Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Text

Mark 6:30-44

Intro

Reminder - The Herod section causes us to reconsider what successful ministry looks like.

Pivot - As we pivot into this next text, we will move to consider the calling and provision of the Lord. (2 Co. 12:9-10, 2 Co. 9:8, Phil. 4:13, 1 Co. 15:10)

Point - Be instructed in your heart that there is not a single moment of faithful obedience that you endure that is wasted for the King of Heaven and great Shepherd of your soul (1 Pet. 2:25). There is not a single calling which your Lord is sounding that He does not provide for. You might find yourself saying what the disciples said: “Lord, this is a desolate place.” Yet, the goodness of Jesus shines through in that he has not left you, abandoned you, or forsaken you. Remember that the will and timing of the Lord are perfect, and you can trust in Him.

Significant Question(s) for the text

Q. Who is this miracle for?

So often, in our lives, we experience God’s mercy and grace in ways which serves our families and the people around us, but the miracle was for us.

P. Let the miracles and works of God instruct your heart.

When God feeds the multitude, don’t say: “Cool! Bread!” People who have a “Cool, bread!” approach to miracles likely need to be instructed and instead ask: what are you teaching me through this miracle?

John 6:35

P. Every person of the great multitude which was fed by Jesus died

We are people who can be absorbed by short-term vision and refuse to live without an eternal perspective.

Q. What are the things that you would receive and do if eternity was your framework?

Text Work

Story from the Disciples’ Perspective

“After I had done much work, I was pleased to tell my master what I had said and done. I was pleased all the more when he told me to retreat and find a place to rest and eat. He took me to a desolate place where I would have had to depend on him anyways; on the way many came to us for food and teaching. I didn’t think it was possible for me to serve all these people food. Yet, my master commanded me to do so. When I rebuffed, my master sent me to find out how much food was available. When I returned and told him the amount of food, he was unfazed by the size of the multitude. What is more, he fed me and made sure there was more than enough for me.”

v. 30-31

Apostles return (they were sent in v.7-13)

Tell Jesus all they had done and taught

Jesus tells them to come away to a desolate place to rest

Wrestling with the text - What kind of resting is in view?

Physical - Intended, but ministry needs and life got in the way

Spiritual - Jesus is the one who provides in each of the scenes.

(Both)?

v. 32-33

Going to a desolate place

Eremos - the “desolate place” is literally the “wilderness.”

Jesus is led into the Eremos after His baptism in Matthew 4:1

It is in Jesus’s temptation in Matthew that He responds to Satan by quoting part of Deut. 8:3

What is communicated here? When God’s people were in the wilderness, he fed them with a vision that they might learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Kids pretending that its their dinner that feeds them and not their parents.

Literally us.

The text says that the crowd was waiting for them on the shore.

I wonder if any of the disciples groaned within themselves.

v. 34

Heart of the savior.

John 10:11, 10:7, 10:27-28

Psalm 23

[Comfort] You aren’t going to bother Jesus when you come to him. So unlike our lived experience, we can run to Jesus with anything and everything and he is compassionate.

Note that the disciples aren’t doing anything at the moment. There is no telling what the disciples did while Jesus taught the crowd.

v. 35-36

The disciples come to Jesus and tell him that it’s time to wrap things up because it is getting late.

What was the thinking behind the line “they should go and buy themselves something to eat”?

Every person in the crowd understands that is how things work. Maybe they were looking at the sun also.

I wonder if the crowd had an expectation of a miracle

Just think of the confirmation to the multitude who come and wait all day on Jesus.

v. 37

Jesus responds to his disciples and commands them to give the crowd something to eat.

There seems to be an ebb to this passage which indicates that Jesus has finished “sending” his disciples. They have not properly discerned what kind of authority God has given to them.

[This is true of you too, believer]

Jesus has brought his disciples out to a desolate place (their is no foraging going on), and yet they are being called to feed his multitude. What would a good response be to this situation?

Q. “What are we to do Lord? Tell us and we will do it.”

This is not the disciples’ response

Their response rings like: “impossible!” “We can’t!” “We have no money!”

Not having money is definitely something we can relate to. Yet, there are many moments where what God is calling us to does not require money — it requires faithfulness and effort.

Spending time with your kids?

Spending time with your wife?

Having people over?

The disciples in this passage echo Moses in Num. 11:13, 22

Note God’s reply to Moses in v. 23: “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”

Note the comparison: Jesus is doing the work of Moses in shepherding the people, but he is occupying a different role. Jesus knows things even Moses did not know and he is calling his disciples to do things that God commissioned Moses to do.

This parallel is important for building up to the moment when Jesus asks Peter: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29)

v. 38

Jesus tells his disciples to seek out what food is available to which they respond:

Five loaves; Two Fish

v. 39

Geographically, commentators have noted that seeing the “green grass” of this passage and the “wilderness”/“desolate place” language of the previous verses aren’t necessarily at odds with one another.

There is a subtle shift in mood and language here though.

Desolate —> Flourishing

What is the differentiating factor? God’s hand.

Is. 43:19

Eze. 34:29

Ps. 23:1

v. 40-41

Jesus is modeling something for us here which we have been circling in this message: Looking to the Lord, seeking Him, trusting Him that He knows your needs better than even you do and seeking His blessing.

v. 42-44

Note the satisfaction language

Note the 12 baskets full of broken pieces and of fish

Note the size of the multitude

Themes

Jesus’s call is higher than you thought

Jesus’s provision is deeper than you thought

Jesus’s timing is better than you thought

So you can trust the Lord.

Something I am Mulling Over

As the Kingdom gets bigger, the Sabbath gets better

Principle - Your rest is better when you, your kids, husband, wife, and whole family are believers seeking the Lord

Your rest is better when your work community, or your community at large is seeking the Lord

Your rest is better when the Kingdom reaches the furthest ends of the earth

Rest/Sabbath Verses

In today’s text, we see a number of things:

Jesus teaching rest for his servants

Rest is good for the servant who is diligent

Rest is something that God built into his vision of the Kingdom of God

What is the Sabbath but an enjoyment of good work?

Gen. 2:3, Ex. 20:8-11, Heb. 3:7-4:11

Sluggardly rest is something that the Bible warns about

Prov. 6:10-11, Eccles. 4:5

Let us not be people who are too comfortable with comfort