All humans need food, clothing, and shelter. Those items are purchased with money, so there is a minimum amount of money each person needs to have in order to survive. Since life is unpredictable, people often have times when they are not sure where the money will come from to purchase the necessities of life. When that happens, humans naturally start worrying and doubting. They experience stress.
Today’s passage teaches us that disciples of Jesus should not descend into fear or pessimism as we go through life, even when life is very uncertain. Instead, no matter the precarious nature of our financial situation, we should live life with confidence because Jesus promised to provide all our needs. Furthermore, He demonstrated many times the ability to provide for our needs in very unlikely ways.
In Mark 6 we read that Jesus, after He was done teaching, told His disciples to give the crowd something to eat. It was late in the day. The disciples only had five loaves and two fish, but Jesus blessed the food, broke it, and it was enough to feed five thousand men.
After that Jesus traveled to Gennesaret and had a confrontation with the Pharisees and some scribes. Then He went to Tyre and cast an unclean spirit out of a greek girl. Next, He walked to Sidon and then back to the Sea of Galilee where He healed a deaf and mute man.
Mark 8:1 ¶ In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,
Mark 8:2 “I feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
Mark 8:3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”
At this point the disciples should have remembered feeding the five thousand and been eager to do it again. This was an opportunity for Jesus to prove His power and deity. It was an occasion to demonstrate love. The disciples should have found what little food they had and given it to Jesus, believing He could feed any number of people with it.
Mark 8:4 And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”
Instead of being confident that Jesus could feed the crowd, the disciples seem to have completely forgotten that Jesus fed five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish. When the disciples saw the crowd on this occasion, they thought it was not possible to feed so many people.
It is easy for us to criticize the disciples for being so forgetful, but we do the same thing. All humans need food, clothing, and shelter. God promised to provide what we need. How many times have we been in a situation where we didn’t know how our needs would be provided, but God provided them just in time; and yet, the next time we didn’t know where our provision would come from, we were worried and pessimistic instead of having faith in God’s promise to supply all our needs?
Just as the disciples should have been optimistic that Jesus would feed the people, so too we should live life optimistically, being full of confidence that Jesus can and will meet our needs, even when He waits till the last minute to supply what we need.
Mark 8:5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”
Mark 8:6 And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them. And He kept giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the crowd.
Mark 8:7 And they also had a few small fish; and after He blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.
Mark 8:8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.
Mark 8:9 Now about four thousand were there, and He sent them away.
This was the second time Jesus fed a huge crowd with only a small amount of food. The twelve were eyewitnesses of both miracles.
Mark 8:10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.
Mark 8:11 ¶ And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.
The Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign proving He was God. They asked this despite all the miracles Jesus had already performed.
Mark 8:12 And sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Notice the word “deeply”. Jesus was exasperated with the Pharisees. Jesus refused to provide a sign.
Mark 8:13 And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
Mark 8:14 ¶ And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
Jesus and His disciples were traveling, but they had very little food with them. The lack of food was not deliberate, it was accidental.
Mark 8:15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Mark 8:16 And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
In light of Jesus having fed thousands of people with small amounts of food, the fact that they had little food on this journey should not have been a concern. They should have had faith that Jesus could and would supply what they needed. However, when Jesus mentioned leaven, the disciples immediately started discussing their lack of food.
Mark 8:17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?
Jesus confronted them regarding their lack of faith.
Mark 8:18 HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember,
Mark 8:19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”
Asking questions is a great teaching tool. It is also a great tool when confronting people. In this case Jesus did not merely remind the disciples that He had fed a large crowd with very little food, He asked them how much food was left over when He fed the large crowd. As the disciples answered the question, they were face to face with the reality that they could remember how much food had been left over, and yet when they again needed bread, they did not have confidence that Jesus could supply bread at any time.
Mark 8:20 “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.”
Mark 8:21 And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Asking the question, “Do you not yet understand?” is more powerful than simply stating, “You lack faith.”
The disciples should have traveled with Jesus with confidence. They should have felt bulletproof. Jesus had clearly displayed His ability to overcome any obstacle and provide any amount of food at any time, so the disciples should have had full confidence that they would not go hungry. Instead, the disciples kept getting so focused on what they did not have in their hands that they forgot the power of Jesus to provide something out of little.
We often do the same thing. All humans need food, clothing, and shelter. We need the money to buy those items. Life is unpredictable, so there are times we do not have in our hands the money we will need in the future. Humans naturally worry about the unknown.
Today’s passage teaches us that Christians should not worry or be pessimistic. No matter the precariousness of any situation we ever find ourselves in, God is in control. He promised to supply our needs. The Bible is full of examples of God meeting needs in very unlikely ways. Oftentimes, God waits until the last minute to put our necessities into our hands. We should live life optimistically, knowing that no matter what happens, we have Jesus as our ally, and He is able to perform miracles.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”
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