Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
August 2, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis:   Jesus' character is markedly "compassionate" even to the basic need for food.

Introduction:   In the passage where Jesus responds to the disciples' request that He teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-3), He is recorded as saying that their first interest should be the interests of God, Who is in heaven, in regard to His plans for events upon the earth; and that their second interest ought to be that they have "bread" for each day. This signifies that "your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (Matt. 6:8-11) so that you should feel free to ask Him to meet your need. This reality is the unwritten "stage" for Mark's record in 8:1-10.

Mark's intention, in this passage, is to re-emphasize his earlier thesis that Jesus is "The Compassionate Shepherd" (6:34) and to declare that this "compassion" reaches all the way down to their physical needs (though never at the sacrifice of their spiritual needs).

• I. The Compassionate Shepherd.
  • A. In Mark's first reference to "compassion", Jesus is moved to heal the leper who "believes" in Jesus' ability, but does not know about His "compassion" (1:41).
  • B. In the second reference to "compassion", Jesus is presented as immediately beginning to "teach them many things" as a "shepherd" (6:34).
    • 1. This signals the reality that there is a "love system" which puts, and keeps, the values of God for men in a real and immutable state.
      • a. This "teaching" is made first as the methodology of compassion.
      • b. This "teaching" is indicative of man's need to know what the "values of Life" are and how important it is that they be kept in their proper order (Note, again, Jesus' temptation account wherein the "words" of God are more important than physical concerns).
    • 2. This also signals the need for men to "see" God's dealings with them as those of a faithful "Shepherd" who places the "Life" of the sheep ahead of all other concerns.
      • a. "Life" is, and will always be, more valuable than "life" so that, if it should be so that "life" be sacrificed to produce "Life", no one should doubt the reality of their possession of a "Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd".
      • b. This issue is a matter of "faith"; a "truth" to be "believed".
  • C. In this third reference to "compassion", Mark is presenting Jesus again as "The Compassionate Shepherd".
  • D. In the fourth, and last, reference by Mark to "compassion", Jesus responds to the father of a demoniac who does not believe in Jesus' "ability", nor in His "compassion" (9:22).
  • E. This four-fold presentation of "compassion" is a kind of chiasm with the A prime and A secondary having to do with people who do not believe the truth Mark wishes for his readers to embrace, and the B prime and B secondary are events which declare Jesus to be "compassionate" in the reality of what "compassion" is: the practice of the "Love" of God.
• II. The Setting "In Those Days".
  • A. The "Days" are the "days" wherein the people are living by an upside down "love" that significantly needs correction.
  • B. The "Again" means that Mark is going to plow over the same ground "again".
    • 1. This time is different from the first time because the "need" for food for "life" is pushed down in the order of values.
      • a. The first time, the crowd was only present for one day.
      • b. This second time, the crowd has been forced to choose between "instruction for Life" and the "satisfaction of physical hunger" because they have been present without food for three days.
    • 2. There was "again" a "great crowd", but the numbers are significantly "down" from the 5,000 men to 4,000 total people.
      • a. This may suggest that there has been a significant number of people who drifted away from Jesus' teaching because "food" was more important to them than "Food".
      • b. In any case, the 4,000 that are present after three days without food are the objects of Jesus' "compassion" -- not so much those who had "drifted away".
    • 3. This presentation by Mark is a presentation of a basic "Truth" for "Life".
      • a. "Life" is a real possibility at any given point, but it is not a realized experience for those whose upside down "values" are stubbornly maintained.
      • b. It is not a lack of "compassion" that makes this a reality; it is a lack of willingness to be disciplined for "Life" that robs people of the experience of that compassion.
  • C. Jesus' focus was upon "His disciples", whom He summoned to a face-to-face setting, that needed to "got" this reality of "Truth" about "Compassion".
• III. The Description By Jesus Of The "Need".
  • A. The people have demonstrated a significant commitment to the "Love of God".
  • B. They are, however, physical beings who cannot pursue that commitment if they die for lack of food.

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This is article #328.
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