Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Wonder Bread”*

*Mark 8.1-21*

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I have entitled this sermon, “Wonder Bread” because I have never seen bread cause so much confusion before I looked at this passage of Scripture!

And yet it serves such a powerful lesson and indictment here.

In order to set our context, we have just witnessed Jesus and the disciples going through the land of Gentiles.

They had gone through Tyre and Sidon where they encountered a couple of people expressing faith.

The disciples watched as Jesus healed the Gentile woman’s daughter all the while testing her faith and providing her the opportunity to count the cost.

Then they encounter a man who is healed by Jesus of his inability to hear and speak.

And then we witnessed the inability for the people to remain quiet about the great power of Jesus.

They were astonished beyond measure and zealously proclaimed the incident.

Let’s pick up the text for this week.

We are in Mark 8.1-21.

*Read text.*

It would seem as though Jesus and the disciples remain in the area of the Decapolis at the south end of the Sea of Galilee.

And we learned that this was an area that was predominantly Gentile.

And now another crowd gathers.

And the account seems a little familiar.

Didn’t we just learn of a feeding of a great multitude in Mark 6? The difference is that the former was a multitude of Jews.

This time the Gentiles have gathered to Jesus.

The first point this morning is *Food for the Gentiles.

*They had heard the reports of Jesus.

Their curiosity has caused them to sit at his feet and learn from him for three days according to verse 2. This would cause me to conclude that this was more than just a casual curiosity – that they would remain with Jesus for three days.

Jesus adds that some had come from far away.

This idea of “far away” lends itself well to the Old Testament concept of the land of the Gentiles.

And it also has the allusion to the Gentile people in the New Testament.

Listen to these words in the Book of Acts, “Acts 2:38-39 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for */all who are far off/*, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

And in Ephesians, Paul refers to the body of Christ consisting of Jews and Gentiles alike.

Ephesians 2:13 “13 But now in Christ Jesus you */who once were far off/* have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 2:17 “17 And he came and preached peace to */you who were far off/* and peace to those who were near.”

Though Mark does not include the content of Jesus’ teaching, we can be fairly confident that he was consistent with his message of repentance and belief because the kingdom of God is at hand.

And thus he offered them the spiritual food that they were apparently craving.

Jesus shows compassion by teaching the Gentiles and then concerning himself with their physical hunger as well.

He calls the disciples to him and says, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.

And some of them have come from far away.”

And the disciples respond with, “of course Lord.

We’ve been through this before and know the routine.

We’ll just go scrounge up some…” Nope.

“How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

Ugh!

The disciples missed it again.

And Jesus says “how many loaves do you have?”

How about the patience of Jesus here?

I probably would have laid into them a little bit here.

But Jesus is much more patient and understanding.

He tells the crowd to sit down, breaks the loaves again, and gets them to the disciples to distribute to the people.

They also acquired a few small fish and distributed them.

You certainly notice some similarities between the first and second feedings.

But mostly we see some differences.

First, we note that there were four thousand people in the Decapolis as opposed to five thousand men (which would have been significantly more counting women and children).

We also see numbers here.

And without trying to emphasize too much on numbers, we should at least point a couple things out.

In the first feeding, there were twelve baskets that were filled with leftovers.

It could be that this had Jewish connotations relating to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Here we notice that there are seven baskets left over.

“Seven” is usually symbolic of perfection or completion.

As such, could it be that this number symbolizes the fullness of God’s provision for all peoples, now including Gentiles?

It is worth considering as we have just witnessed Jesus interacting with Syrophoenician women, the deaf man, and the multitude in the Decapolis region.

Now Jesus and his disciples get into the boat and go to a new location – Dalmanutha.

And it isn’t long before they again draw the attention of the religious leaders.

And they didn’t come for the teaching or a meal of bread and fish.

They came to argue.

The second point: *Proof and Faith.

*The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking a sign from heaven.

Now, if we stopped there, we could conclude is that maybe the Pharisees wanted a little more proof before believing in Jesus.

Perhaps they just needed a bit more and then they too would follow after him.

No.

They weren’t purposed for belief.

They were purposed for indictment.

All along they have been poised to try to destroy him.

Jesus did not meet their expectations as Messiah.

In fact, he was really interfering with their religiosity and having a great influence over the people.

They wanted him out of the way for good.

They were out to test Jesus.

To this point, Jesus has already provided numerous signs to authenticate his ministry.

Let’s recount just a few of them to date.

Jesus healed a leper in Mark 1 and told him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a */proof to them/*.”

In Mark 2, Jesus heals the paralytic that was let down through the roof and says, “Mark 2:8–12 “8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?

9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But */that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins/*”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that */they were all amazed and glorified God,/* saying, “We never saw anything like this!” A little later, he refers to himself as the new wine for new wineskins.

In Mark 2:27–28 Jesus responds to being challenged regarding the Sabbath and says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

28 So */the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath/*.”

These Pharisees are not unlike many today.

David Garland writes this: “They represent ‘this generation’ (8.12), which continually defies Jesus, tempts disciples to be ashamed of him (8.38), and is faithless (9.19).

These people only want to engage in disputes and to test others so that they can embarrass them.

They think that they can dictate to God the conditions under which they will or will not believe.

They will not accept any ambiguity or paradox.

These opponents want an irrefutable, unequivocal, visible proof that removes any doubt from the decision of faith.

What they want from Jesus, therefore, eliminates the need for faith.”

Do you know anybody like this?

Within the Christian faith, I believe that apologetics are important.

“Apologetics” is an approach that offers a rational defense of the faith.

And there are Scriptures that would confirm their necessity.

But sometimes do we forget that all the arguments in the world may not convince some?

I know some of you have argued until you have been blue in the face with some intellectual people.

And yet they don’t believe.

Anybody here have answers for all the objections to Christianity?? Me neither.

Honestly, I don’t think that we are supposed to… because this rules out faith.

Jesus calls us to trust him and the message of his gospel.