A Short Memory. Mark 8:1-4.
In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. “And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.”And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”
Dear Ambassadors of the King of Kings,
One of the things Mark is communicating in his gospel is the extent of spiritual blindness, not only in the Pharisees but also in the disciples. Things that ought to be obvious to them by this time do not even cross their minds.
Crowd (v. 1). The setting is very similar to the one where Jesus fed the five thousand. There was a large crowd with Jesus in a desolate place. They had been with Jesus three days (v. 2) and some were from far places (v. 3).
Compassion (vv. 2-3). Jesus raises the matter of the predicament of the crowd with his disciples and expresses his concern. The need of others never escapes Jesus. True compassion is not just the response to the needs of others but the disposition to notice such need and respond to it. A truly compassionate person should not wait to be asked to help with a need he can already see.
Characteristic (v. 4). The response of the disciples is typical of people who completely missed the lesson of the feeding of the five thousand. They ask Jesus the same thing they asked previously, implying that they were facing an impossible situation. Satan really does blind people to the truth of God. And before we write the disciples off, we need to examine our own response to situations.
In the words of Joseph Scriven, O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.