Keys of Courageous Faith: Jesus
Mark 6:30-56
Introduction
You already know that the life of faith requires great courage. It is against the flow of culture. It is a struggle against the spiritual powers of darkness. It is in conflict with the temptations of the flesh. It is challenging as we face the struggles of fear and doubt. The life of faith requires courage, determination, and grit. But it is not all dependent on your strength.
Courageous Faith always finds it’s strength in knowing the presence of Christ, hearing his Word, and following His example.
In February we are going to continue through Mark’s Gospel noting some keys of courageous faith.
Today we are going to focus on two amazing stories that demonstrate that Jesus is with us, he teaches us, and we need to follow His example - and that will require courageous faith.
Mark 6:30 - Apostles excitedly tell Jesus about their experiences on the limited commission. Their joyful recounting is interrupted because everyone wants to encounter the miracle working Savior and his disciples. They haven’t had time to eat or rest. (6:31). Jesus: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” They got in a boat to escape the crowds. They never got to the solitary place - when they landed there was a large crowd. This is an intense situation of exhaustion, hunger, coming down off of an exciting mission they want to talk with Jesus about - but there are the crowds of people. Two events here are going to teach the disciples - and us - that Courageous Faith always finds it’s strength in knowing the presence and following the example of Jesus Christ. Let’s discover three keys to courageous faith in this text.
1. Courageous Faith Requires Compassion (Mark 6:34-44)
Jesus the Compassionate Shepherd (Mark 6:34 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.)
Jesus saw the crowd through compassionate eyes “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
Barclay: three things that sheep without a shepherd do:
-Sheep without a shepherd cannot find the way. We often stand at the crossroads of life not knowing which way to go. Jesus can show us the way.
-Sheep without a shepherd cannot find pasture and food. Without Jesus the things we find in life never satisfy us. “When we seek it elsewhere our minds are still unsatisfied, our hearts still restless, our souls still unfed. We can gain strength for life only from him who is the living bread.”
-Sheep without a shepherd have no defense against the dangers which threaten it. A sheep cannot defend itself from wild beasts. “No man can defend himself from the temptations which assail him and from the evil of the world which attacks him. Only in the company of Jesus can we walk in the world and keep our garments unspotted from it. Without him we are defenseless; with him we are safe.”
John 10:14-16 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me … I lay down my life for the sheep … and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
The disciples failed to have compassion on the crowd (35-38).
Mark 6:35-38
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.”
It is easy to understand the perspective of the disciples. They were exhausted and hungry. The people interrupted their time with Jesus. They didn’t have the resources to do anything about the hunger of the people. (5,000 men - 10,000 people?) The focus of the disciples was on themselves. They have seen Jesus raise the dead, calm a storm, cast out demons, heal the sick - why did they not realize he could handle a crowd of hungry people?
Swindoll: “How great it would have been if Andrew or Peter or John had replied, ‘But Lord, You’re the Lord of bread. You’re the Lord of fish. This is nothing to you. There is nothing you cannot do.”
The disciples failed to trust Jesus to provide the answer (39-44)
Mark 6:39-44
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.
This is the only miracle of Jesus related in all four gospels. Courageous Faith always finds it’s strength in knowing the presence and following the example of Jesus Christ. Barclay: “If we put ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ, there is no telling what he can do with us and through us.”
We should have a compassionate view of the hurting, the lost, and the struggling around us.
2. Courageous Faith Requires Prayer (Mark 6:45-46)
Mark 6:45-46 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
Prayer was a regular part of the life of Jesus, and that tells us it should be a regular part of our lives as well. What did Jesus Pray about?
The hostility of the religious leaders was heavy.
The failure of his disciples to comprehend who he was.
The death of his cousin, John the Baptizer (Mark 6:14-29)
The cross is on his horizon.
Barclay: “At this particular time there was many a problem on Jesus’ mind and many a burden on his heart.”
The example of Jesus in prayer should encourage us to … Make time to pray even in busy times. Pray about the things that are on our hearts and minds. Seek God’s will and express our trust in Him at all times.
3. Courages Faith Requires Belief (Mark 6:47-52)
To believe means more than must mental assent - it means to lean into that belief in your life - to trust. Three times when we need to have living faith:
-Belief when the storms come - and they do come! (47-48a Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. )
Psalm 40:12-13 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.13 Be pleased to save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me.
You may be in a storm now - this is the time to hang on to faith- not time to let go.
-Belief when we are afraid (48b-50 Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” )
This happens shortly before dawn. Night time. Word for ghost - phantasma. Swindoll says, “a rare term in the New Testament. It doesn’t necessarily mean ‘ghost’ in the sense of the disembodied spirit of a dead person. … they saw something they perceived as a supernatural unknown presence coming toward them, and the sight drove them to screaming terror.”
-Belief when we are uncertain (51-52 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.)
They are still thinking about that bread! We will never know everything - but we do know the most important things. Swindoll: Literally rendered… ‘Be courageous. I Am. Don’t fear.’
What to believe when we do not know what to believe!
-God is near. I Am - “It is I” - same God who appeared to Moses. Job 9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
-God is present. He Passes By - just as God passed by Moses on the mountain and Elijah in the cave - God passes us by in Jesus
-God is at work. He Calms the storm - his presence calms our heart and enables us to endure and overcome whatever is placed in our way.
Kernaghan: “To believe at some point … is to keep taking new risks… To follow Jesus is to keep venturing out past our comfort level.”
Conclusion
Courageous Faith always finds it’s strength in knowing the presence and following the example of Jesus Christ.
Barclay: “When Christ is there the storm becomes a calm, the tumult becomes a peace, what cannot be done is done, the unbearable becomes bearable, and when men pass the breaking point and do not break. To walk with Christ will be for us also the conquest of the storm.”
Bookout: “Jesus can feed an army and feed a kingdom. He can cast out a legion into pigs. He can control the weather, heal the sick, and even raise the dead. He is a Leader you should want to follow. Jesus is a more perfect King than any Roman who’ll ever take the throne. … Jesus the King is commander, shepherd, and the embodiment of God Himself. That’s a King who deserves our allegiance.”
At the end of the chapter, many came for healing, and Jesus responded.
Lane: “Jesus patiently bears with their limited insight and graciously heals those who reach out to him from the bed of affliction.”
The first key of Courageous Faith is the most important one: Jesus. Courageous Faith always finds its strength in knowing the presence and following the example of Jesus Christ.
We can't have a courageous faith without a compassionate Shepherd. Is Jesus leading your life today?
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Questions for Discussion
1. When Jesus invited the disciples to come away to a remote place, what does that say about the balance of work and rest?
2. By this point the disciples had seen Jesus calm the sea, raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons - and empower them to do miracles on the ‘limited commission’. What is it about them that they didn’t assume Jesus could feed the crowd? How is that like us when we think about what God can / cannot do?
3. In feeding the 5,000 commentator William Lane suggests, “The event is intended to be revelatory to the disciples alone. They are the ones who prompt the action, who bring the loaves and fish, who distribute the meal, and who gather the fragments.” What does it mean to you that the miracle was something of which only the disciples were aware?
4. Jesus as a Good Shepherd is a New Testament theme. Notice what the following verses have to say:
Luke 15:4-6
John 10:11
1 Peter 5:4
Hebrews 13:20
Revelation 7:17
5. Ronald Kernaghan wrote, “To believe at some point … is to keep taking new risks… To follow Jesus is to keep venturing out past our comfort level.” What are some risks that have been hard for you to take?
6. What is the struggle of having compassion for the crowds and meeting their needs? How are “felt needs” sometimes different from what people really need?
7. How are you encouraged by the disciples’ slowness to understand who Jesus was - and Jesus’ response?
8. Was there anything else you’d like to talk about today?
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Resources
Akin, Daniel. Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Mark. Holman, 2014.
Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: the Gospel of Mark, Revised. Westminster Press, 1975.
Bookout, Travis. The Cruciform Christ: 52 Reflections on the Gospel of Mark. Cypress Press, 2022.
Kernaghan, Ronald J. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Mark. IVP, 2007.
Lane, William L. NINCT: The Gospel According to Mark. Eerdman’s1974.
Swindoll, Charles R. Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary: Mark. Tyndale, 2016.
Williamson, Lamar Jr. Interpretation: Mark. John Knox Press, 1983.
