Feeding
Good morning class.
Question of the day: What is something you have eaten since last Sabbath that you have really enjoyed eating?
READ: Mark 6: 30-44
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[e]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
So here we read about them telling Jesus all they had done. All the while people were coming and going. Just imagine this. They have been working hard, away from Jesus, doing what he has asked them to do and now they are back together and they are talking about it. I don't know about you but it would be somewhat annoying to constantly interrupted and so much so that they didn't get to eat. But we don't hear them complaining. Not yet.
Then Jesus is the one who suggests they get away. So they get in the boat to go to a remote location so they can get some rest and be away from people.
I think it is safe to say Jesus understands the importance of getting away, of taking some time, of resting. He knew they needed to get away from the "work" and just be together.
However it didn't seem to work. People followed them and were there ready to welcome Jesus and the disciples. Can you imagine how the disciples must have felt.
Many of you have heard me talk about Lynn Ortel. Chris and I, along with Mark and Carolyn and others worked with Lynn and Mike on a ministry called Caring for Marriage. It was a retreat weekend for couples. We as a team of 6 couples would serve and minister to 6 other couples. It was an intense weekend. We often got very little sleep and were barely able to eat. At the end of the weekend we would debrief how things had gone. That was one of my favorite times. To sit and talk as a team about all that had happened. Couples often came to the weekend as a last ditch effort, and many times left with hope. It was incredible and we loved that time to share in the miracles we had seen. The disciples need that kind of time with Jesus and I can only imagine what it must have felt like to see the people there. Jesus doesn't send them away or tell the disciples to go somewhere else instead his heart goes out to the crowds and he gets back to work.
Do you ever believe that Jesus is offering you rest and then something gets in the way?
Look I know it is easy to say, we need to MAKE time. Time away is important and we need to GUARD that time. Yes. Yes?
We know Jesus got away. We see here He knew they needed to get away and then, he changed his mind? What do we do with this?
It would be easy to say, "Did I hear God wrong?" or "Maybe I need to set stronger boundaries?" or could it be that as we see here, there are times when we need rest, we need to debrief, we need food, and God says, "there are people here who need us, lets get back to work!"
I believe that is the case here, because of the rest of the story.
Let's list the needs we see in this story.
- Time to debrief with Jesus
- Food for the disciples
- Rest for the disciples
- The crowds needed a shepherd
- Food for the crowds
- ANY OTHERS?
We run into this all the time don't we!
What do we do with it?
When are we supposed to go to the other side of the lake, set up stronger boundaries, quit a job, or say no to asks, and when are we supposed to step up, roll up our sleeves and get to work?
How can we tell the difference?
It isn't just the need, because we know Jesus left towns where people needed Him.
It isn't just the need of rest, because it is clear they needed rest and He asked them to keep going? So how do we know?
Continuing on in our story....
The disciples ask Jesus to send the crowds away so they can go and find food. That is actually a reasonable request. I wonder if it was an answer to the needs of the crowd or a solution to their needs? What was the driving factor.
You know what I'm talking about. Sometimes we try to "fix" the needs of others, when what we are really doing is trying to make things better for ourselves. Were they really trying to help out the crowds or their own need of time with Jesus alone, food and rest?
We don't know, however I would suggest it is a good question to ask ourselves. When we try to "help" others are we doing it for them or for ourselves. Is our solution about our own desires, safety, wishes, or are we genuinely looking out for those we are trying to minister to?
When Jesus asks them to feed the crowds, what was their excuse for not feeding them?
How often do we use the lack of resources as an excuse?
Jesus doesn't just say, "yes go spend the money."
What does he ask?
This is crucial for all of us to do when ministering to others. What do we have?
What do we have?
So many times we look at what we don't have.
- What we wish we had.
- What others have.
- What others think we need.
- How much we don't have.
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