Does He Care About Your Needs? [Mark 8]

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 [Mark 8, NASB]

1In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,  2"I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3"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." 4And His disciples answered Him, "Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?" 5And He was asking them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven." 6And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people. 7They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. 8And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.

Jesus felt compassion for the people because they stayed with Him for three days and he knew they were hungry.  He didn't want to send them to their homes (some lived far away) without food in their stomachs because they would faint on the way. What does it mean to feel compassion?  The word translated compassion means "to have bowels that yearn, sympathy, pity."  The idea is that this is an emotion that is felt deeply inside.

 

I am not so sure the disciples felt this compassion for the people yet.  As you read on in this chapter you find that when they get into the boat "they had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them."  They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread. (I think they were starting to feel hungry again.)

 

Jesus asked them, "Do you not yet understand?  Is your heart hardened?  Do you have eyes, and not see, and do you have ears, and not hear?  And do you not remember?" (Holman CSB). Then He quizzes them about how many pieces of bread they collected after feeding the 5,000 and again after the 4,000.  They do remember the numbers (12 and 7) but they don't understand the compassion Jesus has when He sees that His people are hungry.

 

Lord, cause us today to remember and understand how You are moved with pity as you see the physical needs of Your people.  Open our eyes and ears to the compassion that you feel for us. As we sense Your compassion, give us that gut-wrenching compassion for others around us and move us to action. Keep us from having a hard heart because we are focused on our own needs and wants. (Oh no, we forgot to bring bread!)


Verna McCrillis, 2/11/2009
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Erin Joy (Guest) 02/16/2009 17:28
Alistair just preached on this passage yesterday, and the title was "Disciples are Slow Learners" -- pretty fitting, eh?