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.”
His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
"How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied.
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. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
When you read a similar story, do you tend to skim it? I admit it, I sometimes do when I am reading a familiar passage of Scripture.
We should never get bored reading about Jesus doing miracles. Yet my nature, being what it is, sometimes means that I coast through a text, because “I already know it”.
I start thinking: “Oh, this is Jesus feeding more people, or healing another sick person.” It is more than a little disconcerting to admit this behaviour. But I do it, and I imagine that you do as well, at least on occasion.
I want us to engage in a little thought exercise as we read about the feeding of the 4,000.
If you could have been present at the creation of the universe, standing with God, what would that have been like? It's a big stretch to imagine, isn't it? But one thing that we would have witnessed would be matter coming into being from nothing.
Philosophers and theologians have wrestled with this idea. They refer to this, in Latin, as ex nihilo - "out of nothing".
But Mark skips any ancient arguments and invites us to simply look at Jesus.
Back in Mark 6:30-44, Jesus fed 5,000 plus. Jesus was simply operating out of his compassion.
Mark now records a similar scene. Jesus feds 4,000. What does the passage tell us about Jesus?
It tells us He is God. In John’s Gospel, 1:3, we read, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
Jesus is God. God in the flesh. God in the flesh walking around on the earth he created.
Someone uses the analogy of the designer of a high-performance racecar, making every part from scratch, then after completely assembling the car, and then taking it onto the track. Don’t you think, when he was driving it, he would completely know the car, know all that it could do, and then manipulate it as he like?
It is a limited analogy, like all analogies. The Universe is far more complex and fine-tuned. The Creator of our universe can manipulate his creation as He wills. This is what we are reading today. Which is why when we read of Jesus, God, standing on earth and creating food, the text should take our breath away.
So why doesn't it?
Why do we end up being so ho-hum about scripture?
Perhaps, to use the analogy again, as drivers of God’s racecar, we have become impressed with all humanity has accomplished. We think we are the grand prix drivers of the universe.
But in reality, we are like children who’ve been given the keys. Despite all our human accomplishments, we forget that God is far beyond this world, that we should always be in awe of Him—and perpetually thankful that he left his glory to come and rescue us.
Maybe we have become so familiar with Jesus, and with all the scientific advancements we have made in understanding the natural world, that our minds skip over, skim, these grand moments of Jesus in action?
So what do we do?
Let me suggest that something we can do to maintain our wonder of God is to worship him: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Begin by reading and praying one of the Psalms. May I suggest: Psalm 8, Psalm 95:1-6, or Psalm 97. And don't just skim over the words. Read them aloud. That forces us to slow down and let them sink in, to the deeper parts of our being.
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