Reading: Mark 8
Remember the first time
you went to Universal Studios and saw some of the sets and props from
your favorite movies? Were you as shocked as I was at how fake they
looked. How fake Jaws looked. Or, with the advent of DVD and
the extras bonus feature, you watch a movie like K-9
Widowmaker, the story of a Russian nuclear sub, and after being
emotionally dragged through the ringer, watching the movie, you see
that it was only a model sub in a large tub. It felt so real!
This 3rd section of
Mark (6:6–8:30) is
dominated by talk about bread/loaves—enough bread, not enough
bread, where to get the bread. It is as if Jesus has been saying,
“Hey guys, let me show you the behind the scenes. Those loaves
that you labor for, they are just props—plastic models. They really
won’t satisfy you. But there is a bread, that will satisfy. There
is a reality, but it’s not part of the set, it’s not part of the
theme park, it’s not in the movie… it's bread that satisfies
forever.”
However the 12 aren’t
hearing. He keeps demonstrating it, and they keep missing it. Twice
Jesus feeds the multitude in the wilderness; but they don’t
understand. The similarities between the feeding of the 4,000 and the
earlier feeding of 5,000, are striking and obvious; the differences
are also important, but not so obvious. Here are a few of those:
- Feeding the 5,000 was in Jewish territory; the 4,000 in Gentile territory.
- Feeding 5,000 followed a few hours of teaching; 4,000 a few days.
- With the 5,000 there were 12 baskets left over enough for a remnant from the twelve tribes; with the 4,000 there were 7 very large baskets—the kind used for long journeys.
Right before the
feeding of 4,000 in a Gentile region is an account in which we learn
that one crumb from Jesus' table is enough to cure a Gentile
woman's daughter (Mark 7:28-30). Now there are enough broken
pieces (crumbs) left over from Jesus’ feast in the wilderness to
feed the nations of the world.
Both feedings are
followed by a boat scene—these are the “behind the scenes”
looks into how the feedings happened. Let’s get into the boat with
the 12 and listen. The questions Jesus asks are important. Jesus asks
his disciples a whole series of questions about bread.
"Why
are you talking about having no
bread?”
“Do you have eyes but fail to see, and
ears but fail to hear?
And
don't you remember?” “When
I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how
many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
"Twelve," they replied. 20
"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how
many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
They answered, "Seven."
“Do
you still not understand?” (Mark 8:17-21)
Interestingly,
the disciples don't think they have any loaves/bread (Mark 8:16); but
the narrator, Mark, lets us in on a little secret. “They
had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them in the
boat.”
(Mark 8:14) That's odd. If you forget to take bread, you usually
don't have any. In this case, they forgot to take all but one loaf.
I'm not sure how you do that. “I
am going to bring this one loaf. But I am not going to remember to
bring any more.”
How do you remember one but no more? And why don't they realize
they have it? Shouldn't
they be talking about having only one loaf of bread rather than
talking about having no bread?
Unless,
of course, you don't realize that the bread you have is bread.
Then you might not think you had any.
Is
Jesus really asking them, “Why
are you arguing about having no loaves? Do you still not see or
understand the loaf you do have?”
You see only the audience is aware of the one loaf because Mark told
us, but not the 12. Of course, Jesus is aware but isn't bringing it
up. Someone might object, “But one loaf isn’t enough to feed
them.” Sure it is—if 5 loaves can feed 5,000, and 7 loaves
4,000; surely one can feed twelve. But
I don't think that Jesus is rebuking them for not knowing how to do
math.
That takes no spiritual insight.
However,
if the twelve don't realize they have the bread, even the one loaf,
then his question isn't about math. It is about whether or not they
understand what real bread, the bread of life, is. Behind
the scenes on
the boat, the bread they are arguing about is a plastic model that
doesn’t satisfy. However,
if they pay attention, they realize that Jesus is the bread that
satisfies—the only bread that satisfies! And, Jesus is the only
bread they have in the boat.
He is enough. Do they still not understand?
Jesus
is the bread that was sleeping on a pillow in their first boat ride
(Mark
4:38),
walking on the water in the second (Mark
6:49)
and staring them in the face in this one!
He is the bread of life.
They
are beginning to see... but, as in the healing of the blind man (Mark
8:22-25), they see men as trees (or they see Jesus, but not clearly).
This is demonstrated in Peter's declaration of who Jesus is (Mark
8:29) but not understanding that He had to suffer and die (Mark
8:31-33). As
the bread of life, he must be broken and distributed to feed the
masses (Mark
14:22). Until
Peter understands that Jesus is to be broken, suffer and die, he
can't understand that he too must take up his cross and be broken
(Mark 8:34-35). And so must we. Do we still not understand? This
Good Friday we should contemplate the bread of life which was broken
for us; and consider the call we have to pick up our cross and be
broken for the life of the world.
Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
