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.

John 8:12-20 (NRSV)

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."  Then the Pharisees said to him, "You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid."  Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.  You judge by human standards; I judge no one.  Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.  In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid.  I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf."  Then they said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."  He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

 

“You judge by human standards; I judge no one.”  As we learned yesterday, Jesus forgives and gives guidance more than he judges.  And today we get a glimpse of what it means to walk, live, and learn in the light of Christ. 

I feel human beings will never be able to completely comprehend God, in all of God’s vast glory.  Awesome doesn’t describe it.  To me it’s more like incredible, indescribable, inexpressible, and every other superlative you can think of.  With that said, we also will never be able to comprehend God’s justice in our human context.  However, neither condition keeps us from being drawn to learn and understand.  Much like the Pharisees and scribes who don’t understand Jesus’ authority, we are caught in their circle of living and participating with a limited understanding of God.

Recently I heard a someone say that we are all “cracked pots and that we all fall short of the glory of God, and yet we are the plan for bringing God’s Good News to the whole world.”  Whether we like the term “cracked pot” or not, it’s a great image for this reading.  This is a desperate and broken world that is full of suffering and injustice.  This brokenness wasn’t brought about by God, but by our own selfish behaviors.  We need God to heal and nurture us in our brokenness.  God does that in Jesus, who forgives and guides and judges rightly.  It is through our “cracked pots” that the light of Christ shines through. 

By following Jesus (and his example of forgiveness and guidance) we are participating in him.  (I’ve talked about participation before and its importance.)  By participating in Jesus, he dwells in us and we walk in his light as he enlightens our path.  Today we have been called to testify to the light.  We know that light to be Jesus Christ Our Lord, and we can testify to the ways that God heals us and continues to restore us through Christ.  Maybe then we can do our part and help Jesus be a light to others.