Mark 6:30-52 - Bread Baker and Water Walker

Hope you're having a great July so far. I know I am.

And we are here in Mark Chapter 6 and verse number 30 today. And we've been walking through, we've seen Jesus working, doing miracles, getting some of the religious leaders upset, even getting some of his family members upset.

They said that he's crazy, and yet he is working on what the Father has for him. And we find ourselves, last episode, we noticed that Herod Antipas had killed John the Baptist, or had had him killed because of his preaching.

And he thought that Jesus might be the resurrected from the dead, John the Baptist. Of course, Jesus and John were cousins. It wasn't that John went away, and then all of a sudden Jesus appeared.

It was just on Herod's radar. It looked like that had been what had happened. So then as we resume the story today, it says this.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. So Jesus, at the beginning of the chapter, had sent them off on a mission, two by two, and it said, I want you guys to preach the gospel.

I want you to cast out demons. I want you to heal people. And the apostles come back.

I think it's in Luke's gospel. It's mentioned specifically that they're shocked by the fact that the demons even leave people when they say, get out. And Jesus tells them, hey, you know, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

It's you guys are conquering this dragon, this snake, this serpent that has for so long ruined this world and ruined people's lives.

And he says, through what you are doing in this proclamation of the gospel in my name, man, Satan is being downcast and destroyed. And then he tells them, but don't be amazed by like the demons or the miracles that you're doing.

He says instead, like rejoice that your name is written in heaven, that the testimony that you have of a relationship with God is so much more important than here and now temporal things that though they might be incredible to us, it's nowhere near

as incredible as the fact that God loves us and he has forgiven us and he's brought us into relationship with himself. There's a song by Elevation Worship, the song My Testimony, that's taken from kind of that passage here with what the apostles are

doing. It's from the parallel one in Luke, I believe. So I'm going to link that in the show notes just because I love it. So the apostles, they gather around, they report to him all that they've done and taught.

He said to them, come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while. It says for many people, we're coming and going and they did not even have time to eat.

So Jesus here cares for them, that he says, you guys need to eat, you need to be able to rest, you've expended a lot of energy. He says, you're more than your productivity. He says, who you are on the inside is really what matters.

And when you have expended yourself, you need to take breaks, you need to rest. And that's been something that many people have encouraged me with over the years.

It's something that even now as a pastor, as I see people serving, that I tell them, hey, make sure that you take some time off for yourself. For me, I know I am a pastor.

And so there's a sense in which I am paid to do ministry things, and I can do too much even as these disciples here, Jesus says, hey, we need to take a little bit of a break, a little bit of a retreat for you guys.

But I think it's very important for everyone to realize the only one that's omnipotent, the only one that can work all of the time and that can do everything for everyone and be everything for everyone is the Lord.

And if we always try to be Jesus, if we always try to meet every need, we will disappoint, people will be disappointed and failed, and they will never get the opportunity to see God meet their needs or see God be everything for them.

If we're too busy trying to be everything for them. Verse number 32. So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, but many saw them leaving and recognize them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

I do think it's funny that the boat travel was so slow that they actually got to the location ahead of the disciples. Verse 34, when he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them.

This word here in Greek is refers to like your intestinal organs. So if it's the word I'm thinking of right now, I don't have the original language right in front of me. I've got a study Bible notes thing going on.

It's that word, splagic non. It's your innermost being. It says, oh man, I've got this compassion.

I've got these mercies. I am really concerned about these people in a loving and caring way. And he saw a large crowd had compassion on him because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

They needed someone that would lead them to where the good grass of God's word was, that they would be able to eat, that they would know, okay, this way leads to danger. This way leads to where my good shepherd is.

It says, then he began to teach them many things. So here, even with the words that are used at first, it looks like Jesus is the only one that gets out of the boat.

As with the last time, if I remember correctly, as I've been looking this feeding of the 5,000, let me do a little peek. If any of the other Gospels mention the specific location other than just across the river.

Okay, so there's one thing that says it might be at Bethsaida, yeah, crossing the Sea of Galilee. So here he's gone back over, not quite to the Decapolis area yet. I think it's a good bit more north where he is.

So Capernaum, if you're looking at like a compass, Capernaum is pretty much exactly where west would be. And then Bethsaida, if I remember my map correctly, is about at the north of that Sea of Galilee.

So verse 35, when it grew late, his disciples approached him. So now they're coming off of the boat, they're coming to him and they say, this place is deserted and it's already late.

Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat. They go, man, there's nothing out here. These people are going to need to eat.

It's late. We got to do something. Verse 37, you give them something to eat, he responded.

They said to him, should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat? They say, in essence, we would have to work 200 days in order to get enough money to buy bread for this huge crowd.

Verse number 38, Jesus asked them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. When they found out, they said five and two fish.

And from some of the parallel passages, we would find out that that even came just from a young boy's lunch. And verse number 39, then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Here this specific statement is meant to remind us of the children of Israel in the Old Testament, in the Book of Exodus, they're out in maybe the Book of Numbers as well.

So they're out there, they're in the wilderness, they need food, they are hungry. And God is the one that's going to provide bread for them. And here Jesus is being shown as God as well, that he is the one that is going to bring them bread.

And in that account, as you have Moses, and he's really overwhelmed, just as the disciples were overwhelmed, his father-in-law Jethro encourages him, hey, have some people that are over each of these groupings of people.

And some of those groupings were, hey, have people that are over groups of hundreds, people that are over groups of fifties. And here Jesus is doing that. He's sending out that delegation.

So we might wonder what's going to happen. Is there going to be manna that appears on the ground, or is it going to fall from the sky? How is it going to happen?

How is this feeding going to take place? There's only five loaves and two fish. Verse number 41.

Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. Let me look real quick. I had seen a particular prayer that was often mentioned during this time period.

Yeah, here the traditional Jewish blessing over bread is blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the world, who bringeth forth bread from the earth. And man, I just love that prayer. So he blessed and broke the loaves.

He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Everyone ate and was satisfied.

They picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. Now, those who had eaten the loaves were 5,000 men, and Matthew, in his gospel, adds, plus women and children. So there were many more than 5,000 that had eaten.

Scripture doesn't say exactly how this took place of Jesus broke off a piece and then it grew back or he broke. It just it doesn't describe for us. Our imagination would have to suffice to think about how in the world did Jesus do this?

What might it have looked like? And I can imagine at the very beginning, great skepticism from the disciples. They go, oh, man.

But then as Jesus, you know, feeds the first 10 people and they go, wow, this is this is a lot from five loaves and two fish as they get to the first 100 or the first 500 or as they get to the first 1000, they go, man, what a wonder working God.

What an incredible person this Jesus is. I can imagine once they get to feeding about 4000 of the people that there's a laughter, that there is just what in the world could this mean for our world?

That one has come for whom the normal laws of physics and bread portions mean absolutely nothing.

I just think at the end of it, unbridled joy, that then there's 12 baskets and there's 12 disciples that walk with Jesus, there's these 12 baskets and who knows perhaps what some of the signification of that might be.

But here it's, there is bread and fish, enough and despair.

Makes you think of the description of the land of Israel when God had first promised it to the children of Israel, that He said it is a land flowing with milk and honey, that there is great abundance there. And now with Jesus, there's not a scarcity.

You might only have a little bit, but God can use that little bit to do so much in the world. And man, that's true for you today. You might not be able to multiply bread to feed thousands, but God can use your kind words.

God can use you giving a gospel tract. God can use you financially giving to His work in incredible ways that you could never imagine what the consequence of it might be. God is the one who takes our little and He does much with it.

I love the old song. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame.

There is a crown and you can win it if you go in Jesus' name. Does the harvest field you're working seem so small and hard to do? It is much if God is in it and He will not abandon you.

So this happens in verse number 45. Suddenly He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida while He dismissed the crowd. Let me check my notes just real quick.

Yes. Still got just a little more to go in this passage. So He sends the disciples, the ones that were tired, the ones that He wanted to give rest, that they have not rested, they have been working hard and they fed thousands of people.

And now He tells them, okay, you guys get in the boat. You go to Bethsaida. Okay.

So I was a little mixed up earlier with my location. So they were on the opposite shore. Now He's sending them to Bethsaida.

And Jesus is dismissing the crowd. After He said goodbye to them, He went away to the mountain to pray. Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea and He was alone on the land.

He saw them straining at the oars because the wind was against them. Man, these guys just cannot catch a break with this particular body of water. It says very early in the morning.

He came toward them, walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them. Here there's something mentioned in the Book of Job.

As Job is talking about his interaction with God, that Job has gone through all of his trials, all of his difficulties, and he remarks that God is off fighting. It's almost like as if God is off fighting the sea serpents and the dragons.

I would go back and grab the particular passage I'm talking about. I will link in, as I often do, the Bible Project video, the podcast video that deals with this particular reference, because it's amazing.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bibleproject/id1050832450

So Job basically tells God, like, God, you're just passing by me and you're off slaying dragons, and yet there are these difficulties, these moments of chaos, the dragon, if you will, in my life, and why aren't you defeating it?

And here Jesus has said, as the disciples are fighting against the sea, just as we mentioned several episodes ago, and Jesus is going to pass by. He's got his own stuff that he's going to do.

Verse 49, when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, a spirit, and they cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Here Jesus, like, he doesn't even swim. He could have swam if he wanted to.

He could have gone really fast, but he's just walking on the sea. He is God. Here it's something that's mentioned often in the Psalms, the water walker, the one who the sea can't even like pull in a little bit, that he's just walking on top of it.

And he says, immediately, he spoke with them and said, have courage, it is I, don't be afraid. Man, for our moments where we go, God, I don't have enough food. God, I don't have enough relational bandwidth for all of this.

I'm in such desperate need and I don't see how I'm going to make it out. He tells us, have courage. It's I.

Don't be afraid. It's not a condemning statement of, oh, how dare you have fear in your life? It's him comforting.

It's I think I mentioned it whenever I think was the last time the boat circumstance was mentioned. It's me comforting B or Evelyn. Maybe they're scared about something and I can tell them, hey, don't be afraid.

Dad's here. Verse number 51, then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. So Jesus, he was going to pass them by.

He had stuff he was going to do. But when they cried out to him, he heard them and he answered. And he came into the boat with them.

And the circumstances that they were so scared about before, with the presence of Jesus, it's all still again. They were completely astounded, verse 52, because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

They were still retaining fear and trepidation. They didn't realize, this is very God of God. This is the Wonderworker.

This is the Waterwalker. This is the Sea Tamer. He is Jesus.

He is Yahweh, God of the Old Testament made flesh and now in human form.

He is the one that gave the bread to the children of Israel in the Old Testament and now is giving the bread both literal and metaphorically, the Word of God, the bread of life, his teaching, his presence to people. Man, and they didn't get it yet.

And this is something that we're going to see several times over the next coming chapters, that they don't realize who Jesus truly is, that though he's giving all the signs, he is fulfilling scripture before their eyes, he is doing all of the God

things from the Old Testament and bringing them into the new, and they don't realize who he is. And so they're astounded, they're amazed, they're shocked, they're afraid, because they go, who in the world is this?

Who could this be?

That gives food to the hungry, that heals the sick, that casts out the demons, that commands nature.

You silly people, he is God.

For you today, in your circumstances, realize that he is God, that when you call to him, he will hear you, he will answer you. He might not change your circumstances, but he might provide a way through it.

He might not magically make thousands of pieces of bread, but he might take the one, or I should say, the five loaves that you do have and do incredible things with it.

You might be going through that storm, that wind that is stopping you from doing what you want to do. Invite Jesus into your life. Have him captain your vessel and see what happens.

When you interact with Jesus, the impossible becomes possible. Relationships that were forever broken can be restored.

Your sins that have absolutely encompassed you and dictated what you do, when you do, who you do it with, all of those things, like Jesus can tear apart those chains and you can be free. You can know him. He's so worth knowing.

Well, tomorrow we'll continue in Mark chapter 6. This is a long chapter. It's got so many amazing stories that go through it, but we'll see what the disciples discover next.

Thanks for tuning in today. See you tomorrow. Bye-bye.