Mark 6:30-44
Good morning! It’s so good to have all of our kids joining us this morning! We come to a familiar passage for most of us, one that contains perhaps one of the most incredible miracles that Jesus ever performed. We are going to be in Mark chapter 6 this morning. Mark 6 and verses 30-44.
Mark 6:30-44
Big Idea: Jesus, driven by compassion, abundantly provides for our spiritual and physical needs.
The disciples have been very busy. After traveling back to Nazareth with Jesus, and seeing those who grew up with Him reject him, Jesus sent them out in pairs to the surrounding villages. Their mission was to heal the sick and to cast out demons, preaching the gospel along the way. They return to Jesus and report back everything that had happened.
In these first few verses, if we really slowed down our time together in Mark, we could see multiple messages that could be preached. Just in this first verse we see the last step in an incredible model for discipleship.
Come With Me
Learn From Me
Go Out and Try It Yourself
Report Back and Evaluate
We could also stop and talk about the importance of rest. Jesus says, “you’ve done well. I think you’ve earned some well deserved rest. Let’s get away from the crowds for a short while, just us. Let's go spend some time together to get refreshed.” They couldn’t even stop to eat. They had no downtime. They had to eat quickly as they were working. It wasn’t sustainable. It never is unless we slow down. God ordained rest. God rested on the 7th day after He spoke everything into existence. Jesus commands rest. One day we will enter into eternal rest. It’s so important.
So they get in the boat and try to disappear for a few days. But, it doesn’t go like they had hoped. As the disciples are crossing the lake with Jesus, people see and somehow recognize their boat. They see where they are heading, and they follow along the shore. As they go through the towns, they are inviting others to join them. The excitement is building. Walking and inviting turns to running. And Mark says they came from “all the towns.” And the incredible thing is, they outran the boat! Jesus and His disciples arrive, Luke tells us, on the shore of Bethsaida.
Look again at verse 34. Read vs. 34. Here we see our first point:
1.. Jesus Had Compassion On the Crowd (34)
The disciples might have had a different reaction initially. They had come to Bethsaida to seek a few days of rest with Jesus, but instead are greeted by thousands of people. Jesus, however, was moved to compassion. When we dig in to the root behind the word, we find that it comes from the Greek word vicera, a reference to the stomach. So the compassion that Jesus felt was a gut-level desire to care for these people. He perceived their spiritual needs, felt a deep, intense compassion for them, why?
Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Even though we will see Jesus fill their bellies in a miraculous way, that was not their greatest need. Their greatest need was a Shepherd to guide them. Their greatest need was a Shepherd to care for them, to protect them, to give them security. Their greatest need was a Savior. And so Jesus begins to teach.
What would the implication be of Jesus referring to them as sheep in need of a shepherd? One pastor draws the parallel to the spiritual. He says “there were questions but no answers, distress but no relief, anguish of conscience but no deliverance, tears but no consolation, sin but no forgiveness.” They were helpless.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control, that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul. Jesus, our Good Shepherd had compassion on the multitudes in our story this morning, and He has compassion on us today. God looked at our helpless estate, looked at His Son Jesus, and said “it’s time.” Driven by compassion He sends Jesus to this earth to die. Driven by compassion Jesus willingly goes to the cross to die for our sins. Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
And now, we have the Answer, we have relief, we have deliverance, we have forgiveness, and we are helpless no more. Let’s keep going.
2.. Jesus Satisfied the Crowd (35-42)
Before we really break down the miracle, we have to understand something. Mark tells us in verse 44 that those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men. Traditionally at this time, only the men were counted, but there would have also been women and children there as well. In fact, it is estimated that there would have been somewhere between 15-20,000 people in the crowd. I mean just picture the hillside.
It’s getting late, and the disciples start to get a little anxious about the crowd. There are a lot of people. It’s been a long day, and surely they are getting hungry. Most logical thing to do would be to send them away for the night into the surrounding villages, and reconvene in the morning. Instead, Jesus tests their faith by telling them to feed them. 15-20,000 people. We see that they have about 200 denarii, which would have been about 8 months wages. So of course they’re like, “wait a minute Jesus, that’s a lot of money. You want us to spend everything we have to feed these people? Just send them away! They’ll be fine!”
And of course Jesus steps in and performs the only miracle that all 4 gospels contain. He takes the bread, looks up to heaven, prays to His Father a blessing over the meal, to which His disciples are probably dumbfounded. Like, what is He doing?
Now. I have a short clip to show you guys, and I thought this would be a cool thing for our kids to see as well. If you haven’t watched the Chosen, I would highly recommend it. While they take some liberty with some of the unwritten details of the stories surrounding Jesus, it’s one of the best depictions that I’ve seen of how things might have actually been.
Chosen Clip
While this is a great way to imagine it happening, and it’s amazing to see this, what was more likely happening is that the disciples would take the baskets out to the people, and then bring them back empty, and Jesus would continue to refill them, but we don’t know exactly what this looked like. Was it a basket that just became full? Was it Jesus physically creating with His own hands bread out of nothing? Like, picture him sticking His hand in the basket and bread just keeps coming. Like a magician pulling cards out of an “empty” hat.
Guys think about this for just a minute. When He healed the sick, something inside of their body was healed. When He calmed the storm, the wind stopped. When He cast out demons, something happened in the spiritual realm. But, Jesus, who John tells us was intimately involved in the creation of the universe, nothing was created without HIm, is creating matter. He is creating substance. He is creating bread and fish. I just picture him breaking the bread, and breaking the bread, and breaking the bread. And He just keeps breaking it and it never runs out. I mean it’s absolutely mind blowing. It hurts my brain to try and imagine it. I can’t wrap my head around it! But it happened! And Jesus satisfies the crowd. He meets their spiritual needs as a Shepherd to lost sheep, and now He meets their physical needs. But look at what else we see!
3.. Jesus Provided in Abundance (43-44)
Read vs. 43-44.
It isn’t that Jesus provides just enough for the crowds. He provides MORE than they need. He provides in abundance. Who knows how long it took to serve let’s just say all 15,000 people. I mean 12 disciples, so 1,250 people each. And at the end of it all, the disciples collect what is left, and they have 12 full baskets of broken bread and fish. He met their needs and then some.
This was a massive thing. So big in fact, that John tells us in his gospel that after this happened, “the people saw the sign that he had done, and they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Jesus, perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself. It was so amazing, that the people wanted to physically detain Jesus and make Him their king right then and there. So incredible.
Application:
1.. We Should Have Compassion Like Jesus
When Jesus looked and perceived the needs of the crowd, He was driven to compassion. As Christians, as children of God being molded into the image of Christ, we should perceive the needs of others and be driven to compassion. And we shouldn’t need a Sarah McLachlan song to influence our emotions. It’s easy to watch a commercial with sappy music behind and feel compassion, but what about in real life? What about the broken family, and you see the kids just struggling to find identity? What about the co-worker who can’t seem to catch a break, and everything in their world seems to be falling apart? What about the sick?
What about the ones who don’t know Jesus? Do we see a deep spiritual need and are we driven to compassion? If not then let it be your prayer this week! God, give me compassion for the lost. God let me feel it in the depths of my being. Let it be a gut-wrenching desire to see them satisfied by Jesus! But don’t stop there!
2.. We Should Meet the Needs of Others Like Jesus
This one takes effort. This one takes intentionality. This one can be intimidating. It requires that we first perceive the need. If we don’t perceive it, it may require us to dig a little deeper to find the need. But once we know about it, it is our God-given responsibility to do what we can to meet that need. And let me emphasize “do what we CAN.” Sometimes, we can’t. Sometimes, we don’t have the money to help. Sometimes, we don’t have the knowledge to help. Sometimes, we really don’t have the time. BUT, we probably know someone that does!
Jesus meets both spiritual and physical needs. In the same way, we are called to meet the spiritual and physical needs of others. We give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and our time to the prisoner. We speak truth into discouragement. We speak hope into hopelessness. We speak light into darkness. We speak Jesus into everything. We serve. We give. We love. We strive to live like Jesus in this way!
