CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mark 8:1. The multitude being very great.—The MS. authority is pretty evenly divided between παμπόλλου as above, and πάλιν πόλλου, there being again a great multitude. The latter seems preferable on the whole, παμπόλλου being found nowhere else in the New Testament, nor yet in LXX.
Mark 8:3. For divers, etc.—And some of them are (or, are come) from afar. Our Lord’s words: not an addition by the Evangelist.
Mark 8:8. Broken meat.—Fragments, as in chap. Mark 6:43. Baskets.—Not the little wicker-baskets of chap. Mark 6:43, but panniers of sufficient size and strength to hold a man (Acts 9:25).
Mark 8:9. We may note the following points of difference between this feeding and the former (chap. Mark 6:35-44).
1. On this occasion the people had been with our Lord upwards of three days, a circumstance not mentioned before.
2. Seven loaves are now distributed and a few fishes; then, five loaves and two fishes.
3. Five thousand were fed then; four thousand now.
4. Seven large rope-baskets are employed here to hold the fragments; twelve small wicker-baskets there.
5. The more excitable inhabitants of the coast-villages of the north would have taken and made Him a king (John 6:15); whereas the men of Decapolis and the eastern shores permit Him to depart without any demonstration.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Mark 8:1-9
(PARALLEL: Matthew 15:32-39.)
The feeding of the four thousand.—It could hardly have been without some special reason that the miracle should have been also worked on another occasion by our Lord with scarcely any variation of detail, or that in each case the miracle should have been recorded with so very great attention to detail.
I. The compassion of Jesus Christ is the origin and source of help.—
1. He had compassion on mankind as, looking down from heaven, He saw the whole human race, a vast multitude of souls, helpless, in the wilderness of sin, starving, away from all supplies of spiritual food, with death before them; and having compassion on them, He came from heaven to earth to bring them the bread of life.
2. He sees the multitude to-day, and has compassion on us; and so He sends to us His Church, by and through the ministry of which He gives us all the means of grace.
3. And remember this, that Jesus our Lord, looking upon the multitude now as of old, looks at us not in the mass, but one by one. He sees me; He knows my needs; He has compassion on me.
II. Our Lord draws out from the disciples a declaration of their own inability to meet the difficulty and to supply the needs of the multitude.—And it was then, when they had realised the difficulty, when they had come to see their own insufficiency, that our Lord worked the miracle. And is it not just so with us and the difficulties of life? “Whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?” The question is a natural one It is also an admission of entire helplessness, and it is often the first step to obtaining help.
III. He makes them see that, after all, they have something through which help is to be obtained, and that they must do what they can.—That “God helps those who help themselves” is a saying which is true in material as in spiritual matters; and we very often forget that God helps us through those very things which we already possess, and which we overlook as insufficient for our needs. The world around seems hard and cold; there seems no chance of help. It is well at such times to put to ourselves the question, “How many loaves have ye?” Then, if we think, we find that, after all, we have something—life, health, strength, intelligence, opportunities of one kind or another; and these gifts of God already given to us, if used diligently according to His laws, will, under His blessing, prove more than sufficient for our need. So, also, in spiritual matters. There are times when the temptations and the trials of life, when old habits of evil, the downward tendencies so often yielded to, seem altogether too great for us to overcome—and they are too great for us to overcome in our own strength; and though we would thankfully overcome if we could, yet it all seems so hopeless; we so fully realise our own weakness that we are tempted to give it all up as hopeless. Ah! then listen to the Saviour’s searching question, “How many loaves have ye?” “Have you nothing already given you that may help? No strength? No grace? Look well and see.”
1. The gift of baptismal grace—and therein the germ of all graces.
2. The sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, given you in confirmation—the spirit of wisdom, and understanding, counsel and strength, knowledge and true godliness and holy fear.
3. The Holy Communion.
4. All the means of grace. The Word of God. Opportunities of public worship.
5. The power of repentance.
6. The gift of prayer.
7. The ministry of the Church. If we will but use these gifts faithfully, then by God’s blessing they will more than suffice for all the wants of our souls, and we shall be “more than conquerors” in that battle that seemed so hopeless.
IV. His was the power that was to make this small amount of food more than enough to satisfy the needs of this vast multitude; but before He exercised that power He commanded them to sit down. There is here a lesson of the utmost value to us all in this busy, energetic age. We need more repose of mind and character, more quiet, steady, humble work of all kinds. Jesus commands us, as He did the multitude of old, to “sit down on the ground,” if we would receive His gifts aright and benefit by them. They are to be received in an orderly, quiet, composed, and humble spirit. The life most free from feverish excitement is the life that profits most by His gifts. In the spiritual life, above all, there must be not only energetic activity, but also the quiet sitting down and waiting humbly for God’s blessing. “Sit down” before you say your prayers, if you would really have them answered. Recall your thoughts, be patient and quiet and humble, try to remember to whom you are about to speak, and what it is you are going to ask, what you really need. “Sit down” before your acts of public worship. Let there be more restfulness about your worship, more repose of thought, more concentration of thought on what you are about to do. “Sit down,” above all, before each Communion. “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
1. Let me calmly, honestly, and thoughtfully look into my past life, especially since my last Communion.
2. Let me see where I am and what I Amos
3. Let me try my best to see my sins as they really are, and as they are recorded in God’s Book.
4. Let me “sit down” and truly repent of past sins, and make my humble confession to Almighty God, honestly purposing amendment of life.
V. God’s gifts, whether temporal or spiritual, are never to be wasted.—He gives, indeed, with a splendid liberality, but He gives that His gifts may be used and not wasted. “Waste not, want not,” applies to the matters of the soul quite as truly as it does to those of the body. Gather up, then, the fragments of time that may yet remain to you, and make the most of them, living daily nearer God. Gather up the fragments of the opportunities of showing sympathy and kindness and winning the hearts of others. Gather up the fragments that yet remain to you of all the opportunities of helping others by precept or example or moral support. Gather up all the fragments of the grace given you. Store it up for use; by use it grows and increases; by use grace is turned into virtue.—Dean W. C. Ingram.
Christ’s presence in ordinances.—If we are following Christ, we may not doubt His protection; we may not think (however dark our prospect) that His support and comfort will be withdrawn; but, on the contrary, we shall find that means are at hand (though overlooked for a time) which, with His blessing, will suffice for our wants. If we are following in the flock of Christ, and do not, by our sin or our distrust, forfeit our privilege, we shall find indeed that “the Lord is our Shepherd, and therefore we can lack nothing”; and we have His assurance that He will be with us, to support, protect, and save, even unto the end of the world.
I. There is much in the Church at the present day which resembles the position of those who upon this occasion followed our Lord into the wilderness.—
1. First, inwardly, in the thoughts and feelings of their minds, there is the same strong tendency in the present generation of Christians to walk by sight, not by faith. They see themselves surrounded by sin on every side, and they fail to discern the presence of Christ among them. They are following Christ, it is true; they are hearing His Word in public and at home; they are hungering for the bread of life; yet when they think of the position of Christ’s Church on earth they are ready to ask, “Whence can a man,” etc. The answer to this is ready. The bread is within our reach, if we will take our eyes off from man and fix them upon God; if we regard the Church as the institution not of man but of God, if we avail ourselves of her sacraments and other ordinances in faith, “all,” “men, women, and children,” “will be filled,” and there will be more than enough.
2. Yet men in general do not receive the blessing; they are starving for the bread of life, and cannot find it. Why? Because they have no faith in the ordinance which is to convey it. If they fail to discern the presence of Christ in any ordinance of the Church, no blessing can reasonably be expected. Thus in respect to public prayer our Lord has promised, “Where two or three are gathered together,” etc. Is it reasonable to suppose that a person who, after such plain declarations, fails to discern Christ’s presence in the worship of the Church should receive a blessing from it? Again, with regard to the Holy Communion, the necessity is admitted of “feeding upon Christ” and eating “the bread of life.” But do men seek this food when it is to be had in the Blessed Sacrament? And do they believe that it is Christ on whom they feed? So again, if after our Lord’s plain words, “Suffer little children to come to Me, and forbid them not,” we neglect to bring them to that sacrament by which they are made members of Christ’s Church, can we wonder if they are not blessed? or if, notwithstanding His plain declaration, “He that believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved,” we yet consider that the child is not “by baptism regenerate,” and thus in state of salvation,—if we prefer thus to “walk by sight, and not by faith,” can we wonder if we suffer? Again, if after the express assertion of St. Peter, “Baptism doth now save us—not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,” no care is taken to train up those who have been baptised in the paths of righteousness; if we fail to discharge the obligation which it entailed upon us, to bring up those children as no longer our own, but Christ’s, bought with His own blood and resigned to Him, only that they are lent us back for a time; if we fail to discern the presence of Christ as it were leading His youthful converts by the hand, and on the contrary distract their attention or suffer them to wander away from Him,—can we be surprised that they should run into grievous sin, and that the Word of God should seem to fail?
II. What is the course which all Christians whose eyes are open to their position ought to pursue?—
1. How was it of old? See Psalms 107:4-6. Now, as then, if we pray “in the faith, we shall receive”; if we trustfully “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,” if we believe that “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him,” our faith will be confirmed, our grace increased, and a new light will break in upon us. We shall see that, however dark the prospect, however seemingly impossible that good should come from it, yet to doubt is sinful; Christ will ever be true to His own ordinance.
2. The Christian who has been tried will admit that the cares and sorrows of life (the very rocks and thorns of his wilderness) are productive of good: losses and poverty will keep his soul humble, dead to the world, sober; so will mean or low station; reproach will exercise his patience; pain and bodily affliction, though for the present not joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterwards “yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.”
3. Every Christian will admit that he has at times received support and consolation from the prayers and the advice of his brethren in the Lord. The conversation of the pious, their consolation in time of trouble, their advice and support in cases of difficulty, and their piety and earnestness at other times, are admitted to afford a degree of peace and happiness; they are admitted to be channels through which God is sending us support, and we feel the good they have done us, and are thankful for it.
III. The consequence of our failing to recognise Christ’s presence in His ordinances is very apparent.—
1. We perceive it in the want of reverence too often manifested in the house of God, or in unfrequent attendance there—in the listless prayer, the faint praise, the wandering thought, the neglected Communion, or the carelessness with which the altar is approached.
2. We perceive it in the neglected training of Christian children, who are seldom regarded as regenerate—as the lambs of Christ’s flock, led by Him and blessed by Him, unless through our indifference Satan is permitted to obtain the advantage over them.
3. We perceive it in the evil life of youths who, though children of godly parents, through the error of those parents in not regarding the Church’s ordinances as the means of grace, have become mere hypocrites in religion, and oftentimes are bringing down their parents’ grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.
4. We perceive it in the neglect of confirmation, or the careless receiving of that holy rite.
5. We perceive it in unhappy marriages, or the breach of the marriage vow.
6. We perceive it in the relapse into sin of those who, when they had thought themselves dying, made to the priest the most earnest professions of repentance.—C. C. Spencer.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mark 8:2. Waiting on Christ.—
1. If we have real spiritual hunger, we shall not soon weary of waiting on Christ.
2. Christ will take good care of those who are earnestly following Him.
3. Christ watches just as lovingly over our physical needs as over the welfare of the soul.
Christ’s compassion.—How confidently, then, may the believer reckon upon the compassion of his Lord! How should the knowledge of it lead him to cast all his care upon Him. In every circumstance of his life Jesus feels for him, and is watching over him, and is ordering all things for his good. Only let faith be in active exercise, and realise this truth. Distrust will only cause us to err.—H. Caddell.
Mark 8:3. Christ’s knowledge of human nature.—Why did these people not faint now? Simply because there was something to absorb their thoughts now, and thus make them forgetful of their hunger. We have travelled before now with a companion, and have been charmed by his personality and utterances. We became almost unconscious of time or space. Then the hour came when we had to say “Good-bye,” and to walk home without the inspiration of his presence. Oh, how weak and wearied we then felt! Everything told us that we had exhausted our body under the continuous strain. But we did not realise all that while our friend was near. Now Christ, who knows our nature, knew all this. Oh, we rejoice to know that Jesus enters into these little details of human experience, that His pity covers all possibilities of failure arising from the weakness of our flesh or aught else!—D. Davies.
Mark 8:4. Forgetfulness of former mercies.—Do we act more consistently even now, with all our increase of light and of spiritual experience? Is it not too often true of us, even now, that, though we have heard with our ears and have ourselves witnessed the noble and merciful works which God has done, we still cry with only a faltering faith, “Oh, Lord, arise, help us and deliver us”? It is so with regard to His providential dealings; it is so with regard to His gifts of grace. Each new difficulty appears too great for us; at each recurring necessity we feel as if we should be overpowered by Satan and by the many perplexities which surround us. We all have need to pray for that ripeness of faith and that clearness of spiritual discernment which would enable us under sudden dangers to rely undoubtingly upon Him who has so often saved us, and in the midst of temptations to rest with confidence upon that Divine grace the power of which has so often been displayed to ourselves and others, and which never faileth those who trust to it.
Mark 8:6-7. The law of increase.—It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The true bread is Christ, who was given to us at baptism, that He might live in us and bring forth fruit. On this grace we depend for all good. Would we have Him to increase, we must note and imitate His action in this miracle.
1. He had faith in His own Divine power. So have we in grace. Did we look at difficulties, our hearts would fail. We must look only to Him; believe that He has called us; believe that He gives us power to obey.
2. He used ordinary means: so we; no special calls needed; in the midst of daily life we may become perfect. For example, there are duty, temptations, sacrifices, trials.
3. He gave thanks: so let us even for small mercies; we must not let blessings ravel out.
4. Liberality toward others. Grace is meant to be used. If its fire has really kindled in our hearts, we must diffuse the warmth. But the very act of imparting blessing brings an increase to ourselves (Proverbs 11:25; Job 42:10).—A. G. Jackson.
No waste in God’s work.—When God interrupts the ordinary course of His providence, it is not for the purpose of surprising and astounding men’s minds, but in order to bring about His own designs. Hence it is that we never see any waste either of energy or material in His works. And thus does He proceed in supplying the wants of His people. He does it so as to make it plainly appear that the supply is God’s work, and yet not so as to be altogether out of the course of natural things.—H. Caddell.
Our wants Christ’s care.—Jesus created a supply out of what the disciples had, and not out of nothing. In like manner, if His people daily follow Him in faith, if this is the first and prominent object of their lives, and if, in subordination to this, they are diligent and laborious in their callings in life, and seek His blessing on all their earnings, He will take care that they never want. His hand, though unseen, except by the eye of faith, shall break and bless their daily meal. They shall ever have enough. And the secret of it will be that “Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith” presides also over all their temporal concerns, makes their wants His care, becomes a daily guest at their table, and draws out to the extent of their wants the slender meal which, by His blessing, their faithful diligence has already provided.—Ibid.
Christ will not fail us in the hour of need.—If we follow the Lord into the wilderness, if for His sake we are content to give up much which the world holds valuable, to forego some of its lawful pleasures, if in His service we forget to make provision for the flesh, He will not fail us in our hour of necessity, but will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory, feed our souls with the hidden manna of His sweetness, and give us such temporal blessings as may best minister to our eternal good.—S. W. Skeffington.
Mark 8:8. Religious frugality.—There is a wide difference between a penurious spirit and a spirit of religious frugality. The former grudges what is used in order that it may hoard up the more for itself. The latter unites a large hospitality with a due sense of responsibility to God in the use of His bountiful gifts. The former is mere covetousness; the latter is wise and godly prudence.—H. Caddell.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Mark 8:2. Compassion for the needy.—King Oswald of Northumbria accompanied the monk Aidan in his long missionary journeys as interpreter. One day, as he feasted with the monk by his side, the thane, or noble of his war-band, whom he had set to give alms to the poor at his gate, told him of a multitude that still waited fasting without. The king at once bade the untasted meat before him be carried to the poor, and his silver dish be divided piecemeal among them. Aidan seized the royal hand and blessed it. “May this hand,” he cried, “never grow old!”
Mark 8:4. “From whence?”—That question may be asked of us. Who can do this? Not the cleverest or most powerful man living. The man of science can do much. He can open the fields of sky to our gaze with a telescope, and shew us other worlds than ours. He can make steam his slave, and compel it to bear the ship from one side of the world to the other. He can seize upon electricity and make it carry a message at his bidding. But the greatest man of science cannot make an ear of corn grow, nor an apple blossom swell into fruit. Kings can make laws to take away life, but they cannot give life, nor cause it to rain upon the earth, nor make the fields bring forth their increase. “From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread?” From whence? From heaven. And the one Man who can do this is the Man Christ Jesus, the God Christ Jesus.—H. J. Wilmot Buxton.