As we consider the world that we live in today; as we watch the news on television, as we read the paper, or more likely, read the news online; as we look around us, and consider everything that is happening in our nation and in the world, it’s easy to become discouraged and disillusioned. Indignant. Upset. Angry, even. But also a bit helpless. Because everything seems to be spinning out of control, with little that you or I or anyone can do about it.
• Take COVID-19. What can one person do in the face of a worldwide pandemic? Yes, I can try to protect myself and my loved ones – get vaccinated, wear a mask, practice social distancing – but even doing all of those things won’t guarantee your safety. And the problem is global; there are billions of people all over the world who are at risk, and getting sick from this disease. What can one person do?
• Or take the political situation. It seems now that everything is a political issue, that every aspect of our daily lives now has political implications, and at the same time, political discussions are getting nastier, and angrier, and more divisive. Our nation, our world, seems to be in the grip of some kind of political pandemic, or social media virus, that makes enemies out of former friends and opponents out of family members. Everyone is shouting past each other but no one is listening to anyone else. What can you or I do about that? We can post on Facebook all we want, but no one is likely to be persuaded.
• Or take the state of the Christian church. It seems that every few weeks you hear of some prominent pastor who is forced to resign due to moral failure. Many churches have essentially abandoned preaching the gospel, the teachings of Christ and the apostles, in favor of more “relevant” topics. And religious commitment is declining. Over the last decade, in just ten years, the percentage of people in the U.S. who identify themselves as Christians in polls has dropped by 15%. Church attendance is down. Many of the fundamental moral and religious beliefs that have made our nation great are seemingly under attack. The best days of the church in America seem to be behind us.
Are you depressed yet? I could go on, and talk about the economy, or education, or foreign affairs, or the environment, or marriages and families, or a dozen other things. But you get the point. Lots of big, huge problems that it seems we can do little about. And as I said, it’s easy to become discouraged by all this. Easy to feel helpless. Easy to conclude that there is nothing you can do, nothing that will make a real difference; easy to believe that your meager resources are insignificant in light of the enormous challenges out there. And so the temptation is to just sit back and do nothing. Just focus on your own needs and let the rest of the world take care of itself. And that is exactly what our enemy, Satan, wants us to do. He wants us to feel overwhelmed, to feel that nothing we do really matters, to think of ourselves as lacking the resources to make a difference. He wants us to sit back and do nothing. Because the thing that Satan fears most of all is a Christian who understands the true power, and the vast resources, that are available to us in Jesus Christ. And that’s what I want to talk about this morning.
My text is Mark 6:30-44. I invite you to read along in your Bibles as I read aloud from the New International Version of the Holy Bible.
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that 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 more than half a year’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 distribute to 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.
Jesus’ disciples had a problem. They were surrounded by a very large number of people, over five thousand just counting the men, a large crowd of people who hadn’t eaten all day. There were no restaurants nearby, no food trucks. Remember, Jesus and disciples picked this spot because it was “a solitary place”, far from people and shops and villages where they could obtain sustenance. They had been trying to get away from the crowds. But the crowds followed them to this remote location. And now those crowds were hungry. What happens when people get hungry? They get “hangry”. They become short tempered. They quarrel. There was a very real possibility that this group of five thousand peaceful, attentive learners, listening quietly to Jesus’ words, could turn into a mob of five thousand hangry men. And so the disciples thought, maybe it would be better if they went away for a bit. Got something to eat. But somewhere else.
So the first point I would like to make is that the disciples correctly understood the problem. This was a real problem. They state it clearly in verse 35: “this is a remote place and it’s already very late”. The people needed food to eat. It would be dark soon. All very reasonable. And they understood, not only the nature of the problem, but the magnitude of the problem. More than five thousand hungry people! My brother Kevin and my sister-in-law Wendy celebrated the wedding of their son Josh yesterday, and there was a reception afterward. We had some very nice cake and sandwiches. Kevin, about how many people were at the reception? How would you like to try to feed five thousand people? That would be an overwhelming challenge. Especially if you had to accommodate vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, lactose-intolerant, peanut allergy, low-fat, and low-sugar diets. Thankfully, Jesus didn’t have to worry about that. At least Baptists don’t have to decide what kind of wine to serve at our weddings. But I’m probably getting in trouble, so I’ll move on.
The disciples were not wrong about the problem. Jesus didn’t contradict them. Jesus didn’t say, oh no, you’ve blown this all out of proportion; look, I’m sure that lots of these folks brought a picnic lunch, they’ll be fine. No, he agreed with them. “Yep,” he said, “you’ve got a problem. What are you going to do about it?” Was that the response they were expecting? No, not at all.
Let me ask you: what did the disciples think they were doing when they brought this problem to Jesus? Well, first of all, they thought that they were informing Jesus of a situation that he was unaware of. In their minds, Jesus had been so busy healing people, and teaching them, and attending to the spiritual needs of this vast assembly that he had lost track of time. He hadn’t noticed that the sun was setting. It hadn’t occurred to him that people would be getting hungry, and that something needed to be done soon. It wasn’t his fault – he hadn’t invited this crowd over for lunch; he was trying to get away from people, and they followed him, so he couldn’t have been expected to anticipate all of this – but nevertheless, the disciples could see that there was a problem which Jesus needed to be made aware of. And not only made aware of, but prompted to do something about. Because they followed up their news report with this helpful suggestion: “Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” In other words, Jesus, you may not have noticed, but there’s a problem. We think you should do something about it, and here it is.” They had it all figured out. “Jesus, here’s the problem, and here’s the solution. Take care of it.” You ever do that?
It’s kind of ridiculous, when you think about it, isn’t it? That God, God the Son, would need to be informed by his creatures of how bad things were. And yet, we do the same thing, don’t we? We assume that God isn’t paying attention. We imagine that God has been so busy running the universe that he hasn’t noticed how bad things have gotten; both in the world, and perhaps also in our individual lives. Do you do that? Do you think, “God, why haven’t you done something about this? Don’t you see what’s going on? Don’t you care about us? Don’t you care about me? God, aren’t you watching the news? God, did you not see my last bank statement? God, didn’t you hear what the doctor told us? God, can’t you tell that I’m hurting, worried, anxious? God, you’re supposed to be omniscient, all-knowing, all-loving. Don’t you see what’s going on in my life? And if you do see, why haven’t you done something about it? Don’t you care?”
Do you remember the time when Jesus was crossing a lake in a boat with the disciples, and a storm came up while he was sleeping? When they woke him up, what did they say? “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38) God, can’t you see that I’m drowning here? Don’t you care?
The disciples weren’t the first ones to ask this question. In the Old Testament, we read this in Psalm 44:23-24:
“Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?”
And King David asks the same question in Psalm 13:
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
So were the disciples correct in their assessment? Were they correct in assuming that Jesus didn’t know what was going on, that he wasn’t paying attention, and perhaps even that he was unconcerned about what was going on? No. Jesus was acutely aware of the situation. He knew what was going on. His understanding was far deeper and more comprehensive than theirs. In fact, he had planned all this. But he had a different and higher purpose than just to meet their need for food. Yes, he would do that. But he wanted to do it in a way which would meet a deeper need, their need for faith. And not just faith, but an active, sacrificial faith.
What was Jesus’ answer when the disciples helpfully informed him of the problem and made their suggestion as to what he should do about it? He responded, ““You give them something to eat.” That was a surprise, wasn’t it? They brought him the problem to solve, and he turned it around and asked them to address it. Not what they intended. So let me ask you, how often do we bring a problem to Jesus, with the proposed solution already worked out? Lord, here’s the issue: A, B, C. As you can clearly see, something needs to be done, by you, and here it is: X, Y, Z. Like a PowerPoint presentation. Problem, ABC; action steps for Jesus to take, XYZ. Because, you know, God is busy, and he can’t be bothered with coming up with the best solution to every problem, so we’re happy to help. God, here’s the problem, and here’s what you should do about it. And God says, no, that’s not what I’m going to do about it, Actually, I would like you to do something.
And when that happens, our reaction is often the same as the disciples. Incredulity. Confusion. Outrage. Disappointment. “Jesus, what are you talking about? There are five thousand people here. How are we supposed to come up with enough money to buy food for all of them?” Can’t you just take care of it, Jesus? Why do I have to do everything?
What was their fundamental mistake? Well, first of all, they didn’t respond in faith. They didn’t say, “Hmmm. Jesus wants us to feed these people. So there must be some way to do it, even if we can’t see what that is.” They didn’t ask Jesus for understanding, or wisdom, or guidance. They simply rejected his statement as hopelessly impractical. Now, it’s easy for to judge them, two thousand years later, knowing how the story comes out – stupid disciples! – but how often do we do the same thing? We see a need, perhaps a need in our own life. And we know what the Bible says we should do. But we simply reject it as impractical. “Well, Lord, if you really understood the situation you wouldn’t ask me to do this. Besides, it won’t be enough. It won’t solve the problem. It won’t work.” But that response robs us of the opportunity to see God work in unexpected and sometimes even dramatic ways, as we step out in faith. It robs us of the opportunity to see prayers answered. Our lack of faith eliminates the opportunity to marvel at what God can do in our lives.
The second mistake the disciples made in responding to Jesus’ statement was that they focused on what they didn’t have, instead of what they did have. They thought that they lacked was essential – that is, enough food to feed five thousand hungry people, or at least enough money to buy food for five thousand people. But Jesus asked them to focus on what they did have, rather than what they didn’t. He asked,
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
Now, you can almost imagine what is going through the disciples’ minds. Jesus still doesn’t understand. He doesn’t get it. Jesus must think that somehow, there is enough food laying around to feed this huge crowd. What is the point, the must have been thinking, of asking us to take inventory of our resources? They are obviously completely inadequate. And don’t we do the same thing? We look at the problem, and we look at our resources, and we conclude that we don’t have what we need. We don’t have enough (fill in the blanks): money, time, health, intelligence, skills, strength, wisdom, energy, influence, etc. etc. etc. The need is too great. The problem is too big. I don’t have what is needed. We look at what we don’t have, instead of focusing on what we do have, and trusting that what we do have is sufficient for what God has called us to do. Because God will always provide the resources for what God is planning to do. We just may not recognize what resources we actually do have. We may not understand what God intends for us to do with them, or how he intends to transform our meager resources. But God’s work, done in God’s way, will always have God’s supply. God will provide what we need, or transform what we already have, so that we can do the things that God is calling us to do.
The third mistake the disciples made is that they came up with a solution that did not require God’s power to be successful. Their solution was rational, practical, obvious, and faithless. Because it didn’t require God’s power to be successful. Let me ask you a question: was the solution proposed by disciples unworkable? No. If Jesus had accepted the disciples proposed solution, would the need have been met? Yes. The crowed would have dispersed, traveled to the nearest towns and villages, and purchased food to eat. No miracles required. No faith required, either. And often God puts us in difficult, or even seemingly impossible situations, so that we will have no choice but to trust him, no choice but to rely on his power and grace. It is when we come to the end of our rope, when we come to the end of ourselves, that we are finally ready to look to him and trust in him. Because we have no other choice. It is clear to us then, that our own resources are not sufficient. And so we have to either put our trust in God or perish.
By the way, that’s why good health, and money in the bank, and safety and security can be so dangerous. They give us the illusion of being self-sufficient, of having no real need for God. They give us the false impression that our resources are sufficient. When nothing could be further from the truth.
And so here we have the disciples; they’ve taken inventory, and if there were any doubt before, there is no doubt now: there is no earthly way that five loaves and two fish are going to feed five thousand people. They would barely be enough for five people. But Jesus isn’t looking for an earthly way to meet the need. He’s looking for a heavenly way to meet the need; that is, by transforming what little they have through his power, so that it becomes, not only sufficient, but overabundant. It wasn’t the few resource they could offer that mattered. What mattered was what Jesus could do with those resources.
Now, this morning, you may be convinced that what you have to offer isn’t enough. Isn’t significant. That it doesn’t matter. What difference could my meager abilities, my limited funds, my time, my resources – what difference could they possibly make? And my answer is this: none. That’s right. You’re right. What you have, what you can do, will make no difference at all. Unless you offer it up to Christ to transform, to use as he sees fit. And if you will do that, you will see something amazing. As the disciples did; let’s read:
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 distribute to 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.
They gave what little they had to Jesus: their meager supplies, their seemingly completely inadequate resources; they gave them to Jesus. And then they saw a miracle.
Let me make two more quick points about Jesus’ response.
Could Jesus have met the need without any involvement by the disciples? Could he have said, “stand back, boys, and watch the master at work.” Of course he could! Did he need the few loaves and fishes that they had to offer him? Of course not! He owns the cattle on a thousand hills! All of creation is his to command! All he had to do was speak a word and instantly every single person in that huge crowd would have a full basket of delicious food sitting in front of them. But Jesus didn’t do that. He wanted to do his work through his people, through their faith, through their obedience and generosity. And in the same way today, God has unlimited power; he can meet any need, solve any problem. But he wants to do it through you; through us. Through the faith and obedience of his people, bringing to him our offerings of our time, and our abilities, and our possessions.
And finally, Jesus didn’t ask the disciples to solve world hunger. He didn’t ask them to establish a program of international aid. For most of us, even those who are called to work on a grand scale, our first priority is to meet the needs of the people around us. Our neighbors. Our family members. Our fellow church members. Those in our own community. God placed you in that neighborhood, that family, this church, this community, for a reason. He intends for you to meet the needs of those around you with what he has given you.
Now, I don’t know what God may be calling you to do this morning. What I do know is that it is probably something that seems beyond your capabilities. It seems like too much to ask. It seems that your resources and abilities are inadequate to do what God is asking you to do. I know that because God doesn’t ask us just to do the things that we are fully capable of doing, that we have sufficient resources to do. Anybody can do those kinds of things; you don’t have to be a Christian to do what you obviously are capable of doing; that doesn’t require any faith. You don’t have to be a follower of Jesus to bring the world’s solutions and resources to bear on a problem. In other words, the inadequacy of your resources is the whole point. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. God intends for your resources to be inadequate. Let me say that again: it is by God’s intention and design that your resources are not, in and of themselves, sufficient. Why? Because God wants you to offer up what you have, in faith, knowing that it isn’t enough; knowing that you are completely dependent on him to make it sufficient, and even more than sufficient, to multiply it so that it accomplishes far more than you thought possible.
What God calls us to do frequently seems beyond our abilities, beyond our resources. Because what he wants isn’t just to meet people’s needs. What he wants is to reveal himself to us, in all of his wisdom and power. What he wants is to build our faith. What he wants is to show us that he loves us. What he wants is to bring us into relationship with himself. And he will do that, if each of us will take our five loaves and two fishes and offer them up to God, if we will say, “God, I don’t know what you can possibly do with this. It doesn’t seem like much, especially compared to what others have. But it’s yours. All of it. Tell me what you want me to do with it. Because I want to see your power and glory revealed as you take it and transform it into something amazing.” And he will answer that prayer and that step of faith.
