Entrust yourself to the One who can really care for all your needs (Mark 8:1-21)
What’s the best feast you’ve ever enjoyed? There must have been some occasion that you can look back on and you can say, “Wow, that was a real feast. The folks hosting that one didn’t hold back.” Maybe it was a wedding or a graduation or anniversary. Well, the best feast that you’ve ever enjoyed will never compare to the feast described in Isaiah 25.
In Isaiah 25, we read about God preparing and hosting a feast. It’ll include rich food. It has aged wine, indeed the finest of wines. It also has the best meats – think of the best steak you’ve ever had and it doesn’t even compare to what God has on the menu at his feast. The menu is incredible, and so is the guest list. God promised that this feast would not be for just one people, for one nation, but for all peoples. There’s no ethnic or racial profiling at the door of this banquet; all tongues, tribes and nations will be present.
Isaiah 25 is a vivid prophecy of the age to come and the marriage feast of the Lamb. It’s a prophecy that begins to come to fulfillment in our text for this morning. The Lord Jesus had fed a huge crowd before. That was in Mark 6. But in Mark 6, it was very clear that this was a crowd of Jews, God’s covenant people. Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd – that kind of language was used in the Old Testament to describe the people of Israel when they didn’t have any leadership. Here in Mark 8, the Lord Jesus is still in the Gentile region of the Decapolis. He demonstrates again that his care and compassion extend to the Gentiles too. Christ has the willingness and the ability to take care of the needs of everyone. That includes you and me.
