Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
August 30, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Mark's statement about the disciples' "forgetfulness" is profound "stage-setting".
Introduction: In our studies in Mark we have seen, over and over again, deliberate attempts by Mark to write words that are designed to bring "
the issue" of the immediate text into its place in respect to "
the issue" of the larger context.
In our study this evening we are going to see him doing that once again in an almost hidden way. And, it is the "hiddenness" issue that is in play. It points us back to that earlier context of Jesus deliberately keeping certain ones from being able to "see" while, simultaneously, making it possible for others to "see" by teaching in parables.
- I. Mark's Statement That The Disciples Had "Forgotten" To Take Loaves With Them When They Got Into The Boat.
- A. This statement is clearly "stage-setting" for a critical warning from Jesus.
- B. What is not as clear is why he uses the term "forgotten" to set this stage.
- 1. Some translations use our word "neglected" and others "forgotten".
- a. These translational options have the same core idea: bringing loaves along as they got into the boat to leave The Pharisees and go to the other side was "not on their minds".
- b. That such a basic idea was "not on their minds" is indicative of a strong level of distraction.
- c. That strong level of distraction was rooted in the strong antagonism of The Pharisees.
- 2. When we look into Mark's use of the word translated "forgot" or "neglected", we discover these facts...
- a. The word translated "forgot" is used in 8 verses of the New Testament.
- 1) In Matthew 16:5, the context is exactly the same as our text here in Mark.
- 2) Mark 8:14 is our current focus of study.
- 3) Luke 12:6 is altogether a different context, but it is a significant contrast between the disciples in Matthew and Mark who "forgot" and the God Who does not "forget" the sparrows, though they have very little value in the eyes of men.
- 4) Philippians 3:13 is Paul's declaration of what he deliberately "forgets".
- 5) Hebrews is the "forget" book, with three uses.
- a) 6:10 -- "God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints."
- b) 13:2 -- "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it."
- c) 13:16 -- "And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."
- 6) James 1:24 -- "...for [once] he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was."
- 7) Summary.
- a) Whether "forgetting" or "neglecting", the issue is that something is not present upon one's mind.
- b) The background "noise" of the Pharisees' strong adversarial behavior is highly likely the reason that the disciples did not have "bread" on their minds.
- i. It is a testament to the chaos surrounding Jesus and His disciples, with many people around them (some seeking benefit; others voicing angry opposition), that something as basic as "food" was not even on their radar.
- ii. But, once things settled down in the boat, "food" did come to mind, and they discovered that they didn't have "enough" to go around.
- b. The issue of "taking loaves" along is prominent in the prior texts/contexts.
- 1) In Mark's first use of "taking/receiving", the issue at hand was the flawed response of those who "received the word with joy'" until it causes them difficulty (4:16).
- a) There is such a strong connection between this context of the seed and its impact upon people and the disciples in their distracted state that it is unlikely that Mark did not do this on purpose, being guided by the Holy Spirit in His inspiration of Mark's writings.
- b) It is precisely the fact that the disciples are caught up in the tension of The Pharisees coming out in strong antagonism against Jesus (and, by way of extension, them) that parallels the problem of people "receiving the word with joy until they run into the buzz saw of opposition, affliction, and persecution.
- c) When the "negatives" of our experiences hit us so strongly that we are distracted even from such a basic thing as the need to eat, we are in serious danger of making bad, even fatal, decisions.
- 2) Mark 6:41 is Mark's next use of "receive" and it is in the context of The Feeding Of The Five Thousand wherein Jesus "received/took" the five loaves... .
- a) There is such a woeful inadequacy to five loaves with five thousand men standing around, that "having only one loaf on the boat" is almost funny, and it highlights Jesus' question of "how many leftovers were there?': twelve baskets full of leftovers in the face of such woeful inadequacy should have made a significant "dent" in the thinking of The Twelve that they would not overlook it.
- 3) His third use is in 7:27 where Jesus says "...it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs...".
- a) The picture is of someone robbing the children of their "food".
- i. The Syrophoenician woman immediately denied that she was doing that -- she was simply watching for crumbs to fall to the floor (ceasing to be the children's food by that "falling to the floor").
- ii. The theme of people going hungry under the compassionate oversight of Jesus is a "constant" in these uses.
- 4) The fourth use is in 8:6 where Jesus, again, "took" seven loaves to feed Four Thousand.
- 5) And the fifth use is our current text.
- 6) Summary:
- a) Up to this point, Mark has used the idea of "taking/receiving loaves" to refer to people getting sufficient, specific benefit from God for life.
- b) At issue in "taking loaves" is the issue of "feeding one's body in order to maintain life".
- c) It has become the major metaphor for making provision for the ability to continue on in "living".
- d) It, thus, cannot be an "accident" that the "eating of bread" is at the very root of the objective of "faith" in what can give/extend "life".
- i. Clearly, the "leaven" of Herod and of The Pharisees cannot do that.
- ii. And, just as clearly, Jesus' food ("bread") was to do the will of Him Who had sent him (John 4:34) and His identity was "the living bread" (John 6:51, 58).
- e) Bread, thus, becomes the primary element in the observance of The Lord's Table as the "sign" of the New Covenant.
- f) Additionally, the issue of "faith" in God's provisional abilities is deliberately highlighted: It is highly dangerous for disciples "to forget" what is really "food" and what is merely "bread".
