Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
August 4, 2024
Mark 8:1-10
At the Beginning of Worship:
About a month ago, I read an article where the author referred to this book: White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Brought Loaf.[1] I’m sure most of you might not have found it interesting, but I immediately ordered the book. Of course, I spent three of my college years and about a year and a half afterwards working in a wholesale bakery.[2]
Bread has been the foundation of life for humans in the western world. In the eastern world, it’s rice, of which there are some similarities especially when comparing white rice and white bread. In the west, there have been times in our history where we have received up to half of our calories from bread.
I was shocked to learn that for years white bread was considered the bread of the elite. Not everyone could afford the bleaching and extra processing it took to produce such flour. And, while doing such processing, much of the nutrition found in the wheat grain was lost. But the refined flour was easier to work on an industrial scale.
To dominate the market for bread, industrial bakers had to both compete with homemade bread and bread made, often by immigrants, in dirty hovels within cities. The bakers attacked mom’s homemade bread as not being as soft and fresh as the heavily conditioned dough used in factories. And they were able to create the impression that their bread was more sanitary than that produced in small bakeries.
Drawing on American’s distrust of immigrants, the battle against small bakeries was easily won. It’s ironic to think about how bread was used as a weapon in the anti-immigrant wars of the early 20thCentury.[3] Bread divided people!
Jesus uses bread to bring people together. In our passage today, Jesus draws people of different backgrounds together to be fed as he ministers to them. In communion, the common table represents a coming together of those who love him.
Before the Reading of Scriptures
Ever had a feeling of Déjà vu? As if you’ve heard or experienced something before? Well today, when I read the passage, you might wonder if I’m repeating a sermon from five weeks ago. After all, didn’t Jesus just feed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes? Well, yes, he did. And he’s back at it today. And I admit, I wish Mark hadn’t placed these two stories so close together, because I must come up with something fresh to say…
In the first story, Jesus fed five thousand. Today’s its four thousand. At this time, as we saw last week, Jesus is on the side of the Sea of Galilee which has a lot of Gentiles. Some scholars want us to think this is the same story.[4] But there are minor differences to the story, including locations[5] which indicate that these are different stories.
But before I read and get into the sermon, let me tell you an interpretation of the passage popular in the early church. Theologians back then interpreted these events in this manner. The 5,000 were Jews, with five loaves representing the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. This passage speaks of 4,000 being fed with seven loaves. This could represent either the seven nations in Deuteronomy,[6] or the four of 4000 representing the four corners of the earth. By this, Jesus foreshadows what will happen to the church.
In the earlier story, they collect 12 baskets of leftovers, one for each tribe of Israel. In today’s story, they collect 7 baskets which point to the seventy nations thought to exist in the world at this time, or the seven nations mentioned in Deuteronomy.[7] While using numeric symbolism in interpretation of scripture is valid in some books, it doesn’t go with the rest of Mark’s gospel. Mark isn’t writing Revelation, or Daniel.[8]
Also, numeric symbolism has often been abused. Think of all those who someone has found a way to make their name to equal 666, the number of the beast. I’ve seen it worked out to represent Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, a handful of Popes, along with several lesser-known folks.
I don’t necessarily agree with trying to interpret passages by the symbolism of numbers. However, I do think Jesus makes a point by feeding both those Jewish Galilee and in the mixed religious areas of the Decapolis. Jesus is for all people.
Let’s listen to God’s word.
The disciples in Mark’s gospel are always clueless. They’ve already seen Jesus take care of the needs of the crowd. Yet, a few weeks later, they ask their Master where they are going to get bread in the desert, in the wilderness. They don’t learn.
While bread was the staff of life for those in the western world for thousands of years before Jesus, it requires civilization to produce. It’s not something that an individual can whip up on their own in any great quantity. Perhaps a homesteader could grow a little wheat or barley and grind it and bake it to feed a family. But to make enough bread for 4,000 people requires a lot more effort. Someone needs to grow the grain, someone else needs to mill it. Another group needs to collect firewood. Then there are those who knead the dough while another tends the fire in the oven.
In the 1970s, when I was working in the bakery, to make enough bread to satisfy 4000 people would have still taken a team of eight, six hours. Yet, that would only be half hour of production, but the production process takes longer. And that’s with all kinds of modern machinery running on three phase electrical power and supported by a large natural gas line. On top of this, it involved buying flour, shortening, and sweetener by the truck or railcar load.
So, they are in the desert with a bunch of hungry people. In the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was so into teaching that he didn’t notice the sun dropping and stomachs growling. The disciples had to clue Jesus in. Here, Jesus realizes the problem. Not only that, but he also has compassion on the people. The word for compassion implies a gut-wrenching turn of one’s stomach.[9]Jesus identifies their hunger, which can be gut-wrenching. And since they’ve come from such distances (the Decapolis wasn’t highly populated), he’s afraid they’ll faint as they make their way home.
Notice that Jesus’ indicates that many have traveled a great distance to be here. If this is a mostly Gentile crowd (which I think it was), this means that even though they have far to travel, even the Gentiles are not beyond God’s grace. Of course, this is good news to us.
The disciples immediately ask Jesus what he wants them to do, reminding Jesus there’s no Food Lions or bakeries in sight.
As he’d done before, Jesus asks how many loaves of bread they have.
Seven, they said. Taking the bread, he asks the crowd to sit down.[10] Then, using language like the words of institution during Communion, he breaks the bread and has the disciples to distribute it. And everyone is filled.
In this story, unlike the first feeding of a multitude, the fish almost becomes an afterthought. Also, the word here for fish imply small fish such as sardines.[11] They were truly a snack, with the bread serving as the main course.
After they were fed, we’re told there were 4,000 of them. In the previous story, Mark said there were 5,000 men (as in male) fed. Here, the word implies “people.”[12] We can assume these included men and women, which again points to the early church welcoming all into the fellowship of believers. As Paul reminds us, we’re all one in Christ whether man or woman, Jew or Greek, slave or free.
Jesus has the disciples collect the leftovers, which results in seven baskets. Then he sends the crowd away, and they headed to a boat and goes to the district of Dalmanutha. We are not sure of its location, and it seems to have been a town lost in history, as even the early church writers debated over its location.[13]
What lesson might we take from this passage? First, we see an example of Jesus’ compassion. He is concerned that some within the crowd had travelled long distances and wanted to make sure they were able to make it home. Jesus is concerned for those who seek him out, and that includes us. We can rest assured that Jesus wants what is best for us. As the 23rd Psalm reminds us, God is with us even when we must walk the valley of the shadow of death.[14]
We also learn of Jesus’ concern for us is more than for the eternal welfare of our soul. Jesus wanted to assure the crowd had enough food to eat. We can assume this is the case even for us. Jesus wants us to have our daily bread. He wants us to succeed in life.
Because of the image we have of Jesus in scripture, we should we at peace. We may face difficulties in this world, but we know we’re watched over by a loving God. Amen.
[1] Aaron Bobrow-Strain, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Brought Loaf (Boston: Beacon Press, 2012). For my review of the book, see https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/07/31/baking-memories-and-a-book-review/
[2] To read my baking stories, begin here: https://fromarockyhillside.com/2021/04/08/coming-of-age-at-the-bakery/
[3] The author goes into detail about the role bread played in World War II and in the Cold War.
[4] For a review and critique of this idea, see James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 227.
[5] It is pointed out that we are not sure where this feeding took place. However, since Jesus has been in the Decapolis, and we’re not told of Jesus leaving at this point (and Mark has been giving us a rough travelogue, I think it is fair to assume he’s still on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. For another opinion, see Morna D. Hooker, The Gospel According to Saint Mark, (1991, Hendrickson Publishing, 1997), 187-188. See also Edwards, 229.
[6] Deuteronomy 7:1. See Edwards, 231.
[7] Douglas R. A. Hare, Westminster Bible Companion: Mark (Louisville, KY: Westminster, 1996), 89. Also see Hooker, 188.
[8] Edwards, 231.
[9] Andrew Purves, The Search for Compassion: Spirituality and Ministry (1989). See also Edwards, 230.
[10] In the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus has the disciples to order the crowd to sit down into groups of 50 to 100. Here, Jesus does the directing of the crowds.
[11] Edwards, 228.
[12] Edwards, 231.
[13] This place must have been renamed or deserted for it wasn’t known even in early Christian history. Hooker, 190. Edwards, 234 makes the case that it could be the fishing village of “Magadan.”
[14] Psalm 23:4.
Thank you. I’m good for the day.
Thanks for reading!
Never been able to stomach a sardine. My momma would say that’s just because I’ve been fortunate to never be that hungry.
I found the nuanced differences between the two feedings interesting, as well as bread as a status symbol. Although Billy Joel was trying to tell me all along. (“She’s been living in her white-bread world.”)
I’m not a big fan of sardines, but out of a similar can comes smoked oysters and I’ve eaten quite a few of them. I’d forgotten about Billy Joel’s song… I might could have written that in.
I take great comfort from your final sentence. Amen to that.
I am glad you found a tidbit to hold to and find comfort in.
Excellent sermon, Jeff. I learned some things about bread making and the story of Jesus feeding his people. Thanks for sharing and the book sounds interesting. Ties right in with your past. Funny how that works. 🙂
Thanks, Lisa. Bread’s link to civilization I find fascinating.