CROWD FEEDING AND WATER WALKING MIRACLES.
Mark 6:35-52.
(1). Jesus and His disciples had tried to withdraw from the throng in Galilee, and sought some rest and relaxation in the Golan Heights: but the crowds followed. Jesus was moved with compassion towards the multitude which followed Him, and began to teach them many things. They were, after all, like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:30-34).
Our reading today begins, “When the day was now far spent,” the disciples suggested that Jesus should send the crowd away to buy food for themselves. “You give them something to eat,” answered Jesus (Mark 6:35-37a).
Sometimes Jesus makes us face up to the magnitude of our problems in order to demonstrate our total dependence upon Him. The disciples quickly calculated how much it might cost to feed such a crowd, but Jesus pointed them towards what they had, rather than what they had not (Mark 6:37-38).
Just this one time in the year the grass is green (Mark 6:39), and no doubt lambs skipped in the fields as the Good Shepherd arranged His own flock in an orderly manner for the distribution. Our gifts and offerings seem so small, just a drop in the ocean, but Jesus takes our little, and transforms it into an over-abundance (Mark 6:39-43).
Jesus’ compassion reached out indiscriminately to the whole crowd, 5000 men plus women and children, whom He fed with just five loaves and two fishes. They were all fed to the full by Jesus, and there was still a sufficiency in reserve when they had finished. There were twelve baskets full of leftover fragments, the same number as the tribes of Israel, symbolising God’s sufficient provision for all of His people (Mark 6:43-44).
(a). The miraculous feeding of the 5000 in the Gospel is not an everyday occurrence, but it does carry a spiritual message for those with eyes to see. This is not to take away from the historicity of the event, nor to needlessly allegorise. However, in light of Jesus' own teaching of Himself as the Bread of life, we cannot fail to acknowledge that the miracle stands as a sign of His own sufficiency as discovered in the Cross.
(b). In our own experience as Christians we are also made very much aware of the events of Calvary in partaking of bread (and wine) in the Communion. This also lays upon us an obligation. Just as we must have a care to the physical poverty in our global village, we must also seek to bring the spiritual food of life to a world that hungers not only for bread, but for the very Word of God (Amos 8:11-12).
(2). Jesus told the disciples to get into a ship and go to the other side of the lake while He dismissed the people. Then He went into a mountain to pray. By the time evening had come, the ship was in the midst of the lake, and He alone on land. But He could see the ship in the midst of the lake, tossed with waves in a contrary wind (Mark 6:45-48a).
Sometimes the storms of life seem to overtake us, even when we are being obedient. Now it is the fourth watch of the night, and all does not seem well. We watch, and wait, and pray - and suddenly relief comes. It is the Lord, but we do not recognise Him straight away (Mark 6:48b).
The sea can be such a frightening, unpredictable element that even hardened sailors find themselves overwhelmed at times. If we enter the darkness without our Lord Jesus, this magnifies our terror. Yet when He draws near this also, inexplicably, gives rise to fear, but as ever, He draws near in our trouble. He brings a word of good cheer, and vanquishes fear (Mark 6:49-50).
When Jesus stepped into the ship, the storm was immediately dispersed (Mark 6:51). If we are closing Him out of our lives today, maybe we should invite Him back in!
(a). The church at times seems like a boat tossing about on the waves of uncertainty and doubt, fearing that she may yet be irrelevant to those whom she has left on the shore, oftentimes seeming to lack the Lord’s presence. Yet when we receive the Lord back into our fellowship, we see the results of all our labours at the oars, and are conveyed immediately onto the shores of spiritual success. Finally, too, after all the centuries of the Church struggling on without the immediate, visible presence of her Lord and Master, she sees Him anew at the Second Coming, and she is conveyed away to her heavenly haven.
(b). Individually, when we are tossed about on the storms of life, and we sense a darkness which suggests that the Lord is not with us: even then He draws near. He did so when we first believed, when the magnification of our sins made His approach seem anything but friendly (Isaiah 6:5). He does so repeatedly in our Christian life and walk, but each time we take Him up into the boat we reach our desired haven, culminating at last in the moment when we are received into heaven.
