They Are Digging in the Wrong Place!.. (Mark 6:30-44, 8:1-10)

We have all had those “A-Ha” moments where it finally clicks and we realize the answer/gain insight.  Indiana Jones and his friend Sala had that moment in the Raiders of the Lost Ark when they piece it together that the Nazi’s were “digging in the wrong place.”  Our 2 passages today where Jesus performs the miracles of creating vast amounts of fish and bread out of nothing.  3 initial mind blowing realizations.
1) We call it “The Feeding of the 5000” but there had to have been way more people present. Matthew 14:21 states, “The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.” If it is one woman for every man but ½ had to stay home for domestic duties we are down to 2500.  If another 500 had sick children at home, then we are down to 2000. The average for children/ household according to Historians would have been 5 children. If the oldest is learning a trade and the 2 youngest stayed home, then that still leaves 2 kids per woman. 5000 men + 2000 women + 4000 kids = 11,000!!!! 
 2) Jesus didn’t just perform this incredible miracle withfish &bread once.   “Feeding of the 5000” is in Mark 6 and the “Feeding of the 4000” is in Mark 4.  Most people only know the first account – but Jesus had many special reasons for performing the same miracle 2X.
3) The significance of this miracle is even more than a demonstration of Jesus’ power to create. It is absolutely an astonishing display of creative power but the initial group of 12 disciples and all of us 2000 years later are supposed to see deep into who Jesus truly is.   Jesus calls himself “The bread of Life” and these visible dramatic demonstrations were meant to help us get that Jesus is the ultimate lasting spiritual food that will long outlast the nourishment of bread and fish.

I. The Rich Background (Mark 6:30-44)
To fully understand the miracle of feeding this massive crowd of 11,000 – we need to see the intentional parallels and fulfilment of God working through Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt.
1) The setting in Mark 6 is “a solitary place” and God, through Moses, led the people into the wilderness of the desert for 40 years.
2) Jesus miraculously provides bread for the people and God miraculously provided manna in the dessert – a daily provision of a bread like substance.
3) “Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups of 100’s and 50’s.”  God through Moses established a very organized camp in the wilderness according to Tribe Clan Family Group.
4) “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion…and began teaching them many things.”  God, through Moses delivered the 10 Commandments and the rest of the Law and taught the nation.  ∴Therefore… JESUS = The NEW MOSES. He fulfills and surpasses him, but we are absolutely not to miss the connection. This is relevant for us because
It deepens our understanding of Jesus. It fires up our passion in worship of Jesus.

* On a human leadership level Moses was used by God the Father to be a saviour for his people. On a more profound eternal level — Jesus is the ultimate Saviour, not just from an autocratic ruler like Pharaoh and slavery but from even bigger, seemingly undefeatable set of enemies: Sin, Death and the Devil. Let that sink in…Jesus is that powerful. * The 10 Commandments and the Moral Law given through Moses were an amazing ethical guideline to hold your behaviour up against. It set the bar high for how to live and clearly shows people when they are off track. * Jesus in the sermon on the Mount and all the other moments of his teaching is saying to people, “Yes my teaching shows you right and wrong, shows you how to live life, but I’m going to go way past that — I’m going to die to pay the price for every wrong thing you ever have done, are doing or will do.  Once I’ve freed you from sin, shame and self-condemnation — then I’m going to take up residence inside you and give you, through the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, the power to choose the good and say; no to the wrong, no to evil, no to sin.   Jesus says, “I’m going to do what the Law never could — actually cause you to grow and change for the better.”  * The Manna that Moses gave sustained the people for a little while.   When they didn’t need it anymore, it stopped.  Jesus, as the bread of life, gives us, his people, spiritually sustaining food that lasts.The only one who won’t fail is JESUS: The Bread of Life.  I think you can see now that Jesus truly is the NEW MOSES

II. The Duh-sciples (Mark 6:50-52)

I heard a Bible Scholar recently say that in the gospel of Mark, Jesus’ 12 followers aren’t so much the Disciples but rather… The Duh-sciples. Don’t worry, I hold Jesus’ band of disciples in very high honour.  They go through the most incredible process of transformation and become absolute world changers.  It wasn’t prettied up to make the disciples look better, it is recorded to give all the rest of us schmucks some hope — if they can change then we can too and become all Jesus intends for us. In the middle of the account of Jesus walking on water to come out to them during the storm, he finds them distraught and fearful. Jesus stops the storm and climbs into the boat. “They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” 
Question for each of us…how have we let our hearts be hardened to certain aspects of the Christian Life that Jesus calls us to?

III. OK Let’s Try Again (Mark 8:1-10)

Jesus ”I have compassion for these people they have been with me for three days and have had nothing to eat If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way.” You might think the disciples would say, “Hey Jesus, you could do the miracle like you did that other time.  5 loaves and 2 fish to feed a massive crowd.  Let’s do that again!” No – they protest, “But where can anyone get enough bread to feed them?  They had to learn this lesson all over again, that Jesus is God – coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit . Jesus was patient with the disciples to see them transformed into world changing apostles and he is patient with you and I. 
* It will probably take more than one moment of being faced with a moral choice in our lives for us to really get it that God’s way is best.
* It will probably take more than one time of us having every other support stripped away in a time of grief and despair where we are forced to cling to Jesus to really get it.
* It will probably take more than one time of taking that crucial step of faith when we don’t think we have the resources to make it and then God provides.