A MIRACLE AT SUPPER TIME
Mark 6:31-43
Jesus had been healing many people from their diseases, and so a multitude began to seek Him out. Some wanted healing for themselves or loved ones. Others wanted to see a miracle worker. Some were truly seeking the Messiah. A crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children was gathered around Him to watch and listen, and Jesus decided to impress all of them with a miracle that would touch each personally, He decided to feed them all. Philip remarked, “Even if we had $10,000, that would only provide a little food for each person!” But there was a boy with 5 pieces of bread, and 2 small fish, which Jesus miraculously turned into plenty of food for about 15,000 people. Plus, there were twelve baskets of bread left over, no doubt a lesson to the 12 disciples.
This story is more than a child’s story, it is for adults too. Let us look at the truths of this story.
I-NOTICE THE PROBLEM THAT IS SHOWN: 2
Matthew say it was evening, Mark says the day was far spent, and the multitudes had brought no food. They were hungry and tired.
A-The Seeing Of Jesus: 34
And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
John 6:5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
Jesus saw the needs of the people, both spiritual and physical. HE SAW. So many today don’t see the the needs of others around them.
Former Michigan State football coach Duffy Daugherty tells a great story about a winning field goal kicked by a young man name Dave Kaiser against UCLA many years ago. The game was in Los Angeles and the field goal gave Michigan a 17-14 victory.
As Dave Kaiser came back to the bench to meet the roaring enthusiasm of his teammates, Coach Daugherty said: "Nice going, Dave, but I noticed you didn’t watch the ball after you kicked it. How come?"
Kaiser replied, "You’re right coach, I didn’t watch the ball. I was watching the referee to see how he would call it. You see, I forgot my contact lenses. They are back at the hotel. I couldn’t even see the goal posts!"
But Jesus could see. You know the reason he saw them? It was because of His love for them. Our love for people sometimes is so indifference, so half-hearted.
In 1928, a very interesting case came before the courts in Massachusetts. It concerned a man who had been walking on a boat dock when suddenly he tripped over a rope and fell into the cold, deep water of an ocean bay. He came up sputtering and yelling for help and then sank again, obviously in trouble. His friends were too far away to get to him, but only a few yards away, on another dock, was a young man sprawled on a deck chair, sunbathing. The desperate man shouted, ’Help, I can’t swim!’ The young man, an excellent swimmer, only turned his head to watch as the man floundered in the water, sank, came up sputtering in total panic, and then disappeared forever. The family of the drowned man was so upset by that display of callous indifference that they sued the sunbather. They lost. The court reluctantly ruled that the man on the dock had no legal responsibility whatever to try and save the other man’s life. In effect, the law agrees with Cain’s presupposition: I am not my brother’s keeper, and I have every legal right to mind my own business and to refuse to become involved.
B-The Survey Of Phillip:John 6:5b-7
Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6: And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7: Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
He looked at the crowd too, he saw the size and the rsources and said, Lord, we could never borrow that much money. I imagine he asked Judas, how much was in the bag and found out they only had two hundred pennyworth.
It would have taken two-thirds of a man’s yearly salary to have purchased enough food just for them to have had a little.
He was walking by sight and not faith. He needed to put his faith in Jesus Christ.
Some people look at the partially filled GLASS OF WATER and call it half empty; others call it half full.
I READ A HUMOROUS STORY THIS PAST WEEK OF TWO FARMERS: one was negative, always down and gloomy, while the other farmer was always happy and full of joy. The positive farmer would get up in the morning and say, “The sun is so bright, it is going to be a wonderful day.” The negative farmer would say, “It is going to burn up the crops.”The optimistic farmer said, “Oh, it is raining today. God is watering our crops.” The pessimistic farmer said, “If it doesn’t quit raining it is
going to flood the crops.”
Well, one day the positive farmer decided he was going to cheer the other guy up and prove to him that it was all right to be an optimist. He got a bird dog and trained his dog to do things no other dog on earth could do. He invites his farmer friend to a duck hunt so he could watch his wonder-dog at work. They got in the boat and went and hid in a duck blind. The ducks flew over and they knocked several ducks out of the sky. Once the ducks hit the water the farmer told his dog, “Sick ‘em.”
That wonder-dog jumped out of the boat and walked on the water over to the ducks and picked them up and brought them back to the boat. That positive farmer looked at the negative farmer and said, “Well, what did you think of that?” The pessimistic farmer exclaimed, “Well, he must not be able to swim.”
SOME FOLKS are just that way – always negative. The disciples looked at their circumstances that day and considered them a problem. Jesus looked at it as a door of opportunity.
Several years ago America was running on cheap oil. We all had gas-guzzlers. We all turned the thermostats on our homes low in the summer and high in the winter. Suddenly the OPEC countries turned off the oil spigot and we were left with a situation where the demands for oil were more than the resources available.
It was the same in this story, but Jesus made the difference.
C-The Search Of Andrew: John 6:8-9
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, 9: There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
Andrew was always trying to get someone to Jesus. He brought his brother, later on the Greeks and now a lad.
He must have had a winsome power about him, a friendliness to convict a lad to give up his lunch.
A pastor was speaking to his people on the relationship between fact and faith. He said, ’That you are sitting before me in this church--is fact. That I am standing here, speaking from this pulpit--is fact. That I believe anyone is listening to me--is faith!’
Notice his faith was strong but then it wavered. He had a faith with a “but” in it. but what are they among so many?
II-NOTICE THE PERSON THAT IS FOUND: 9
A-Notice His Personality: John 6:9A
There is a lad here,
Jesus didn’t have to have a lad but He worked through a human agency.
A young boy asked his daddy why do you hate Jesus? The father, son, I don’t hate Jesus. Why do you ask such a question? The replied, you never go to his house, and you never talk to him. He got convicted and was saved. Why? Because the Lord used a child.
A little girl was the instrument God used to save her Father. When she told her friends that her daddy got saved, they said, you must be dreaming. She said, If I am, please don’t wake me up.
B-Notice His Presence: John 6:9A
There is a lad here,
What if the lad had stayed away that day? He would have missed blessing of serving Jesus.
I remember in a Church I pastured on a certain Sunday night, a certain man got saved. I was talking to one of the deacons about it. He said , I sure wish I had been there, he was my next door neighbor. I told him, well you missed a blessing by not being there. THAT THE REASON I DON’T WANT TO MISS, FOR I MIGHT MISS A BLESSING.
C-Notice His Provisions: John 6:9B
This was not big loaves like Colonial bread but more like small round pancakes or biscuits. These fish were more like sardines.
It wasn’t the size of the lunch that counted, it was getting it into the hands of Jesus.
Some say my lunch is not big enough. What counts is that it is submitted to Jesus.
God took nobodies and turned the world upside down in the book of Acts. But they gave all they had.
The lad gave all that he had, he didn’t hold back any part of his lunch.
David gave what he had, a sling, but it was enough to slay the Giant.
I read a story about a pastor of a small, rural church in Scotland. He had been forced out by his elders, who claimed they saw no fruit from his ministry. The village in which the pastor served was a difficult place. People’s hearts were cold and hostile to the truth. During the time the pastor served, there had been no conversions and no baptisms. But he did recall one positive response to his preaching. When the offering plate was passed during a service, a young boy placed the plate on the floor, stood up, and stepped into it. When asked to explain, he replied that he had been deeply touched by the minister’s life, and while he had no money to give he wanted to give himself wholly to God. The boy who stepped into the plate was Bobby Moffat, who in 1817 became a pioneer missionary to South Africa. He was greatly used of God to touch many lives.
Does Jesus have all of you?
III-NOTICE THE POWER THAT IS DISPLAYED:
“and Jesus” (that is the difference)
A-We See The Sitting: 39-40
39: And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40: And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
JESUS SAID, “MAKE THE MEN SIT DOWN.” Jesus’ words were 180 degrees the opposite to what the disciples had originally recommended. The disciples had recommended that Jesus “SEND THE MULTITUDE AWAY, . . . " (Luke 9:12)
IT KEPT CHAOS AWAY from the crowd. If you have watched relief organizations distribute food to hungry people on TV, you are aware that hungry multitudes can easily
overwhelm the distributors.
EVERYONE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO OBSERVE the miracle firsthand. The bread was handed to them personally.
When I come to Church, I don’t want to come something like a honky tonk or a ball game. I want to worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth. I want thing to be done in decency and order like the Bible says.
B-We See The Supplication: 41
41: And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
It would be easy to pass over the fact that Jesus gave thanks. It would be wrong to do so considering that John, the human author of the Gospel of John mentioned the fact twice (John 6:11,23). Matthew, Mark, and Luke ALL THREE reveal that Jesus looked up to heaven and gave thanks to the Father (Matt 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16). Jesus was demonstrating in word and deed that God is THE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE and blessing.
It was Thanksgiving season in the nursing home. The small resident population was gathered about their humble Thanksgiving table, and the director asked each in turn to express one thing for which they were thankful. Thanks were expressed for a home in which to stay, families, etc. One little old lady in her turn said, ’I thank the Lord for two perfectly good teeth, one in my upper jaw and one in my lower jaw that match so that I can chew my food.’
Notice we never experience a miracle until we have spend some time in prayer.
It is said that John Know once spend 24 hours in prayers, he did nothing else. The next Sunday morning when he preached, over 1000 people came to Jesus.
C-We See The Supernatural: 42
42: And they did all eat, and were filled.
If we are going to be blessed my Jesus, we must hear his voice and obey Him.
After a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, many people inside the building were trapped by a cloud of thick, blinding smoke. Police officer Isaac Hoopi ran into the blackness, searching for survivors, and heard people calling for help. He began shouting back, over and over: "Head toward my voice! Head toward my voice!" Six people, who had lost all sense of direction in a smoke-filled hallway, heard the officer’s shouts and followed. Hoopi’s voice led them out of the building to safety.
"Head toward My voice!" That’s also the invitation of Jesus
D-We See The Surplus: 43
And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
After everyone was filled, the disciples gathered up the leftovers and filled TWELVE BASKETS. The Greek word for "BASKET" usually denotes a large basket rather than a small basket. They had enough leftovers to fill twelve baskets. Why twelve baskets? One basket was full was available for each of the twelve disciples. Jesus not only met the needs of the multitude, he met the needs of those who served the multitude.
When disaster strikes, people are exceedingly generous in their outpouring of assistance. After the terrorist attacks in September 2001, New York City was flooded with an estimated $75 million worth of towels, blankets, flashlights, water bottles, canned beans, shovels, toothpaste, stuffed animals, radios, rubber boots, and thousands of other items. There was so much stuff that those affected could not use it all.
This reminds me of what happens when we turn in faith to Christ as our Savior. We were facing a personal disaster. Our sins put us in danger of an eternity of separation from God. The future was dark, hopeless. Then Jesus stepped in and offered rescue. When we trusted Him, our heavenly Father lavished us with spiritual riches. Now we have more blessings than we can possibly use up The blessings of being a Christian just keep on coming. They’ll never run out. What a generous, thoughtful God we serve!
CONCLUSION:
. Jesus said to those who followed him, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger;
Jesus is named for every need man has: To the hungry He is the Bread of Life. To the thirsty He is the Fountain of Living Waters. To the sick He is the Balm of Gilead. To the dying He is the Resurrection and the Life. To the darkened He is the Light of the World. To the outcast He is the Friend of Sinners.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, is all you need. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
William and Mary Tanner were crossing the railroad tracks when it happened. Mary’s foot slipped and wedged itself between the rail and the wooden crosswalk. She tried frantically to pull her foot free as the sound of an approaching train was heard. There were but seconds left as the express came rushing toward her around a curve. Will Tanner pulled on her foot, desperately trying to free her.
As the train came closer and its whistle screamed and brakes shrieked, Will held her in his arms. While people shuddered in horror, the train thundered over them. One witness said that just before the engine hit them, he heard the brave man cry, "I’ll stay with you, Mary!" That is great love!
This story reminds me of our Savior, who loved us with a love that can save us (John 3:16). Death came hurtling at Him as He hung on a cross and took the full penalty we deserved. He heard people cry out to Him to save Himself and come down from the cross (Matthew 27:40). But to save others He chose not to save Himself (v.42).
