The Gospel of Mark #16 – “Feeding the 5,000”
Mark 6:30-44
Intro –
1. ILL – A priest was giving his flock a sermon on the Gospel, and he mentioned how with 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish our Savior fed 5,000 people at once; but instead of saying 5,000, he said 500. The altar boy told him that he had made a mistake, because the Gospel says 5,000. Whereupon, the priest said to him, “Be quiet, you fool! They already have a hard time believing 500!”
2. Each miracle in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ is unique in its own right. However, this miracle is 1 of only 2 miracles recorded in all 4 gospels. (Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:1-14). The other is the resurrection of Christ.
3. As such, this is this miracle is of primary importance to our understanding of who Jesus is and what His plan includes for each of us individually, for the church, and the world.
4. Mark 6:30-44 (Read)
5. What is a miracle? The Biblical idea of miracle is an extraordinary work of God, transcending the ordinary powers of nature that is performed for the purpose of authenticating the message or the messenger.
6. This miracle clearly reveals the Lordship of Christ over nature while proving that he is all sufficient for the needs of the entire world.
7. He was driven as the Good Shepherd to tend to the needs of the sheep. By late in the day the crowd had swelled to well over 5,000 (possibly 10-20,000) & it was clear that where & what they would eat was an issue.
8. However, this miracle has more significance than just God feeding 5,000 people from 5 loaves & 2 fishes, it teaches us in general about the power & interest of an almighty God in revealing himself to people & carrying out His plan.
9. While there are many players in this miracle – Phillip, Andrew, the boy, the disciples & the crowd – Jesus stands as the key player.
10. This miracle reveals 2of the most fundamental truths about Jesus character –
I. Jesus’ Compassion – Vs. 30-3
When we see a person in need, we can respond emotionally in several ways.
- Apathy – This word refers to an absence of emotion. You see the need, but you do not care. You are unmoved by it. There is a lot of apathy in our world today.
- Sympathy – This word refers to a harmony of feeling. In other words, you see a need and you know how they feel because you have felt that way too.
- Empathy – This word speaks of an emotion that is stronger that sympathy. When you empathize with someone it means that you hurt with them. It means that you share the pain they feel.
- Compassion – The word compassion, as it is used in the Bible means, “To be moved inwardly; to yearn with tender mercy, affection, pity & empathy.” It refers to the deepest possible feelings. It has the same idea as our modern expression, “From the bottom of my heart.”
- So, compassion is “sharing the feelings of others and possessing a desire to help them in their trouble.”
When Jesus saw the people He was touched by their need & He was moved by a strong desire to meet their need.
A. It can be seen in His attitude – vs. 30-34a
1. All through the Gospels we see the compassion of Christ –
a. He had compassion for those who were suffering – Luke 17:11-13
b. He had compassion for those who were sick – Mark 1:40-45
c. He had compassion for those who were in sin – Matt. 18:23-25
d. He had compassion for those who were sincerely seeking truth - Mark 10:17-22
2. Why was Jesus able to have compassion on so many different kinds of people in so many different situations? Because though He knew all their faults, he did not let that get in the way of His compassion & expression of love!
3. In this text –
a. He cared for the weary disciples – vs. 30-32
1) The disciples were exhausted. They were being “peopled to death.” People were coming to them from everywhere & they couldn’t even stop to eat!
2) Serving the Lord in His church is hard work!
3) POEM – Mary had a little lamb, ‘twas given her to keep, But then it joined the local church, and died for lack of sleep.
4) We need to rest from time to time. Jesus is our rest!
5) Matt 11:28-30 “28Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
b. He cared for the lost sheep – vs. 33-34
1) The image of the crowd as lost sheep is powerful. As you may know, sheep have no sense of direction. They are also absolutely defenseless. There is no animal as needy & as dependent on human as the sheep.
2) When Jesus refers to people as lost sheep, He is not trying to insult them, He is merely telling the truth!
3) Isa. 53:6 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
4) The heavenly Shepherd cares for the lost (2 Pet. 3:9) so should we!
4. Heb. 4:15-16 “15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
5. How is your compassion level? Do you care for people as Jesus did?
B. It moved Him to action – vs. 34 “so he began teaching them many things”
1. Matt. 14:14 “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
2. The Amplified Bible says that Jesus “was moved with compassion for them.”
3. In the gospels we see that to Jesus a need seen was a divine call to help.
4. Jesus didn’t just talk about compassion – He lived it!
5. James 2:15-16 (NLT) “5Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’ – but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?”
6. Let’s not just talk about helping meet people’s needs, let’s “just do it!”
II. Jesus’ Provision – Vs. 35-44
God has always delighted in meeting the needs of His children!
Deut. 8:16 “He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”
Ps. 37:25 “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
Phil. 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Matt. 7:11 “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
A. The miracle of that day –
1. I will not belabor the story as it is so well known, but I would like to make a point.
2. Liberal theologians have speculated that the crowd had actually brought a fair amount of food with them that day & that they had merely shared what they’d brought. They teach that God hadn’t multiplied the small donation from the child – the food collected afterward was simply what’d been left over from generosity of crowd who’d been moved by the unselfish gift of the young boy.
3. If we argue away the miracles of Jesus, we might as well argue away His resurrection as well. We serve a miracle-working God!
4. Jesus could have fed the crowd by creating food ex-nihilo, but He chose to use the small lunch of a little boy & multiply it beyond human capability!
B. The message for the ages –
There are many lessons from this miracle that are practical and helpful. Some lessons & spiritual and some come from the physical realm.
- Evangelism – Getting the bread of the gospel to the whole world!
- Humanitarian – getting literal bread to the hungry of the world!
However, there are principles for our church right where we are today!
1. Lacking the means to do something is not necessarily proof that God does not want us to do it.
a. Having no food was not justification for sending the crowds away hungry.
b. Vs. 35-37 (Read) When Jesus tells them to give them something to eat, the response is “we can’t afford it!”
c. Do we always to see lack of means as a justification for failing to do something? Are we always to suppose that we are to act when we do not have the means? How do we know when we should or should not do something?
d. I believe that we pray, get the mind of God & obey what He says to do!
e. What if we can’t afford it?
f. 2 Cor. 5:7 “We live by faith, not by sight.”
2. God’s provision often comes at the point of our greatest inadequacy.
a. The Lord did not provide for His disciples or the crowds until their human resources were expended.
b. That is why Jesus did not feed Jairus’ daughter, but He did feed the crowd.
c. Our insufficiency, our inadequacy is the point at which divine power is provided, & usually not before.
d. 2 Cor. 12:9-10 “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
e. When we come to God empty handed & say “it is time for you to work, Lord” God will go to work on our behalf.
3. God often uses little to create much.
a. Jesus could have created a sumptuous meal out of nothing, just as He created the world ex-nihilo, from nothing. But Jesus chose to feed the five thousand by multiplying the scant sack lunch of the little boy.
b. This “little” includes not only the grossly inadequate supply of food of the young lad, but our faltering, fallible, puny efforts as men and women.
c. ILL – Missionary statesman Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God's faithfulness. In his journal he wrote: Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning... He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all... Depend on it, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.
Conc. –
1. If I could sum up this whole story, I would quote the old song that says, “Little is much, when God is in it!”
2. That chorus illustrates the truth of this miracle; what we have (no matter how small we think it is), when it is committed to the Lord, is sufficient for the needs that exist.
