Mark 6:35-46 Feeding the 5000

Joel and Mary Nadel, Forestgate PCA

From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

Pray

Mark 6:35–46 NASB95

When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. There were five thousand men who ate the loaves. Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

Photo of the Field

Introduction

Coming of John the Baptist

Arrival of Jesus

The Gospel message

Jesus ministry thus far

Teaching with healing and other wonders

Miracles

Teaching His apostles

Today: Jesus creates food for perhaps 15,000 people (Matt says 5000 men, plus women and children

This miracle is mentioned in all four Gospels

This demands more of our attention

A magnificent example of the Lord’s power

Fed 5,000 men and families with five loaves and two fish. They had nothing to eat

Lord took the loaves and fishes, blessed, broke and gave to the disciples to distribute

Conclusion of the narrative: And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.

Power to create beyond question

Something real, solid, is called into being - did not exist before - something out of nothing

No room for man-made explanations, optical illusions, over active imaginations

None of these would have fed 5000 families

Twelve baskets would not have been taken up if those loaves had not been multiplied

Proves: He who created the world out of nothing was here

Only God could have spread this table in the wilderness

Christians need to keep this in mind, and remember it in time of need

We are in an evil unbelieving world, few are with us, many against us

We have weak hearts, to ready to go the wrong way if its convenient- seems right - look at the reactions of the disciples

The devil is always near, waiting for us to stumble, lose faith, so he can lead us into temptation

Where can we turn for help? What keeps our faith alive, keeps us from falling into depression? - Look to Jesus

Remember His almighty power - His miracles

Remember - created food out of nothing, just like He created the world. He supplies the needs of His followers - even in the wilderness

Jesus still lives, never changes, is on our side

Jesus’ conduct after the miracle

Consider Jesus conduct after this miracle: “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”

Great lesson here - Jesus did not look for the praise of man.

After one of His greatest miracles, he went off by Himself, looking to spend time in prayer

He practiced what He preached

Matt 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

No one did such great works, no one spoke such words, no one was so immediate in prayer

Here Jesus is a great example to us

We cannot work miracles- He stands alone

We can follow His example, at least in private prayer and devotion

If we have the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of adoption - we can pray

Let’s promise to pray more than we have done before - make time, place opportunity to be alone with God

Pray before, and after, your work is done

Bringing it home

We need to examine ourselves about our prayer habits - “How’s your prayer life?”

How much time do we spend in prayer?

Are we making progress/improving our prayer lives?

Do we know what it means to work hard at prayer?

These are good questions to ask ourselves

Our greatest weakness at Christians? Prayer

Jesus prayed all night, prayed to the point of tears, frequently found a private place to pray

Loved His communion with the Father

We are busy, often short change our prayers - no wonder our churches are so needy

James 4:2 “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.”

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