Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 4 Study # 8
January 18, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Jesus' "blessing" and "breaking" of the loaves was for the specific purpose of giving The Twelve a foundation for their "keeping of His commandments".
Introduction: Throughout the New Testament, the
behavior of the disciples of Jesus is critical to their fruitfulness. There are other, more important, themes (because of the ability of men to "fake it"), but the
fruitfulness of the disciples is tied to their
behavior, once the more important issues are in place. The "more important issues" are "Love" and "Truth", but, once in place,
behavior, driven by a proper motivation and faith-roots in divine truth, is critical.
Thus, the records of the "feeding of the five thousand" (all four of them) are crucial, being the only "sign" Jesus did that is recorded in all four Gospels. Since John, the lone hold-out on most of the activities of Jesus (His record is totally unique in respect to Jesus' miraculous "signs" except for the "signs" of the feeding, the walk on water, and His resurrection), greatly expands the issue of the feeding of the five thousand in His "Bread of Life" discourse, we simply must see this miraculous event as a critical event for the learning of the disciples of Jesus.
Thus, we have carefully looked into the details Mark gives us, and have considered the implications for The Twelve. At root is Mark's casting of this miraculous event in terms of Jesus as The Shepherd Who is preparing The "Apostles" for their "under-shepherd" activities of the future. Key to this preparation is the truth of how the behavior of The Apostles is going to be generated in terms of Jesus' instructions. His "You give to them to eat" is a kind of "bottom line" for Life and Fruitfulness in that it addresses the HOW? question in respect to the impossibilities of the task of action taken in the light of Love and Faith. It not only keeps "repentance" in focus by forcing the recognition that our "task" is impossible for us, but it also reveals the commitment of Jesus to us and to those works which He "before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). Thus, humility and faith are the foundations of our living.
- I. The Prelude Issues.
- A. The function of participles.
- 1. There are two preliminary participles in 6:41 and two main verbs.
- 2. A.T. Robertson says that participles are essentially "verbal adjectives".
- a. Adjectives, by definition, are "descriptors"; they fill in necessary details so that what they describe is given greater significance.
- b. Adjectives are not designed to "take away" significance by elevating "verbal descriptions" to be equal to the main action(s) in view.
- B. The first of these "prelude" descriptors: "having taken".
- 1. Jesus had given The Twelve His "impossible demand" ("You give them to eat").
- 2. He had also deliberately highlighted the "impossibility" factor ("How many loaves do you have? Go see.").
- 3. He had "ordered an organization of the crowd" that reminded everyone there of "military order".
- 4. Then, He "had taken" the five loaves and two fish as a prelude issue.
- a. The "issue" here is that "five" loaves were hopelessly inadequate, and that they were all the bread that the disciples could take in hand to "do" what Jesus had commanded.
- b. The secondary "issue" is that two fish, as welcome to a meal of "bread" as they are, are even more inadequate.
- 5. The inescapable thesis is "inadequacy" at a level beyond any/all argument.
- C. The second of these "prelude" descriptors: "having looked up".
- 1. With the bread and fish in hand, Jesus turned His eyes toward "The Heaven".
- 2. The "verbal adjective" is an intensified form of blepo, a verb meaning "to see".
- a. In Mark's record, this intensified form of this verb signals an ability to see with sharp clarity, and it is a metaphor for "understanding" what is seen (see the record of the healing of the blind man in two stages in 8:24 in its context).
- b. When Jesus, having the bread and fish in hand, "looked up into The Heaven", He saw the Truths of man's incapacities in all things regarding "godliness" and of "Heaven's" willingness to adequately provide a solution": He saw this "clearly" while all who were around Him were "blind".
- 3. The inescapable thesis is that Jesus deliberately indicated that He could "see" God as the Source of His abilities while everyone else was blind to that reality.
- a. "The Heaven" is first mentioned by Mark in 1:10-11 as the place from which God's Spirit (the provider of all capacities to "do" things that fit the divine order) descends and from which the voice of "The Inhabitant of The Heaven" identifies Jesus as "My beloved Son with Whom I am totally satisfied".
- b. Thus, as Jesus turned His eyes toward "The Heaven" He indicated His Source of ability and the attitude by which He pleases God beyond measure.
- D. As "preludes", these two "verbal adjectives" simply set the stage for our understanding of the significance of the two verbs which follow.
- II. What Jesus Actually "Did".
- A. The first actual "verb" is "He blessed".
- 1. Mark used this verb for the first time in 6:41 in reference to "bread and fish for 5,000 men".
- 2. He used this verb for the second time in 8:7 in reference to "bread and fish for 4,000 men".
- 3. His third use is in 11:9-10 where the crowd, at the point of Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey, was shouting "...blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord..." and "...blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David...".
- a. The ride upon a donkey is a "prophetic" fulfillment: Zechariah 9:9 predicts Jerusalem's "King" riding into the city upon a donkey.
- b. The shouting is a strong public announcement of another prophecy: Daniel 9:26 predicts that Messiah will be "identified" and then "cut off".
- 4. And Mark's fourth use is in 14:22 wherein Jesus "blesses" the "Bread" that is "His Body" and the disciples "eat it" and establish the practice as one of the special ordinances of The Church for its entire earthly history.
- 5. The point: Jesus "blessed" the bread and fish by highly exalting the "eating of God's provision of the impossible".
- B. The second actual "verb" is "He broke" in reference to "the bread".
- 1. Mark's use of this verb is extremely unique in that it is one of only two uses of this intensified form of klao, the verb for "breaking", which is used primarily in the New Testament in reference to "the breaking of the bread during the last supper".
- a. This intensified form is only used in reference to this event (the feeding of the five thousand)) by Mark and Luke.
- 1) If a person buys into Jesus' theology of "not one jot or tittle will pass away", it cannot be a simple "style" issue.
- 2) This "theology" is intensified by Jesus in Luke 16:17 where He says, "...it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the Law to fail".
- 3) If we understand the feeding of the five thousand "men" as a "harbinger" of the fruitfulness of the Gospel seed, it comes as no surprise that Luke records that the number of "men" in the Church in Acts 4:4 came to be "about five thousand".
- 4) Thus, there was a good reason for Mark and Luke to intensify Jesus' "breaking" of the bread for the sake of 5,000 "men" since that "breaking" was specifically referring to the symbolism of Jesus' body being "broken" by the cross (though not one bone of that body was broken).
- b. Intensely "breaking" the bread was Jesus' way of pre-figuring the "breaking" of His body for the Church.
- 1) It was no "common" breakage; it was intense.
- 2) Given that the "bread" (food for the "men") is likened unto the green grass (food for sheep that have a shepherd), the parallel is remarkable.
- 3) What was "harbinger" in the analogy of the green grass is now "reality" as "five thousand men" make up the Church through the proclamation of "the Word".
- 2. The Point: Five loaves and two fish are entirely "inadequate", but God's provision in Jesus is "adequate beyond comprehension".
- III. What The Disciples Needed To Learn.
- A. That their inadequacy is more than matched by God's adequate provision.
- B. That this "lesson" is the most fundamental "Life" lesson for the Church through the ages.
