The Feeding of the Four Thousand Plus (Mark 8:1-21)

We have seen in the Gospel of Mark various ways by which Jesus was teaching his disciples and preparing them for their future work as his ambassadors. Those different ways and location we have likened to classrooms and it is possible for us to regard ‘the feeding of the four thousand plus’ as being like repeat classes that dilatory pupils have to attend because they did not pay sufficient attention during the original class. The disciples had already been present at the feeding of the five thousand, but they did not profit as they should have done. So here they are now in a repeat class, and we should ask ourselves if they benefitted from attending it. Because it is surprising how much we do not learn from a situation as it is surprising how much we do notice in a situation arranged by God for our instruction.

There are several differences between this miracle and the one when at least five thousand were fed miraculously by Jesus. One obvious difference is that Jesus and his disciples are in a different area of the country. They are still in the area known as the Decapolis whereas the other miraculous feeding occurred in Galilee. A different location meant a different population, and what was markedly different about the Decapolis was that it was a Gentile area. So the disciples would see that Jesus was willing to bless Gentiles as well as Jews.

Mark precedes this incident by detailing how Jesus helped two Gentile individuals – the daughter of the women from the area of Tyre and Sidon and the deaf and dumb man from the Decapolis. Reading Mark’s account might cause us to be surprised that there is now a seemingly sudden appearance of a large crowd. This is an example of how comparing the different Gospel accounts provide answers to such questions. Matthew, in describing the mission activity of Jesus in this area, does not focus on the individuals that Jesus helped. Instead he records that Jesus was involved with a great crowd, and moreover this crowd, although including many Gentiles, were glorifying the God of Israel (Matt. 15:31).

So we can see that this was a crowd who were engaging with Jesus and were beginning to grasp that he, unlike the scribes and the Pharisees, had something gracious to say to them and do for them. The disciples also needed to grasp that Jesus had something special for Gentiles, and this particular element may have not been so easy for them to accept. Maybe the description that Jesus had to arrange for the seating order of the crowd points to the reluctance of the disciples to get involved. Perhaps up until now they had been standing on the side as it were, listening to his teaching of the crowd for three days. Now they were about to discover that Jesus wanted them to give what they had to Gentiles, and not merely to give in a distant manner by letting him distribute the food. Instead they had to hand the food personally to the ceremoniously unclean outsiders.

What other details did they see Jesus reveal? The first one that Mark records is the compassion of Jesus for the crowd. They should have asked themselves why Jesus had such compassion. On the previous occasion of miraculous feeding, it would not have been difficult for the disciples to work out why Jesus would have compassion at that time because those in need belonged to the people of Israel and were connected in a special way with God through their deliverances from captivities in Egypt and Babylon and through their possession of the scriptures and the moral law. The Gentiles did not have that special connection, so why was Jesus concerned about them. Whether the disciples realised it then or not, it is the case that Jesus as the Creator would have compassion on his creatures.

Moreover they would have noticed that Jesus knew about the circumstances of the crowd, with Mark mentioning that they had no food and that some of them had travelled from a distance. Of course, we could respond to this detail and say that Jesus knew this because he is divine and knows everything. Yet I wonder if Mark is saying something more than this because he also records Jesus as saying that they had been with him for three days. Is it not likely that Jesus had discovered through conversions where many of them had come from? I suppose such contact is a form of communion and of making one’s needs known to the Supplier.

There is an important lesson to deduce from the response of the crowd to Jesus, which is that he will bless those who are prepared to spend time with him and listen to him. Is it not the case that their participation in this miracle was a gracious reward for the interest they had shown in Jesus? We can imagine them going home and saying to their neighbours that Jesus did amazing things for them. Blessings come from spending time with Jesus.

It is impossible to know what was going through the disciples’ minds, but they don’t seem to have been ready for the challenge that Jesus gave them when he asked them how many loaves they had. The problem with the disciples was that they were still judging the situation by what they could do and not by what Jesus could do. If someone had asked them, ‘Could God provide food for the crowd?’, they would have replied in the affirmative. Yet they did not look at situations through the fact that Jesus was present with them. They could analyse the problem, but they used the wrong process of providing the solution. As long as they thought that way, helping the crowd would always be a problem. So Jesus the patient teacher gave them another lesson about his ability.

Once again the disciples were privileged to share in the ministry of Jesus in helping other needy people. He could make use of their little and make it effective in an unexpected manner. On this occasion, there was not so many basketfuls left over, which may indicate that the disciples only had seven baskets on this occasion. Whatever the reason they discovered once again that serving with Jesus provides much more than they would have had otherwise. They could have kept the seven loaves for their own needs, and if they had their baskets would have been empty once the loaves and fish had been eaten. But because they gave what they had to Jesus, their baskets were full!

Here come the critics

Jesus and his disciples made their way to Dalmanutha, which was on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, near to Magdalan as Matthew indicates. There they were met by some of the Pharisees in argumentative mode. Obviously they were opposed to Jesus and their request for a sign was made because they did not believe that Jesus could provide one. In that case, we can see that they received what they wanted!

How did Jesus respond? Mark tells us that he sighed and then stated that he would not perform a sign for them. This is the second sigh that Mark mentions in this context. The previous sigh was made when he cured the deaf and dumb man in the previous chapter and it was suggested that it was a sigh of sympathy for those affected adversely by the consequences of sin. But the sigh here was not one of sympathy as much as anger with those false teachers who were leading the Jews away from God.

Matthew gives a fuller version of the response of Jesus to the Pharisees and adds that Jesus informed them that a sign had already been given – the sign of the prophet Jonah. The reference to the sign of Jonah suggests that the Pharisees were objecting to Jesus teaching the Gentiles. Jonah had become a sign when he was swallowed by the great fish after refusing to bring God’s message to the Gentiles in Nineveh. This answer of Jesus tells us that new signs will not be given if God has already spoken clearly about a matter, even when his declaration was centuries old. The Pharisees did not need a new sign to know that God wanted to bless Gentiles. Instead all they needed to do was read their Bibles.

How was the class of disciples getting on?

Mark now describes how those incidents of feeding the four thousand and rebuking the Pharisees had influenced the disciples of Jesus. His description in verses 14 to 21 tells us that they were making slow progress despite having the best teacher. Their ignorance came out in their response to a straightforward warning from Jesus.

What was the warning? Obviously a warning is only given about something that is dangerous. A good teacher will highlight dangers to progress and here Jesus tells his disciples that spiritual progress will not come through listening to the ideas of the Pharisees and the ideas of the Herodians. What were their ideas? The Pharisees thought it was a good practice to add their own rules to those that God had already given. The followers of Herod thought it was a good practice to align with the Roman authorities in order to win. Both of those messages had influenced people at that time, and people still imitate them today when they make up their own religious rules and when they expect the state to further the spiritual growth of the church. Jesus points out, through the illustration of leaven, that such ideas will begin small and increase.

How did the pupils respond to the Teacher? They completely misunderstood him. The problem could have been caused by the fact that they were still young in the faith. Yet it is surprising if that was the reason that Jesus rebuked them. His rebuke indicates that they should have understood the significance of what he had been teaching and doing.

They responded to his serious warning by engaging in a trite discussion. The fact that they only had one loaf of bread was not of any significance whereas their failure to speak about his warning about the Pharisees and Herod was. Perhaps some were making an issue over which of them had forgotten to get additional loaves.

Their trite discussion did not please Jesus. The response of the disciples is like that of a group of students who instead of discussing an important matter begin to speak like children in a kindergarten.

Focusing on trite matters is evidence of spiritual decline as we can see from the questions that Jesus asked. We might think that such questions should only be asked if a large problem had arisen. Jesus thought differently. His assessment was that his pupils were not profiting as they should have done in his classrooms.

Jesus focuses in on the two occasions of feeding a large multitude and asks them what they understand from those incidents. They knew the details, but they had not applied them. Perhaps we can mention some things that they should have observed:

• Jesus always shows compassion
• Jesus shows compassion to Jews and Gentiles
• Jesus is not limited by what seem to be major obstacles
• Jesus wanted his disciples to be involved in his activities
• If we have Jesus, we don’t need religious and political help
• Serving Jesus means participation in his power