Mark Vol. 2 - Week 6 (8:1-21)
Mark 8:1-21
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The King Of All People
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Mark 8:1-21 〰️ The King Of All People 〰️
In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul said that Salvation is for "everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek" (v16). In this week's passage, we see the second half of this concept begin to take shape as Jesus performs a familiar miracle for Gentiles. In Mark 6:30-44, Jesus performs a miracle for the masses, multiplying bread and fish, meeting the physical needs of those around Him while supplying their spiritual needs. Jesus often does this in His earthly ministry, using examples with which the recipients or hearers would already be acquainted. While our bodies can quickly signal hunger, our souls don't easily reveal their needs.
It is the same with this week's passage, as we are again presented with a story of Jesus feeding the masses. In this passage, however, Jesus is with a different crowd. In chapter 6, Mark writes that Jesus and His disciples went to a "remote place" (v32), and Luke tells us that they were in the region of Bethsaida (a region north of the Sea of Galilee, primarily inhabited by Jews). In chapter 8, Mark opens with the words "in those days," indicating that this story closely follows the previous one, where Jesus and His disciples leave Tyre (northwest of the Sea of Galilee) and are in the region known as Decapolis. The Decapolis was a region of multiple cities (often cited as ten cities, even though manuscripts and sources don't agree on which ten] and was primarily inhabited by Gentiles, very likely including the deaf man). If you remember from last week's guide, we talked about how Jesus' ministry effectively had two phases: first for the Jews and second for the Gentiles. It could have been very counterintuitive to reach and save the Gentiles before addressing issues, unbelief, and sin in God's chosen people.
In Mark 8, we see a very similar story, with some minor differences in details. Jesus is teaching a crowd for so long that they become hungry. He's presented with seven loaves of bread; as He serves them, they multiply and multiply. Verse 8 says everyone "ate and were satisfied," and "seven large baskets of leftover pieces" were collected afterward. It's so cool how, in Mark's narrative, we see Jesus perform the same miracle for a primarily Gentile crowd immediately after interacting with the Syrophoenician woman. Not only did the crowd of Gentiles receive the "crumbs," but enough that everyone was satisfied!
Then, we fast forward to Jesus and the disciples departing. The Pharisees approached Him, "demanding of him a sign from heaven to test him" (v11). This was the result of their unbelief and their attempt to discredit Jesus: "sign from heaven" can be interpreted as a literal "sign from God" or a "cosmic phenomenon."¹ Jesus responds by telling them they will never see a sign from God in their lifetime.
Continuing, we get to our focus of the passage. The disciples and Jesus were departing on the boat with Jesus when He told them to be aware of the leaven (or yeast) of the Pharisees and Herod. Leaven was generally viewed as a symbol of evil and corruption (1 Cor. 5:6-7; Gal 5:9).² The leaven spreads and grows, overtaking the entire lump of dough. What He is referring to here is the unbelief of the Pharisees. The Pharisees had just approached Jesus after witnessing a miracle of multiplication, only to ask for another sign from the heavens. Seeing a miracle and still not believing was the Pharisees' greatest failure. This is what Jesus warned the disciples: a little doubt and unbelief can spread and overtake if left unattended. Likewise, a little leaven can cause the entire lump of dough to rise
When hearing this, how did the disciples reply? "I'm hungry!" (probably). Mark tells us how they responded: "They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread" (v16). Flabbergasted, Jesus, Jesus asks them why they're fixated on their lack of bread when they just witnessed Him multiply the bread for the four thousand and the five thousand, as we read in chapter 6. The disciples were focused on the mundane-- their physical needs-- rather than the spiritual lesson Jesus was trying to teach them. They just didn't get it.
All the while, Jesus was trying to reveal to the crowd, the disciples, and now us of our desperate need for Him. Just like we need food in our bodies, we need the Lord to sustain us. The disciples were so fixated on their hunger that they missed Jesus's lesson. As we enter into discussion in our groups, we'll walk through the purpose of Jesus teaching about the leaven, the disciples' response, and how we tend to respond. I encourage you to dig deep and challenge your group to think about what it is that distracts us from an eternal perspective. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the Enemy prowls around like a lion, waiting to devour us. But being "devoured" doesn't always come in this world. Often, the Enemy is content to distract us, keeping us occupied in this life. We're to be on our guard, "watch out," and "be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." (v15).
Discussion Questions
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does anything in this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
How does this passage reveal your need for Jesus?
In v15, Jesus talked about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. What do you think Jesus meant to teach with this Metaphor?
Thinking back to grade school, what subjects did you "get"? Which subjects required more instruction for you to grasp?
In Mark 8, why do you think the disciples struggled to see Jesus' power and authority?
What are some common life circumstances that divert your attention from eternal things?
What can we learn from the disciples' unbelief and Jesus’ response?
1. Ross H. McLaren, Mark in CSB Study Bible: Notes (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1573.
2. Ibid., 1573.