Chapter 8

Read Mark 8:1-21; Jesus feeds 4000

Another large crowd gathered. They had been listening to Jesus teaching for three days. Verses 2-4 sound like a repeat for the disciples, but they still don’t understand…

² “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

⁴ His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

This interchange leaves me with a few questions. After all the miracles the disciples have seen, how can they even ask that question? However, how many times have we seen the hand of God in our lives and then wonder? As Peter recounts this story to Mark, does he wonder how they were so blind?

The scene from feeding of the 5000 repeats in verses 5-9…

⁵ “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

⁶ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When He had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. ⁷ They had a few small fish as well; He gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. ⁸ The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ⁹ About four thousand were present.

The word for baskets used here is similar to a bushel basket. An abundance left over. They got back into the boat and landed at Dalmanutha where some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked for a sign. After all these miracles, they still wanted to see a sign.

They got back in the boat and Jesus said, “watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees”. Then in verses 17-21 Jesus challenges the disciples’ faith…

¹⁷ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

²⁰ “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹ He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

That is the question we all have to answer. Do we understand and do we believe?

Read Mark 8:22-26; a Snapshot of a Healing

²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had spit on the man’s eyes and put His hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

²⁴ He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

²⁵ Once more Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

Once again, don’t let anyone know. Can you imagine how many quick healings happened in those three years. What an amazing adventure Peter and the others witnessed. It would have been awesome to have been with them.

Read Mark 8:27-33; Peter’s highs and lows

It is interesting to me that Peter recounts these next two short sections together. He goes from a spiritual high to a spiritual low.

²⁷ Jesus and His disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

²⁸ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

³⁰ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him.

³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get behind Me, Satan!” He said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Can you imagine how that statement stung Peter? I wonder what he was thinking when he told Mark about it?

Read Mark 8:34-38; The Way of the Cross

Here is the best definition of discipleship in four verses. Jesus defines a person that wants to be His disciple. A disciple is a person seeking to be just like his master. It can’t be said any clearer than this…

³⁴ Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me and for the Gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

“Deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” To the people listening to Jesus that day the cross was a very scary thing. They often have seen people dying or dead hanging on a cross as they walk down the road. It was a common means of execution the Romans used in those days to build fear into the Jews. 

Today we think of the cross as a blessing. A place where Jesus sacrificed for us. We see nice looking crosses in many places and even wear them as jewelry. They are on all church buildings signifying a place that worships Jesus. But Jesus said, take up your cross and follow Me. What does that mean to us today? Do we even know what our cross is? Are there places we go where we are ashamed to admit we follow Jesus? We need to memorize these four verses and live the life of a disciple.