WWUTT 2167 Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (Mark 6:33-44)

Jesus fed 5 ,000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fish, demonstrating that He is the

Creator of the universe who brought all things into existence out of nothing, but also that He can take something small and accomplish much, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ. For He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wtt .com. Once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we are moving on to the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5 ,000, which we have in Mark 6, verses 33 -44.

I'll read here from the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And the people saw them going, and many recognized them, and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

And when Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things.

And when it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and began saying,

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 and said to 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 by groups on the green grass, and 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.

And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces and also of the fish.

And there were five thousand men who ate the loaves. Now you are surely familiar with this particular miracle.

After all, it is recounted in all four Gospels, the three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, and then, of course,

John. Now the most familiar version of this account, you probably know from John's Gospel, because as we were reading here, you might have been going,

Hey, where's the little boy? I thought there was a boy who had a lunch that had five loaves and two fish.

Mark doesn't mention that. Well, neither do Matthew and Luke. It is John where you find that.

In John 6, 8 and 9, it is Andrew who brings the boy to Jesus, Andrew, Peter's brother, and says there's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.

But what are these for so many people? So that's how we come to understand that there is a boy who has this lunch.

And then Jesus divides that out to feed five thousand. Now the purpose of this miracle is to show

Christ divinity. Of course, this is this is the one who brought all things into existence out of nothing.

As it says in Hebrews 11, three, by faith, we believe that all that has been seen has been made out of things that were invisible.

Jesus was able to speak a word. The son of God at the beginning of creation could just speak things into existence.

And though Jesus is working here with five loaves and two fish, I don't know how in the world does he take five loaves and two fish and make enough food for five thousand men to eat, not counting women and children, and then having 12 baskets full left over.

I mean, there's a whole lot of a lot of ex nihilo that's happening here. Out of nothing is what that means in Latin, though he is using five loaves and two fish.

Where is all this food coming from? So, of course, the miracle demonstrates the divinity of Christ.

But even beyond this, it shows how Christ can use a little to feed a lot.

And we'll consider what that means when we get to closer to the end of the lesson here.

So let's return to verse thirty three, where it says the people saw them going, many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities and got there ahead of them.

So if you'll remember yesterday, we read the account of John the Baptist being beheaded,

Herod putting him to death at the at the request of Herodias's daughter. And after we have that flashback account, we're looking back at something that's already taken place.

We come back to the action of the twelve disciples returning from the mission that Jesus had sent them on and they come back and they give a report.

And then Jesus says to them in verse thirty one, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

They've just been on this this tiring taxing mission, for there were many people who were coming and going and they did not even have time to eat.

We've read that previously in Mark's gospel, how the people will come to them with such numbers and demand such time that Jesus and his disciples don't even have enough time to eat a meal.

So here they're looking for some rest. So in verse thirty two, they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

This would have been on the Sea of Galilee. But the people saw them going, it says in verse thirty three, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities.

So they have this idea of where they're going as the boat is going to the other side of the lake. So the people, word kind of spreads,

Jesus and his disciples are going over there. And so on foot, they all run around to the other side of the lake.

This would have been this itself would have been a taxing endeavor to run all that way and get that far.

It's easier to just cross the lake by boat. But here these people are going around it and they want to be there when

Jesus arrives on the other side. And sure enough, when Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

And he began to teach them many things in Matthew chapter nine.

This is not with regard to feeding the five thousand. It's not Matthew's account of feeding the five thousand.

But it says there that when Jesus saw the crowds, Matthew nine thirty six, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

So this isn't really an insulting thing to say here about them being like a sheep without a shepherd as they are wandering around aimlessly.

Jesus has compassion on them because they don't have a guide. And this shepherd not only leads the sheep, but he protects the sheep.

And who would have been those that were attempting to devour the sheep? Well, that would have been the

Pharisees. So for Jesus to see the crowds in this way and to say of them or to think of them as being like sheep without a shepherd, it's also to see that they have been led astray by false teachers.

They don't have shepherds, the Pharisees and the scribes, the Sadducees and all the other teachers of Israel.

These persons were not teaching what God had said in his word. A vast majority of them were leading the people astray.

They were adding to the word of God. They were heaping heavy burdens on the people, imposing upon them laws that nobody could keep.

Nobody could be righteous according to any of these rules. Nobody can be righteous on their own merit anyway. Now we're going to get to this when we get to chapter seven.

We'll be in chapter seven next week where we read there about Jesus confronting the Pharisees about the false things that they have been teaching.

We'll not only see what it was that the Pharisees were teaching and what

Jesus rebuked, but we're going to make some present day application as well. In what ways might we encounter

Pharisees in even the church today, in our culture today, or things like that?

People who are imposing these rules that are not what God has said in his word.

They're man -made traditions, but they put greater emphasis on the traditions than they do with God's word.

So again, that's next week. We'll be in that. We'll be in chapter seven on Monday, God willing. But continuing on with this account here,

Jesus seeing the people that they are like sheep without a shepherd. And in this particular account, it doesn't say that he begins healing them.

It says he begins teaching them because if they are like sheep without a shepherd, that's what they really need.

Sound teaching, not being led astray and not being devoured by wolves, but they need to know the truth, understanding the kingdom of God, knowing

God and how to please him according to faith in Christ, believing in Jesus, Jesus even showing himself as the son of God, as the

Messiah who was prophesied in the Old Testament. These would have been among some of those things that Jesus would have taught.

Now we don't have any details on what it was that he was teaching. And oftentimes in Mark's gospel, it's that way.

This isn't a really teaching heavy gospel, but we know from other places that that is exactly what

Jesus taught. He doesn't come right out and say, I am the Messiah, but he would teach them things to help them see that the

Messiah has come to them. The shepherd, the good shepherd who has come to the sheep of the house of Israel.

So then going on verse 35, when it was already quite late, his disciples came to him and began saying, 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.

Now, once again, as Jesus had recognized that these people were like sheep without a shepherd, so he is also recognizing their desolation.

This is a desolate place in which they are meeting, but there is a spiritual significance to that as well, as though these people live in a land of desolation.

Their spirits are withered and hungry and starving, like that deer in Psalm 42, as a deer pants for flowing streams.

So pants my soul for you, O God, a deer that is going through the wilderness looking for a flowing stream.

And so this is that same sort of a picture here. They're in a desolate place. There's not even anywhere for them to go and buy food.

No one has access to anything in which they could make food or distribute food to all of these people.

And this is emblematic of the fact that Israel was starving. Now, that's not necessarily to the praise of this people that are there around Jesus.

They are just as much at fault as the Pharisees, but the Pharisees would be judged with greater strictness.

So Jesus says to the disciples, you give them something to eat.

And they said to him, shall we go and spend 200 denarii on bread and give them something to eat?

Now, remember where the disciples just came from. We just read about Jesus sending them out to preach the good news in all the towns and villages that they would go to and verify the message that they proclaimed was from God by performing miracles, casting out demons and healing the sick.

That's the mission that they have just been on. They come back to Jesus. They give a report. Jesus and the disciples attempt to go to the other side of the lake.

The crowds are there waiting for them. So when Jesus says to them, you give them something to eat, it's as though to say, have

I not just taught you about this? Have you not just learned the mission that I am sending you on?

That you would feed my sheep, the words that Jesus gave to Peter at the end of the gospel of John, go and feed my lambs, tend to my flock.

Now, I think that Jesus is speaking literally here. You give them something to eat. But again, there's a spiritual connotation to that.

Have we not just learned about these things? Have I not just taught you this? You were meant to go to these towns and feed them the message of God, the message of the kingdom.

So here these people are looking for food. You feed them. Jesus surely would have known they didn't have any food.

So he's putting the challenge upon them. Well, why don't you give them what they really need? The spiritual food that does not perish.

But they said to him, shall we go and spend 200 denarii on bread and give them something to eat?

So they're thinking only in material ways, not in the spiritual suggestion that Jesus is making here.

So then he said to them, verse 38, how many loaves do you have? Go and look. And when they found out, they said, five and two fish.

And again, according to what we have in John's gospel, we know that there was a boy there who had a lunch. It's amazing to me.

You've got 5 ,000 people here. And of course, the way that this is set up from the very beginning,

Mark, very good with the details in what he shares here. They knew where Jesus and the disciples were going.

And so they very quickly gathered everybody up. Let's go, let's go, let's go. He's going to be on the other side of the lake.

Let's run over there. We'll be there before he arrives. We'll surprise him. So as the people know that this is where Jesus is going and they're trying to beat him to the other side, it was a mad rush to get there.

They didn't have time to sit and pack lunches and things like that. But apparently someone's mom had the presence of mind to give her son five loaves and two fish.

Or maybe he was carrying it already anyway by the time that he joined the crowd, which was going to go over to the other place and meet with Jesus.

Who knows why he had it, but he had it. 5 ,000 people there, 5 ,000 men at least, not counting women and children.

And only this boy has this basket of five loaves and two fish. So that's what they report back to Jesus, that this boy has this.

And so Jesus commanded them all, verse 39, to sit down by groups on the green grass, the disciples organizing everybody, setting them down in different places, grouping them in certain places and leaving rows between these groups.

So there's places for the disciples to walk as they're going to be distributing these rations.

So in verse 40, and they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties, I'm going to share a brief story here really has absolutely nothing to do with this miracle, the account of this miracle.

But that's also kind of the point of sharing the story, that it doesn't have anything to do with the story. There was a catalog that I received as a pastor.

We get all kinds of catalogs from different organizations that specifically want to do business with churches.

They want to get churches business. And this particular magazine was about lighting and sound. And so there was an article in there that was about making your audience comfortable.

So if you want to draw more people in, you want to keep them engaged, you want to grow your congregation, well, you need to make sure your congregation is comfortable.

And this article tried to justify that as a command, like God's command is that churches have to make their people comfortable.

And the verse that was used in that article to verify that imperative was

Mark 6 40. Because the article said, here we've got in this account,

Jesus separates the groups in hundreds and fifties. He wanted them to be comfortable in their group.

So because they're comfortable in their groups, you need to make your people comfortable as well. That is stupid.

That is a twisting of scripture and has nothing to do with what is being said here.

It even went beyond the point of the story. So be careful with the way that some of these miracles and things like this will be taken out of context.

And people will try to make the story serve the end or the point that they want to make.

The context is what helps us to understand the purpose of what it is that's happening here in the lesson that we are meant to take away.

And like I said, first and foremost, it's to see that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, even as the second person of the

Trinity, the one that was standing there at the dawn of time, uttering words that was bringing light into existence, that was bringing all matter into existence just by speaking a word.

And so it was. And it's by that same power, Jesus demonstrates here the dividing of the loaves and the fish.

So the people are seated. Jesus, verse 41, took the five loaves and the two fish and looking up toward heaven, he blessed the food and broke the loaves.

I've had my children ask me, if you have kids, maybe your kids have asked you this. Why do we pray before every meal?

Because Jesus did. We see that over and over again throughout the Gospels, Jesus praying before eating, giving thanks to the one who has provided for us this food for sustenance and for strengthening us.

So Jesus praises God for this opportunity that he might demonstrate this power and that the disciples come to know something about how

God will take a little and make much out of it. And he kept giving them to the disciples, the loaves that he had broke.

He set them before them and he divided up the two fish among them all. And verse 42, they all ate and were satisfied.

And that's an important sentence because we are fully satisfied in Christ, in the very teaching that Jesus gave, that the people listened to and would have received from him.

They would be completely satisfied in the teaching, just as they're completely satisfied in the food that Jesus gives them.

They're satisfied with the spiritual food and with the material food. For Christ provides us with all things.

You remember Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Verse 43, they picked up 12 full baskets of the broken pieces and also the fish. And there were 5 ,000 men who ate the loaves, 12 full baskets.

Now the number 12 is significant in scripture. It indicates the people of God. You'll have 12 tribes of Israel in the

Old Testament or 12 apostles that Jesus appoints in the New Testament. It is a number that is synonymous with God's people.

So this is demonstrating 12 full baskets, Jesus will fill his people and his purposes for them will be satisfied.

Now like I said, a couple of things that we're supposed to take from this account, first of all, understanding that Jesus is

God who brings all things into existence from nothing. So even that power is demonstrated here.

He didn't even need the five loaves and two fish. He could have just made this food appear by his own will.

But the reason we have the five loaves and two fish goes into our second understanding, and that is how

Jesus takes little and makes much out of it. Remember, once again, the disciples had been sent out to spread the gospel.

And so this miracle following that sending out of the 12, this miracle is showing they went out with a little, they did just a little, but God is going to be the one that is going to divide that out and change countless number of people's lives.

Now we have it said here there are 5 ,000 men, that doesn't include the women and the children that were there. A countless number of people that had flocked to the place where Jesus was, and he had compassion on them, and he taught them.

The things that the disciples taught, the things that Jesus taught, starts with little and it goes out to much.

And we can see that even fulfilled in our world today. How many millions upon millions of people believe the gospel of Jesus Christ?

It's not as many as the census numbers would want to say. They would say that, you know, Christianity is either the first or the second largest religion in the world with over anywhere between 1 to 2 billion adherents or something like that.

There aren't really that many Christians. There are many that may say that they are

Christians, or there are many that might fall under this demographic umbrella of Christianity, but there aren't really that many people who are truly followers of Christ.

Nonetheless, his name has gone out into all the world, and there are many, many millions and millions of people who have come to believe because what started with something small in Jerusalem at Pentecost in Acts 2, went out to the entire

Roman Empire, even in the lifetime of the disciples, and has since gone out into the rest of the world, even in our day.

There's still more of the world that needs to hear it, but we can nonetheless see how God has taken something small, and he has multiplied it out to feed so many.

And we as disciples of Jesus, we have the responsibility of taking the message of the gospel to the world.

And God is the one who will work in the hearts of the people who hear it, that they may turn from their sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ and live. Let us be faithful to what God has called us to, whether it's sharing the gospel with your family, in your neighborhood, in your town, in your state, in your nation, or another nation, going out into the world, making disciples of the nations, as said in Matthew 28.

So let us be faithful to that calling, fulfilling the Great Commission, and knowing that God will take these small things, these very tiny acts of service, and he will multiply those things out to change many, many more people than we ever could have imagined.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read here, and we thank you that the gospel has come to us.

The good news that Jesus died on the cross, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, is coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

All who believe in him will not perish in the judgment of God, but we will have everlasting life with God, living with you in your eternal kingdom.

Thank you that the message of the gospel has come to us, and that your Spirit regenerated our heart to believe it.

May we have the courage to take the gospel into the world so that many others may come to faith and be saved.