Sunday, October 11 · Briarwood Presbyterian Church
The Leftovers
Jesus feeds a Gentile crowd of four thousand in a desolate place out of sheer compassion, and the disciples who already saw him feed five thousand balk at it. The sermon asks whether we share Christ's heart for people we would rather not feed.
The passages
In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself and said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come a long way.” His disciples answered him, “From where could one satisfy these people with bread here in a deserted place?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves. Having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to serve, and they served the multitude. They also had a few small fish. Having blessed them, he said to serve these also. They ate and were filled. They took up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left over. Those who had eaten were about four thousand. Then he sent them away. Immediately he entered into the boat with his disciples and came into the region of Dalmanutha.
Mark 8:1–10
But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?” He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.” He commanded them that everyone should sit down in groups on the green grass. They sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. He took the five loaves and the two fish; and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves, and he gave to his disciples to set before them, and he divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were filled. They took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and also of the fish. Those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Mark 6:37–44
But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
Mark 7:27–28
When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.” “When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”
Mark 8:19–20
They all ate and were filled.
Mark 6:42
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,…
Mark 7:21
He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.
Jonah 4:2
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
Luke 13:34
Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may receive a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
John 6:7–9
Go deeper
Why do I keep coming up with reasons not to help the person right in front of me?
The disciples hear Jesus say he is moved for the crowd and answer with logistics. They do not say they cannot; they say the place is desolate and it makes no sense, which is the same excuse the church still reaches for when mercy gets inconvenient.
In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself and said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come a long way.” His disciples answered him, “From where could one satisfy these people with bread here in a deserted place?”
Mark 8:1–4
But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” He said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:29–37
And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
James 2:15–17
But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:17–18
Do I actually have compassion, or do I only feel bad that I do not?
Jesus uses a word for compassion that means being moved in the gut, and in Mark's Gospel he is the only one ever described that way. The sermon's point is that the disciples needed a new heart before they needed a plan, and so do we.
“I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come a long way.”
Mark 8:2–3
A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.”
Mark 1:40–41
I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.
Ezekiel 36:26–27
If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,…
Philippians 2:1–5
Can God's mercy really be for people I would rather he passed over?
The crowd of four thousand is Gentile, in the region where Jesus told a Syrophoenician mother that the children get fed first. The sermon reads this feeding as crumbs falling from the table, and it notices how much that idea bothered Jonah.
From there he arose and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice. For a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.
Mark 7:24–30
They ate and were filled. They took up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left over. Those who had eaten were about four thousand. Then he sent them away.
Mark 8:8–9
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah 4:1–3
Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:6
Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism; but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
Acts 10:34–35
If I have received so much, what does it mean that I keep it to myself?
Seven baskets of leftovers sit on the ground after everyone has eaten, and the disciples look like people who hoarded something that was never scarce. The sermon says the real question is not whether we have enough but whether we have ever truly received.
They ate and were filled. They took up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left over.
Mark 8:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.
Matthew 10:8
The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Psalms 145:15–16