Feeding The 5000 - Mark 6:35-44 Series

35 When it was late in the day, his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take two hundred day’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" 38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five--and two fish." 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. he also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Introduction

Introduction: The Importance of the Miracle

Which one of Jesus’ miracles is the most important one? If we go by which one is referred to most often by Bible writers and by Jesus himself, the answer is easy. It’s the feeding of the multitude—hands down. It’s the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels. You read about this miracle no less than 10 times in the gospels. And three different times Jesus rebuked the people for not understanding the meaning of it. Think about that—they didn’t understand the miracle. We know it’s important to understand Jesus’ teaching, but a miracle—what’s to understand? It happened. If I believe it happened, doesn’t that mean I understand it? No, and here’s why: Jesus’ miracles were not just acts of power. They were sermons designed to teach us something. When Jesus healed a leper, he was teaching something about uncleaness and forgiveness of sins through the miracle. When Jesus healed the woman with the hemorrhage, he was teaching something about the intensity of his love for people who trust him. Every miracle was a sermon, especially this one.

And that’s tricky because this miracle is easy to misunderstand. Three different times Jesus rebuked people for misunderstanding it, and all three times they had a different misunderstanding. So let’s take a careful look and make sure we get it right.

Review

Now, just to refresh your memory: we left off last time with Jesus deciding to take a day off to escape the crowd.

So they go across the lake, but when they land, there is an even bigger crowd—the biggest crowd we ever see in the gospels.

34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

So Jesus says, “Forget the day off. I’m going to shepherd these sheep.” And what is Jesus’ idea of shepherding? Teaching.

34 … they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Now in v.35 Mark fast forwards to the end of the day.

35 When it was late in the day , his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

Normally the people would have left in the early afternoon to be home in time for dinner, but Jesus’ teaching was so captivating that they just couldn’t tear themselves away. So now there’s a little bit of a food problem. Are they starving? No. They missed one meal—maybe two. Human beings can go weeks without food. They aren’t starving, they aren’t dying, it’s not an emergency; they’re just hungry because it’s dinner time—not a big deal. So why is this in the Bible? Because Jesus wants to teach us something about dinner time.

The Banquet

Food Is a Huge Theme

Have you ever noticed how important food is in the Bible? Every chapter in the book of Mark mentions eating. And it’s a huge topic in all of Scripture. Think of the storyline of Scripture: creation, fall, and redemption. Each one is connected to food. Creation: When God created man, what are the first words God ever spoke to man?

“You may eat…” (Genesis 2:16)

Then the fall of man, which was a sin of what? Eating. It was the misuse of food that plunged mankind into the curse.

And then redemption. At each point along the way of God’s redemptive plan you have a meal. The deliverance from Egypt—the Passover meal, then manna from heaven, then into a land flowing with milk and honey. The entire Jewish calendar is built around feasts. When God describes himself, he constantly compares himself to food and drink (bread of life, living water, honey, choice cuts of meat, a whole banquet, streams of water, milk, fine wine, and on and on it goes). When Jesus arrives and he is tested in the desert, what’s the first test? Food. The first miracle Jesus ever performed was to provide beverages at a party. The most important miracle Jesus ever performed: feeding the multitude. Whenever Jesus did miracles of creation, it was always food or drink. He never created houses or clothes or boats or money or animals or anything else—always food and drink. The night before Jesus died, of all the things he could have done with his disciples, he shared a meal.