Mark 8: More miracles & discussions about belief and Jesus

• v.1-10 Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
• v.11-13 Questions from the Pharisees
• v.14-21 Discussion about Yeast
• v.22-26 Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
• v.27-30 Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
• v.31-33 Jesus Predicts His Death
• v.34-38 The Way of the Cross

v.1-10 Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

v.1-4 Jesus challenges the disciples about the crowd

v.1-3 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

v.4  His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

[Note: it is beyond coincidence that they are confronted with a second hungry crowd and few resources. Previously the disciples had pointed out the problem; now it is Jesus who initiates the conversation. These disciples don’t seem to have learned from the previous time.]

v.5 Jesus feeds the crowd with the limited resources – again!

v.5  “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.  “Seven,” they replied.

v.6  He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 

v.7  They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 

v.8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 

v.9  About four thousand were present.

v.9,10 he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

[Note: Again Jesus asks about their resources and proceeds to feed the crowd with the bread and fish. Again everyone is fed and  again there are leftovers. This time the crowd numbered about four thousand. Jesus sends the people home and then he and the disciples cross the lake again, probably to the south-western side of the Lake.]

v.11-13 Questions from the Pharisees

v.11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 

v.12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 

v.13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

[Note: While there the Pharisees come and ask for a sign but Jesus refuses and they leave and cross the lake yet again.]

v.14-21 Discussion about Yeast

v.14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 

v.15  “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

v.16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

v.17,18 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 

v.19  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”   “Twelve,” they replied.

v.20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”   They answered, “Seven.”

v.21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

[Note: Taking the opportunity of the disciples having forgotten to bring bread, Jesus first provokes them with an enigmatic question and then challenges them, asking about the first recent feeding and then the second recent feeding. The reference to the yeast almost certainly refers to the unbelief and blindness of the Pharisees and of Herod and Jesus is challenging them over their own unbelief, as then witnessed in his talk about the two miracles and their slowness to understand (who he was!).]

v.22-26 Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

v.22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 

v.23  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

v.24  He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

v.25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 

v.26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

[Note: Still travelling about, they come to Bethsaida at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee where a blind man is brought to him who he heals in what appears a two-stage healing.]

v.27-30 Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

v.27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

v.28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

v.29  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”   Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

v.30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

[Note: Continuing to travel around, they move nearly thirty miles north to Caesarea Philippi where Jesus takes the opportunity to question the disciples about who the people had been saying he was. He presses them and Peter speaks out and declares he is the Messiah and Jesus says tell no one.]

v.31-33 Jesus Predicts His Death

v.31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 

v.32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

v.33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

[Note: He then started to tell them of his death but Peter rebukes him for this and is rebuked by Jesus in turn.]

v.34-38 The Way of the Cross

v.34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 

v.35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 

v.36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 

v.37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 

v.38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

[Note: Jesus then teaches the crowd and his disciples about discipleship, saying it means being willing to lose your life and never be ashamed of him.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: