MRK 8

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

Matt. 15:32-39

1 In those days, there was again a large crowd gathering around Jesus to hear Him teach, and they had nothing to eat. Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said to them,

2 "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have remained with Me for three days now and have nothing left to eat.

3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint and collapse on the way from weakness, and some of them have come from a long distance."

4 His disciples answered Him practically, "From where can anyone provide sufficient bread to satisfy all these people here in this deserted and remote place?"

5 Jesus was asking them, "How many loaves do you have?" They answered, "Seven loaves."

6 Jesus commanded the crowd to sit down in a relaxed posture on the ground in preparation for a meal. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks to God, He broke them into pieces and kept giving them to His disciples to distribute before the people. So they set the bread before the crowd.

7 They also had a few small fish. After blessing them and giving thanks, Jesus told the disciples to set these also before the people.

8 The people ate and were completely satisfied and filled. Afterwards, they picked up the leftover broken pieces, filling seven large baskets full.

9 There were approximately four thousand people who had eaten. Then Jesus dismissed them to return home.

10 Immediately after this, Jesus got into the boat with His disciples and travelled across the water to the district of Dalmanutha on the western shore.

The Unbelief of the Pharisees

Matt. 16:1-4

11 The Pharisees came out and started to argue with Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to authenticate His claims. They were testing Him and trying to trap Him.

12 Sighing deeply in His spirit with grief over their unbelief, He said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you with certainty, no sign will be given to this generation!"

13 Leaving them without further discussion, Jesus got into the boat again with His disciples and went across to the other side of the lake.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

Matt. 16:5-12

14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread with them, and except for one single loaf, they had none with them in the boat.

15 Jesus was issuing instructions and warnings to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven—the corrupting influence—of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod!"

16 The disciples were reasoning and discussing with one another about the literal fact that they had no bread, completely missing Jesus' spiritual point.

17 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, "Why are you reasoning about the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet consider or understand spiritual truth? Have your hearts been hardened and become dull?

18 You have eyes—do you not see spiritual realities? You have ears—do you not hear and comprehend? Do you not remember what I have done and demonstrated?

19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand people, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up afterwards?" They answered Him, "Twelve baskets full."

20 "When I also broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" They said, "Seven."

21 So Jesus was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand that I was not speaking about literal bread, but about the dangerous teaching of the Pharisees?"

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 They came to the village of Bethsaida. People brought to Jesus a blind man and begged Him earnestly that He would touch the man and heal him.

23 Taking hold of the blind man's hand, Jesus led him gently out of the village for privacy. After spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, Jesus was asking him, "Do you see anything?"

24 The man looked up and kept saying, "I see the men, for I see them as trees, walking around."

25 Then Jesus laid His hands on the man's eyes again with a second touch. The man looked intently and saw clearly. His sight was completely restored, and he continued to see everything distinctly and sharply.

26 Jesus sent him away to his home with instructions, saying, "Do not even go into the village to tell what happened."

The Confession of Peter

Matt. 16:13-20; Lk. 9:18-21

27 Jesus and His disciples went out to the villages surrounding Caesarea Philippi in the far north of Israel. On the way, He began to ask His disciples a question, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?"

28 They reported to Him, saying, "Some say John the Baptist risen from the dead. Others say Elijah returned as promised. Still others say one of the prophets of old."

29 Jesus continued to press the question more personally: "But who do you yourselves say that I am?" In response, Peter spoke up and said to Him, "You are the Christ!"—the Messiah, the Anointed One of God.

30 Then Jesus warned them sternly that they should tell no one about Him yet, as the time was not right for this public declaration.

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection

Matt. 16:21-28; Lk. 9:22-27

31 Jesus began to teach them clearly that it was necessary and ordained by God for the Son of Man to suffer many things, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, to be killed, and after three days to rise again from the dead.

32 He was speaking openly and plainly about this matter, holding nothing back. Peter, after taking Jesus aside privately, began to reprimand Him for speaking of such things.

33 But Jesus turned around and, seeing His other disciples watching, He reprimanded Peter sharply and said, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an obstacle to Me because you are not setting your thoughts on the matters of God and His purposes, but on the matters of men and human thinking."

34 When Jesus had called the crowd to Himself along with His disciples, He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me and be My disciple, he must deny himself, refusing to make himself the centre. He must take up his cross daily like a condemned man walking to execution, and follow Me.

35 For whoever desires to save his life and preserve it will lose it eternally. But whoever loses his life for the sake of Me and for the sake of the gospel will save it and find true life.

36 For what does it benefit or profit a man to gain possession of the whole world with all its wealth and power, yet forfeit his own soul in the process?

37 For what can a man give as an exchange or ransom to buy back his soul once it is lost?

38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, refusing to identify with Me publicly, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father, accompanied by the holy angels, for final judgment."

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