Mark 1:14-28

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. (NRSV)

Mark doesn't waste any time and gets on with the story of Jesus' call to the first disciples and his first acts of teaching and casting out demons. The thing that stands out for me today is that the "unclean spirit" knows who Jesus is and it knows that Jesus has authority over it and will destroy it. Jesus doesn't waste any time and does just that. He casts out the unclean spirit from the man. This causes the man to convulse and cry out and the scriptures say that all were amazed. The crowd had not seen anything like Jesus. They had never seen anyone that had authority over unclean spirits. The word of his teaching spread fast.

To me, this makes me consider Jesus' ministry and actions a little closer. In Mark's gospel account, Jesus is very much "on the move" and goes about teaching and preaching where the people are, where the hurt is, where the demons are. As we are being taught to "fish for people," we should go out to where the people are, show them that they are loved by God, and help them cast out the demons in their lives that control them.

It is shocking to me how much the "modern church" doesn't look like a fellowship of Jesus' followers that is working to fish for people who need their love. It looks more like an institution or organization that mostly worships together. People constantly speak of the decline in the modern church and fail to see that the fish just need to be fed. In order to feed the fish, we need to go to them instead of expecting them to swim to us. I pray that we continue to become more of the body of Christ, reaching out to the world in love and reconciliation.

Mark 8:11-26 (NRSV)

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him.  And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation."  And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.  And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."  They said to one another, "It is because we have no bread."  And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not perceive or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes, and fail to see?  Do you have ears, and fail to hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?"  They said to him, "Twelve."  "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?" And they said to him, "Seven."  Then he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"  They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Can you see anything?"  And the man looked up and said, "I can see people, but they look like trees, walking."  Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Then he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even go into the village.”

The phrase that jumps out today is when Jesus says, “Why does this generation ask for a sign?  Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”  A few days ago, I made a remark about the Pharisees and Scribes wanting Jesus to perform a “dog and pony” show to prove that he is who he says he is.  People seem to want to be entertained by the wondrous power and works of God.

Today, the Pharisees confront Jesus to test him and ask for a sign.  He doesn’t give them one and goes from that place and gets into a boat with the twelve.  They didn’t bring with them any bread with them in the boat and that spawns a conversation about bread.  Jesus cautions them about the influence of Herod and the Pharisees and calls it “yeast.”

Yeast causes bread to “rise.”  The Pharisees and Herod were rising up against Jesus and trying to influence others not to believe in him and what he taught.  The disciples still don’t understand.  Jesus then explains that the answer is in plain sight by their experience of the feeding of the 5000 and 4000.  They gathered leftovers, proving that the true word which comes from him is the true bread which gives life to the world.  When they arrive in Bethsaida, Jesus heals a blind man and makes him see clearly.  I still don’t think the disciples are seeing very clearly.

The call that I hear today is to pay attention what is plain sight.  To let Jesus bring us into focus, so we can see the whole forest, and not just concentrate on the trees.  We wonder around sometimes with tunnel vision, unable to see what God is trying to do around us.  If we focus on the big picture, we can get a better vision of where Jesus might be leading us.

Mark 8:1-10 (NRSV)

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way and some of them have come from a great distance."  His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  They said, "Seven."  Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd.  They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed.  They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.  Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.  And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The forefront of the passage for me is “They ate and were filled.”  Just last Thursday we experienced the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000+ with five loaves and 2 fish at the end of the 6th chapter of Mark.   And now, in Chapter 8, Jesus has done it again…  feeding over 4000+ with just seven loaves and 3 fish.  The fact that everyone ate and was filled stands out.

Large crowds continue to follow Jesus everywhere he goes.  They have been with him for 3 days and have nothing to eat.  It seems that they would have remembered the previous account, and not wondered how it is possible that Jesus is able to feed them.  Again, Jesus takes what is available, 7 loaves and 3 fish, blesses, breaks, and distributes the food to the crowd.  Everyone ate and was filled.  7 baskets of left overs were taken up.

The feeding stories have layers of meaning to include Jesus’ ability to provide what you need from what you bring him.  In both cases, everything they had was given to Jesus.  In this case, a mere seven loaves of bread.  These were most likely small barley loaves (simple bread of those that are not wealthy), which makes the miracle that much more miraculous.  The other thing that means something in the context of the story is the location.  The desert and the wilderness is a place of demons and evil.  The wildness of the woods was outside the safety of the city and not a place people went.  One only went into the wilderness for necessary reasons.  The fact that Jesus retreated there and people followed tells us what kind of magnet draw he had on them.

I understand the call today as “be filled.”  We should be filled with what God provides for us.  We trust and give and love and share and provide to one another.  In that, God fills us, physically, mentally, and spiritually, as we seek to serve God.  In the wildernesses of our lives, God is there with us, helping us and directing us, feeding us, and getting us through.

Mark 6:30-46 (NRSV)

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.  He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."  For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.  And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.  Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.  As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.  When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat."  But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?”  And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish."  Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all.  And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.  Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.  Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.  After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

Jesus told the disciples, “You give them something to eat.”  This phrase and extension of hospitality stands out to me today, as Jesus offers to feed the multitude that has gathered to learn from him.  They are out in the middle of nowhere and have very little, but out of very little, in a generous display of hospitality, Jesus provides enough and then some.

Marks story takes an interesting turn in the narrative.  After the back story of John the Baptist, Mark returns to focusing on Jesus who is again on the move.  He is trying to get away from the crowds to rest and goes to a deserted place by boat with the twelve.  However, when he gets there, Jesus is greeted by a great crowd.  Jesus has compassion for them and teaches them.

The disciples want to let the people go to the nearby towns in order to get something for themselves to eat.  This is when Jesus tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat.”  However, the disciples don’t understand and think Jesus wants them to go and buy food for everyone.  Jesus asks them what they have and asks everyone to sit on the grass in large groups.  Jesus then distributes the five loaves and two fish to the five thousand plus (most scholars agree that women and children were not in the count).  After all were fed, twelve baskets of scraps were collected.  Jesus then sends the disciples away in the boat to go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.

The call that I hear today is rely on God’s provision.  It has been often said that God equips the called, he doesn’t always call the equipped.  Like the disciples sent out two by two on Tuesday, we are to trust that God will equip us with what we need if we give to God what we have.  Jesus uses the miracle feeding of the 5000 to show that God has the ability to provide abundance out of scarcity.  This is Good News to those who are afraid that they do not have enough.  If we give it to God, then God will multiply with great abundance.  With God, there is always enough.