Leftovers and Signs

Mark 8:1-21

Feeding the Four Thousand

1 In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, 2 "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."

4 Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"

5 He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"
And they said, "Seven."

6 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. 7 They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. 8 So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. 9 Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away, 10 immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees Seek a Sign

11 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. 12 But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."

Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

13 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. 14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."

16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."

17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"

They said to Him, "Twelve."

20 "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"

And they said, "Seven."

21 So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"

Leftovers of bread and signs demanded by the Pharisees as unwelcome yeast in the unleavened bread are in this passage which Jesus said.  First of all, Jesus once more demonstrated compassion on the crowds gathered to hear of the kingdom of heaven from Him in a remote area just as in Mark 6:30-43 with the five thousand fed from what seemed so limited.  This time it was a crowd of four thousand people gathering to hear Jesus to be healed in body and soul by His message and compassion.  The Lord once more gave thanks to His Father and broke the seven loaves which the disciples handed out and fed them all with that bread and a few multiplied fish to fill them up.  When Jesus sent them away after they had eaten and were satisfied, He took the disciples, got back into their boat, and headed to Dalmanutha on the west side of the Sea of Galilee near Magdala.  There the religious Pharisees approached and berated Jesus to prove Himself by performing signs and wonders as if an entertainer instead of the Anointed Messiah and their Sovereign Lord.  Their blindness and lack of faith that demanded a sign as proof indicated they did not believe or trust the word of the Lord as more than enough.  This religious attitude has resurfaced several times since then where some demand signs to prove the work of God instead of hearing and believing His word which leads to repentance and faith in Christ alone.  Jesus told them they would not be given the sign they were demanding; He had another in mind for them all, that of His suffering on a cross meant for them and us, His death for those who do hear and believe to receive Him and work, and the proof of the sign by His resurrection (Matthew 12:39-41) after the manner of Jonah.  On the way back across the lake the disciples noticed they forgot to bring bread with them and Jesus took that opportunity to warn them against the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.  They thought He was referring to the lack of bread when Jesus was tea them a deeper spiritual truth about being wary of false teachers and doctrines (Matthew 16:12) from those mentioned, especially their hypocrisy in using their personal beliefs as substitutes for God’s word in the scriptures (Luke 12:1) which spread quickly like yeast consumes the dough of bread.  Unleavened bread (Exodus 12:8, 17) signified that without sin as was used in the Passover and in Jewish rituals and of the purity of Christ’s teachings for us to avoid sin in all forms, especially immorality (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).  To end these tea, Jesus turned the attention back to the feeding of the two crowds and the amounts of leftovers in the number of baskets they collected after all had eaten to the full.  There were twelve backers the first time and seven the following feeding.  We can look at this as the twelve representing one basket for each disciple to demonstrate there was enough to minister to them after serving others and the seven baskets as the perfect amount just as required to meet the needs of others, since the number seven often represented perfection in God’s eyes throughout scripture.  Also they were to understand that the Prophet who Moses had predicted would come after him and supersede him was this divine Messiah standing before them performing these miraculous deeds and meeting all their needs.  His final words here were, “How is it you do not understand?”  May we understand the critical parts of this lesson of who Jesus is and His work as we avoid error and live according to the word of God (Matthew 4:4) alone apart from misleading teachers focusing on the proof by miracles instead of trusting God by faith.  These are the lessons of leftovers and signs worth considering.