WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: In yesterday’s psalm we saw how God cares for the whole world and all people. Pray for insight into the way Jesus extended his own mission beyond Israel. Two miracles Mark 8 begins ‘during those days’. Jesus is still travelling and doesn’t return to Israel proper until verse 13. This feeding miracle is similar to the feeding of the five thousand (6:30–44). We can compare the two. In chapter 6 Jesus is replicating the miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16). This time it is four thousand people who must be mostly Gentiles, like the Syro-Phoenician woman (7:24–30), getting a few crumbs beneath the Master’s table. Drawing in the Gentiles In both incidents Jesus has drawn great crowds who are very hungry. He is compassionate and enlists the disciples’ help to address the need. In both cases the food available is grossly inadequate for the task, but Jesus triumphs in meeting their hunger. This time the loaves and the baskets of leftovers number seven (vs 5,8), hinting at the completeness when God visits the Gentiles. This time it is unnecessary to say that they are sheep without a shepherd. The Gentiles were not God’s chosen people, though Jesus is about to draw them in. What irony that the Pharisees still fail to understand and still want a sign (vs 11–13)! Respond: The Jewish Messiah comes to bless and feed even the Gentiles. Praise God for the provision and care of God for all peoples. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-09-10