they had seven loaves. They had a few small fish as well and they gave those to Him as well. Jesus prayed over the bread and fish and gave them to the disciples to pass out to the crowd. Much like the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand in chapter 6, again there was more than enough food to feed four thousand people. The disciples gathered seven baskets of broken pieces after everyone had eaten and was satisfied. Jesus sent them away and got into a boat with Jesus to go to Dalmanoutha.
When they got there, the Pharisees came to Jesus and started arguing with Him, testing Him, wanting a sign from heaven. Jesus told them they would not get a sign and He and the disciples got into the boat again and left. Jesus warned them about the contaminating yeast of the Pharisees and the followers of Herod. He uses the word leaven to symbolize influence – and in this case, the evil influence of sin. The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod included false teaching and hypocritical behavior. The disciples were confused, thinking it was because they had forgotten to bring lunch. They completely missed what Jesus was referring to here. He was actually calling them to a deeper discernment. He was warning them about the negative influence of the Pharisees and the Herodians who were allied against Christ. There was truly no concern over food at this time. Jesus had proven he was more than capable to meet their needs by the miracles of feeding the five thousand, and now the four thousand. They also could get food when they go to the other side of the lake. Jesus was trying to get them to see the danger of false doctrine, not a warning about food. He was more concerned for their spiritual condition than their physical needs.
Jesus must have been feeling a little discouraged at this point. The Pharisees and Herodians were not His followers so He was used to questions and doubts from them. But the disciples were His followers, chosen and called by Him. They were His friends, His people, His followers. They were supposed to be helping Him and it seemed like they did not fully understand that He, not only could meet their every need, but that He was Messiah. He asked them Do you
not yet perceive or understand?
As the disciples and Jesus went on their way, they came to a blind man, and Jesus healed Him. Then they went on and Jesus questioned His disciples asking who people said He was. They gave Him their answers and He asked them another question - Who do you say I am? And He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
Jesus needed His disciples to know who He was. He needed to know that they understood. Like the disciples, we witness God's power in our own lives, yet often we don't give the respect He deserves as Messiah in our lives. We are good with Him as Christ as long as we understand what is happening. We quickly forget what He has done when something else begins to go wrong.
Like the disciples, when life goes awry, we need to remember what Jesus has done for us in the past and how faithful He is. Even when we question Him and struggle with doubt, He still loves us and keeps His promises. Also like the disciples, Jesus will provide our physical needs. He doesn't want us to spend more time in our lives thinking about the physical needs and desires of this world more than the condition of our heart and our relationship to Him. We are His followers too, and as such, we have to discern the truth about Him and be intentional to not try to make Him into something He is not to fit into our box. As we learn to follow Jesus completely, He continues to teach us more about Himself than we could imagine.
