If You Want to Follow Jesus (Mark 8:1-10)

If you have want to follow Jesus, there is something you should know: He is compassionate. If you want to follow Him you will be invited into a holy communion with Him. He will invite you to look through His eyes and see with His heart.

This holy communion with Jesus will cost you something, but that’s the way it is with compassion, isn’t it? Compassion means you don’t look the other way and pretend you don’t notice the hunger and the hurt around you. To follow Jesus is to be willing to take what you have and surrender it to Him. This is what His disciples did when they only had seven loaves of bread and a few fish to divide between 12 hungry men. They gave what they had to Jesus and He took it.

First, there was Jesus’ compassion, then there was an invitation by Jesus for His followers to enter into His compassion. Next, there was a sacrifice as twelve hungry men handed Jesus what they had. What came next? It was the giving of thanks. The Greek word used is eucharisteo. It’s where we get the word Eucharist.

But here is the strange part of this story. I feel like I can see the scene in my mind. I can almost see Jesus lifting the bread heavenward while giving thanks. After He gave thanks He broke the loaves and kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. This reminds me of something we often do at church. When we celebrate communion we remember the sacrificial love of Jesus.

The miracle of the feeding of the 4,000 is a miracle that involves abundance. The first time Jesus feed the multitude there were 12 lunch baskets left over. One for each of the disciples. But this time the Greek word used for basket is the same Greek word for basket that was used in Acts 9:25 when Paul was lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall!

If you want to follow Jesus He will invite you to have holy communion with Him. He will invite you to see the world through His eyes. He will invite you to a place of surrender. He will take what you give Him and He will bless it and break it. If you want to follow Jesus you will know what it means to be empty. But you will also experience what it feels like to have an abundant life.