an unlikely equation
Meanwhile, the disciples were finding fault with each other because they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus overheard and said, “Why are you fussing because you forgot bread? Don’t you see the point of all this?” Mark 8:16-18
It’s a little ironic that the disciples forgot the bread that day.
Jesus had just fed a massive crowd—four thousand people—with seven loaves and a few small fish. Seven basketfuls were left over. This is the second instance in Mark where Jesus performs a miracle of multiplication; he did it for a crowd of 5,000 just three chapters earlier.
Having sent the satisfied crowd on its way, Jesus and his friends leave by boat only to be confronted by the Pharisees, who ask Jesus for “a sign from heaven.” Exasperated, Jesus rebukes them, and he and his disciples all get back in the boat.
But someone forgets to pack lunch. And while Jesus is still talking about the Pharisees, his friends aren’t paying attention. They’re hungry, and passing the blame over who forgot the bread. Finally, Jesus interrupts them.
“Are you still talking about bread?!” he asks them. “Do you still not understand?”
Bread was never the point.
Bread was just another way to show people that the kingdom of God doesn’t operate the way the world does. The kingdom of God runs on unlikely equations.
In Jesus’ math lesson, “not enough” becomes “more than enough” when someone entrusts it to him. Jesus leaves us not just full, but asking what to do with our leftovers. Jesus is generous, because he isn’t worried about running out—of food, of grace, of trust in his Father.
During the days we call Holy Week, Jesus finds a spot opposite the temple treasury and watches people making their offerings. Wealthy people come and donate large sums, Mark reports. Jesus says nothing. Then a poor widow approaches the box and drops in two meager coins, and Jesus sits up and calls his disciples over. This woman, Jesus tells them, gave more “than all the others put together” (12:43). Just like the bread, the coins themselves weren’t the point. Jesus sees a significance in the woman’s sacrifice—and he can work with that.
We don’t know what the disciples wound up eating that day in the boat. But that chapter ends with Jesus laying out the most unlikely equation of all:
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Mark 8:35-36
Jesus came so that we could have life—but we miss his message when we’re still talking about bread. What are you worried is missing from your boat? What are you hanging on to so tightly, you can’t grab life itself? What can you bring to Jesus, trusting that he knows its significance, and trusting that he can work with it?
Today's Prayer: Lord, so often I’m focused on the wrong things. Help me to see where I’m talking about bread, and you’re talking about something else. Help me to live freely, full of trust in you. Today, I want to bring you the stressful situations in my life. Help me to rethink my equations in light of your unlikely kingdom.
Focus on prayer: Each meditation gives you a starting point for a prayer. Begin with the prompt above, and let your words to God continue and become your own.
Meditation by Meghan Blosser