August 6, 2025
Broadcast
Compassion - Part 3
Mark 8:8
08/06/2025
8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up
the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
(ESV)
Jesus had compassion on the hungry crowds. Not only did He
nourish their souls by teaching them about the love of God for
three days, he nourished their bodies by multiplying seven loaves
of bread and several small fish to feed over 4,000 people. His
love extended from their eternal well-being to their physical
well-being.
God richly and daily supplies all we need to sustain this
body and life. This is why Jesus taught His disciples to pray,
``Give us this day our daily bread.'' What does this prayer
mean? Martin Luther explained:
God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all
wicked men; but we pray in this petition that He would
lead us to know it, and to receive our daily bread with
thanksgiving.[1]
What was the result of this miracle? Saint Mark recorded:
``And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken
pieces left over, seven baskets full.'' These seven baskets were
not small picnic baskets, but large containers. Mark uses the
same word for basket that Luke used to describe the container in
which the apostle Paul was lowered from a window in the wall of
Damascus.[2] These baskets, according to scholars, could hold up
to fifty loaves of bread. To say the least, Jesus provided for
the crowd because He had compassion.
May our Lord grant that we recognize His abundant gifts and
blessings given to us because of His love. Amen.
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1. Small Catechism, Lord's Prayer, Fourth Petition
2. See Acts 9:25