Jesus says He is the bread of life and whoever comes to Him will never be hungry or thirsty, used to connect the feeding miracles to spiritual nourishment
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
the primary passage studied: feeding of the 4,000, Pharisees demanding a sign, warning about yeast, and healing of the blind man
1 In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself, and said to them,
2 “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.
3 If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come a long way.”
4 His disciples answered him, “From where could one satisfy these people with bread here in a deserted place?”
5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
6 He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves. Having given thanks, he broke them, and gave them to his disciples to serve, and they served the multitude.
7 They had a few small fish. Having blessed them, he said to serve these also.
8 They ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left over.
9 Those who had eaten were about four thousand. Then he sent them away.
10 Immediately he entered into the boat with his disciples, and came into the region of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.
12 He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
13 He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.
14 They forgot to take bread; and they didn’t have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
15 He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
16 They reasoned with one another, saying, “It’s because we have no bread.”
17 Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?
18 Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?
19 When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”
20 “When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”
21 He asked them, “Don’t you understand yet?”
22 He came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him, and begged him to touch him.
23 He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spat on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything.
24 He looked up, and said, “I see men; for I see them like trees walking.”
25 Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw everyone clearly.
26 He sent him away to his house, saying, “Don’t enter into the village, nor tell anyone in the village.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Monday night at First Baptist Jackson, Pastor Carl walked the group through Mark 8:1-26, a passage covering the feeding of the 4,000, the Pharisees demanding a sign, Jesus' warning about yeast, and the healing of a blind man. Two themes ran through everything: spiritual blindness, and Jesus' patience and persistence with people who are slow to understand.
What was said
The feeding of the 4,000 deliberately echoes the earlier feeding of the 5,000. Pastor Carl pointed out that Jesus was now doing this miracle in Gentile territory, among outsiders, and connected it to Jesus' own words from John: "I am the bread of life, and whoever comes to me will never be hungry again." The miracles are not only about feeding stomachs. They are about showing who Jesus is.
When the Pharisees arrived demanding a miraculous sign, Pastor Carl set them against figures like Jairus and the woman who touched Jesus' robe. Those two came in humility and faith, already believing before anything happened. The religious leaders came arguing, testing, and demanding. Jesus sighed deeply and left. The verse from James that surfaced here was, "God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble."
Back in the boat, the disciples realized they had forgotten bread, and they began arguing about it. Pastor Carl found this almost funny: they were in the boat with the one who had just multiplied loaves twice. Jesus rebuked them directly. "You have eyes, can't you see? You have ears, can't you hear? Don't you remember anything at all?" The warning about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod was about hard hearts, and Jesus was telling his disciples not to go there.
The healing of the blind man then did something specific for Pastor Carl. Jesus laid hands on the man once, and the man saw people but not clearly, "like trees walking around." Jesus laid hands on him a second time, and his sight was completely restored. That two-stage healing matched the disciples' own slow journey toward understanding. They did not see everything all at once, and neither do we.
Pastor Carl closed that thought with the walk to Emmaus from Luke. The risen Jesus walked with his disciples, unrecognized, until he sat down, took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. The disciples did eventually see clearly, and when they did, they went and told others. That, Pastor Carl said, is the hope for the rest of us.
Several people in the group connected this to their own experience. One person named how the disciples' failing is easy to relate to because we also panic in situations God has already handled before, then have to look back and realize he has done it before and will do it again. Others talked about the pull toward control, the tendency to look at what is in our hands rather than bringing it to Jesus and trusting him to do the real work.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Carl pointed out that when the disciples faced a hungry crowd, they kept asking 'how are we supposed to do this?' as if it all depended on them. When have you caught yourself doing the same thing, focusing on what you can or can't provide instead of what God can do?
Pastor Carl contrasted the way Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood came to Jesus in humility and faith with the way the Pharisees came demanding proof. How do you think pride or the need for control shapes the way we approach God when we need something from Him?
Hello, everybody. Oh, we are are there? And could could we have, I I don't think there's anything in here yet. Check 121212122. Check check check check check check check
Thank you so much, Barb, for dinner tonight. And, also, would you would you would you would you please take some leftovers home tonight? There's some leftover boxes there, and they will hold that, white chicken chili, and we would love for you to bring some home. Making our way through Mark. It's, conversation style.
Take some notes as we go along. And, before we get there, shall we worship in song together? This is Amazing Grace.
Of sin and darkness whose love is mighty and so much stronger. The king of glory, the king above all king. Who shakes the whole earth with only thunder, who leaves his breathless, pay an eye and wonder, the king of glory, the king above our kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing set free Jesus, I sing for
all that you've done for me and let's sing worthy king
conquer the grave. This is amazing. This is unfailing love. That you take my that
Here's a here's a little verse of encouragement here, from Ephesians. It's God saved you by his grace. That's that's his favor leaning toward us when you believed, so through faith. And we can't take credit for that. That's a gift from God.
Let's sing that again. I lean not. Here's a great verse that goes along with that song, and it's from Ephesians that we are God's workmanship and we're created in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand or in advance. And so when we sing that, you know, that, trusting that he'll make something beautiful out of us because we're God's workmanship. And he's gonna do that.
And he's gonna do that when we lean not on our own understanding, but on his, in all of our ways, acknowledging him. And, Lord, that we would, in all of our ways. It's hard sometimes to give over things to you, but, Lord, that we would and and be surprised at how, Lord, you can handle those things better than we can. Amen. And when he returns, let's sing this.
He shall come with trumpets out. Oh,
Amen. Alright. You can have a seat here for a moment. Let's get into the book of Mark. How are we doing, by the way?
Is everybody alright? Your stomachs are full. How about a little soul food now? So we're up to chapter eight verses one through 26. So a few things happening here.
Jesus feeds 4,000. Some leaders demand a miraculous sign. Although they've seen many, they are gonna demand more. And then Jesus warns his disciples, and he restores sight to a blind man. I want to share a couple of, my takeaways, and I would like you to take a mental note of yours too because there are many here.
But a couple themes that stood out to me here are spiritual blindness. We're gonna see that little theme in here. There's some spiritual blindness going on where they can't really see what Jesus is doing, but also Jesus' patience and persistence with his disciples. So Jesus' patience and persistence with the disciples. It becomes very apparent that the disciples don't understand everything that Jesus is doing, but he was patient and persistent with them, just as he's patient and persistent with us.
Amen? Do you feel Jesus' patience and persistence with you sometimes? I feel it all the time. I really do. Because, honestly, he's gotta be patient with me.
I'm sure I test God's patience. With every miracle that we see here, there's an opportunity to for a lesson to be learned. So for the disciples, but also for us, every time we see a miracle that Jesus does, there's an opportunity to learn something from it. And this in in this case, the event miracles would eventually give the disciples ears to ears to hear and eyes to see. That's what spoke to me in in this chapter.
But please take note of the things that really grabbed your attention so that we can bounce this around some more. So starting in chapter eight verse one, here's what it says. So about this time, that's what it starts with. About this time. About this time, meaning the time that Jesus was healing many people in Gentile territory.
So about that time, another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. So this happened recently in his hometown in Galilee among his own people. But now the same thing is happening with a crowd in Gentile territory among what they would be considered outsiders. Okay. Side note.
And I know this is a verse from John, but I can't resist mentioning it. Jesus says, I am the bread of life, and whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Whoever really does mean whoever. Jesus is the bread of life for all who would believe.
These miracles are more than just filling people's stomachs here. They are about showing that Jesus is the bread of life, that spiritual bread of life. That's why I love these miracles. They not only meet a physical need. Yes.
The people needed to eat. Yes. Food for the stomach. But it met a spiritual need. Food for the soul.
Jesus is the bread of life. Are you with me so far? Alright. Verse one again. Look at boy, we're not making it very far, are we?
Jesus called his disciples. He told them, I feel sorry for these people. They've been here with me for three days. They don't have anything left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they'll faint along the way, for some of them have come a long distance.
By the way, isn't this just wonderful to know of God's of Jesus' compassion? That's what I see in it. Jesus really does care for people, all people. He's going, hey. They've come to see it.
Let's let's feed them. Let's take care of them. God, may we take care of one another as you have compassion for people. Verse four. So his disciples replied, how are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?
Very interesting here how close this mirrors the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter six. Let me just share share that where they say, well, feed them with what, Jesus? We'd have to work for months to earn that kind of money. There's very much a, well, this is all on us then. Right?
No. It wasn't all on them. Here, they say it again. How are we supposed to find enough food? As if it all depended on them.
It didn't. It doesn't. And just like the previous miracle Jesus asked, verse five, he goes, well, how much bread do you have? I love this. It's not what don't you have.
He says, what well, guys, what do you have? Seven loaves, they replied. And so Jesus told the people to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves. He thanked God for them.
He broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples. They distributed the bread to the crouch just like last time. Few small fish were found too. Jesus blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them, just like that miracle in Galilee.
Just like that previous miracle, they ate here, let's let's look at it. They ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, they even picked up seven large baskets of leftovers. There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. So a wonderful miracle. So many parallels there.
You wonder, could Jesus here's here's what I wonder. Could Jesus be repeating these miracles to make a point? I think that he is. I think that he is. So verse 10.
Let's keep going here. Immediately after this, he got into the boat with his disciples, and he crossed over to the region of Dalbanutha. So this might have been the hometown of Mary Magdalene. We don't know. It's kind of something that that people think, but keep going.
When the pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and they started to argue with him, testing him. They demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. So think about this. The religious leaders, right, the ones that are supposed to be leading the flock, they come to Jesus, is who supposed to be the chief shepherd. Right?
The one they look up to. They start arguing with Jesus, testing and demanding. Wow. I just I I have a little observation. Okay?
How different how different than, say, Jairus, who comes to Jesus pre pleading fervently, already believing that Jesus could save his daughter? How different is that? And at that very same time, that woman with the issue of blood, she thought, if I just touch Jesus' robe, I'll be healed. I just think about the difference in the way that they approach Jesus there. The one group, the religious people, they're supposed to be the teachers.
They're they're arguing, testing, and demanding versus Jairus and then that that woman who come to Jesus in humility and faith, already believing that Jesus could do the miracle even before he did it. Isn't that a big difference? And here's Jesus' response to the Pharisees. Verse 12. When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign?
I tell you the truth. I will not give this generation any such sign. And so he got back into the boat and he left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake. Like, how sad. That's what I think of when I see this is how sad that the religious leaders, they saw the miracles, they heard Jesus teach, but they still didn't believe him, and they demanded even more.
So after reading this, here's a verse from James that that rings true for me, and I really do believe this. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. That's a very, very real example in Luke, of this truth right here, that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So how are we supposed to approach Jesus? Well, it seems in scripture that the best way to always approach Jesus is in humility and faith.
Verse 14. Verse 14. The disciples had forgotten to bring food. They had only one one loaf of bread with them in the boat. I think it's kinda funny that Jesus just performed a miracle.
They forgot the bread. The the basket of leftovers sounds like a bunch of dudes to me. But no big deal. Right? They're in the boat with a breadmaker.
Like, literally, they're in the boat with the breadmaker. It's all good. But check this out. Verse 15. Here it is.
As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, watch out, guys. Beware of the yeast of the pharisees and of Herod. Kinda seems very abrupt that Jesus says it like this, but it makes sense as we keep reading. So let's keep reading. At this here here it is.
At this, they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread. Again, they're in the boat with the one who just made and multiplied the loaves of bread. Right? The breadmaker. They just witnessed this miracle.
17, Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, why are you arguing about having no bread? Don't you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? And I believe this is why Jesus warned them about the the the yeast of the pharisees and of Herod. Both had hard hearts.
Both were unbelieving. There's the warning there. Guys, be careful. You just saw this stuff multiplied. You just saw this happen.
Be careful that your hearts don't become like the Pharisees and Herod. Hard hearts. 18. Here's kind of a little rebuke here to them. You have eyes.
Can't you see? You have ears. Can't you hear? Don't you remember anything at all? Like, hey.
Don't you remember? We just did this miracle in Galilee. Now we're just doing this miracle here again. You just saw it again for the second time. When he fed the 5,000, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterwards?
Well, 12. They remembered that. Verse 20. And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up? Seven.
They remembered that. He said, don't you understand even yet? And here, here is where I see the themes of Jesus' patience and persistence with the disciples. He shows them yet another miracle, just another miracle after that by giving the blind man, sight. Picking up in verse 22.
When they arrived at Bethsaida, people some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal them. Jesus took the blind man by the hand. He led them out of the village. Then spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and said, can you see anything now? The man looked around.
Yes. He said, I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around. And then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again, and his eyes were open. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.
Jesus sent him away saying, don't go back into the village on your way home. So I wanna stop there for now. But, again, a couple of themes that stood out to me in this in what we've just read tonight are spiritual blindness. It's a thing. It's a thing.
It can happen to them. It can happen to us. And Jesus' patience and his persistence with those disciples, he showed them, well, the miracle of Jesus healing the blind man. That really drove the point home for me. When Jesus laid the the the his hands on the blind man, the first time, the guy didn't see everything all at once.
Just like the disciples didn't see everything all at once. But then Jesus puts his hands on them again, and his eyes were open, and his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. In the spiritual sense, those disciples would see things clearly, just not yet. So can I just say in this room, if we don't see everything all at once, maybe it's just not yet? Maybe it's just not yet.
Luke mentions Luke mentions this. Just a word of encouragement here. Right? Because I don't wanna walk away going, man, so that you Carl, you're just saying the disciples were hardheaded and and they didn't get it. Is that is that how we're gonna end this thing?
Well, we could. We could. But I do I wanna I wanna show you this because this happens later on. In in Luke, it was after Jesus' death and resurrection. So you remember the story of, the walk to Emmaus.
You've heard this before? So Jesus catches up to his disciples. Right? And they don't recognize him at first. But check this out.
As they sat down to eat, Jesus took the bread and he blessed it, and then he broke it and gave it to them. And suddenly, their eyes were opened and they recognized them. Isn't that good news? You know, you you think of these stories, right, of Jesus multiplying the bread. He did it in Gentile territory.
He did it in, then he he did it in, the other territory. And these guys saw Jesus do this, literally, giving thanks, breaking the bread, multiplying it, handing it out. And here the disciples, they see it again and go, oh, yeah. May we have those, oh, yeah, moments with with Jesus. Really, though.
May we have those moments with him. They would eventually understand, just not yet. And when they did, they went on. They went on to tell others about them. And that's what gives gives me hope for us.
Right? If Jesus can open the eyes of the blind, literally, and he can make the deaf hear again, literally, can he not do that in the spiritual sense with us? He can. He absolutely can. He can give us ears to hear.
He can give us eyes to see, and he can give us speech to make him known. All those miracles, they mean something. They meant something. They told the story and sometimes repeated the story again and again so the disciples would finally get it, so that we would get it too when we read it. So those are a few of my thoughts, and I would love to hear yours too.
What stood out to you? And here again, here's the the headings just to kinda refresh us of what Jesus did just did. He fed the 4,000. Alright? Then he met the religious leaders, and they demanded a miraculous sign.
And then Jesus warned his disciples, say, be careful. Beware of the yeast of the pharisees and of Herod. Be careful so that you don't become hard hearted. And then he restored sight to the blind man. I think I really do think because his disciples were not getting it, and Jesus is physically showing them, hey, guys.
Here, I'm gonna do this physically. It means something spiritually. I'm gonna do this for you. So I'd love to hear what spoke to you in these 26 verses. Before you share, can I pray just one more time about what we what we've read?
Lord, thank you for your patience and your persistence. I see it so clearly in this text with the disciples, but also for us. That even when we don't understand everything all at once, you don't give up on us. In fact, sometimes you send us reminder after reminder after reminder to help us see, to help us hear. Lord, that we would come to you in faith and humility, not pride and unbelief, not to argue with you, not asking you, God, you must prove yourself.
That's not how Jairus and that woman and the crowd came to you. They came to you in humility and faith, already believing that you could do a miracle even before you did it. God, that we would come to you like that in humility and faith, And that we would be reminded in scripture, you oppose the proud, but you give grace to the humble. The nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I claim. That that's all we're saying here, God, humbly before you, knowing that we fall short, knowing that you forgive, that you restore, that you give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
God, that we would leave this place different tonight because we've heard that message. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. Now here's the time If there was something that stood out to you in this text that you'd like to comment on or just a little amen moment or something, I'd love to hear from you so we can bounce it around and encourage each other with it.
Yeah. Check. Check. Check. Oh, I was really hoping that was gonna work.
Check. Check. Check. Well, that's alright. So one of the things that stood out to me is just that how how often like the the disciples don't see it in the moment.
They do it later. But that's true in our lives too. Mhmm. That we can look back in our lives in those desperate moments when we think, Lord, why did this have to happen? And then sometimes we get a glimpse into, oh, okay.
I I see your path now. And and as they're writing the gospels, it seems like they acknowledge that too. That they acknowledge that there was a reason for what they were doing and why they had to ask those questions. Yeah. And I think that's valuable
and kind of beautiful. It really is. I so appreciate that Jesus did these miracles just that mirrored one another. It's like a reminder, a repeat going, you didn't get it then, but how about now? How about now?
Oh, he puts his hands on the blind man. Well, what do you see now? I don't see everything clearly all at once. Well, how about now? Oh, now I do.
Could he be teaching those disciples something there?
Almost like an eye doctor. Yeah. That's better.
Yeah. Camera one, camera two. Yeah. Any any other thoughts, comments from from these beautiful miracles that we read? How about Elsa, I saw your hand first.
And then Barbara, I'd like to hear from yours.
There we go. I think that's it now.
I think it's I think it's beautiful how we can relate to when when they don't feel that there's enough bread for everyone.
Yep.
I think there's times where I myself have panicked in situations that he's done before. Let's just say housing. You know, I panic with housing. I'm like, oh my gosh. It's coming again.
And he's done it before. He'll do it again. But it's those little things where I'm like, oh, wait. I have to look back. And I'm like, yeah.
Sometimes there's this little doubt that comes in and creeps in at times, it's just a great reminder. And I think it's beautiful that we can still relate to the scripture till this day. And it just goes to show you how truth it is, like, truthful it is. And, like, people will say, oh, well, that was that book is old, and you can't relate to it. And you can, and we live it.
And so I think that that's just a beautiful reminder for me, especially that he's done it before. He can do it again.
Amen. Well said. Thanks Elsa.
So I find it hard with faith and humility versus pride and control. So the disciples said, oh, we only have this much and that's what was in their control. And oftentimes I look at what I can control and the things that maybe make sense to me. And the thing I take pride I control that I made that happen. And I think that's kind of where they were at.
We only have this much this is what we can control and we look too much at what we can control instead of going with the faith and humility. And I think that's hard. It's hard to admit, but I think it's also hard sometimes to give that up. I absolutely just go 100% on faith and And
relate. It's such a good point because the disciples are going, well, what will we do in both in both miracles? In both places, they were going, well, what will we do? We would have to do we'd have to work so much for this, you know, we we'd have to work for months to earn that or we it's like Jesus never really meant for that mirror for them to do the miracle, but to just give them what they had, and then Jesus would do the the real work there. Yeah.
Any other thoughts? Have you got one Karen?
Yes, sure. I'm not sure if it's going to come out right. I'm just going go with it. I think also as a reminder of these stories that of the human condition, the fact that we were separated from God, the Garden of Eden. And all the time we're separated and we have so little faith, there was so little understanding.
And Jesus is right in front of everyone saying, here I am, I'm doing it, I'm doing it. And even with him right there doing it, still people it's just so easy for us to not see it or to look the other way or like say, oh, this is not happening. Like, this is too big for me or something like that. And Jesus is constantly reminding people no I'm here lean on me you can do this and it's like that like you're saying power and control is like I don't have power control this no I can do this I can do this you know how are we gonna do this it wasn't about we it's about him And it's about looking toward him and having that faith and belief.
And
I just it's just the thing about, you know, just mankind just wanting to be in control of everything all the time. They just can't see what's in front of our face. And so during the day you find yourself running and you're just running so fast that you just don't stop and just have that faith and belief and know what he's done and know that he died for us and know that you know he's there for us. It's just so hard for people to even for me to stop and just have faith in that because he's always he's always been there for me before. Yep.
And I've seen him be there for other people too. So I know it's real. Yep.
Yep. Annie is patient. Annie is patient with us. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love we see in the Psalms. That is so good.
Any others? Any other thoughts, comments? Thanks so much for what you've said. I I just it's it's a amen all around. Yep.
Yep. Well, shall we sing another song? We'll close in a a great song. Christ be all around me. We have a drummer tonight too.
Isn't that great?
Yes. This
is Aaron, by the way.
I rise, the strength of God pulled before with me up. As I wave, eyes of God as I hear. Voice of God lead me on. Be my God. Be my God above and looming before and behind me in every other season.
Let's be around
And as we go,
and as I go, hand of God, my defense, by my side,
Oh, there's a I wanted to leave you with this psalm before we go. This is so good. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence. That's what God gives us and the pleasure of living you with forever. God, that you would go above and below, before and behind us.
God, that we would come to you in humble faith, really, this week. And when we doubt, Lord, would you remind us once again how much you care. In Jesus' name. Amen.
