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

Jump Start # 498 

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

  Our passage today shows how the disciples so often were not on the same page with Jesus and how the journey of faith is hindered by the physical. Jesus was warning the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees. The expression, “leaven of the Pharisees” meant their influence. Just as leaven spreads through dough and makes bread rise, the leaven of the Pharisees was a corrupt influence that led to false ideas about God. On another occasion Jesus was warning again about the leaven of Pharisees when he was interrupted by someone wanting Jesus to settle a family dispute about money and inheritances.

  While Jesus is warning, the disciples are worrying. Jesus is talking spiritual and the disciples are talking about lunch. Jesus is instructing about influence and the disciples are discussing the physcial. How this must have made Jesus weary with those men. He must have thought, “Will they ever get it?”

  Jesus reminds them about how he fed the 5,000 and how much extra they had and on another occasion He fed 4,000 and again they had baskets full of extra. Jesus always took care of them. They never squeaked by or barely had enough, with Jesus, the blessings overflowed. Do they not think that Jesus could feed them, only twelve disciples after he has fed thousands?

  So often the here and now, the physical stands in the way of the spiritual. We are dual creatures, both physical and spiritual and the physical is what is visible to us and it is the realm that seems to dominate. Our jobs, our finances, the weather, our health, even our moods so often stand in the way of the spiritual.

  This story from Mark seems so ridiculous but I see myself there as well. Concerned about lunch dominates the mind and it seems to be the most pressing issue at the moment. It wasn’t. Most can skip one meal. Jesus would take care of them, He always had in the past. Yet, the growling belly can close the ears to the spiritual lessons.

  That seems so shallow, but we know that’s the way it is. When we are that way, it seems that the need for bread becomes our obsession. It’s interesting that apparently all the disciples were in this discussion about lunch. No one said, “Hush, I can’t hear Jesus,” or, “We’ll talk about this when He is finished.” No, the hungry bellies seemed to be the topic of the hour.

  This bothers me from two standpoints. First, I know as a preacher, that when I am preaching, some are discussing bread. It may be the plans they have after church. It may be trying to figure out what more they have to do for the holidays. It may be wondering if they are going to get a bonus this year. It may be planning next year’s vacation. It may be where are we going for lunch. That bothers me. I guess it shouldn’t because the disciples did it to Jesus and no one preaches better than Jesus did.

  Secondly, it bothers me because I have done this myself. The mind wanders and it doesn’t pay attention and it tends to settle upon the lunch type of topics—the here and now kind of things. Been there and done that and not proud of that.

  Jesus didn’t give up on these disciples. He stayed with it. They eventually got it and would find themselves in the role of teaching like Jesus was doing to them. That is the same lesson for us. Jesus stays with us. He’s patient. He wants you to be spiritually minded. He wants you to see things as He sees them.

  Hungry bellies are no match for hungry souls. The belly can be taken care of so easily, the soul needs more attention. All of us must be reminded of this. We are more than physical. We have a soul that needs to be fed and a soul that longs for God. Some seem to have forgotten. They live for the physical and act as if they have no soul. Their conversations and their zest in life is only for the physical things. They get excited about the physical. They long for the physical. The physical brings them much joy. They have lived this way for so long that they have stuffed their soul away so deeply that they don’t even realize that they have a soul. It is not until they are forced to go to the funeral home and for a brief few minutes they wonder if there is life after death and if there is a Heaven, surely it includes football, food, shopping and all the physical life that they enjoy now. Even their Heaven is an extension of the physical world.

  This is not the way it is with the followers of Christ. Their souls, the spiritual, is as much a part of their life as the physical. They think about the spiritual. They think about how things will affect their souls and the consequences things have to their souls. Followers of Jesus are interested in growing spiritually. They enjoy discussions about spiritual things. They find satisfaction in Biblical classes and sermons. They want to know more about Jesus. And, not surprisingly, the followers of Jesus, tend to live a calmer, more peaceful life and they tend to be more thoughtful of others, kind hearted, and generous—and the reason is that they have grown in the spirit and have seen Jesus through the Gospels.

  During the second and third centuries there arose a philosophy called Gnosticism that affected many Christians. It was based upon knowledge and the belief that the physical part of life had no impact upon the spiritual side of life. This weird belief led to all kinds of false ideas, even about who Jesus was, but at the heart of all of this was a disconnect between the soul and the body. They missed it. The body and soul are connected. One affects the other. Living as if you have no soul is not wise. Living as if one does not affect the other isn’t wise either.

  We are both. We must pay attention to both. But when it comes to lunch or listening to Jesus, the spiritual side trumps every time. It is the spiritual that lives on. It is the spiritual that goes to Heaven.

  Roger