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Mark 6:33 - 44
Not Just Display

Sometimes we tend to think that God performed Biblical miracles just in order to display His power.  For instance, remember the supply of manna in the wilderness? That was a pretty tremendous miracle, was it not? But was it just done to display God's power? Did it have any other purpose? It obviously did have another purpose - it was His means of feeding His beloved people. And it was a necessary miracle because God wanted to get His people from Egypt to Canaan, where He could get them established in godly worship and righteous living in their own land. He didn't want His people distracted along the way by their material needs, so He supplied their daily needs by sending the manna.

But basically, God supplied their needs just because He is Who He is. He's merciful and compassionate.  So the manna did two very practical things: it met the people's needs, and it was also a way to tell them that He loved them and cared about them.

Naturally, the people didn't understand at first what was happening to them. They got out there into that seemingly never-ending desert, ran out of the food they'd been able to pack with them, and began complaining to Moses and Aaron. They said, "Oh that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!"  Their babies were crying!  The people felt real hunger pangs!  Their faith was being tried!

With a mentality very much like ours, they didn't bother to consider the possibility that it wasn't Moses that called them out there, but it was GOD - and that same GOD would provide for them. Moses and Aaron were just HIS servants to lead them.

But, as we often do, instead of praying, they complained against the only human beings they could hold accountable. But they should have realized that it wasn't Moses and Aaron, but God Who was their Leader, and when they complained, they were complaining against Him. I wonder - do we ever do that?  Do we ever complain against God by complaining about the people He's placed over us?

But despite their complaining, God was so merciful! He rained manna upon them. But He did have a few words for them, too. In Exodus 16:11, 12, He says, "I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'" He had to teach them Who their real Leader was.

It's a lesson we still need to learn. We need to understand, deep in our hearts, that He is Lord. He's Lord of heaven, and He's Lord of earth. He's the Lord of our bodies, and He's the Lord of the food for our bodies. If He sends us to do His work, He will always provide us everything we need to do it. Oh how we need to know that! Oh how we need to quit complaining and start trusting! Let's remember that principle as we read Mark 6:33-44.

As you may read in the previous parts of this chapter, Jesus had intended that His disciples rest a while following their return from the great mission He'd sent them on. The crowds, though, were not to be put off so easily.  They saw Jesus and His disciples departing by boat and aparently, heard them talking about their destination, because, we read in verse 33, "they understood" where they were going. But, though the crowds began departing before Jesus and His disciples, yet because they were walking, while He went directly across by boat, the crowd didn't catch up with them for several hours. For that reason, Jesus and the disciples were indeed able to spend at least a little time "resting" on the "mountain" before the crowds arrived.

Then, probably hearing the noise of the crowd from their hillside retreat, Jesus came out and saw how great the multitude was that had gathered near their boat. Because He's the loving Savior that He is, "He was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd." They didn't have anyone else who could tell them the truth about God and about life.

Nothing could move Jesus more quickly or more deeply than that! His whole life and mission were focussed on restoring men, women and children to His Father - and here before Him was a great crowd who wanted to learn!

He didn't waste any time - "He began to teach them many things." It says that's what He "began" to do - and that's what He continued to do - for hours and hours! Our Lord's compassion for shepherdless sheep was such that He continued to teach as long as the multitude wanted to hear! His disciples, however, began to become concerned "when it had already become quite late." They strongly suggested that He send them away so that all these people could at least go into the surrounding coutryside to find something to eat and a place to stay if they needed one. But there followed a quiet, orderly miracle, the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

Let's think about the miracle for a few moments.  To accomplish it, Jesus used what they had. According to John's account, a young fellow had five barley loaves and two fishes and was willing to make them available. We need to understand that the "loaf" of Jesus' day was about the size of a man's hand, and that it was flat and about a finger's breadth thick. Five of them would be about enough for two or at the most three people. There were also two fish. It is a fair conclusion that the young fellow had enough for himself and one other, possibly his brother. The question Andrew asked seems more than appropriate.  He said to Jesus, "What are these for so many people?"

We need also to think a little about the number of people. Mark tells us that "there were five thousand men who ate the loaves." But that wasn't all. There were undoubtedly at least some women and children present as well, and we would not go too far wrong, therefore, to estimate the total multitude at 10-12,000 people!

So, obviously, the miracle Jesus did was a really great miracle! Yet we need to see that it was a simple, quiet, and orderly miracle. Jesus organized the people, gave a quiet thanks and started distributing. We can also see that, besides being quiet and orderly, it was a well-planned miracle, because there were exactly twelve baskets - small, lunch-bag-sized baskets - of the leftovers. The leftovers were just right to feed His disciples and, maybe, Himself!

There are some simple conclusions we can draw. We can see that the disciples were concerned for the people's bodily needs, and that Jesus was concerned too, but the text makes it very, very clear that Jesus' compassion far exceeded that of His disciples.

That's important to us. We should remember what our Lord said in another place. John tells us that He said, "And He who sent Me is with Me; The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." Whatever our Lord Jesus did, then, including the things He did out of concern and compassion, pleased the Father.  We can conclude that the Father Himself - our  Heavenly Father - is compassionate and caring, even for our daily, bodily needs!

But we mustn't lose sight of Jesus' main mission in coming down the hillside to this multitude in the first place: He came to teach them, to give them a better understanding of God, of His Messiah, and of the lives they could and should live in relationship to God. Just as for Israel in the wilderness, He didn't want their material needs to slow them down, to distract them from their spiritual needs, so He provided what they needed. He hasn't changed. He'll still provide for ALL our needs (not necessarily our desires).

So Jesus' compassion was very great, and His deeds were equally great.  Equal to both of these, we can also see that His gladness was also great.  We read, "Then, taking the five loaves and two fishes, and raising His eyes to heaven, He blessed, and (then) He broke the bread and gave it to His disciples to distribute it to them. And He (also) divided the two fishes among them all." It was our Lord's compassion that moved Him to "break the bread," and it was His love for His Father that moved Him to "raise His eyes to heaven and bless."

This is one of those places in Scripture where we need to be very careful to notice the phrasing of the original. An accurate paraphrase might read, ". . . and raising His eyes to heaven, He poured forth blessing, then He broke the bread . . ." The object of His blessing was not the bread!  The Object was His Father. He blessed the Father and broke the bread. Jesus, looking forward with joy to what was about to be done, blessed and thanked God for it. In conjunction with His Father, He was about to exercise His compassion for these people, and to exercise compassion always gave Him joy. He was therefore moved to express His gladness and thanksgiving.

Sometimes we Christians become "so heavenly minded that we're no earthly good." What I mean is that we occasionally become so obsessed with doctrine or with church programs and organization that we forget about people's ordinary needs.

But our Father and His Son are never like that. God is high and lifted up; He's Holy; He's majestic and glorious - but He's also concerned about your hunger, your hurt, or your tiredness. In fact, just because He's infinite in wisdom and power, He's much more concerned about your needs than you can be!

What we need to do, then, is to imitate our Lord.  When we're faced with a need while serving Him, we need to raise our eyes toward heaven and bless our Father for whatever He is going to do! And He will do something! If the mission is His mission - if He sent us - He'll also provide the means. He's the God of miracles, and He's the God of ordinary means as well.

We can learn a lot from this wonderful miracle. Not only can we see the gracious, caring attitude of the Father and of His Son toward our human needs - both spiritual and physical - but we can also see that He will provide for those needs and the needs of those to whom we minister as we attempt to accomplish His redemptive work. It's just like the manna in the wilderness - He's Lord of all the resources, and He provides when He sends.

So - have you become tired and discouraged as you've attempted to serve Him? He'll provide. Have you wondered about your resources as you've attempted to do His work? He'll provide enough so that you can accomplish the work He wants you to do (although not necessarily enough to do what you think should be done). We just need to remember to make His work our first priority. Then we need to trust His love and His lordship over it all.

An excellent and encouraging exposition!
Thank you.

Bless y'all - and I'm not even southern.