In November 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen aimed the beam of his lamp at his wife’s hand and saw on the screen what no one had ever seen before, bones and a ring. That discovery opens a reflection on the two twin miracles of the multiplied bread (Mark 6 and 8), the story of disciples who looked but did not see, who saw but did not understand. The sermon shows that our ability to perceive God’s work depends directly on the condition of our heart. Listen and ask yourself what miracles are passing through your hands today unnoticed.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Mark 6:30-52 and 8:1-21 Jesus feeds a crowd twice: once with five loaves in Galilee, once with seven in the Decapolis. According to the sermon, what is Mark trying to say by placing these two similar stories side by side?
- What do the numbers and baskets in the two miracles (5 loaves and 12 baskets, 7 loaves and 7 baskets) say about who Jesus comes for, and how might the first readers of the Gospel have understood them?
- The disciples handed out the multiplied bread themselves, yet Jesus asks them, "Do you still not understand?" Why wasn't taking part in the miracle enough for them to see who He is?
- The speaker told the story of Vika, who served Russian-speaking children in Tajikistan while Kyiv was being bombed. Which people do you find it hard to accept that Jesus cares for as well?
- The sermon says that how we see depends on the condition of our heart, and that the heart is the place of our choices, not just our feelings. What has been shaping your heart lately: your thoughts, relationships, emotions, body?
- What everyday miracles from this past week, in your family, in someone's changed life, or in God's provision, might be slipping past you, and how will you make time for silence this week to notice them?
