Satisfies
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
What has been happening so far?
Baptism of Jesus
Temptation in the wilderness / calling of first disciples
Casting out unclean spirits
Healings
Preaching
Forgiving sins
Ministry on the Sabbath
12 apostles appointed
Teaching in parables
Rebuking the winds
Raising the dead
Who’s in? I’m in! Yet in spite of the miraculous works that Jesus performed...
Scribes, teachers of the law - “who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Scribes - “He drives out demons by Satan’s power”
Pharisees complaints - no fasting, harvesting and healing on the Sabbath
Family - “He’s out of his mind”
Gentiles - “they were afraid”; “please leave”
The crowds - laughed at Jesus’ suggestion that the synagogue’s daughter was merely asleep
The people of Nazareth (his hometown) - who does Jesus think he is? “the son of Mary” - at best an implication; at worst a slur
v.6 “he was amazed at their unbelief”
A verse from John 1 complements this nicely:
John 1:9-13 “9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.”
Other events:
Disciples sent out on a mission
John the baptist beheaded
What to think? What a time to be alive!
1. Rest
1. Rest
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place,
v.30 “apostles” (“sent ones” - aptly named)
“reported…all that they had done and taught” - the encouragement of word of testimony
v.31 “come away by yourselves” - not even time to eat! Jesus recognized the need for a break
“remote place” - less likely to be disturbed
v.32 “they went away in a boat” - fitting, as several of the disciples were fishermen and this allowed for an easy escape.
“remote place” - northeast side of the Sea of Galilee? If so, then outside the reach of Herod’s authority
2. Response
2. Response
33 but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.
v.33 “many saw them” - This was a lake. There’s only so many places where you can go!
Slide #1
• The Sea of Chinnereth or “Chinneroth” (Num 34:11; Josh 12:3; 13:27)
• The Sea of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1; Josephus, Antiquities 13)
• The Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1; 21:1; Josephus, Jewish War 3.57; 4.456) - named after the Roman emperor
• Lake Tiberias - modern name
13 miles north-south
Fed by the Jordan river and by underground springs
Slide #2 - populated vs desolate side
Slide #3 - how big does that look to you?
The crowds raced around the lake and beat Jesus to his destination
v.34 “like sheep without a shepherd” - a common Biblical allusion.
Ezek 34 2-6 “2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? 3 You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. 5 They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered. 6 My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.”
Who was available to shepherd God’s people in the time of Jesus?
The Scribes and Pharisees - with their emphasis on overly-strict law-keeping? (letter of the law without the spirit of the law)
The Sadducees - ruling aristocratic elites more concerned with politics than religion?
The Zealots - terrorists who sought to overthrow Rome?
v.34 “He began to teach them many things” - “Teaching was their greatest need, though healing (or miracles) was what they craved”
3. Resources
3. Resources
35 When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. 36 Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.” 37 “You give them something to eat,” he responded. They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?” 38 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
v.36 “send them away” - a reasonable request? The people had come, uninvited, after traveling a moderate distance around the lake.
v.37 “You give them something to eat”
Jesus suggested that the disciples themselves feed the people, because He wanted them to realize their inability to do so. The word you is emphatic in the Greek text. Having admitted their inability, Jesus’ ability would make a greater impression on them. It would teach them that He was different from them. The disciples’ response shows that they had not yet learned to look to Jesus for all their needs. Instead of asking Him to provide what the people needed, they calculated the cost of the food and concluded that they could not afford to pay for it. Two hundred denarii was the equivalent of an entire year’s wages for a day laborer
v.38 “Go and see” (how much food you have)
Jesus could have made bread from thin air (as with manna); instead he chose to make use of the meager resources provided by the disciples
The barley loaves in view were small and flat (cf. John 6:9). One person could eat several of them in one meal. The two fish (Gr. opsaria) were probably salted and dried, and were commonly eaten, bones and all, with bread as a relish.
4. Relief
4. Relief
39 Then he instructed 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 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate and was satisfied. 43 They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.
What does this make you think of?
1. God’s miraculous provision of food in the wilderness; the tribes arranged with specific order around the tabernacle
2. God’s gracious invitation to salvation in
Is 55:1-2 “1 “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost! 2 Why do you spend silver on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.”
3. The works of Elijah/Elisha in the OT
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath
Elishah and the multiplied oil for the prophet’s widow
Elishah and the 20 barley loaves
2 Kings 4:42-44 “42 A man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with his sack full of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first bread of the harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.” 43 But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set this before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’ ” 44 So he set it before them, and as the Lord had promised, they ate and had some left over.”
Applications
Psalm 23 - “I have all that I need”. Sometimes what I need is rest - and that’s OK. But sometimes plans are interrupted - and that’s OK too.
Jesus met a need - but in such a way that opened the eyes of the recipients to spiritual truth. (Later he would refrain from requests for another “sign” of miraculous food.) We want to be aware of physical needs but even more aware of spiritual needs.