Do You Not Remember? Series

DO YOU NOT REMEMBER?

Mark 8:1-21

Have you ever found yourself in a place or a situation that seems oddly familiar but you are fairly certain that you have never been there before? This phenomenon is often referred to as “déjà vu” This is a French phrase that means “seen again”. Yogi Berra coined the phrase “it’s déjà vu all over again”.

Recently I drove through a small town that seemed very familiar to me, but I know for a fact that I have never been in that part of the country in my entire life. We may get a similar feeling as we walk through this portion of scripture. Several events in this Chapter are very similar to certain events that we have already examined in our journey through Mark’s Gospel account.

- In this chapter we see:

i. A Familiar Response By Jesus Concerning A Hungry Multitude

ii. A Familiar Reaction By Jesus Concerning His Hostile Enemies

iii. A Familiar Rebuke By Jesus Concerning His Hard-Hearted Disciples

The events covered in verses 1-9 are so similar to what we saw in Chapter 6 that some commentators suggest that they are the same. I am neither a scholar, nor a theologian but I can assure you that the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 are two separate events. We know this because some of the details are different, We also know this because both Mark and Matthew refer to them as two separate events, and it is very apparent because in the latter part of this chapter, Jesus Himself refers to the feeding of the 4,000 and the feeding of the 5,000 as two separate events.

There are other details in Mark Chapter 8 that are similar to things we have seen before. Again, the Pharisees arrive and challenge Jesus, we also see Jesus and the Disciples on another boat ride, and, once more Jesus confronts the lack of faith and hardheartedness of His Disciples. While these events are similar to things we have examined in the past, there are some contrasts and some fresh truths that we can learn. For that reason I would like to walk through verses 1-23 and consider Jesus’ important question “Do You Not Remember?” We will begin by examining:

I. A FAMILIAR RESPONSE FROM JESUS CONCERING A HUNGRY MULTITUDE

In this passage we have the gathering of another great multitude of people. At the close of chapter 7 there was a great crowd thronging Jesus. Matthew tells us that they brought the blind, deaf, lame and many others to Jesus hoping that He would heal them. And as usual, that is exactly what He did.

Mark describes a specific encounter between Jesus and a deaf mute. Jesus had compassion on this man and took him away from the multitude and healed him. After doing so, Jesus commanded this man and those who witnessed the miracle to remain silent.

However, they were “astonished beyond measure” and the more Jesus commanded them to be quiet, the more they spread the news of His miracle working power. They glorified God and proclaimed that Jesus had “done all things well”. It is likely that the number of the multitude continued to increase as a result of their testimony. As we arrive in Chapter 8, Jesus has been ministering to this multitude for three days. He knew that they were hungry and if they did not get something to eat, they would “faint along the way”. Jesus not only recognized their predicament, He had compassion on them and ensured that they were filled.

This is a great metaphor for what He desired to do for them spiritually. He knew that they were in “dire straits” spiritually speaking and He desired to do something about that as well. Let’s take a moment and consider:

A. THE SIMILARITIES CONCERNING THE MULTITUDE

- As we have stated, there are many similarities between this multitude and the multitude in Chapter 6. We see that:

1. THIS MULTITUDE WAS SIMILAR IN NUMBER

v1 In those days, the multitude being very great…

v9 Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.

Mark mentioned that there were four thousand people on this occasion, but Matthew goes on to tell us that “those that ate were four thousand men, besides the women and children.” (Matthew 15:38) This means that a conservative estimate of this crowd would be near 16,000 people.

- Not only was this multitude similar in number, we also see that:

2. THIS MULTITUDE WAS SIMILAR IN NEED

On both occasions, the people who were gathered around Jesus were in desperate need. They certainly knew about their own physical needs, but they had other (more important) needs that they did not recognize. Notice that:

A) THEY HAD PHYSICAL NEEDS