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Mark 8:1-10
Colossians 1:15 – Jesus is the image of an invisible God. Here in Mark we get a good glimpse at this image. Jesus isn’t a teacher who stands apart and teaches, refusing to intermingle with the people. Jesus was very involved with the people.
Jesus is compassionate for the people. He wasn’t just combining ingredients, he was creating fish out of nothing. This is the third time that Jesus creates fish out of nothing.
Mark 8:11-13
The religious leaders of the day often had a lot of differences between themselves, but they were united on what they thought about Jesus.
In Mathew Jesus is recorded as saying that these people can read the weather, but they can’t read the signs of the times. Jesus left.
Mark 8:14-21
Why did the disciples misunderstand Jesus?
They only had one loaf of bread between them all. It was likely the disciples “job” to take care bread and material needs. Perhaps they are getting hungry…
Jesus makes the statement, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” The disciples immediately go to the fact that they didn’t have enough bread. It seems like this is all they can think about.
When we make a big deal out of something that really isn’t a big deal things can become cloudy and we can start to “miss things.”
Why was Jesus so hard on them?
This was an important warning for them to hear. The Pharisees, Herod, etc, all were things that the disciples would face on and ongoing basis. They needed to be on guard against the teachings of these groups of people.
Jesus tells them that they haven’t really understood the feeding of the 4000. The bread or lack of it wasn’t the problem, the problem was disciples who weren’t understanding.
It is a big deal to miss out on spiritual truth that God is trying to teach us.
How dow we learn from the disciples mistake and keep from repeating it?
- We need to be careful not to get bent out of shape about things that aren’t actually “that important.” It takes a fair bit of discipline to keep things in perspective or the proper order of importance. As we care more about the things that God cares about we are much more likely to be “on the same wave length” as God about what is important.
- The disciples are clearly not understanding here, but they also don’t ask Jesus for help. Previously they had been open to asking Jesus about what he meant. Perhaps their pride was getting in the way. After reasoning amongst themselves they come to a very inaccurate conclusion. We need to stay humble and admit our weakness and come to God for wisdom and clarity.
- We need to apply the truth that Jesus has already revealed. Jesus had revealed to the disciples a lot of things, yet they failed to correctly apply the things that Jesus had revealed to them not long before at the feeding of the 4000.
Jesus wasn’t impressed with the head knowledge of the disciples. They were able to answer his questions about the amount left over from the feeding of the 4 and 5 thousand.
The truth about Jesus should apply to every day life. Even to things as minor as lunch.
Summary
Jesus mission for our lives is similar to the one that he had for the disciples. He want’s to lead us and guide us.
We need to make sure that the communication between us and God is always clear. We then need to constantly seek God’s direction in our lives and then apply what he has already revealed to be true in our lives.