TITLE: GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT
SCRIPTURE: ST. MARK 6:32-44
This is one of the great miracles of the Bible. 5000 hungry men show up uninvited and then stay for supper. Imagine ordering 5000 pizzas-deep-dish, Chicago-style, of course. That would cost a pretty penny. Suppose you had to feed 5000 men tonight. What would you do? It’s late, the people are tired and hungry –
• Local Burger King is closed for remodeling
• The nearest Chick-fila is in Jerusalem
• Pizza Hut doesn’t deliver to the wilderness
The disciples make a very practical suggestion - “SEND THEM AWAY AND LET THEM FIND FOOD.” In other words “Send them away and let them fend for themselves.” That’s logical. The suggestion is not made from bad motives. In themselves the disciples had no resources to meet this enormous need.
• They had no food
• They had no money
• What else could they do?
• They could do nothing!
One of the disciples came up to Jesus that day, and he asked - "where are we to get enough bread for all these people to eat?" And do you know what Jesus said to his disciple? Do you know what Jesus said to the man who had given up so much in order to follow Jesus? Jesus said, "YOU, YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT."
Uhm…Excuse Me?
• What if you were one of the disciples of Jesus?
• What if you had given up much to follow Jesus?
• What if you had committed your life to following Jesus, to listening to him, and to serving him wherever he went?
• What if you were not one of the five thousand, but were one of the disciples?
What if you came up to Jesus and asked, "Where are we going to get these people something to eat?" Here is what Jesus said to that group? Jesus said, "You, you give them something to eat?" I love it when Jesus says, “YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT.” It’s somewhat funny because the disciples have just gotten through explaining why they can’t feed this massive crowd. One wonders if they were thinking something like this - “You want us to feed this crowd? You gotta be kidding! Didn’t you hear what we just said? We don’t have any money and we don’t have any food.
• What we have here is a “failure to communicate”
• But Jesus wouldn’t let his men off the hook
• He wants them to get involved in the grand adventure of helping others
Me? You want Me to give them something to eat?
• I thought Jesus was the great miracle worker?
• I thought Jesus could fix anything
• I thought Jesus could heal anything
• I thought Jesus could solve anything
• I thought Jesus could change any circumstance
Let's just turn it over to Jesus. After all isn’t that what we sing on Sunday mornings? – ‘turn it over to Jesus he’ll work it out.’ Is there anything we need? Let's just turn it over to Jesus. Well, there's some truth to that attitude, of course. But Jesus's first response to the disciples surely must have stunned them. "YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT." Jesus turns to his disciples, to the people who have truly shown their commitment and love to him, to his followers, and Jesus says, "You give them something to eat."
• That does not help the situation at all!
• Why won't Jesus act immediately?
• Why won't Jesus do what I, a disciple, ask?
• Why does Jesus turn the question over to me?
• Why does Jesus turn the need over to me?
This is how Jesus often works with his followers. Over and over again he puts us in positions where we are helpless, and then he says, “do something!” In our desperation we cry out to heaven, “How?” and he replies, “I’m glad you asked.” It’s not that Jesus wants us to fail, but he does want us to know that without him we can do nothing. Our success depends totally upon him.
• ST. MATTHEW 19:26 “BUT JESUS BEHELD THEM, AND SAID UNTO THEM, WITH MEN THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE; BUT WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE”
John’s account of this miracle tells us it was Andrew who found the young boy with the FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH AND BROUGHT HIM TO JESUS. We should not miss the obvious lesson here -- don’t ever despise the day of small things. Just because something is small or seemingly insignificant doesn’t mean God can’t use it.
• He used a baby’s tears to attract PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER, and the infant Moses was saved from certain death
• Later he used MOSES’ rod to deliver the children of Israel
• And still later a teenage boy named DAVID used one smooth stone to defeat mighty Goliath
• Now Jesus is about to feed 5000 men with five biscuits and two fish
• Size doesn’t matter with God
• He can use anything we offer to Him
When you hear this narrative of the feeding of the five thousand, do you imagine that you are one of the five thousand, or one of the twelve?
• At some point, each of us is one of the five thousand
• I know that
• But at some point, Jesus also wants us to be one of the twelve
• At some point, each of us is supposed to be one of the twelve, one of the very people whom Jesus asks to do his work for him
As I stand back and ponder this wonderful miracle, one truth seems to stand above all the rest. If you like, we can call this the moral of the story -- God often puts us in situations where we are doomed to failure in order to force us to depend totally on him so that when the miracle comes, he alone gets the credit. This is a divine strategy repeated many times in the Bible and in our own experience. We often find ourselves in desperate straits with no way out - no good options - and no human way of remedying our situation. God allows this to happen so that we will cry out to Him. And when the deliverance comes, we are obliged to give God the total credit.
Can I tell you this morning, it’s a stressful thing to have no money, no manpower, and no way to meet the needs in front of you. And still Jesus says to you what he said to his men so long ago, “These people are hungry. Give them something to eat.” The fact that something is impossible is no excuse for not trying to do it. All too often we conclude that something can’t be done so we don’t bother trying to do it.
• If MOSES had taken that attitude, the Jews would still be in Egypt
• If JOSHUA had felt that way, the walls of Jericho would still be standing
• If DAVID had adopted that opinion, Goliath would still be terrorizing the Israelites
• You never know in advance what God may do so don’t rule out the possibility of a miracle coming your way
If you are a disciple of Jesus, you will hear this response of Jesus.
• When you are asking God to feed the hungry in the world
• When you are asking God to heal your family
• When you are asking God to comfort the sorrowful
• When you are asking God to intercede in the world
• You will hear the same response that Jesus gave his disciples two thousand years ago
• You, You give them something to eat
• Me? Me give them something to eat?
Yes, you. Us. There are no other arms and legs of Jesus. It is only us, those of us who really do want to follow Jesus. Do you want to follow Jesus? Do you want to be Jesus' disciple? If so, recognize, it's hard work.
• It's not just sitting on the hillside and waiting for someone else to come up with five loaves of bread
• It's not just taking every request up the chain of command and waiting for someone else to do something
• It's up to us
• There is no one else to do it
This should really stand out and challenge us this morning. Jesus told his disciples that they should feed the crowd. He didn’t say, “Don’t worry, I will take this,” but rather, “You feed them.” For Jesus, it was all rather simple.
• There was a large group of very hungry people
• There was a need
• What do you do with a need?
• You meet the need
• That is what is expected in the Kingdom of God
The church was never meant to be a country club, where all we do is entertain ourselves. We are to have our eyes open to the needs of the people in our community and we are to have a willingness to meet those needs.
• Our starting point is not to be what our resources are
• But rather what the need is
• What is the need in our community?
• And let’s meet that need with the help of Christ
• We are not in this alone
• We are Co-Laborers with Christ
Although we need to start with the needs, at some point we have to deal with limited resources. Even if the disciples had taken the initiative, they would have had to acknowledge that there were only five loaves and two fish. However, limited resources are not the end of the story. One of the lessons of this narrative is that limited resources plus Jesus equals more than enough.
• The disciples were never expected to feed the crowd in their own power
• We as a church are not expected to minister to our community in our own power
• We need to look at our limited people, money, time or whatever resource and invite Jesus to multiply it
• If that sounds too spiritual, we need to remember that Jesus has done that many times in the past in this church and is continuing to do that here and in other congregations
• All we can do is bring what we have and present it to Jesus
• Once our limited resources are put in Jesus’ hands, anything can happen
• ST. MARK 4:8 “OTHER SEEDS FELL INTO THE GOOD SOIL, AND AS THEY GREW UP AND INCREASED, THEY YIELDED A CROP AND PRODUCED THIRTY, SIXTY, AND A HUNDREDFOLD”
God asks us to do the impossible and then he gives whatever we need to obey his command. The reality is, as Believers, we have stopped believing in the impossible. ST. MARK 9:23 “JESUS SAID TO HIM, “IF YOU CAN BELIEVE, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM WHO BELIEVES.” The word for “believes” is a participle that literally translates as “the believing one.” Jesus provides the means for everything to be possible — one must believe in Him! If we misunderstand the statement that “ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM WHO BELIEVES,” we set ourselves up for disappointment. Jesus’ words are not a promise that we can do whatever we want; rather, He makes it clear that the believing one has power only due to whom he believes in; namely, Jesus, the Son of God. The power is God’s, accessed through faith and prayer according to His will.
Erwin Lutzer who is an evangelical Christian speaker, radio broadcaster, and author and the former Senior Pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois, points that Jesus often told people to do impossible things.
• To a lame man he said, “Rise, pick up your bed, and walk”
• To 10 Lepers he said, “Go show yourselves to the Priest”
• To a dead man, he cried out, “Lazarus, come forth”
There is a sense in which every command of God is impossible for us to obey.
• We always lack what we need to obey God’s commands
• But God is faithful to give us whatever we need when we ask Him
• What God demands, He supplies
• He “bids us fly and gives us wings”
A well-known fact is, that most of the fortune 500 companies in the world today, actually started inside a garage or a basement. I learned that GOOGLE whose net worth is $253 billion was started in the garage of a house. Jesus instructed the disciples to find out how many loaves they have. They returned with 5 loaves and 2 fish. the demand surely exceeded the supply. But with that scanty meal, we find Jesus feeding 5000+ people. This is indeed a very common pattern in the Bible to take a little and make it a lot.
• EXODUS 3:13 - the Lord asked MOSES, “What is that in your hand?” Moses said, “It’s my staff.” God anointed the staff and Moses could perform miracles with it
• I KINGS 17:7-15 - the WIDOW IN ZAREPHATH had only a handful of flour and a little cooking oil. God blessed these and the widow didn’t run short
• II KINGS 4:2 - ELISHA asked the widow “What do you have?” The widow said, “Nothing but some olive oil” God blessed that, and the rest is history!
Anointing comes on to what you already have. Never feel sorry when your resources are insufficient or not the latest and the best. God is perfectly capable of anointing and expanding the little things you have if you just use them. Feeding Of The Five Thousand Is That Jesus Uses Other People To Bless Other People. Jesus asked his disciples to find food and found a boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish. In this very moment, Jesus decides to use the boy for His miracle and turn the five loaves of bread and two fish into something the crowd would be enriched and fed.
This scenario teaches us two things about Jesus’ ways.
• FIRST - is that He uses others, His disciples, in this case, to be his hands in providing blessings to others
• He asks them to find food which they did by finding the boy
• SECOND - Jesus uses His children to help others
• He encourages a simple boy to help a crowd of 5,000 through his five loaves of bread and fish
• This boy was hungry like everyone else that was there
• He gives up his lunch that his mother probably prepared for him earlier in the day
• We can just imagine what amazement the boy had when his simple treasures become the reason for the crowd to be fed
By Jesus using the disciples and the boy to bless others, we are reminded that God uses us to bless others as well. There are many times when we are asked by God to help others in need, and this is similar to the very scenario that happened during the Feeding of the five thousand. When God asks us to be a blessing to others, we must have faith, and to do even just a simple amount or act, can have a huge impact on so many lives. Can I tell you this morning, Jesus is big enough for any expectation. Here, He surpassed expectations. He is ultimate. This means that Jesus provides every need and he exceeds. PHILIPPIANS 4:19 “BUT MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEED ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY BY CHRIST JESUS.”
Jesus’ Feeding of the five thousand is a gentle reminder to our daily Christian lives that nothing we face here on earth is too big for God, Jesus is big enough for any of our expectations, and he uses other people to bless others, and ultimately, it shows Jesus’ compassion for His people. Through this miracle, we are reassured of Jesus’ love for us.
--One man wrote, “I REMIND YOU THAT EVERY MIRACLE BEGAN ON A PLATFORM OF A PROBLEM. I DARE YOU TO FIND A MIRACLE THAT DID NOT BEGIN IN A PROBLEM. IF WE COULD EVER SEE THAT, WE WOULD HAVE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TOWARD OUR PROBLEMS”
--Problems are those situations engineered of God to bring us face to face with our deficiencies so we might view His sufficiency as our only alternative
--We should learn to love our problems
--Every problem is an opportunity to trust the lord and watch him step into circumstances to His Glory
--You have a Problem -- Good! - God can solve it
--God can take our problems and turn them into blessings beyond our imagination
--Now go out and Fed Somebody
