WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.440 We're going through a series in the Book of Mark where we're looking at different passages 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:09.519 consecutively through this gospel. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:15.080 Just before I came up to the podium, someone asked me, what are you preaching on this morning? 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:20.240 I said, it's when Jesus feeds the 4,000. 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:24.879 She said, you mean as opposed to the 5,000? 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:29.240 If you've been with us through this series, this may be the week where you say to yourself 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:33.079 at the outset, I think we've been in the Book of Mark too long. 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:37.640 Because just a month ago, we were looking at a story where Jesus met with a crowd in 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:39.239 a deserted place. 00:00:39.239 --> 00:00:42.599 He miraculously fed them with bread and fish. 00:00:42.599 --> 00:00:46.640 This morning, we're going to talk about a story where Jesus meets with a crowd in a 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:51.679 deserted place and he miraculously feeds them with bread and fish. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:56.439 There's even more commonalities between the two stories than that. 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.879 In both stories, Jesus has compassion on the crowd, it says. 00:00:59.879 --> 00:01:03.479 In both stories, the disciples say that the feeding is impossible. 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:06.480 In both stories, Jesus says, how many loaves do you have? 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.560 At the end of both stories, Jesus gets in a boat and he leaves the people that he just 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:11.560 fed. 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:15.560 If anything, the feeding of the 4,000 seems less spectacular, right? 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:20.599 Because once you've seen a man feed 5,000, what's 4,000? 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:28.039 And yet, Mark, the author of this Gospel, this being the shortest Gospel that there is in 00:01:28.039 --> 00:01:33.879 the New Testament, he sat down and he said to himself, he must have said to himself, 00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:38.359 of all the stories that I could tell about Jesus, they need to know about the second 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:39.599 feeding. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:42.399 And the question that you need to ask is why? 00:01:42.399 --> 00:01:45.000 There must be a reason. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.599 And the truth is, the feeding of the 4,000 is a different story and it does matter. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:51.839 And Mark chose to put it in there for a reason. 00:01:51.839 --> 00:01:54.799 But to get that reason, you have to look closely at the text. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:59.039 And you also have to see the bigger picture of what's going on in the life of Jesus during 00:01:59.039 --> 00:02:00.039 that time period. 00:02:00.039 --> 00:02:04.119 And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning. 00:02:04.119 --> 00:02:10.479 For Mark, the feeding of the 4,000 is not just to show Jesus' capacity to spontaneously 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:12.000 produce bread. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.120 It's more than that. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:17.199 And it's even more than what he was showing us in the feeding of the 5,000. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.879 Jesus in this passage is sending a message about himself. 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:24.919 And the easiest way to get at that message, and what we're going to look at this morning, 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:28.919 what I want us to focus on, the easiest way to get at what makes the feeding of the 4,000 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:32.159 special is to look at who is being fed. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:33.159 Who is being fed? 00:02:33.159 --> 00:02:35.120 So what we're going to ask two questions this morning. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:39.560 Number one, who is being fed when Jesus feeds the 4,000? 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:45.159 And number two is he saw the passage goes on and it ends actually in kind of a tragedy 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:48.960 because you have these people who were there at the feeding of the 4,000 and who don't 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:49.960 get it. 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:57.120 And the last words of our passage are those words of Jesus where he says, do you not yet 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:58.879 understand? 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.960 So the second question we're going to ask this morning is who are the fools in this 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:02.960 passage? 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.400 And we know it's the disciples, right? 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.479 But what does it mean for them to be foolish in this passage? 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:09.479 So who does Jesus feed? 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:10.479 Who is filled? 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.280 And who are the fools? 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:13.280 Okay. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.199 So first, who are the filled? 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:19.759 And it's not obvious and you can read right over the passage, but the best answer you 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.159 can get actually comes from the very first three words in verse one. 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:25.280 Do you see it? 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:32.639 In those days, three little words and Mark wants you to read everything into that because 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:37.199 what Mark is doing is he's saying you have to read the feeding of the 4,000 in light 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:41.000 of what has just happened. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:42.120 Where is Jesus? 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:45.800 Jesus is wandering through a place that is not so familiar with him. 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:50.640 It says that he's wandering through the region of Tyre and Sidon. 00:03:50.640 --> 00:03:52.240 And we looked at this last week. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:55.120 Jesus came out to Tyre and Sidon to get away. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:58.240 As Corey put it, he was looking for a holiday. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:02.159 And he went to a place where he thought that no one would recognize him. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:04.599 And they may not have known who he was, but what happens? 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:07.840 Immediately when he gets there, he's surrounded again because there's something about Jesus 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:13.200 that is to the outside world irresistible and people keep being drawn to him for all 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:17.280 kinds of different reasons. 00:04:17.280 --> 00:04:21.519 Now there's more about this place than just the names. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:25.600 It's not just a place called Tyre and Sidon and the Decapolis. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:27.720 What matters is what these places represent. 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:30.199 And Corey talked about this last week. 00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:36.639 Tyre and Sidon and Decapolis are places they're known for being Gentile lands. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:40.560 And the Jewish mind, these are places that are very un-Jewish places. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:47.399 And if you were to imagine the Jewish Messiah going somewhere and receiving a bad reception, 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:49.519 this is where you would expect him to go. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:55.240 A Jewish religious person during this day would have imagined the Jewish Messiah going 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:59.479 into Gentile lands and finding the strongest antagonism. 00:04:59.479 --> 00:05:01.199 And what did we find last week? 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:06.599 Actually, when he goes out to Tyre and Sidon, these places that are so historically antagonistic, 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:14.280 to the Jewish faith that Jesus is a part of, it's here out in the middle of nowhere. 00:05:14.280 --> 00:05:19.360 And in these people that are the enemies of the Jews, it's here that Jesus finds the first 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.960 people that recognize him for who he truly is. 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:26.720 So what you have last week is we saw there was this Syrophoenician woman whose daughter 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.080 was demon-possessed. 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:33.280 And there's this tension because she comes to him with all this historical baggage about 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:34.760 being a Gentile. 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:37.719 And yet she recognizes Jesus for who he is. 00:05:37.719 --> 00:05:43.719 She falls at his feet and she, I don't know if demands is the right word, but she pleads 00:05:43.719 --> 00:05:46.839 with him, heal my daughter. 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.800 And it's a strange story because on the face of it, it looks like Jesus is calling her 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:51.879 a dog. 00:05:51.879 --> 00:05:54.480 And I would encourage you, if you weren't here last week, go listen to this sermon last 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:55.480 week. 00:05:55.480 --> 00:05:56.480 It's complicated. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:04.719 But the outcome of it is this woman, stranger though she is to the Jewish faith, sees Jesus 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:11.560 for who he is, and recognizes his capacity to help her, to meet the deepest needs that 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:13.920 she's facing in that moment. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.720 And the only thing that's more miraculous than that, the only thing more miraculous 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:22.160 than what she can see is that Jesus doesn't turn her away, but he actually helps her 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.760 and he heals her. 00:06:24.760 --> 00:06:33.080 And what you have in that story is this, what I would call a hint of a hope. 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:40.639 A hint of a hope that this Jewish Messiah, this person that for the Jews is so significant, 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:45.959 that he might actually have something to say that goes beyond the nation of Israel. 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:51.680 And that even a Gentile, the person that you would think would be the least worthy of the 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:59.120 Jewish Messiah's love, even a Gentile could come to him and find peace and find rest and 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:00.879 find healing. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:06.560 It's a hint of a hope that Jesus' mission is about something bigger than Israel. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:13.519 So when Mark says in Mark chapter 8 verse 1, in those days, he's giving us a flashing 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:17.680 signal saying, the story I'm about to tell you needs to be read in light of what I've 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:24.719 just told you about this hope that we've just exposed in the gospel, that Jesus may be willing 00:07:24.719 --> 00:07:27.439 to give something even to the Gentiles. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:30.319 And what's even more interesting is, do you remember? 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:35.800 The conversation that Jesus has with the woman, there's a metaphor that's used. 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:41.240 He wants to see her daughter, excuse me, she wants to see her daughter healed from a demon 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:46.199 possession, but the metaphor that they use to talk about the need that she has, do you 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:47.199 remember what it was? 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.079 It was food. 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:56.159 So she says, and this is a strange language, but Jesus says to her, let the children be 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:01.439 fed first for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.080 Again, strange language. 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:14.680 And she responds, yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.480 Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:25.280 So she is saying to Jesus, maybe, maybe, I am not worthy to have all the rights of a 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:34.240 Jew, but even I'm at least worthy to claim the crumbs from your table. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.679 That's faith, right? 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.879 And so the hope of the woman is this, the Gentiles metaphorically, this is all the food thing 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:42.679 is a metaphor, right? 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:49.399 The Gentiles metaphorically might receive just crumbs from the table of the Jewish Messiah, 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:51.360 that he would at least do that. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:55.259 Just give us the crumbs from your glory. 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:58.480 And that hope carries over into our passage this morning. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:05.039 Can a Gentile, a Jewish stranger, a stranger of Israel, though he may be eat crumbs from 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.960 the table of the Messiah, could the king of Israel stoop that low to help people that 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:12.799 are that low? 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:15.000 And what is Jesus' response to that question? 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.559 Well, in the short term, he heals the girl, right? 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:18.759 But then what does he do? 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.720 He goes out into the middle of nowhere. 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:27.240 Four thousand Jews surround him and he doesn't give them crumbs. 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:28.240 What does he do? 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:31.519 He feeds them to the point where their bellies are so full that they can't eat anymore and 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:35.680 there's leftovers. 00:09:35.680 --> 00:09:41.639 Jesus is sending a message that this woman said, please just, can you give crumbs to 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:42.639 the Gentiles? 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.200 And Jesus says, I can satisfy the Gentiles. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:49.279 I can satisfy the people that are outside of Israel to the full. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:54.799 So what you have with the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 is Jesus is showing his capacity 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:56.639 to satisfy not just the Jews. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:02.039 That was the feeding of the 5,000, but also the Gentiles, the feeding of the 4,000. 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:07.319 And the meaning of that story, again, is not just Jesus' capacity to reproduce bread and 00:10:07.319 --> 00:10:08.819 fish. 00:10:08.819 --> 00:10:10.439 Jesus is, it's a metaphor, right? 00:10:10.439 --> 00:10:12.039 Because for the woman, it was a metaphor. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:17.240 For her child being healed, but it's a metaphor saying Jesus has come to satisfy the deepest 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:22.039 desires of the people that he's looking at, hearts. 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:25.159 It's a sign and it's a statement about his identity. 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:30.279 Not that he is a great chef, not that he's a miraculous chef, but he's one that's come 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:37.039 to satisfy the nations, to feed people who are hungry in a way that goes far beyond physical 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.039 hunger. 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:42.639 And that's why in the book of John, Jesus calls himself the bread of life. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:44.240 What does that even mean, right? 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.159 He calls himself the bread of life because he's saying, what I have to offer you is a 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:49.440 kind of bread. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:56.240 It's like bread, but it's not bread because it's a satisfaction that goes far beyond that. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.919 And any definition we put on what that life is will fall short of what that definition 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:02.440 should be, right? 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:04.720 Because if I said, what is the bread, I could say, well, it's eternal life. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.120 It's the fact that you'll live forever. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.399 But it's also the hope that Jesus can feed us in this moment, that he can provide us 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.159 with our daily needs today. 00:11:13.159 --> 00:11:17.719 You see, if the feeding of the 5,000 shows the fact of Jesus' mission, the feeding of 00:11:17.719 --> 00:11:21.600 the 4,000 shows the scope of it. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:28.199 And it extends to those who the Jews would have said would be the least likely to be worthy 00:11:28.199 --> 00:11:34.679 of that feeding, to be the least likely, to be worthy of that satisfaction. 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:38.600 And what you see in this story is by seeing who Jesus is feeding, you learn something 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:40.600 about who Jesus is. 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:44.159 He's the one that claims to satisfy in the wilderness. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.360 And what I love is the disciples ask this question in their unbelief. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.040 They say, how can these people be fed? 00:11:50.040 --> 00:11:51.759 And you realize they're asking the wrong question. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.200 The question is who can feed these people? 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:59.560 In the middle of nowhere where there's no food, only Jesus can satisfy. 00:11:59.560 --> 00:12:04.759 And what I love about Jesus in this story, because you do get a picture of who Jesus 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:14.360 is, for Jesus' mission and his heart in this story are perfectly aligned. 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:18.799 Jesus doesn't just come to help these people because it's his job. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.039 He doesn't just come to help these people because he's been sent to help them. 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:27.319 He also helps them because he has compassion on them, because he loves them. 00:12:27.319 --> 00:12:32.919 I don't know if you've ever had to ask someone for a favor, and they make you feel like you've 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:34.959 had to ask for a favor. 00:12:34.959 --> 00:12:37.599 And you say, hey, can you give me a ride? 00:12:37.599 --> 00:12:39.319 And they'll say, oh, sure. 00:12:39.319 --> 00:12:40.439 I can give you a ride. 00:12:40.439 --> 00:12:44.919 Let me just drop everything I'm doing so I can get up and help you because you don't 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:45.919 have a car. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:49.199 I'm not saying I don't have a car, so I'm not accusing anyone in this church of having 00:12:49.199 --> 00:12:51.199 done that to me. 00:12:51.199 --> 00:12:54.759 But sometimes that's us, right? 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.959 People ask us for a favor, and we know we're kind of obligated to help them because we've 00:12:57.959 --> 00:12:59.599 got nothing better to do. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:04.680 And yet we find ways to give a little jab and to let them know, you know, this is really 00:13:04.680 --> 00:13:08.279 costing me to help you like this. 00:13:08.279 --> 00:13:10.480 Jesus is not like that. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:20.120 Jesus comes on this mission, and if he reminds the people of the cost to him, it's only so 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:25.040 that they'll be convinced of his love because that's what they're tempted not to believe. 00:13:25.040 --> 00:13:27.320 Jesus, what does it say in the story? 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:33.760 It says in chapter eight, it says in verse two, Jesus, look at the people, and he said, 00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:44.200 I have compassion on the crowd because they've been with me for three days. 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:50.200 This is a Greek word, and it's my favorite Greek word because it sounds like what it 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:51.200 is. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:56.320 It's from the Greek word for your guts, and the Greek word is splags. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.000 And what it's saying is that when Jesus felt this compassion on these people, he felt it 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:06.160 down here, that it wasn't like he knew that he was supposed to feel sympathy, and so he 00:14:06.160 --> 00:14:07.160 did. 00:14:07.160 --> 00:14:11.920 It's saying Jesus, when he saw these people suffering, he had a visceral reaction to what 00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:15.879 they were going through, and it was out of that heart that he had for them that he helped 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:16.879 them. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:21.440 So, Jesus' mission and his heart go hand in hand, and that means that when we pray to 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:28.160 God, sometimes we can be tempted to think, the last thing Jesus wants to hear is from 00:14:28.160 --> 00:14:32.880 me because of all the times that I've failed him and let him down. 00:14:32.880 --> 00:14:36.440 But Jesus, I know Jesus must be busy. 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:40.880 The last thing he needs is to hear from me, and yet this passage gives us a picture of 00:14:40.880 --> 00:14:46.040 people who are in the eyes of everyone else in the world unworthy, and yet Jesus' heart 00:14:46.040 --> 00:14:51.000 is turned within him when he considers these people, and he loves them, and he helps them 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:52.000 because of that. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:58.080 Now, there's more than we can say about who these people are than just that they're Gentiles, 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:00.279 and it's so obvious that you can read right past it. 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:05.840 What else can we say about these people who Jesus feeds? 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.960 Why does Jesus feed these 4,000 Gentiles? 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.679 Because they've come to him, and that's such an easy thing to miss, right? 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:17.799 But these 4,000 Gentiles, and it actually, the text exaggerates, well, it doesn't exaggerate, 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:20.879 it emphasizes what it means that they've come to him. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:25.639 Jesus looks at them and he says, well, they've come from afar, we know that about them. 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:30.840 And he also says they've been three days with no food. 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:36.320 In the feeding of the 5,000, you have 5,000 people who come, and Jesus and the disciples 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:40.240 recognize that if they needed to, they could send them to the next town, basically that 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:42.039 evening and they could be fed. 00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:47.399 But these people, they've come so far out to be with Jesus that they can't go anywhere 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:48.559 for food. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:55.159 And what you have is this picture again, like the Syrophoenician woman, these Gentiles are 00:15:55.159 --> 00:16:02.199 exemplary in their desperation that they have followed Jesus to the point of not having 00:16:02.199 --> 00:16:07.679 food for three days because they just want to be with him. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:12.239 And it's just, it's a historical story, right? 00:16:12.239 --> 00:16:16.879 It's a true narrative, and in that sense, we can just read this for what it is as something 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:21.759 that actually happened long ago, but there's a universal message that Jesus is meaning 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:24.399 to go out into the world because of this. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:30.000 And what he's saying is, it's what we sang in the song just a few minutes ago. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.120 Who has the right, who has the right to come to Jesus? 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:37.080 Who ought to come to Jesus? 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:40.000 And what are we seeing here? 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.000 Sinners. 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:44.639 Yeah, I was trying to think of the exact line. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:51.559 He says, if you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. 00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:54.399 These people, we know nothing about their character. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:59.919 All we know about them are things that should make us not like them, their history, the baggage 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:01.720 they bring with them. 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:06.839 And yet, simply because they've come to Jesus and they've fallen at His feet, He feeds them, 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.200 and He helps them, and He loves them. 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:14.519 And at St. Columbus, we always have people who are coming in out of our doors, people 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:20.000 who are at various stages of learning even what it means to be a Christian. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.279 And if you're someone who would say right now that you're not a Christian, and that 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:30.359 the idea of becoming a Christian sounds like this leap that you don't even know logically 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:32.660 what it would look like to take. 00:17:32.660 --> 00:17:34.759 What kind of righteousness do you need to have? 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:40.839 How long do you have to live a good life before you can come to Jesus? 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:49.319 And this story is making this audacious claim that the holy God of the universe feeds people 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:53.480 that come to Him with nothing in their hands but hunger. 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:56.559 And so the first question that you should ask yourself, if you're not a Christian and 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:02.279 yet you're interested in the gospel, and you wonder what does it mean to be a Christian? 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:05.359 Do you find Jesus Christ stunning? 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:10.159 When you read about Him in the gospels, are you drawn to Him? 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:19.000 Do you sense in your own self a sense of lacking, what we might call sin? 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.279 It can come in all kinds of different forms. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:25.960 For the Syrophoenician woman, it was the fact that she had a sick daughter. 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:29.600 Can you sense that Jesus can satisfy in a way that no one else can? 00:18:29.600 --> 00:18:32.759 And there's all kinds of questions that you have to ask along that path. 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:37.000 But the first step is to come to Him, hungry, and believe that He won't turn you away at 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:42.200 the door. 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:46.440 Now what does that mean to us this morning, to be fed by Jesus? 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:50.279 In one sense, again, it's that hope of eternal life that Jesus can give us a bread that can 00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:52.720 sustain us beyond a day. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:58.839 But it's also this hope that as Christians we have this day in, day out, ordinary prayer 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:03.160 that we have in the morning that Jesus would give us our daily bread. 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:08.960 And to be a Christian means to go to Jesus Christ every day and say, Lord, Cheerios are 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.560 great, but I need to be fed by you today. 00:19:11.560 --> 00:19:16.600 I need a kind of sustenance that you can't purchase at a grocery store. 00:19:16.600 --> 00:19:22.519 I need a spiritual help to help me fight the battles that I have in my heart, to wrestle 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:28.960 with sin, and to get me through the trials, the real, legitimate, painful trials that 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.759 the Bible never washes over and says are real. 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:33.839 We need spiritual help for that. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:34.839 We need food. 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:38.440 And so we come to Jesus this morning and what we do, we read our Bibles and we hold up the 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:40.839 Word and we say, we need this God. 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:42.519 We need to feed on Jesus Christ. 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:48.839 And we'll do that tonight when we have our Lord separate. 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:50.480 I'm running out of time. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:57.599 So that's who the field are, people who recognize their need to Jesus and they run to Him. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:01.079 But I want to look at who are the foolish in this passage, because there is a tragedy 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:02.079 here, right? 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:07.000 The saddest, the happiest, the feeding of the 4,000 is, the passage ends poorly. 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:14.359 So at the end of our passage, Jesus looks at His disciples with, I don't know, a tragic 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:15.759 look of sadness. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:19.199 And He says to them, do you not yet understand? 00:20:19.199 --> 00:20:25.439 And what you see in the verses just before that is He's referencing the feeding of the 00:20:25.439 --> 00:20:27.919 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:32.680 And He's saying there was something about those events that they were meant to get and 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:35.600 they haven't gotten. 00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:37.720 And we've already talked about what this event means. 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:40.960 We've already talked about what it means for Jesus to feed 5,000 and 4,000. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:42.240 It's more than just bread, right? 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.240 It's a metaphor. 00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:49.640 And so the mystery of the end of our passage today is not what does it mean for Jesus to 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.640 satisfy the nations. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.960 It's how can the disciples not have gotten that? 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:00.200 The mystery is how can these people be so foolish? 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.840 And Jesus explains in a way why they were so foolish. 00:21:03.840 --> 00:21:09.600 And He uses it with this really strange illustration, the strange parable that He mentions. 00:21:09.600 --> 00:21:17.519 He says in verse 15, it says, He cautioned them saying, beware the leaven, the leaven 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.279 of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:22.079 And what is He talking about? 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:27.319 Well, He's pointing back to a very short event that we read in the middle of our passage today 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:31.319 where the Pharisees come out and they confront Jesus. 00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:36.480 And all of the language in that passage is confrontational. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:40.759 It says that they came out to test Him, looking for a sign. 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:46.399 And the word for test in this passage is one that is only ever used to describe something 00:21:46.399 --> 00:21:50.079 that Satan does and something that the Pharisees does. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.399 Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. 00:21:53.399 --> 00:21:58.679 And then three other times in Mark, you have the Pharisees who test Jesus. 00:21:58.679 --> 00:22:00.879 I love to test things, right? 00:22:00.879 --> 00:22:05.240 If you buy a car, you want to test drive it, you want to make sure it works before you 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:06.319 buy it. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:07.559 This is a different kind of test. 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:13.839 The kind of test that the Pharisees give, and this is built into the word, is not to 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:16.079 find out whether something is true. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.000 That's not what test is in the sense. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:23.880 When the Pharisees test Jesus, they're looking to prove that He's not who He says He is. 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:28.240 They're looking to discredit Him. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.420 And it says they ask for a sign. 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:37.920 What they're looking for is something, maybe a miracle, but also something more than a 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:42.599 miracle, something that they can look at and say, this finally is the proof that Jesus 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:45.039 is the Son of God. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:50.639 Because for all we know, the Pharisees could have accepted some of the miracles that Jesus 00:22:50.639 --> 00:22:56.039 performed and yet not believed that those miracles pointed to the fact that He was actually 00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:57.039 the Son of God. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:03.519 So, for the Pharisees, it's always one more test to show, and it's always to discredit, 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:04.519 right? 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:11.319 When I was an undergrad, I had a very wise person say to me once, what miracle, in your 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:20.879 doubt, what miracle would you need to see for you to never doubt again, Jesus, for you 00:23:20.879 --> 00:23:24.079 to never doubt Jesus again? 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:28.559 And the point that He was making is a point that is at least proven out in the New Testament, 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.480 which is that all of us could set a threshold. 00:23:31.480 --> 00:23:37.079 All of us could say, if I saw this, I would never doubt Jesus again. 00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:41.639 And what you see over and over again in the New Testament is the disciples and all the 00:23:41.639 --> 00:23:46.159 other people who are surrounded by Jesus, they see the very kind of things that I would 00:23:46.159 --> 00:23:49.240 say would be my threshold, and yet what happens? 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:51.759 A week later, they don't believe anymore. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.879 They grow cold, they forget. 00:23:53.879 --> 00:24:00.519 And that's the problem of the Pharisees, that they're always looking for one more thing. 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:05.439 And if that's your thing, if that's your relationship to Christianity is, if He just 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:09.720 gives me one more miracle, and then I'll believe, always one more miracle, then what you're 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:14.480 really doing is you're giving excuses for avoiding a possibility that you were never 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.799 prepared to accept in the first place. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:21.320 And that's the position of the Pharisees. 00:24:21.320 --> 00:24:30.400 And Jesus' response, interestingly enough, is not rage, it's sorrow, it's deep sorrow. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:39.440 And it says the words that it uses, it says here in verse 12, and he sighed deeply in 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:42.120 his spirit. 00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:47.040 And scholars will say that what that phrase means is something that's so significant and 00:24:47.040 --> 00:24:53.040 something so low that this is actually pointing to one of the lowest points of the New Testament, 00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:55.000 of Jesus' life. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.400 He sees these Pharisees' unbelief and it breaks his heart. 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:06.240 He is, as one writer put it, what this verb means is it's used to describe persons who 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:10.920 find themselves in situations where they are pushed to the limit of faithfulness. 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:14.160 And that's where Jesus is at this moment. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:19.080 Because what Jesus can see in the eyes of the Pharisees is something that's so much 00:25:19.080 --> 00:25:21.320 bigger than the Pharisees. 00:25:21.320 --> 00:25:25.080 And that's why he uses the word this generation. 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:29.679 The New Testament is a part of a story that goes back thousands of years. 00:25:29.679 --> 00:25:35.240 And often when you hear that word, this generation used it in a negative sense, that's a trigger 00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:41.199 for, especially for a Jewish mind, of all of the times in the Old Testament where Jesus 00:25:41.199 --> 00:25:45.279 did wonderful acts of redemption, excuse me, where God did wonderful acts of redemption, 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:50.879 like rescuing the Hebrews from Egypt. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:56.800 And inevitably, after all these great miracles, often the nation would grow cold and they 00:25:56.800 --> 00:26:02.040 would look up at God and say, why have you brought us here? 00:26:02.040 --> 00:26:03.480 Why have you left us? 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:06.840 And they couldn't believe God's faithfulness in the present because they'd forgotten 00:26:06.840 --> 00:26:08.960 His faithfulness in the past. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:13.760 And Jesus is looking at these Pharisees and implicit, but he'll make this explicit in 00:26:13.760 --> 00:26:14.760 other places. 00:26:14.760 --> 00:26:17.040 He's saying, you're just like your fathers. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:24.240 You're just like all the generations before you who saw God's mighty acts and wonders, 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:28.240 and you walked away from it unconvinced of God's goodness and of His glory and of His 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:32.480 truth. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:38.159 For example, Psalm 95 says, for 40 years, this is God speaking, for 40 years I was angry 00:26:38.159 --> 00:26:40.159 with that generation. 00:26:40.159 --> 00:26:43.680 I said, they are a people whose hearts go astray. 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:46.000 They have not known my ways. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:50.200 So Jesus, it breaks his heart because he sees this is bigger than these guys. 00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:56.559 This is the same thing that bothered Moses, the same thing that Moses had to put up with, 00:26:56.559 --> 00:26:59.319 Jesus is facing once again. 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:01.920 So what can we call the Pharisees? 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:05.920 And we don't want to speak ill of our neighbors, but I think it's fair to say the Pharisees 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:10.559 by definition are fools. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:13.759 The Old Testament gives us a really clear picture of what it means to be wise and what 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:15.319 it means to be a fool. 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:20.799 The Bible says the wise man is the one who says, fear of the Lord is the beginning of 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:21.799 wisdom. 00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:25.399 And then in the Psalms, who is the fool? 00:27:25.399 --> 00:27:28.879 The fool is the man who says in his heart, there is no God. 00:27:28.879 --> 00:27:33.000 And of course the Pharisees would, they believed in a God, hypothetically, but the problem 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.319 is they come face to face with the living God and they can't see it. 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:38.319 They're blind to it. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:42.720 They look at God, they look at God himself and they say, not God. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:44.639 That's the problem of the Pharisees. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:47.360 Now what we're talking about is really the disciples. 00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:51.960 So we fast forward to this moment when Jesus is in a boat with the disciples and he looks 00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:56.000 at the disciples and he says, beware the leaven, leaven. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:58.880 My wife would be so sad that I don't know whether it's leaven or leaven. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.840 I'm not a cook. 00:28:00.840 --> 00:28:03.880 Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:05.200 And what is he talking about? 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:10.800 Leaven is this thing that you put in bread and it's so insignificant materially, but 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:14.919 when you put it in the bread, it has this powerful effect on the rest of the loaf. 00:28:14.919 --> 00:28:17.919 As I understand, I'm not a cook. 00:28:17.919 --> 00:28:23.039 And Jesus is saying what the Pharisees have is unbelief. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:25.879 What Herod had was unbelief. 00:28:25.879 --> 00:28:29.919 And he's looking at the disciples saying, don't let that into you, because if a little 00:28:29.919 --> 00:28:36.639 bit of that gets into you, it has this powerful effect and it can overcome you. 00:28:36.639 --> 00:28:39.839 And the tragedy is, he tells them that. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.720 He says, beware the leaven of the Pharisees. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:47.000 And their response is to continue to talk about material bread and about how they don't 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:48.759 have any bread. 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:54.039 In Jesus's mind, what that shows is, you think Jesus is saying, you think I'm talking about 00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:55.839 literal leaven. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:59.359 You think I'm telling you not to actually receive the physical leaven that Pharisees 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:01.919 have. 00:29:01.919 --> 00:29:09.179 And the problem is, the problem with the disciples is they don't see the metaphor of bread for 00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:10.400 what it really is. 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:12.160 And that applies to the miracle in the 4,000. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:16.600 They don't see what's that actually pointing to. 00:29:16.600 --> 00:29:23.080 One time I was at a movie with some friends, and to me, it was the most spectacular movie 00:29:23.080 --> 00:29:24.360 I had ever seen. 00:29:24.360 --> 00:29:26.360 It did everything you want a movie to do for you. 00:29:26.360 --> 00:29:27.640 It broke my heart. 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:29.320 It inspired me. 00:29:29.320 --> 00:29:34.640 At the end of it, I was in tears, and it had just a little bit of sci-fi, which was perfect. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:38.759 But it was, and it was, what was one, it was also complex. 00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.000 There were so many layers to it that you could just sit there after the movie thinking about 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:43.000 it. 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:48.319 And I'll never forget that when the movie turned off, I was trying to hide my tears because 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:50.160 I was so moved. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:54.680 And the person next to me, who just saw the same thing I did, she looked up and she said, 00:29:54.680 --> 00:29:57.200 well, that was weird. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:02.640 And in that moment, I felt pretty smug and pretty self-righteous because I felt like I 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:04.160 understood that movie. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:09.640 And I think that that's actually exactly what the disciples are experiencing. 00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:12.920 They are looking at something breathtaking. 00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:18.040 They're in the presence of the living God, and he has given them a metaphor of bread 00:30:18.040 --> 00:30:22.560 and fish to recognize what he has on offer for them. 00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:27.160 And they hear this statement about the Leaven of the Pharisees, and they just think to themselves, 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:30.240 well, that's weird that Jesus would say that. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:35.559 And it's a tragedy. 00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:39.279 It's not like misunderstanding a movie because this is life and death. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:45.240 And Jesus actually, he asked them seven questions, which just shows the emphasis, the emphaticness 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:47.599 of how tragic this is to him. 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:54.880 He says, do you not yet perceive or understand? 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:56.440 Are your hearts hardened? 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:57.640 Having eyes, do you not see? 00:30:57.640 --> 00:30:59.559 And having ears, do you not hear? 00:30:59.559 --> 00:31:05.720 Do you not remember when I broke the five loaves and the 5,000, how many baskets full 00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:07.839 of broken pieces did you take up? 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:09.759 And they said to him 12. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:14.000 And seven for the 4,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:15.000 And they said to him seven. 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:20.159 And he said to them, do you not yet understand? 00:31:20.159 --> 00:31:24.240 It wasn't enough for them to recognize that he had done a miracle. 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:27.720 What they needed to do was to see what the miracle pointed to, which was that he was 00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:31.680 the one that could satisfy them and they missed it. 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:38.160 And like the scariest quote that Jesus gives them is in verse 18 where he says, having 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:41.559 eyes do you not see and having ears do you not hear? 00:31:41.559 --> 00:31:47.720 Because that's a direct quote from Jeremiah 521, where God is talking to wayward Israel, 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:51.240 condemning them, saying, you do not see the living God. 00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:52.440 You do not fear God. 00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:54.960 And Jesus is saying, can you believe that? 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:58.880 There's a man sitting in a boat and he's saying, don't you see the living God in front 00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:01.519 of you? 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:07.799 Two quick applications before we close. 00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:11.400 Number one, I'll say this, a command and a hope. 00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:14.319 The command is this. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:21.319 All of us in here are in different places as far as our faith, how willing we are to 00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.880 trust in Jesus Christ. 00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:28.960 Some of us still have doubts and we struggle with what it means to be a Christian, how 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:31.080 to work through those doubts. 00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:37.240 And I think at the very least what this passage leaves us with is this command that even in 00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:42.600 the midst of your doubts and all the questions you have unanswered, get in the boat. 00:32:42.600 --> 00:32:45.920 That's the difference between the Pharisee and the disciples. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:51.300 The disciples and the Pharisees in this moment are both fools, but the disciples at least 00:32:51.299 --> 00:32:57.279 see something in Jesus that they can't look away from and they get in the boat with them. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:59.519 That's the command. 00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:02.039 And the hope is this. 00:33:02.039 --> 00:33:11.759 The hope is that Jesus can heal the blind. 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:17.119 The disciples get in the boat with all of their doubts and with all of their blindness. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:23.079 And rather than getting out of the boat, Jesus takes them somewhere else. 00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:27.719 Where's the first place that he goes to after he's told them that they're blind? 00:33:27.719 --> 00:33:30.439 You see it, you just look at the heading in the next section. 00:33:30.439 --> 00:33:35.439 He takes them to a blind man and he gives that man sight. 00:33:35.439 --> 00:33:36.639 And what is it? 00:33:36.639 --> 00:33:37.639 It's another metaphor. 00:33:37.639 --> 00:33:43.679 I hope these disciples appreciate metaphors because it's a true story, but Jesus in healing 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:49.680 a physically blind man surely was looking back at his disciples saying, do you not now 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:52.080 see who I am? 00:33:52.080 --> 00:33:57.840 So what we do this morning is we open our word and you may come with doubts, you may 00:33:57.840 --> 00:34:02.039 come with questions, but look at Jesus for who he claims to be. 00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:05.320 See the statements that he has made about himself. 00:34:05.320 --> 00:34:11.960 And in what you may feel is your inadequacies, your struggle to trust Jesus, call out to 00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:17.320 heaven and say, Jesus, I know that you're the one who heals the blind and you feed the 00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:22.119 hungry and I come to you this morning hungry and blind needing something that only you 00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:23.840 can give me. 00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:26.960 Let's pray. 00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:32.159 Heavenly Father, we praise you that you have not left us. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:39.840 The greatest miracle in the greatest wonder of this passage is not that it's not just 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:42.000 the feeding of the 5,000. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:47.360 It's the fact that you've condescended, you've sent your son into this wayward and broken 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:51.760 world and you've offered peace and hope to people who don't deserve it. 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:56.079 And we stand as those people this morning praising you. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:00.920 Lord renew us again today, helping us not to be blind like the disciples, but to see 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:05.880 your goodness, to come to you starving because we know that you can fill us. 00:35:05.880 --> 00:35:10.880 And your sons, then we pray.