It's no fun, is it, trying to understand something that you just can't get hold of.
It's the experience, isn't it? Do you remember maths in school? You just couldn't grasp it, or I couldn't grasp it.
And you knew that you didn't understand it for your science.
And that's the experience of those who are struggling to understand, but they know they are struggling to understand.
But there are those of us out there who struggle to understand and we're not even aware of it.
You observe that too, don't you? There's sometimes somebody will crack a joke.
And people will laugh along, but they don't know why they're laughing.
Or somebody gives you an instruction and they just fail to take it on board.
And they're struggling to understand without really realising it.
And it doesn't come with the same level of frustration, does it?
If you don't know that you've not understood something, you're not frustrated.
But in lots of ways, it's a much worse situation to be in.
Because at least when you know that you're not getting something, you can seek to find ways to find out.
But when you're oblivious to your failure to understand, you just continue in your ignorance.
You just don't know.
And I'm never sure which camp Jesus' disciples are in.
Do they know that they don't understand?
Or are they just oblivious?
They are infamously slow to learn.
But I think it's difficult to work out how self-aware the disciples are.
Are they struggling to understand Jesus, who he is, and what he's come for?
And they know they're not getting it, so they're a bit frustrated, and maybe they're a bit impatient.
But then on the other hand, at different times, it seems they struggle to see Jesus for who he is.
And they're really oblivious to the fact that they don't get it.
One thing I do know is this.
We shouldn't be that quick to judge.
I have often heard sermons and read commentaries where people are very critical of Jesus' disciples for being slow on the uptick.
And it's possible, I think, to read the Gospels in a way where you think that the disciples are like dumb and dumber.
But who is not to say that you are not like them?
Is it really possible to be struggling to understand without really realizing it?
And I think it is.
And so maybe some of us should look in the mirror and see that we are as slow to learn as well.
And Mark's Gospel particularly picks out this strand of the disciples struggling to understand.
And this passage is very, very helpful.
Now I want to look at the four sections that we're going to see, and I've divided them up.
So verses 30 to 34, I want us to see the mission's fruit.
The mission that the disciples have just been on, we don't read about that on your sheets.
You can read about it earlier in chapter 6.
But our passage opens with a kind of feedback session.
Look at verse 30.
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they'd done and taught.
And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.
The many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.
Twelve generated a lot of interest in the kingdom of God.
So people come very curious to find out more.
They come from the villages around and the crowds want to see and they want to hear more.
So much so that it was really hard for Jesus and the disciples even to get a dinner break.
So they try and get away from the crowds.
Verse 32, they went in a boat and they go to a desolate place by themselves.
But the appetite of the crowd is so insatiable that they predict where Jesus is going and they run ahead to the place where they went.
So verse 34.
And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd.
And he had compassion on them.
Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
And he began to teach them many things.
Now I think that is an amazing verse.
And there's three things in particular I think which are amazing about it.
First of all, Jesus who is exhausted and who is tired.
He saw the crowd and he had compassion on them.
If this story was about me, I can guarantee you there is one word that would not be in the middle of that verse.
And it's the word compassion.
When I'm exhausted and I'm desperate for a break from people.
And then I discover that some very persistent people interrupt me.
And they trap me down.
When I see them and I open the door to them.
I am not compassionate.
I am frustrated.
Sometimes angry.
Sometimes overwhelmed.
Sometimes even despairing.
But not Jesus.
He is filled with compassion.
And in the same circumstances, my default is to worry about my own needs and my own circumstances.
But Jesus' default is to look to the needs of others.
The second amazing thing is, look at how Mark describes Jesus' attitude to the crowds.
He says, they are as sheep without a shepherd.
And that's not only a really powerful metaphor.
But actually, it's a blast from the past.
It's talking about something in their history.
In the Old Testament, that phrase is used to describe what life was like for Israel when their leaders, spiritual and national leaders, failed them.
And so it's hard to miss the fact, isn't it, that Jesus sees himself as the leader of the people of Israel.
He's the leader the people of Israel have always needed.
They're not only a curious crowd, they are a shepherdless crowd.
And Jesus has come to shepherd them.
And the third amazing thing about verse 34 is what Jesus does with his compassion.
You see that?
With his compassion on them, they are like sheep without a shepherd.
And he began to teach them many things.
He could see deep into their hearts.
He could see them and then lead like no one else could.
He felt for them deeply.
And because he felt for them deeply, he fed them with God's word.
And he knows that what they needed more than anything else was God's truth.
And having fed them with the word of God, Mark then tells us that he fed them with food as well.
And so we see secondly the feeding miracle in verses 35 to 44.
And basically it's a really common problem.
People are hungry, they're out of the desert.
And Jesus has been teaching them.
It's very late in the day and the disciples think the crowd should be dismissed.
So they can head to a surrounding village.
They can go to a restaurant or the supermarket.
But Jesus had other ideas.
And to begin with, he suggests to the disciples that he could feed the crowd.
And it makes absolutely no sense to them.
So they explain to Jesus, listen, if you're going to feed this crowd,
it'll take nearly half a year's wage to feed these people and we can't do it.
And I'm guessing that is exactly what Jesus wants them to realise.
That they can't do it.
They can't do it.
But he can.
It's a common problem that meets with an uncommon solution.
And Jesus asks, what food do you have?
And they say, well there's a little kid here, he's got five loaves and two fish.
Jesus divides the group onto the grass.
And then he takes the bread and the fish.
He gives thanks to God and he asks the disciples to distribute the food.
Now note the astonishing thing we're told at the end of verse 44.
And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
He divides them up, doesn't he?
He divides them up.
And they ate verse 42 and were satisfied.
Now I've just given the game away.
But actually the whole point of Mark's narrative is you don't know how many there are until verse 44.
We know that it's a big enough group for people to be broken into groups of fifties and hundreds.
So it's much bigger than the average church picnic.
It's much bigger than school outing.
And we need to remember that the amount of food that Jesus had really on a hungry day I could probably eat myself.
And here he divides it up and everyone gets something.
Verse 42, they all ate and were satisfied.
And then we find out there are leftovers.
Verse 43.
And I think Jesus is just showing off at that point.
They took up twelve baskets of full broken pieces and a fish.
And to cap it all, verse 44, you see these five thousand.
And that's men, not including women and children.
It's a miracle of incredible proportions.
He's taken a scrap of food and he's turned it into a meal for thousands.
And they all have enough.
And there's some left over for lunch boxes the next day.
It's amazing.
But it's important that we're not so amazed by the miracle that you don't see what this means.
You need to see what this means.
And again, it's a blast from the past.
Because where did the miracle happen?
It happened in a desolate place.
It occurred in a desert region.
And here is an amazing provision from God.
And it's an amazing provision of God of bread from heaven.
And if you're familiar with the Israelites in the Exodus,
you'll have noticed there's close parallels, aren't there,
between the provision of manna for the Israelites in the wilderness.
Manna was a kind of bread.
You can read about it in Exodus 16.
And just as God supplied all his people's needs in the desolate place back in Exodus,
so now Jesus does.
And it's as if Jesus is doing something that God is famous for.
And that perhaps tells you and I something about the identity of Jesus.
And the next segment of the narrative,
the hints about who Jesus is,
start to come thicker and faster.
And this time it's the walking miracle.
And Jesus walks on the lake.
And that evening Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him by boat
so he could have some time alone to pray.
And when he was on the land,
Jesus can see his disciples rowing into the wind and straining at the oars.
So he goes to them.
And his intention,
which is so strange, isn't it?
That his intention was to pass them by.
Look at the end of verse 48.
It is astonishing.
It's a really strange detail for Mark to include.
It doesn't need to be there.
So why is it there?
And I can't help wonder whether we're meant to hear that phrase again and again
and we're meant to hear the echo.
In the Old Testament scene from Exodus 33 and 34,
in the narrative where God reveals himself to Moses
and God's glory passes by Moses
and Moses hides in the cleft of a rock.
And when they see him walking by on the lake,
the disciples are terrified and they think they've seen a ghost.
But Jesus responds by telling them,
verse 50,
Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.
And again, I think we see the echo.
We hear countless times in the Old Testament
when people caught a glimpse of God's glory
and they had to be told,
Do not be afraid.
And straight after that,
Jesus says something of immense significance.
Verse 50,
Take heart, it is I.
And again, the echo comes.
Literally, he's saying,
Take heart, I am.
And you think back to Moses at the bush which didn't burn in Exodus 3
and God says,
I am who I am.
And the child of the Israelites,
I am has sent you.
And Jesus is taking on his lips
some very significant words
that God used to reveal himself to his people.
And then we're told, aren't we,
that when he climbed into the boat,
the wind immediately died down
and we're back to Mark 4
where the stilling of the storm of the word.
And it's a reminder to you and I
that Jesus can do what only God can do.
The wind may have died down,
but the minds of the disciples are racing
and they're anything but calm
and no doubt they've got fear coursing through their veins.
And verse 51,
they are astounded.
But again, note the surprise.
Mark also reminds us
they were astounded
and they are confused,
verse 52,
because they did not understand about the loaves.
Isn't that astounding?
They've just seen Jesus walk on the water.
They were utterly astounded
for they did not understand
about the loaves.
And what Mark is saying to you there
is if they'd understood about the loaves,
they would not have been astounded
that Jesus was walking on the water.
If they'd understood the feeding miracle
about Jesus' identity,
they wouldn't have thought
the walking miracle was utterly remarkable.
They didn't get it.
And obviously their hearts were hardened.
They weren't hardened like the people
who rejected Jesus,
but nevertheless there was still
a stubbornness of their hearts
that needed to be overcome.
And no doubt their hearts were softening,
but they were still a long way
from seeing things clearly.
Then Mark records in the next section
the multiple healing miracles
in the days that followed,
verses 53 to 56.
And it's almost unavoidable for Jesus.
Jesus' reputation is growing at a rapid rate.
He's now officially famous.
Not famous in the sense
that he's won a Winter Olympics medal.
But famous in the sense
that every second person
stopping him in the street
asking him for his autograph.
It's frenetic.
They try to bring their sick relatives to him.
Friends that get closer to Jesus.
People who sold beds
that you could carry a sick person on.
Had never done so much business.
People were happy to touch
the edge of his garment.
Verse 54.
When they got out of the boat,
the people immediately recognised him
and they ran about the whole region
and began to bring the sick people
on their beds to wherever he was.
And whenever he came,
wherever he came in villages,
cities, countryside,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces.
They implored that they might touch
even the fringe of his garment
and as many as were touched
from the well.
There's growing recognition,
isn't there,
of Jesus,
but continued power.
Jesus' power to deliver people
from sickness and health
doesn't seem to be running out.
Mark makes no comment
on whether these people
had any interest in Jesus
apart from what he could do for them.
But nevertheless,
his compassion
meant that he continued to engage
with these desperate people.
And his divine strength
began to continue
to bring healing and release.
Now, what are they saying to us?
Three things,
as I conclude.
I think Mark wants you and I
to understand human need.
Need is everywhere in Mark's Gospel.
You find hungry people,
sick people,
curious people,
desperate people.
And they all want something.
But Jesus' verdict
is really worth reflecting on.
He thinks that the one thing
that all these people
had in common
is that they were sheep
without a shepherd.
And what they really needed
was a leader.
And not just a leader
who could point them
in the direction of food
or in the direction of healing
or in the direction of explanation,
they needed a leader
who would actually feed them.
Who would actually share
God's truth with them.
Who would actually heal them.
They needed the kind of leader
that their creator
had always intended them to have.
They needed a shepherd.
And they needed a good shepherd.
And the observation of verse 34
still stands today.
Doesn't it?
And it has great relevance
and significance for now
because Jesus' diagnosis
of the crowd
is his diagnosis
of your life and mine.
human need is everywhere
in our world.
People need feeding
and teaching
and healing.
They need compassion
and reassurance
and friendship
and hope
and many, many other things.
And Jesus knows us
better than ourselves.
And his verdict
is that what we really need
is leadership.
The leadership
that can actually
draw aside us
and supply what we need
and someone who can
satisfy us completely.
And we need the kind of leader
that our creator
always intended us to have.
We need the good shepherd.
And not only yesterday
who we are here today
but our family members
our friends
and our neighbors
and our work colleagues.
We all need a shepherd
Jesus is saying
whether people know it or not.
Whatever everyone needs
is not just what Jesus can bring
but actually Jesus himself.
And Mark wants us
to understand that.
He wants us secondly
to understand
the need of compassion.
The nature of compassion.
And I'm particularly thinking
of verse 34.
And it really is
just a remarkable
and mind-boggling verse
because what I find
most amazing
is what Jesus does
with his compassion
because it's not
what you expect.
He sees the crowd.
He knows they're curious.
He knows they want
to see miracles.
He knows that many of them
are desperate
to have their sickness healed,
their demons cast out,
their stomachs filled.
So what does he do?
He teaches them.
And Mark says
he began to teach them
many things.
His first instinct
is not to feed them,
not to heal them,
not to cast out demons.
His first instinct
is to make sure
that they understand
the kingdom of God.
Now I don't want
to overstate this
because
in the rest of the passage
Jesus is very interested
in feeding them
and making their
bodies whole.
But it is significant
that Jesus'
compassion
leads him to teach.
And again we see that
all the way through
Mark's Gospel
that Jesus teaching
the kingdom
is an act of compassion.
And that ought to
challenge the way
that we think of him.
I begin to notice
that very often
we draw a firm
distinction
between ministries
of teaching
and ministries
of compassion.
And we tend to think
that the ministry
of compassion
is meeting an obvious
and immediate need
but Jesus doesn't work
with that distinction.
Mark 6 verse 34
says that compassion
is seeing their true need
and seeking to meet it.
And that will mean
feeding hungry people,
it will mean
healing the sick,
but it will also be
feeding with God's word.
And showing them
how they can be
spiritually healed
and fed.
It is compassionate
to teach people
about the all-satisfying
shepherd of Jesus.
It's compassion
to tell people
about the wonderful
forgiveness that
Jesus offers.
It's compassion
to tell people
to help people
understand who Jesus
is and what
he's here for.
And that he
eventually came to
bleed his life
away on the cross
because he cared
for people so much.
Compassion is
seeing shepherdless
sheep and giving
them what they
really need.
And what they
most need
is Jesus himself.
And so yes
we must
clothe and
feed the poor.
Yes we must
be kind-hearted
communities.
But without
teaching the gospel
that is not
compassion.
and thirdly
and most
fundamentally
what Mark
wants us to
understand is
really Jesus
himself.
Jesus is
telling you in
this section
that Jesus
can do the
sort of things
that only God
can do.
He's telling us
that Jesus does
the things that
God himself is
famous for doing.
That he feeds
thousands in a
desert with
bread when
there is
little bread.
And he
passes by and
he reveals his
glory.
And he comes to
people that see
his glory and
says you do not
need to be
afraid.
And Mark is
multiplying the
hints that Jesus
and God have a
lot in common.
And he's showing
us over and over
again that when
Jesus speaks he
speaks with the
authority of God
and when Jesus
acts he acts
with the power of
God.
Who might that
suggest Jesus is?
Jesus is very
different isn't he
to the other
leaders that we
meet in Mark's
gospel.
And he's very
different to the
leaders we meet
today.
Jesus sees the
crowd and he
sees sheep without
a shepherd and he
overflows with
compassion like a
tap you can't
turn off.
He's the shepherd
all people need.
And he's the
shepherd that does
things that only
God can do.
And he's the
shepherd who does
the sorts of
things that God
himself is famous
for doing.
He's the shepherd
who speaks with
the authority of
God and he acts
with the power of
God and who
might that suggest
to you that
Jesus is?
And the disciples
are struggling to
understand all this.
And if we'd be
there we might
have struggled
too.
And maybe today
you still struggle
and that's okay.
Because Jesus is
in the business
isn't he of
patiently revealing
himself to people
as we see here.
He wants people
to understand.
He helps you to
understand if you
ask him to.
But what I've
discovered in this
passage this morning
is this.
But as each of us
grows in our
understanding
there is a sense
in which Jesus
ought to be less
and less amazing
to us.
It's really
shocking.
I know that sounds
strange.
But do you
remember what
Mark said about
the disciples in
verses 52?
They were
astounded and
they were amazed
because they
hadn't understood
about the loaves.
And the implication
is that if they'd
understood about the
loaves they wouldn't
be so astounded.
They would still have
known it was
incredible but it
wouldn't have
surprised them.
And so I think
in my own life
if I really believe
the things that
Mark is telling me
and if I really
believe that Jesus
was the good shepherd
and if I really
believed he had
the power
that Mark shows
as he has
I might be
less and less
surprised by Jesus.
I would be
deeply interested
in getting to
know him more.
If you're here
this afternoon
as somebody who's
curious about the
Christian faith
but you're not
sure can I
encourage you
don't let
be
don't let
being afraid
to let your
don't be afraid
to let your
curiosity
grow further.
Get to know
Jesus.
Keep struggling
to understand.
It's the best
struggle in the
world.
And if you're
following Jesus
if you really
believe that
Jesus is the
good shepherd
who lays down
his life for us
then I think
we need to be
a little bit
less surprised
by Jesus.
I wonder if
we really
believed
we might
stress a little
bit about
things a little
bit less
and we might
pray to him
a little bit
more and we
might be a
little bit more
confident about
the future
and we might
turn to his
words and listen
to what he says
a little more
readily.
And a little
less distracted
by the worries
of this life
and we would
be focused
on the things
that matter.
It's not as if
the disciples
hadn't seen
the miracle
of the 5000
they just
hadn't put it
together in
their minds
and hearts.
And I think
we can be
very easily
like them.
We've seen
what Jesus
can do
but we've
not understood
and so we
find ourselves
struggling
and surprised
and we need
to turn our
attention again
into Jesus
and keep
wrestling with
him until
we see him
clearly
and know
what it means
to be our
shepherd.
And so he
says to you
as you go
back to work
this afternoon
or whatever
you do
he says to
you like he
says to them
take heart
it is I
do not be
afraid.
Let's pray.