Read
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
(Matthew 15.32-39)
1One day another large crowd gathered around Jesus. They had not brought along anything to eat. So Jesus called his disciples together and said, 2“I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. 3Some of them live a long way from here. If I send them away hungry, they might faint on their way home.”
4The disciples said, “This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?”
5Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, “Seven small loaves of bread.”
6After Jesus told the crowd to sit down, he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He then broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples, who passed them out to the crowd. 7They also had a few little fish, and after Jesus had blessed these, he told the disciples to pass them around.
8-9The crowd of about 4,000 people ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.
As soon as Jesus had sent the people away, 10he got into the boat with the disciples and crossed to the territory near Dalmanutha.
A Sign from Heaven
(Matthew 16.1-4)
11 The Pharisees came out and started an argument with Jesus. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven. 12 Jesus groaned and said, “Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!” 13Then he left them. He again got into a boat and crossed over to the other side of the lake.
Reflect
This is the second time in a short period of time, in the recounting of the story by Mark, that the reader meets Jesus feeding an incredible number of people. (I would encourage you to re-read 6:30-44. In fact it is well worth while to sit down with the two texts and mark out all the similarities.)
However, two issues stand out in this text. First, we saw at the end of chapter seven, that Jesus was in Gentile country. In Mark’s story-line he will not leave this region until the next paragraph. The encounter with the Syrophoenician woman reminds us that God feeds Gentiles without stealing from the Jews. In the region of the Decapolis, he even heals non-Jews. Now he is feeding them spiritually as he spends three days, most probably in teaching. But his words in verse two capture the reader’s attention. Notice how his compassion moves him to action. Jesus sees life as an integrated whole – the social and spiritual go together. One is never more important than the other. “If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way…” The fact that Jesus took both the spiritual concerns and their physical needs so seriously needs to make us think. Do we keep these two aspects of life together?
Second, the disciples still do not understand. In spite of the similar miracle, they are still stuck on being in a remote place. Their unbelievable lack of short term memory underscores again that they do not recognize that in Jesus they have enough to feed a crowd.
Respond
Lord Jesus, I want to follow you in taking the spiritual and social needs of people around me seriously. I want to move into action today. Yet I realize that at times I can be slow to believe and forgetful like the disciples. Forgive me. Lead me, I ask.
Glenn Smith
Dr. Glenn Smith is married to Sandra and together they have three daughters, Jenna, Julia and Christa and two granddaughters They are the pastors of a missional community network in their church in Montréal – a multi-site congregation in five locations. Glenn did his graduate studies at the Université d’Ottawa and his doctoral thesis at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago. He was the Executive Director of Christian Direction in Montreal 1983 – 2018. He is the Dean of the Faculty of Practical Theology at Presbyterian College at McGill University and the the Institut de théologie pour la francophonie, accredited by Université Laval. He also teaches in Haïti. Publications: co-author of Espoir pour la ville; Dieu dans la cité (Hope for the city, God in the city); Following Jesus: God invites us to transformative discipleship and author of City Air Makes You Free.