As we've been journeying through Mark, how many times have I said, Well, this passage that we're looking at today connects to the passage before it. I know I've said it many times, and I don't expect you to go back and count, but it is something I have said frequently, and I am saying it again today. We can't understand this passage without understanding the one before it. Remember, the disciples couldn't see, they couldn't understand. Jesus said that they were blind to what he was saying, and they were deaf, and they could not understand and truly hear His words. And so after this, they come upon this blind man at best Sada. Well, people bring him to Jesus, just as we see all throughout the Gospel of Mark, people are bringing people to Jesus to be healed.

Alright, so the story here as we land in Mark, chapter eight, verses 14 through 21, is a continuation of the story we looked at on Monday. Now, it's also a continuation of the feeding of the 5000. And you see that here. But the idea here is, is that Jesus is using this idea of the bread to teach his disciples something. And so, they get into the boat.

We see them getting into the boats quite often here in Mark, don't we? They get into the boat and he says to them, watch out. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. Now. What is Jesus saying?

So, as we land in Mark 8, we're seeing a very similar story. We've seen the feeding of the 5000, but now we have the feeding of the 4000. A thousand less people, probably an easier feed, but that's not the point. The point is that Jesus is able to have power over this. He's able to create this food. He's able to multiply it. It is a gift that comes from Him to His people. He cares about them. He wants them to eat. He wants them to be fed. But what do we see the disciples doing here? They're following Jesus. They seem to understand who He is, to have a good idea that he's the Messiah. But really, they don't really know what's going on. They're confused. They don't really, truly believe yet. But the good news is that they continue to follow him. They continue to trust. It seems as though perhaps they're learning something here, even though they have all throughout the Gospel of Mark, as we will see. We know that after the resurrection, after Jesus has ascended, suddenly the apostles are the ones who are spreading the faith. They understand the message of Jesus.

What another great story of the healing of Jesus that we have here for us today. When we think about this story, we need to think about why did this make it into Holy Scripture? Yes, it's an amazing miracle. And I think I've mentioned this before, but yes, these miracles are amazing. But what are they telling us about what Jesus is doing and what Jesus will do for us? Because Jesus did tons of miracles. We read that there were more miracles than they could ever tell us. Many people were healed. So, why this one? What was it about this type of a healing that was so important? Well, let's look at what it is. There was a man who was brought to Jesus who was deaf. He also had a speech impediment.

Well, this is quite a story that we arrive at here in Mark Chapter 7, starting with verse 24, because we see a conversation between Jesus and a Gentile woman. Now, we saw some of this idea of Jesus doing the outreach or being willing to go to the Gentiles earlier on in Mark. But here what we have is a pretty clear dialogue between Jesus and a Gentile woman. So, we see that this woman, this Gentile woman, her daughter had a demon. And so she comes to Jesus asking for help. Again, part of the idea that we're seeing here is that the fame of Jesus is spreading. His ability to do miracles and to cast out demons is that knowledge is going out even to Gentile people.

Well, this is a rather well-known teaching of Jesus. You have likely heard it before, and it's such an important part of what we know about the Christian faith. What is Jesus referring to here? He's looking back on the religious system that they would have known at the time. The idea was that they were to be ritually clean, and they were to do these different things, the things they ate, the things they did or did not touch could make them clean or unclean.

Alright, as we start off in chapter seven today, it's very important we don't forget where we've been, what the context we had on Wednesday is. Remember, we had people there who were coming to Jesus, and they were being healed simply by touching Jesus' garment. Now, we're going to see a contrast here. We're going to see a contrast with those people who had simple faith and the Pharisees who were after Jesus. And we see this interesting story here, and it's a harsh statement, because when we read it and we hear the words of Jesus talking about honoring God with our lips, but not with our hearts, we can be convicted because we've all been guilty of that. Well, what was going on here is that the disciples weren't washing their hands as the tradition said they should. What had happened was there was a written word of God, but then there was also a belief by the Pharisees that there was an oral tradition that was passed down on how to interpret these things. And then there were new rules that were added to these. And one of these was all this washing that Mark tells us that the disciples were not doing in the Pharisees thought they should be doing.

As we conclude, Mark 6, with these few verses here, it's not really a story that we know. It's a passing story, but it's meant to tell us something important about who Jesus is and how people are responding to him. Remember what we have seen so far? Jesus has authority. He teaches with authority. He heals, and his fame is continuing to grow. And it has to have hit a high point, right? He just fed 5,000 people. And so, they are trying to get away. We saw that on Monday. They're trying to get away. Jesus walks on water.

As I said, this is a very well-known story, is it not? The story of Jesus walking on water is very well-known. And it's set up very interestingly here in the Gospel of Mark because he has just fed the 5000. There's a crowd all around him and Jesus sends the disciples out. You guys get away, but what does Jesus do? He does what he often does. He goes off by himself to pray. Well, the disciples can't get across the sea. Jesus sees them having a little bit of trouble. And then the interesting part of the story happens. Jesus walks on the water, and I get the biggest kick out of what it says here in verse 48 at the end. He meant to pass them by.

A little while back in Mark, we saw Jesus send out the 12 disciples. And so, these disciples went out and now they are returning to Jesus. Remember, he sent them two by two to preach and to heal. Well, they come back and Jesus can clearly see that they are probably a little worn out. So, he has them go away to a desolate place and rest a while. And so, they leave and they get in a boat. But the people see them. And Jesus is so popular. What this ministry that they are doing has caught like wildfire. And so, the people ran ahead on foot to where they are going.

Well, of all the stories that we have looked at so far in Mark, this is probably the most interesting. But there is a purpose for it. There's a reason Mark put it in his Gospel. And the idea that's being conveyed to us here as it starts out is that King Herod has been hearing about Jesus. It is not just the people in the backwater regions of Galilee who are hearing about Jesus and seeing his authority to teach. All that we've seen so far in the Gospel of Mark, it is getting all the way to the king. It's gone all the way to Herod.

So, we arrived today in a short little interesting passage, a little bit different than some of the other ones that we have been looking at lately. Here Jesus sends out the 12 apostles. These are the 12 guys that he is entrusting his ministry to, the people that he is closest with, the people that he is teaching most closely. And so, what do we have happening here? Well, we see some interesting stuff. Now for us, we see here that he sends out His disciples two by two.

So far in the Gospel of Mark, what have we seen? That Jesus is powerful, that Jesus has authority. And it's been building up, hasn't it? To the point where on Wednesday, we saw that Jesus was able to heal someone without her actually touching him instead, or him touching her even. She touched his garment and she had faith and she was healed. And then we saw Jesus able to raise the dead. So, we're seeing the pinnacle of his ability. This is the real deal. Jesus can do miracles.

As I said, these are two stories that we know relatively well, and they are two stories that I believe we are naturally drawn into. We all know someone who maybe has a long-term health issue, and we also have all dealt with death in some capacity. We can relate to these situations. And here we see that Jesus has power over both of those things. And the story, it feels very familiar from what we've seen in Mark, right? Jesus is trying to avoid the crowds. He's come back from the Decapolis, and now all these people, all these Hebrew people that he's been around doing the healing with are wanting to be near him again.

Alright, so we have landed here in chapter five with this detailed story. As you saw when I was reading it, this is long for the Gospel of Mark. That's a lot of verses here for this story. And there's a lot of important details in here that we need to catch. Now, remember, the previous story was Jesus calming the sea. And so they have been on the boat and now they're coming to the other side and they end up in this area near the Decapolis. Now, the Decapolis was 10 independent Greek cities. The idea here is that they're going to someplace that is not filled with mostly Jewish people.