Jump Start # 769

Mark 8:16 “They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.”

Today, our church family is reading Mark 8. It is here that we read of Jesus feeding 4,000 people. Earlier He had fed over 5,000. It begins with the Lord feeling compassion for the people. Many had come a long way and they had stayed there for three days. Jesus was concerned whether or not these people could make it home.

There are layers of lessons there. First, Jesus cared. He cares not just for the soul but for our wellbeing. Second, the crowds, huge as they were, stayed with the Lord for three days. They came a long way. Amazing!  Stories like that are still told over seas. Villagers walking miles upon miles to hear some missionaries preach the Gospel of Christ. It’s different here in the states. It’s hard to get members to DRIVE in a nice car a few blocks to hear a 30 minute sermon. Come a long way? Stay three days? Without anything to eat? Amazing!

The 4,000 are fed. They leave. Jesus and the disciples get to the sea and get in a boat to travel to the other side. They forgot to take any food. All they have is one loaf of  bread. Their minds are about food. They are trying to figure out what they will do. Jesus is teaching them. He is warning about some serious things and the disciples are focusing upon their bellies and what they will do without any food. They are not paying attention to Jesus. They are not listening. They are so human and Jesus is so divine at this moment.

The Lord reminds them. He reminds them of the feeding of the 5,000 and how little they had gathered and how the Lord multiplied it. There was an abundance left over. He then reminded them of the feeding of the 4,000 which had just happened. Again there was food left over. Both of those miracles were possible because of Jesus. There was nothing special about what they started with. It was all Jesus. They are in a boat with one loaf of bread. They are also in the boat with Jesus. What more do they need. If Jesus could feed 9,000 people could He not feed 12 men? This section ends with Jesus asking, “Do you not yet understand?”

I must wonder how many spiritual lessons are missed because I am thinking about my belly or my house or my bills or my tomorrow or the game or my to do list. The disciples sitting in the boat with Jesus missed it. You and I sitting with Jesus in a church building can miss it as well. The concerns physically often trump the needs spiritually. Our minds can be filled with wondering how things will be physically when our spiritual hearts, our souls, need tending to.

I love this lesson because it is so much like us. The disciples are so human here. It shows that they didn’t always think what they should have. They didn’t always get it. They didn’t always act like super stars. They fumbled. They got in trouble. They didn’t pay attention. I see myself written all over there. The growling belly triumphs over the soul more times than we’d like to admit.

Jesus was patient with them. He didn’t dump them and find a replacement group. There was no B-team to call up. He didn’t bench them. Onward they went. He reminded them. He had taken care of them and would still. He knew that their faith was there, little as it was at that time.

What do we learn from this? We are like the disciples in that boat. Like them, we need to trust Jesus more. We need to build our faith and let it come forth. We need to let the spiritual rise and triumph over the physical. Some of our issues, with worry, fear and guilt, bother us because the physical is winning over the spiritual.

Do you not yet understand? Great question, Jesus. I’m trying. Sometimes I think I do. Then there are other times, well, I suppose I don’t. I guess I’ve been thinking too much about what to eat instead of listening. Do you understand? Remember. Put lessons together. Recall. See what the Lord had done. Stay with it. You’ll understand. You’ll get it. The spiritual will triumph.  It isn’t always easy.

Roger