Spiritual Amnesia

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

more into the life of following God, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and

joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in

the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God Bless. Lord, the pattern among your

people. Israel being brought out with wild, miraculous

signs that you gave Moses to do there in Egypt,

one after another, and then not remembering you

and not trusting in you. And they come to the

Red Sea and having passed through the Red Sea,

thinking, that the food was better back in Egypt,

Lord, not remembering your care. I've got to

pray for us this morning, Lord. We who often

have spiritual amnesia, that you'd be at work

in us, Lord, and that we would live a life of

faith in a God who provides wildly, abundantly,

graciously. Perfectly. Teach us now, we ask Lord.

Amen. All right, so it is funny, but not really

the things you forget, right? I'm gonna guess

that we have all had this experience where we've

had breakfast and we're about to leave and we

go into the bathroom to brush our teeth and we

ask ourselves, Why am I in here? What am I doing?

We go to a room, we're like, what was I supposed

to grab again? There is something in our family,

we mostly laugh at it, but we also, oh, my kids

and Malish shake their heads. There's these three

plates. They're just like, you know, the three

plates, each color goes to one of my children.

They've been using the same colored plates for...

Seven years probably I mean since Henry was born.

I could not tell you which color goes to which

child And I'm telling you I am never gonna get

it So ridiculous, but But I can't tell you for

the most part most the time how my kids like

their ham sandwiches But then on Friday morning,

I was making ham sandwiches for them, which I

have done hundreds of times Because that is the

preferred sandwich in their own household And

Lily and Henry, they like mayo on their ham.

And for James's, I put mustard on one side and

I put it just like, I mean, I made it so that

it just went to the edge of the bread perfectly.

And then I put mayo on the other side and I did

the same. It was just like so perfect. And so

I made this sandwich for him and he only likes

cheese. I gave him two pieces of cheese. It was

just a really nice looking sandwich. And so I

was like, hey, bud, look at this beautiful sandwich

I made. And you wouldn't believe it, but inside

the mustard is perfectly to the edge and the

mayo is perfectly to the edge. And he goes, but

I don't eat mayo. Like, oh, yeah, I know that.

I have made so many ham sandwiches. I know that.

I mean, we are forgetful people. And of course,

sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's not.

It's not very funny if you, oh, I don't know,

forget your anniversary or to call your mom on

her birthday. or to leave that homework assignment

that you belabored over for two hours at home

when you're supposed to turn it in. Those aren't

very funny. Amnesia seems to be something that

all of us experience to different degrees or

another. And I think this is also why there are

so many songs about remembering. Dave Matthews,

Do You Remember, right? Maroon 5, Memories. How

about the great Seattleite Macklemore, good old

days? Remembering the good old days. It's why

there's a whole industry really in crossword

puzzles and Sudoku, right? Because we believe

that if we do these, our memory will last a little

longer as we age. And I think it's also interesting

that the Bible seems to talk about remembering

a lot. It talks about remembering quite a lot.

I mean, Isaiah, again, talked about how the people

forgot the lords just after he brought them out

and saved them, as if he was not able, right?

And then if you keep going, right, actually in

Deuteronomy, the book that is written right before

they enter the promised land again and again.

Deuteronomy saying, remember, like in chapter

five, verses 15, for example, you shall remember

that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and

the Lord your God brought you out of there with

a mighty hand with an outstretched arm. Again,

Isaiah, remember the former things of old for

I am God and there's no other. I am God and there's

none like me. Or Romans to get into the New Testament

chapter 11. Remember, it's not you who support

the root, but the root who supports you. Or our

passage this morning. passage this morning. Part

of what's going on our passage this morning is

this call to remember, okay? So if you look actually

at the last sort of paragraph first with me,

the paragraph that begins in chapter, in verse

14, here we have this call to remembrance. Jesus,

we learned right in verse 13 that he's back in

the boat again. He's done this a few times, right?

We've had a few boat crossings so far in Mark.

He's back in the boat with his disciples and

verse 14 says pretty starkly, now they had forgotten

to bring bread. Actually then down in verse 16,

right? It says, and they began discussing with

one another the fact that they had no bread.

I imagine what they're doing actually is they're

discussing. I wonder if it was more argumentative.

Peter, you were supposed to bring the bread.

John, you didn't grab it. Or maybe it was Thaddeus

and Bartholomew because we don't know anything

about those guys. Maybe they were the bread keepers,

right? What's going on with them? I'm thinking

it was them. Whoever it was, they're in the boat

and immediately we know that they've forgotten

something. right? That they've forgotten something.

They've, specifically, they've forgotten the

bread there. But then Jesus asks questions and

he seems to ask question after question after

question. And the last thing he leaves you with

is a question and it's, he doesn't really kind

of even get into their answers. He doesn't wait

for another answer. Here's what he does, right?

Why are you discussing the fact that you have

no bread? Do you not yet perceive and understand?

Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you

not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And

do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves

for the 5 ,000, how many baskets full of broken

pieces did you take up? And the seven for 4 ,000,

how many baskets full of broken pieces did you

take up? Do you not understand? Just question

after question after question after question.

And don't you kind of wonder what Jesus' face

looked like? I do. He had just said, watch out,

beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the

leaven of Herod. So maybe there was a little

bit of that parental corrective look, you know?

I also like to think that maybe there was a little

glint in his eye. Oh, we're back to bread. Be

fun. He may be a smile on his face in a way.

Maybe a little bit of both. What is clear is

that he's wanting them to understand, to think,

right? To think about who he is. Think about

whether or not they will be cared for. Think

about whether or not they will have enough. Think

about whether or not they can make it to the

other side as they have had some storms in the

past, even there in Mark. He's calling them to

remembrance. Calling them to remember maybe way

back when, when the people were there facing

the Red Sea. How are we going to get across?

How are we going to live? How are we going to

eat? He's saying, do you not yet understand?

Do you remember? We don't know that he gave them

any bread there in the boat, but we do know that

he's calling them to a place of trust, trust

in him remembering who he is. And what is he

calling them to remember? He's calling them to

remember that he is enough, that he is sufficient,

that he is the compassionate shepherd, that he

cares for his sheep, that he provides perfectly

the provision of God. Okay, so he's obviously

doing this. He's got all these questions. He's

calling them to remember, but why is he doing

this, right? Why do we not remember? Why do we

not remember? Verse 11, some of the Pharisees

came to him and since they began to argue with

him, which is what we're getting accustomed to

with these Pharisees, it says that they sought

a sign for him because they wanted to test him.

Now, keep in mind that they came to him because

they had probably heard of his teachings. Maybe

quite a few of them had sat under his teaching.

Maybe some had seen some of the miracles, but

at least they'd heard of that, heard of Jesus

and his miracles. If they had been there, they

probably would have seen, right? The blind seeing,

that's the previous story that we have, right?

Or, you know, the, sorry, the deaf hearing and

the mute speaking, and maybe they saw the blind

being healed and the lame walking and all that.

And they knew their Old Testament well, and maybe

they, well, at least they were supposed to put

together that this was the kind of thing that

the Messiah would do when he comes, when God

would restore his people. But here's the other

thing with the Pharisees is that they saw Jesus

eating with the wrong kinds of people. They saw

his disciples not cleaning their hands like they

wanted people to. They weren't kind of going

along with the religious stuff of the day. Which

is to say in some ways that the Pharisees are

double -minded spiritually, spiritually double

-minded people. They knew the law of God, but

they didn't have it written on their hearts.

And so when God was right in front of them, they

couldn't see him. And so they sought a sign.

And how did Jesus respond? He doesn't respond

very warmly, does he? He sighs deeply, which

is, by the way, actually a little bit different

of a word than what we had heard him sigh with

the woman in the previous passage. He sighs deeply

in his spirit and says, why does this generation

seek a sign? Truly, I tell you, no sign will

be given to this generation. Now I think that's

kind of odd Why do I think it's kind of odd?

It's kind of odd because he doesn't tell them

I'm not giving you a sign Does he I'm not giving

this generation Like a whole age of people And

he says no sign will be given And yet we had

plenty of signs. The three previous stories are

Jesus giving signs, feeding lots of people, healing

the deaf man, healing the woman's daughter who

had the unclean spirit. There's plenty of signs

happening in that generation. And so what is

he saying? What's he saying? I think what he's

saying is what sign is gonna suffice anyway?

What's going to do it for you? You're not inclined

to hear anyway. What's going to do it for you?

They were so caught up in their spiritual double

-mindedness that there was no sign that would

be sufficient for them. In fact, in Matthew's

account of this story, he says that no sign will

be given except the sign of Jonah. What's the

sign of Jonah? Well, Jonah goes into the belly

of the fish for three days and he comes back

to life, right? It's the sign of the death and

resurrection of Jesus. And he says, no sign's

gonna be given except that one. And how many

people rejected even that one? God dying and

rising to new life. And some people say, no,

no, not for me. The way what he's saying is,

what will help you remember? What sign will suffice?

What sign is enough? Why do we not remember?

I think in part, at least, because we are often

looking for a spiritual Jesus that is sort of

fashioned after our whims or the whims of our

friends or whoever. And then when we come to

Jesus, we're like, I don't know, I kind of want

to go along with you a little ways, but maybe

not that far. I like this part of your teaching

and maybe not that. We're kind of spiritually

double -minded a lot of times. Jesus sometimes

isn't quite who we want him to be. He says things,

right? Like when he spoke to that woman there

up in Tyre in Sidon, they were a little bit like,

oh, that's a little cringy. Really want to share

that part with our friends. He calls his people,

he calls people to himself that sometimes we

kind of go, do we need to worship with those

folk? Like picture this, right? His disciples

are made up in part of Matthew, who's a tax collector,

which would have meant that he was in cahoots

with the imperialists, the Romans. And then he

calls Simon the Zealot, another guy that we don't

really know much of anything about. I don't know

why there's these silent disciples. But Simon

the Zealot would have been the revolutionary

trying to overthrow the imperialists. And he's

like, hey y 'all, why don't you come and sit

in the pew? And even if they're like, hey, we'll

sit over here and we'll sit over there. Sometimes

you're looking around, you're like, I don't know

about this. I don't know. I'm not sure about

who Jesus calls to himself. He sits down, of

course, and eats with the unclean that, of course,

the Pharisees found offensive, but often, of

course, we find sometimes offensive. We're like,

do you have to have those folk love those people?

We go along for a little while. and then we want

him to conform to our vision, what true spirituality

is like, to do our bidding, to do science for

us. But I also thought that it was really interesting

that what Jesus does actually in verse 15, he

says, watch out, beware of the leaven of the

Pharisees, but then he also says, and the leaven

of Herod. And so why don't we remember? Well,

partly we remember because we've got a different

spiritual idea of what should be done. But I

think we also have this kind of other thing.

It's not just the Pharisees. It's also Herod.

He also warns them about Herod. And why would

they be tempted to be like Herod? Is Herod's

temptation another reason why we don't remember

who Jesus is, who God is for us? I think so.

Y 'all think back with me about John the Baptist.

Remember when John the Baptist died? It's just

a few weeks ago when Jed preached. It's this

close to this passage. Right there, right? It's

just in chapter six. And one of the things that

we read is that Herod thought John to be a righteous

and holy man. So it says, and it says, he sought

to keep him safe. That's what it says in the

passage of John's beheading. Because he thought

him a righteous and a holy man and sought to

keep him safe until, until it was politically

not helpful. Until it messed with his image with

the people that were at his party. I mean you

probably remember there in chapter six when Herod's

brother's wife Herodias Her daughter came and

did a little risque dancing there, and Herod

liked it, and he promised her half the kingdom,

up to half the kingdom, and she says, I just

want John's head. And even though, again, he

thought it to be righteous and holy and sought

to keep him safe, Herod said, well, sure. And

specifically, what Mark tells us in chapter six

is because of his oath, and his guests. Guests.

Herod was politically double -minded, right?

How about that? I mean, we want Jesus to give

us all kinds of signs, right? So we don't forget

who he really is, but we really want him to conform

to our image and do the kind of signs that we

like, right? And we often want to go along with

Jesus while is expedient for us. We get caught

up, of course, with political power. How does

Jesus fit in with with my party's vision of life?

We want to go along with Jesus just so long as

the crowd around us kind of is OK with it. And

as soon as their eyes go, what are you going

to do? We go, I don't know. Let's be done with

them. And Jesus warns his disciples and he's

warning us. about this kind of leaven that makes

us forget who he really is. I know because many

of you have restored our sourdough starter that

quite a few of you have gotten into sourdough

making. And you know that this little leaven

can affect the whole loaf just a little bit.

In fact, Probably what you have heard as I have

is that one of the wonders of sourdough is that

it tastes different where you are because it's

largely the wild yeast that affect it. So it

has to do with where it's growing and what sort

of air it's breathing, right? You likely know

that it doesn't take a lot of leaven to affect

the whole loaf and to give it flavor. And so

the warning in some ways is obvious, you know,

the warning is to be aware, be aware of the air

you are breathing. Like, I mean, they're not

hanging out with Herod, but they are sort of

breathing the same air, being taken over in the

same kind of way. Be aware of what you are listening

to. The political and religious air you breathe,

the podcasts we listen to, the news accounts

we scroll. Be attentive because what he's saying

is just a little bit and get in and throw the

whole thing off. Jesus says remember. Remember

and be careful of the ways that you're inclined

to forget. So Jesus calls us to remember. He's

told us some of the reasons why we don't, because

we are breathing in all this other air. But he

also tells us what to remember, and I really

want you to see that first paragraph of our text,

okay? So the one that starts in verse one. If

I read that through, or maybe as you heard Gordon

read it, walking down our aisle, how many of

you thought deja vu? Anybody thinking deja vu?

A few of you, right? You're like, we just heard

this story, except that one of the stories maybe

got the wrong number or something. There's 4

,000 in one, 5 ,000 others, 12 baskets in one,

there's seven in another. And again, brothers

and sisters, if you just turned your page, the

left page just over, it's right here again. It's

right after the story of John the Baptist. It's

right there. So close. It's a deja vu. We didn't

read it too long ago. We didn't consider it too

long ago. If you were attentive, you notice some

of the ways that John seems to actually be telling

you, you've heard this before. Just in chapter

six, We heard that a great crowd went to Him.

That's what we heard there in chapter eight,

the beginning of chapter eight. One of the things

that we heard in chapter six was that He had

compassion on them. That's one of the things

that we hear again in chapter eight. One of the

things that we hear in chapter six is that it

was a desolate place. That again is repeated

again. This is another desolate place. There

we hear the disciples wondering, how in the world

are all these people going to be fed? Hear we

hear that? And Jesus asks them the exact same

question in chapter six as he asks in chapter

eight, which is, how many loves do you have?

But Jesus and Mark is trying to jolt their memories,

right? I mean, it is intentionally almost the

same text, almost the same story. So what are

we to remember? What is Mark doing? Why is he

telling the same thing again? Right? Repetition

is the key of learning. Y 'all know that? Stay

with me. Repetition is the key of learning. Repetition

is the key of learning. And Mark is doing this

for us. He's saying, this is what you need to

remember. And what is he saying? What is he showing

us? Jesus is compassionate. compassionate. The

first in chapter six, it says, He looks out among

the crowd as though they are sheep without a

shepherd. Here he is, he's compassionate. And

he has spiritual compassion. Think about this,

okay? Jesus has been healing, He's been traveling

around, He goes up to Tyre and Sidon, maybe to

get a little break, and He's got this lady that

comes to Him while He's eating, and then He travels

down right to the Decapolis where this... story

happens. And there we know that people were bringing

to him the sick and he's healing them and he's

busy. And now he's teaching for three days. You

know, it's Coachella and he's the main act. He's

the only act in busying himself. And there he

desires to teach because he has spiritual compassion

on this crowd. Desires them to know him. He also

has not just spiritual compassion, but physical

compassion. Did you notice this? He doesn't want

to send them away because they might faint. Just

this little detail. But it's as though God is

not so distant that He does not see the physical

pain that you experience. And He has compassion

towards it. I also want to suggest to you that

He has compassion on them because He knows actually,

just like us, that they are prone to forget.

And they are prone to want signs. I mean, when

do we want signs from God? Oftentimes we want

signs from God when we are tired, when we don't

know where we're going to get our next meal,

when we don't know what's going to happen in

the future. Maybe when we are caring for aging

parents and they have dementia and we say, God,

are you good? Are you going to care for us? And

Jesus does care for them actually with a sign.

He does care for them in their sort of weary

state by caring for them and loving them, which

is also to show that he doesn't do this for the

scribes and the Pharisees because they don't

come with a heart that is open to what he might

do. I also want to suggest to you that Mark is

showing us the compassion of Jesus that unlike

the Pharisees and Herod, His compassionate heart

has no bounds. It's wide first. God's grace is

really wide. They're in the Decapolis, which

again, y 'all remember, remember the map that

we looked at last week, right? Here's like the

Mediterranean, here's Israel. Decapolis is on

the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is

outside of... the holy land there, right? They're

in the Decapolis. The feeding of the 5 ,000 happened

within Israel. This happens outside of the land

of Israel. It happens to the Gentiles. Interestingly,

the word for basket in chapter six was a common

Jewish word for basket that you'd carry stuff

around. The word for basket here in chapter eight

is actually a common Gentile way of talking about

the basket that you'd carry stuff around with.

And Jesus says specifically these people came

from far away, which in the Bible is another

way of talking about those who are outside. Which

is to say that one of the things that Mark wants

you to see is that God's gracious, compassionate

heart is wide, way wider than anyone at his time

would expect, way wider than you would expect.

The other thing God's grace isn't just wide,

but one of the things that we see actually as

we look at this passage is that one of the things

Mark wants to see is that God's grace is perfect

too. It's totally perfect. I think that one of

the reasons why Jesus gave his disciples 12 baskets

full at the end was maybe because each basket

was for one of them, right? They didn't have

anything. They came to Jesus empty -handed, right?

He says, hey, go get him some food. And they're

like, we can't do this. We don't have anything.

And they find the boy. Remember, this is from

the Gospel of John. John tells us there was a

boy with the loaves and the fish. And so he brings

them. The disciples don't come with anything.

And yet God gives them more than what they need.

But here, it's not 12, is it? It's seven. Seven

in the Bible is this number of perfection. completeness,

fullness, perfection. God's grace is not just

wide, but it's perfect, abundant, kind, he's

compassionate, he's spiritually compassionate

and physically compassionate. He is full of grace

and his grace is wide and is perfect. That is

what we are to remember. the compassion of Jesus,

the care of Jesus, the kindness of Jesus, the

grace of Jesus, grace of Jesus that is wide and

perfect. So back to where maybe we began in the

boat with the disciples. Did you notice the weird

detail in that story? I mean, there's all the

questions which are supposed to get your attention

to and say, why is Jesus doing this? But there's

a really strange detail in this that kind of

commentators get hung up on, and I think understandably

get hung up on. Because listen, now they'd forgotten

to bring bread, and they only had one loaf with

them in the boat. And then verse 16, and they

began discussing with one another the fact that

they had no bread. It's not that Mark says that

they began discussing with... with one another,

how they're going to eat with just one loaf and

there's like 13 of them. It says they have no

bread and there's one loaf there. Ancient Christians

took this as a reference to Jesus. Jesus as the

true loaf, the bread that comes down from heaven

to care for the people of God. that if you have

Jesus, you have enough. If you just have the

one loaf that is Christ and to feed on Him will

be sufficient. It'll be perfect. It'll be plenty.

It'll be wide. It's kindness will be for you.

If you just have that one loaf, then you will

be cared for. What we've seen, of course, in

these feeding stories is that the amount doesn't

really matter, does it? One story, you've got

the two fish and the five loaves. Another story,

you've got seven loaves. One story, you've got

12 baskets left over. One story, you've got seven

baskets left over. Part of the point is the number

doesn't matter one bit. If you've got Jesus,

Have enough If Jesus you have enough You enter

the boat and you forget the bread and you just

want to go off on each other Jesus responds by

saying do you understand? You remember what I

did with the 5 ,000 remember what we did with

the 4 ,000 folk remember how much you Gathered

up at the end. Of course, what does Jesus do

when he has these seven loaves? Once again, what

does he do? Same thing he did in chapter six.

He takes them, he blesses them, blesses the father

for them, breaks it, and he gives it. What is

that doing again for us? It is calling us to

remember. Remember. the wide, kind, compassionate

grace of God and the perfect grace of God. So

let me leave you with the question that this

text leaves us with. Do you not yet understand?

Do you not yet understand Jesus for you? Pray

for us, Lord. How forgetful we are. How much

we argue with one another, worry. How much we

live out of scarcity, hoarding, demanding other

people do what we want them to do. How often

we think of power our need to grab it like the

Pharisees and Herod. How often we are double

-minded people, spiritually speaking, coming

to you while it is expedient. How often we are

double -minded like Herod. Yeah, Lord, call us

back to remember who you are, who you are for

us. Your abundant, lavish grace for us that is

wide, that is perfect, that your love for us

has no bounds. We get in the boat of life, which

we do often, and we don't see what we think we

need. And we start throwing punches and words,

lots of worry. God, would you call us back to

remembrance? You help us understand, Lord, that

with you, it's enough. Hear this prayer, we offer

it in your name. Thank you for listening to Second

City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has

encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate

the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing

to this podcast and joining us in person each

Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at

secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook,

and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God

bless.