"Ample Provisions" - a Sermon on Mark 6:30-44

I wonder what stands out for you as you hear and read this passage!! Various things occurred to me as I studied this passage, which I will tackle under five headings.

(1) Reflecting the Light of Jesus (v.30-33)

Jesus’ disciples, who he had sent out two by two on mission (6:7-13), were now reporting back on all they had seen, heard and accomplished. Jesus understood their tiredness, and that they had worked hard and made sacrifices, and led them away to a quiet place where they could rest and recuperate.

Raelene and I recently benefited from our time in Bright, we needed this, and we had two whole weeks. But it seems here, that no sooner had Jesus taken these disciples away from the hustle and bustle of ministry in the community, that the people complete with all their needs and expectations rushed straight back at them.

They obviously didn’t travel very far in their boat, nowhere near as far as Bright, probably just around to the next cove on the Sea of Galilee, because the crowd of people was already ahead of them on foot. The crowd might have been saying, “There they are, Jesus and those friends of his, they’re obviously heading for ‘Refuge Cove’, let’s get over there now!”

In some ways this would be very disappointing and challenging, yet in another way it is very complimentary. There was something about the way these disciples were carrying out their mission that was attractive and effective, and many people wanted a piece of this. Was it that they were exhibiting purpose and hope and peace in life that was way above what was normally seen? People with the light of Jesus in their lives will be attractive to others; which begs the question whether we sufficiently reflect the light of Jesus in our everyday lives, such that people flock to us for help?

Do people at work or university seek us out when they have an issue going on? Now some people will avoid us because of any number of reasons pertaining to our faith, yet God will be preparing some for contact with us. The question will be whether we are approachable enough or positive enough or patient enough to receive them? Do people in our street want to talk with us? Are we holding out the welcome sign?

Of course it’s alright to withdraw and take holidays, and make sure we get proper sustenance and rest; but the point is – we can never take a holiday from being a follower of Jesus, and being a light-filled follower of Jesus, we need to always be prepared to spend time with people and share the reasons why we are. Having had his plans upset, Jesus didn’t respond with agitation to the crowds of people, just with “compassion”, which probably reinforces their depth of need.

(2) The Overwhelming Need (v.34)

So, Jesus looked at the crowd that had gathered and had “compassion” on them.
What do you think it means that they were like “sheep without a shepherd”??? Obviously it has roots in the Old Testament texts. We could think about those people around us, who we may look at with compassion at times!!!
· fragile; vulnerable to all the dangers and pressures in life (Ezekiel 34:5-6 > "So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.")
· purposeless – without any real life goals that amount to much
· fragmented – without any worthy example to follow just going in a multitude of directions crashing into each other; or just following the loudest voice toward inevitable ruin (e.g. the film “Flicka”)
· weary (from just basically trying to survive with insufficient resources).

This very reality is what impels me in mission. Yes, I could think about their eternal destiny. But what I respond to mostly is the parlous state of their everyday lives. If Jesus is so important and so wonderful that we come Sunday by Sunday and at other times in the week to worship and serve him, then he’s just got to have something to offer right here and now to these others. Jesus is available to be the ‘shepherd’ of the ‘lost sheep’, and give them the resources they need, and inwardly teach them the truths to build a life on. This is what Jesus in person offered on that day at ‘Refuge Cove’.

(3) The Reluctance of the Disciples (v.35-37)

But then it got late, toward the time when the gathered crowd would normally be looking for something to eat. Jesus didn’t seem particularly disturbed by this, but his disciples certainly were. There was no McDonalds or Chinese takeaway on hand, so other measures had to be taken! From the disciples’ perspective, the crowd of people would have to leave this place and go off to various nearby towns and purchase food there. From Jesus’ perspective this was obviously a shame, because he had their ear, and if they could just pull it off somehow, here was an opportunity of offering some real hospitality – exhibiting the true welcoming nature of God.

So Jesus laid down the challenge to his disciples, “You give them something to eat”! How would the disciples react to this? What we get here in verse 37 reads like quite a sarcastic response, suggesting that Jesus really must be joking. There is a real sense of reluctance here? Why was this?

Clearly a lot of money was involved, more money than they could possibly possess, or even raise at short notice. “Two hundred denarii” would have been equivalent to about two-thirds of an average working person’s yearly salary. And the mere contemplation of such a task seemed a whole lot of effort. This sarcasm was born out of what seemed to the disciples to be an impossible ask! For all their good efforts in mission recently, the disciples were still only thinking out of human frameworks rather than out of faith. They’d missed the prompt that if Jesus was asking them to provide, then Jesus had already put into process the means by which the disciples could succeed. A better response would have been to ask Jesus what he had in mind, or perhaps even better … just gone about seeing what food was available amongst the crowd.

Dorothy A Lee-Pollard writes: “The disciples simply cannot comprehend the power of the kingdom. In a sense it is too big for them, too awesome. They are afraid of its implications in their lives, afraid of its power to change human reality.”

In Mark retelling the story, first, his own community in the 1st century, then we, the modern-day disciples of Jesus, are being asked to reflect on the actions of the disciples, and be challenged by this concerning our own times. Sometimes even though we are convinced about Jesus and love him, we can still prefer the status quo in and around us to something that we cannot really picture, imagine or control. Also, God can seem to be asking a lot of us at times. Maybe taking the gospel to the whole of Point Cook sounds a bit much. We might sarcastically reply about how few our resources are compared to the hugeness of the task. Yet if we are truly called, then God has already put the processes into place by which we can succeed. We just need to be prayerful and alert enough to see how God is leading us. Five loaves of bread and two fish didn’t sound too much to feed five thousand, but in the hands of Jesus … well we know how things turned out!

In the disciples’ defense they were probably still worn out and not at their best. But we could ask of ourselves, when are we ever really at our best, and if we waited until we were at our best to offer hospitality and friendship, would we ever actually offer it? As was said earlier, we are under a constant call to be light to our community.

(4) The Involvement of the Disciples (v.38-40)

Jesus persisted with using his disciples to do his earthly work … as he always does!! They were commissioned to feed the people! The community of people needed to be fed, and the disciples would have to find a way of doing it. They would have to go and look for some food. But ultimately they wouldn’t be left to achieve such a huge task on their own; in fact Jesus already had the plans in place by which the resources available were multiplied as the disciples began to distribute them.

Here the disciples (maybe still reluctantly, yet faithfully) stepped up. They collected the five loaves of bread and two fish from the willing donor, presented these to Jesus, and got the crowd to sit down in groups. Questions would have still been circulating in their minds, and perhaps these disciples were debating among themselves the point of all this. What they were about to witness would be a great lesson for them, and a great lesson for us, about the limitless power of Jesus to reach people!!!!

(5) Mass Satisfaction (v.41-44)

Jesus was committed to satisfying the needs of this large crowd of people, who had been so anxious to connect with Jesus and his disciples, even though they had to travel to do it. Along with the disciples, they would be witnesses to (and beneficiaries of) an extraordinary display of God’s hospitality. Opportunities abound … Doors are wide open … God has gone before us … We have ample provisions (to become shepherds of the ‘shepherdless’ people!

This is a famous story often remarked upon. But really the miracle is written in a very understated way, as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. Jesus was present, so of course everyone was satisfied, and of course there were basketfuls left over! Why wouldn’t that have been the case!!

Famine and physical hunger were a constant factor in Palestinian life and in the Roman world at this time. The original readers of this gospel text would understand the impact of such physical satisfaction, and then translate that understanding to the possibilities of satisfying the deep spiritual need around them. May we so understand God’s availability to touch people’s need, and also God’s choice of us to make the personal connections between God and our neighbours!