Before reading the text, I want to alert you to something that connects us with Veterans’ Day in the text. I bring it up now because I make nothing of it in the sermon, but it is a worthwhile note to the text.
In this, the feeding of the five-thousand, Jesus commands the people to gather in groups. The word for “command” is a Roman military term, as are the words for their groupings. “Group by group” the Disciples are told to put the. The old King James’ Version called these “companies,” as in armies. The actual word is “symposia” which meant “drinking party.” They are put into groups, rank-and-file as it were, and at the end they counted five-thousand men. Not people, or even men in the mankind-inclusive sense, but men, males.
Certainly this does not mean that women and children were not there, but rather Mark is giving us his poetry. Remember: the “crowds” are to be thought of as a character in Mark’s narrative—the crowds do this or that—and here something wondrous happens: the crowd—that chaotic swarm of humanity—is put into order, organized.
The image is reminiscent of the armies of Israel assembled prior to entering the promised land. Is this Mark’s picture of a Messianic Army getting ready to leave the wilderness and issue in the Messianic Age? The historical answer is clearly no, but Mark’s picture is very careful in presenting us these military details. Mark does nothing by chance; for him, words matter.
Text: Mark 6: 30-44 Esv
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" 38 And he said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.†
Walk-Through the Text
We’re going to see something of our own story reflected in the text. Mark has a wonderful revelation for us which I’ll point out later.
1. getting away from it all
After evangelizing, the Disciples had regathered to decompress, but the crowds gave them no rest. Jesus, knowing what’s best for them all, declares a holiday—a retreat—a chance to get away from it all and refresh.
2. Crowd in hot pursuit
Somehow, someone caught wind of where they were heading. Like mad paparazzi, they spread the word and soon the crowds are hoofing it around the lake toward Jesus’ intended destination. When the boat docks, the crowd is there waiting for them.
3. wilderness by the water
The word for “desolate place” is used three times in this text. It is the same word as “wilderness”—as in the place where John the Baptist lived, or where Jesus was driven to be tempted. This place is not down south by Jericho, but on the lake of Galilee, but it is decidedly rural, remote—a noplace where Jesus and his disciples fled to escape the crowds. No such luck.
4. compassion = teaching
I imagine the Disciples seeing the crowd and their hearts sinking: “Oh no! What the heck? Not again! Are we ever gonna get a break!?” Jesus, on the other hand, sees sheep in need of a shepherd, and begins teaching. Notice the change here? The crowd is no longer pressing in for healings and/or exorcisms! They want to be with Jesus. Perhaps many of these were people who had been healed and just wanted to follow him. Either way, Jesus’ chief activity with them is now teaching. And he teaches until sunset, when the Disciples have had enough.
5. disciples irritable Part 1
They go to him and say, in effect, “It’s late and we are nowhere near a town—you’re gonna wanna send everyone away so they can see to their dinners.” Do the Disciples really care about the multitude’s needs? I kinda doubt it. They were bushed, beat and probably pretty hungry themselves by now. They were looking forward to their retreat—to being away from the crowds and in situ on retreat with Jesus.
6. “you feed them”
Jesus response is disturbing. “YOU take care of them—give them all something to eat.” Jesus asks them something that is literally impossible for them. Atop their fatigue, this command made them irritable to the point of snarkiness, as their response makes clear.
7. disciples irritable part 2 T
There is no denying the sarcasm in their response. They say, in effect, “Oh yeah, sure—we’ll just take about $50,000.00 and go to that bread factory out here in the middle of nowhere and feed everybody, no problem.” They had neither money nor food nor places to buy food in the wilderness. What Jesus commands of them is patently impossible. They are at the end of their resources, but Jesus keeps believing:
“What do you have?”
[Awkward silence from the Disciples]
“Go find out?’
WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?
Question: Why was it the Disciples’ responsibility to feed the crowds?
Answer: Because Jesus made it theirs.
Jesus may command the impossible, but it’s only because he is up to something wonderful.
The Disciples return after rummaging through all their backpacks in the boat. Their haul is nothing less than embarrassing:
Five loaves and two fish.
The fish were likely the popular garnish fish produced in Magdala. They were small, dried fish—two wouldn’t cover half a biscuit.
They may have had a “told you so” look on their faces, or perhaps a sheepish “sorry we can’t do better” faces; either way, the impossibility of their task only becomes crystal clear.
When challenged by the Lord, we too are likely to feel that we are under-resourced, or that the task is utterly impossible. Granted, God is only likely to ask us to do things that are God-sized, meaning if we can do something in our own strength, then what room are we leaving for God to work?
Too often, this is how churches work. We think about what we’d like to do and make happen, and then we run a campaign to raise enough money to make it happen. If we don’t raise the money, we’re unlikely to move forward. We are no different than the Disciples.
Jesus’ word to the Disciples is his word to us:
Don’t tell me what you don’t have,
but bring me what you do have.
Participating in the Glory
Reminder: Jesus didn’t need the Disciples to feed the people. He didn’t need their measly 5 and 2 to work with. Similarly, God doesn’t need us to accomplish his mission in his world. The amazing and wondrous thing is that he chooses to use us, useless though we may be! He could have rained manna from the sky, turned the blades of grass into stalks of celery, or caused an army of fish to wiggle out of the lake onto the people’s plates, but instead, he chooses to work with us and to use whatever it is that we do bring forward in order to reveal his power and glory among us.
We hear this very intention expressed to Martha when Jesus is about to do the impossible and raise Lazarus from the dead in John 11:
Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" [John 11:40]
Again, if God calls us to do something that is beyond our ability or resourcing, it only means that he is planning on filling the gap himself. When we plan based upon what we already know we can do, we are being less than faithful; we are simply being reasonable, walking by sight and not by faith.
Believe, Trust and Obey
Did the Disciples believe that Jesus was going to feed an army of five-thousand with their little lunchbox? We don’t know. What we do know is Jesus made a way to reveal his glory in an unforeseen and unexpected way.
We should live, act and give with the same expectation; namely, that when we are moving in alignment with we know God is calling us to do and be, that God will reveal himself and his glory in our midst. If we trust, God will act. If we believe, God will empower us. If we obey his calling, we will succeed.
the Shepherd Revealed
In today’s text, Mark is at his most poetic. Aside from the military imagery, something wonderful is revealed that I’m excited to share.
When I was an undergrad, before I had any thoughts of seminary, I was reading Mark, this very passage, as a typical student of poetry and English Lit major would. I came to a disturbing line: He made them sit on the green grass. What struck me was the word green. Mark doesn’t describe most things—people, buildings, towns and villages—but he goes to the trouble to tell us that the grass is green. Really? We needed that detail? Something is going on. It was then I was able to see the poetry—the multidimensional picture that Mark painted.
By pulling various words and phrases out of the text, we see a striking correlation with a song all Jews (and Christians) cherish:
In feeding the five-thousand, not only is Jesus a Moses-like leader in the wilderness providing bread for his people; not only is he a Joshua (the same name Jesus) readying his people to enter the promised land; not only is he the one from Genesis 1whose word brings order out of chaos; but he is The Lord who is our shepherd.
His ultimate role: to restore our souls.
His glory is revealed in our weakness,
our emptiness,
our failed resources,
our wearied lack of patience,
our tired snarkiness and sarcasm,
our unneeded hands and useless gifts—
all of our wandering, our chasing him round the lake, our wanting to be with him—all are taken up by him in his grace, transformed and returned to us infused and charged with wildly amplified goodness.
When we trust in him, his power and presence glow from us.
When we step forward in faith, he is there to reveal his power.
When we bring what we have—not our little gifts out of our surplus—but all we have, all we are, and all we expect for the future, then we give rightly.
I can think of nothing better and more exciting than a life fully devoted and given to Christ, for it is the totally-committed heart that stands close to the heart of God.
And it’s easy. Don’t worry and don’t make excuses. Don’t feel unworthy. Just bring what you do have and watch for the miracle to happen. The hungry lambs shall be fed, the poor in spirit encouraged, the Church amazed, and every soul restored.
†