Understanding

 N.T.#375 "Understanding"

August 26, 2024 

Mark 8-Part 4

LET IT GLOW 

Jesus was teaching an important object lesson with the leaven that makes bread rise, and the disciples are focused on being hungry with only 1 loaf for the 13 men on the boat to eat. (Sin represented by yeast or leaven.) He was warning them about the false teachers of a false religion (Pharisees) and the Herodians. They would need to remember it later after Jesus was gone.

Really guys. Don't give it another thought, for you have the Son of God on board with you. After all, you saw Him multiply the bread for 2 crowds. Forget the fact that you forgot to bring any food. Forget about blaming who was irresponsible. Listen up!

Then Jesus asked them 9 questions:

1. Why are you arguing about having no bread?
2. Don't you know or understand even yet?
3. Are your hearts too hard to take it in?
4. You have eyes-can't you see?
5. You have ears-can't you hear?
6. Don't you remember anything at all?
7. When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?
8. And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?
9. How is it you don't understand yet? (New Living Translation) (verses 16-21)

Did they ever flunk the tests! What a rebuke for their hardness of heart! Jesus was able to provide for that many people, so why did the disciples not trust Him in their need? Jesus' abilities to provide were still the same. Yet, lack of faith and forgetting what Jesus had already done results in lack of understanding. Don't we need reminding. (That is a statement, not a question.) People don't change.

Well, we better be careful about pointing fingers. Don't we do the same thing? We ask God for something and He provides, but when the next need comes along, we wring our hands and worry how we are going to take care of it. Instead, we should ask, believe, and trust God to provide according to His will. Guilty!

LET IT GROW 

The disciples hearts were still hardened? MacArthur describes them as rebellious, spiritually insensitive, and unable to understand spiritual truth. (verse 17) Oh my, where does that leave me and you?

Understand means to comprehend; to put together; consider.

See means perceive; take heeds; to apprehend.

How could the guys fail to see what Jesus was trying to tell them, connect the dots?

Finally the guys understood Jesus' warning about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. (Matthew 15:12) No one tells us Jesus multiplied the loaf of bread so 13 could be filled, then they could focus on their mission, but I tend to think He did. 

Remember how God has worked in our life and He can provide through the trials today. Do we consider meeting the physical needs of folks and then sharing the Gospel with them? Are we praying for our religious leaders and political leaders? 

What can we learn from this? There is no limit on what God can do. There is no way God will give up on us when we don't get it. There is no limit to what God can provide. Never forget God's past provision and protection. (Swindoll)

LET IT GO

Help us stay focused on You, Lord Jesus.

Open our eyes and ears to the needs of others.

Use us in Your kingdom work.

Holy Spirit, teach us Your ways.