People of Bread
Notes
Transcript
Do you realize that it has been a year since the Corona virus was declared a world-wide pandemic? Our lives have been changed in many ways. Last year at this time I was setting up under the car port and preaching to you all who were parked in the parking lot.
Gradually we began to figure out how to navigate this world with this microscopic viruas that has killed over a half-million people here in the United States.
When the stay-at-home orders began in the spring of 2020, a surprising thing started disappearing from shelves. Do you know what that was?
I'm talking about yeast. People who had never baked bread before in their lives found quarantine a great time to start. People bought packets of yeast, jars of yeast, and yeast that came measured by the pound. When there was no more dry yeast to be found, people began making sourdough starters. A lady down the road gave us a sourdough starter.
A little flour, a little water, measured out precisely and left in a warm (but not too warm) environment, left to ferment. If you have never made sourdough, what you may not know is that it still uses yeast. Instead of the dry yeast one finds in a supermarket, the sourdough starter harnesses the yeast in the environment around it.
Yeast is single-celled fungi. It feeds on sugars to survive, and gives off carbon dioxide, which is why it's used to help bread rise. There are numerous strains of yeast, thousands-in fact, you may know that there is one type that can cause infections in humans. There are also strains that cause food to spoil and others that ferment fruit and grains, transforming them into wine and beer.
There is no shortage of yeast in the environment around us. It has been used by humans in the making of bread for centuries. Bread is a cornerstone of humanity in many ways. It is a simple yet hearty and comforting food, which is probably why people ran to it when life felt overwhelming during the first weeks of the pandemic. If they could just get some bread, things would feel a little more manageable, a little more controllable.
Maybe that's how the four thousand-plus people felt sitting hungry in the presence of Jesus on the day a great miracle happened. Maybe that's how the disciples-who were sitting with Jesus and only remembered to grab one loaf of bread-felt in today's text when Jesus began talking about yeast.
BODY
The feeding of the four thousand should inform the way we read today's text.
The feeding of the four thousand should inform the way we read today's text.
The verses just prior to today's passage tell the story of a miracle that is somewhat familiar - the feeding of the four thousand (not to be confused with the feeding of the five thousand in Mark 6). It is a similar story to the feeding of the five thousand, with some important variations. Listen to Marks recording of that event.
1 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and told them, 2 “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they won’t have enough strength to travel, for some have come a long distance.” 4 His disciples responded, “How can anyone get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy these people?” 5 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” They said, “Seven loaves.” 6 He told the crowd to sit on the ground. He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them apart, and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they gave the bread to the crowd. 7 They also had a few fish. He said a blessing over them, then gave them to the disciples to hand out also. 8 They ate until they were full. They collected seven baskets full of leftovers. 9 This was a crowd of about four thousand people! Jesus sent them away, 10 then got into a boat with his disciples and went over to the region of Dalmanutha.
One extremey significant part of this event can easily be lost. When Jesus fed the 5,000 that Mark recorded back in chapter 6, the 5,000 were Jews and worshippers of God.
Jesus was still in the region of Decapolis, the 10 Roman cities. This was a gentile area. The feeding of the four thousand occurred among gentiles. This detail is important because Mark is once again illustrating that the kingdom of God is for everyone.
The gospel message is for everyone. We have not right to hoard it and keep it all to ourselves.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
In Mark 6, the the disciples have five loaves and two fish. In today's text in chapter 8, they have seven loaves and a few small fish. In Scripture, seven is an important number that marks wholeness and completion.
When the disciples clean up the leftovers there are seven baskets full, whereas in the other story there were twelve. The number twelve is for Jewish listeners-it would remind them of the twelve tribes of Israel. Seven baskets of leftovers signals completion and wholeness, a sign that God is doing something inclusive of Jews and gentiles.
The feeding is a Eucharistic act. Jesus is breaking bread, giving thanks to God, and extending the bread to the people. The people are given grace in this gift of food.
There is some foreshadowing here of the ways that God desires to extend abundance to all, and that all are welcome to participate in the kingdom of God.
In the feeding of the 5,000 the circumstances are different. In that event, Jesus is moved by compassion not because they are hungary but because they are leaderless.
34 When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.
Jesus began by teaching them and then the disciples see the need for them to eat. It was then that Jesus performed that miracle.
In this miracle Jesus has compassion on the crowd after 3 days of teaching and the supplies of food that the people brought are depleted and Jesus feeds them.
As is often the case, the disciples miss the point in the next few verses
Despite the abundance of the feeding miracle, when Jesus begins to talk about the yeast of the Pharisees, the disciples assume he is subtly chastising them for forgetting to bring bread onto the boat.
Despite the abundance of the feeding miracle, when Jesus begins to talk about the yeast of the Pharisees, the disciples assume he is subtly chastising them for forgetting to bring bread onto the boat.
14 Jesus’ disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, so they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 He gave them strict orders: “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees as well as the yeast of Herod.” 16 The disciples discussed this among themselves, “He said this because we have no bread.”
There is a comparison between the abundance of God and the myth of scarcity. The disciples are worried about having enough bread because they only have one loaf. They have completely forgotten about the provision of God, which they just witnessed in the feeding. Though the disciples don't have enough, Jesus produces an abundance through the power of God.
While the disciples or us for that matter might not have what seems like enough, it is enough in the hands of God.
It is easy to forget about the provision of God in the face of scarcity. Even though the miracle just happened, the disciples forgot about the provision.
We also can become fearful in the face of scarcity, instead of looking for the creativity of God's provision. Think about the time we spent in quarantine. People were afraid when things began to disappear from shelves. Instead of looking for ways to share, people hoarded. We easily forget about the grace of God's abundance when faced with difficulty.
When we share (like the miracle shows), we often find that God multiplies things-not in a prosperity gospel kind of way. These blessings are often very different from what we expect.
God often multiplies things by the miracle of our sharing. When we divide our bread, there is often enough for all.
Jesus is comparing the grace and goodness of the bread he has to offer with the infectious nature of yeast the Pharisees and Herod are offering.
Jesus's bread is plentiful. There is no shortage in the kingdom of God.
Jesus is extending grace. There is a sacramental nature to this bread. This is Eucharist-the extending of grace through ordinary means, in ways we can't fully understand.
Jesus is proclaiming a kingdom of inclusion. There was a miracle of bread extended to the Jews. There was a miracle of bread extended to the gentiles. The grace of God is extended to all who would receive it.
The yeast of the Pharisees and Herod exists in stark contrast to what Jesus has to offer.
Herod, as the king, is in a position of political power that focuses on there not being enough. We know that Herod the Great clung so tightly to his power that he killed his own sons to keep it. In this type of kingdom, there is not enough for everyone, let alone an abundance. We have to fight to get what we want and keep what we have.
The Pharisees focused over and over again on law versus grace. They are constantly trying to trap Jesus as he heals people on the Sabbath or gives to others. When they criticize Jesus's good acts performed on the Sabbath, they miss the point of the laws they are trying to uphold.
Look there at verse 11
11 The Pharisees showed up and began to argue with Jesus. To test him, they asked for a sign from heaven.
The NIV renders that they began to question Jesus but many translations state that they began to argue with him. The Message paraphrase says that they began to badger him.
I don’t know about you, but I do not like to be badgered. That is someone trying to pick a fight, or argue with you untill you give up. It is like having a yippy dog that is constantly yipping at your ankles.
Maybe I’m letting my imagination run away when I read verse 12
12 With an impatient sigh, Jesus said, “Why does this generation look for a sign? I assure you that no sign will be given to it.”
I can almost picture Jesus rolling his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Am I the only one who has ever done that? A kid badgers you for something and you have had it up to your eyeballs and you let out a deep sigh and tell them for the last time no. Ever done that?
The pharasee’s relationship as people of God is about self-righteousness more than it is about being truly righteous. When they show gratitude, they express glee at not being like those around them, as opposed to humble thanksgiving that puts others before themselves. Jesus told a parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
9 Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: 10 “Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”
The kingdom of God to the Pharisees and Herod was one of exclusion versus inclusion. The Pharisees were focused on who was in and who was out. They avoided those who were unclean instead of embracing them.
Sadly the church has done that so many times. I recall two brothers that a man in a former church had befriended. He didn’t drive so he had no way of getting the boys to Sunday School and church. He would call us or someone to please go pick up the boys.
It was way out the way for us to go pick them up, but when James called we’d go pick them up. They didn’t always smell the greatest, didn’t always have decent clothes, and they always seemed hungry. Many at church didn’t want them being brought because they were different, dirty, unkempt, not the kind of people that they wanted to associate with.
How often do we do that? I believe more times than we’d like to admit.
Herod and his policies operated in much the same way. While the motivation may have been different, there were people who were in and those who were out. Having any kind of nation state inherently creates a system of enemies as well. In contrast, the kingdom of God calls for loving our enemies.
The insidious nature, the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod was that their harmful ideas and theologies spread so easily. It was easy to get caught up in legalism, in exclusion, in the creation of enemies. It was easy to get trapped in the idea of scarcity, the need to fight for what you want-and kill to keep it.
What the disciples didn't get is what we often don't get either.
What the disciples didn't get is what we often don't get either.
17 Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “Why are you talking about the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you grasp what has happened? Don’t you understand? Are your hearts so resistant to what God is doing? 18 Don’t you have eyes? Why can’t you see? Don’t you have ears? Why can’t you hear? Don’t you remember?
The Message gets right to the point
17 Jesus overheard and said, “Why are you fussing because you forgot bread? Don’t you see the point of all this? Don’t you get it at all?
Despite the miracles happening right in front of them, the disciples still didn't understand the radical work of Jesus. They were still operating with the vision of the world rather than the vision of the kingdom of God. They were concerned about not having enough bread-when they had just seen a miracle exponentially multiplying bread!
They were still susceptible to the ways of the world. Jesus warns them about the Pharisees and Herod because their ways are insidious and easy to get trapped in.
David McKenna has tremendous insight into this when he wrote:
Jesus’ insight into the true nature of the institutionalized human systems of the Pharisees and Herod leads Him to a prophetic conclusion. The two systems are not only evil at their source, but totalitarian in their exercise. Thus, Jesus foresees the deadly coalition of religious rigidity and secular expediency that will kill Him.
Three things can happen when religious and secular totalitarians abide side by side.
One, the religious and secular tyrants may merge in the common cause of survival. When they do, the most shameful atrocities of human history are written.
Two, one totalitarian system can be traded for the other. In Eastern Europe after World War II, for instance, the Communist takeover in many countries was eased because the Roman Catholic Church held absolute power over the people. With hardly a ripple, Communist dictatorship replaced Catholic dominance.
Three, a nation where religious rigidity and secular expediency exist side by side is particularly vulnerable to what George Cabot Lodge calls “the totalitarian lurch”—a wild swing between anarchy and dictatorship. Again, much of human history can be read and predicted by “the totalitarian lurch.”
As strange as it may seem, when people have freedom, they want security; and when they have security, they want freedom. Democracy is a precarious balance between freedom and security, and as the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville inferred, we are never more than an election away from either extreme.
(McKenna, D. L., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Mark (Vol. 25, p. 164). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
The disciples can directly be connected to us. How often do we forget the miracles? How often do we look at the world through eyes of the world, instead of the eyes of the kingdom of God?
Do we trap ourselves and others in the burden of legalism?
Do we leave others out because we are focused on the law over grace?
Do we reject others based on some sort of unattainable standard?
Do we believe the myth of scarcity or live in the abundance of the kingdom?
Do we look to political war power to save us or to Jesus?
Are we willing to kill to keep the power and stuff that we have?
Despite saying we want to follow Jesus and be his disciples, we often forget that our food should be the bread of life - and not bread baked with the yeast of religious legalism or political power. We are to consume grace, extend grace, and live in grace.
CONCLUSION
Every culture has their own version of bread. From tortillas, to naan, to sourdough, and everything in between. Bread is a cornerstone of survival, and it signifies to us in times of instability that things will be okay.
Bread is also what Jesus used to represent his body to the world as he broke it and extended it to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. It is a symbol of hope, grace, and inclusion to those so often rejected by the world.
We are people of bread, but the question still hangs in the air: whose bread are we consuming? Are we feasting on the bread of life? The bread of the abundant grace, love, and hope of the kingdom of God?
Or are we allowing the yeast of legalism, fear, political power, and control feed us these days? May we learn once again to feast upon the bread of the kingdom of God. May we clean our lives and our homes of the yeast of this world and shed our allegiance to power, legalism, and scarcity as we eat of the bread of life-a bread of abundance extended to all.