Mark 6:41-42
"...Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied."
Five thousand men, and likely an even greater number of women and children were fed at that late evening meal by the lake. It had been an amazing day of going out and preaching the gospel. So many people were reached and taught the Word of God. It was so busy, a good busy, and they were all in need of a good rest. But the people wouldn't give them a minute's peace. Jesus and the apostles get in a boat and head across the lake to a "desolate" place where they might find some opportunity to chill out. And the crowds walk around the lake and meet them again on the other side.
So here we are.
Now the village outreach program has developed into a revival meeting of thousands. For all its organic nature it's going to need some order. Things will quickly get out of hand if this army of the Lord continues to travel on its belly without anything but the Word of God to feast upon. It's about time for some organized religion.
It began with a Word from God.
Mark 6:34
"When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things."
Jesus is accepting his role as the Shepherd of prophecy who compassionately provides for the needs of his people. He's that good kind of Pastor that everyone likes. Until they don't.
Psalm 23:1
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
Ezekiel 34:23
"And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall..."
And yet the church is still a little confused by the whole matter. And to be honest, that hasn't really changed much in two thousand years. The focus on the concerns and objections of the disciples illustrates their failure to see Jesus in his prophetic role. I suppose they still see him largely as a great teacher, their Rabbi.
Mark 6:35-36
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. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
So here we have our first church council meeting. The concerns of the congregation are heard, and like so often is the case, the issue at hand is about food. The revival meeting is a huge success, but it's turning into some kind of Woodstock situation. The remote area could not support the crowds. Never mind food, just imagine the bathroom situation. Things had to be getting a little bit gross and raw if you know what I mean. This is roughing it for sure. But the spiritual awakening is profound, and no one wants to leave.
Jesus has a plan:
Mark 6:37
But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
Imagine the look on Peter's face, or James, John or Andrew. Or any of them. Somebody in that group had to of murmured, "are you kidding me?"
They said to him, ["They", which they? I want to know who spoke up first.]
"That would take more than half a year’s wages [two hundred denarii]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
That sounds like a Judas thing to say. He'd be the one focused on the money aspect of things, afterall he was the council treasury minister. And probably Matthew backed him up on his math. "You want us to go into town and spend five thousand bucks on bread!?"
Mark 6:38a "How many loaves do you have?" he [Jesus] asked. "Go and see."
So Jesus sends the congregation on assignment to do an assessment. He's really stepping into his Pastoral duties now. Shepherding is coming easier now. And so he figured let's see what resources we have available. At about this point I'm sure some of the disciples were saying "let's establish among ourselves what our mission is and how we hope to accomplish it. That's what we need, we need a mission statement."
And so, they take an inventory of the situation, come back together and have another council meeting.
The secretary reads the minutes from the previous session and now it's time for an update on the whole feeding of five thousand situation.
Mark 6:38b
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
Now it's time to develop the action plan. Nathanial suggests that everyone take a look at his Venn-diagram he'd put together to help sort out the logistics of the feeding, but Jesus interrupts [just kidding that didn't happen, at least I don't know for sure it did or didn't].
Mark 6:39-40
"Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So, they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties."
If you've read this story before and you're anything like me, you're trying to sort out why the Word of God was specifically mentioning how the groups were arranged. Why a hundred here and fifty there? What's the significance of that organization? Probably if I could stand there and see across that desolate place it would make sense to me. This is the kind of thing I do. I'm a little bit of an engineer and a lot a bit of a visionary. I would see the place and be able to see them fitted in and organize them into the most logical order to facilitate the food distribution.
And here I am, even now, digging in deep on the logistics. And meanwhile there's a miracle in the making.
Mark 6:41
"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."
Mark's gospel is so matter of fact in this. Jesus just turned a few fish and loaves of bread into a feast that exploded the bellies of more than five thousand people.
Mark 6:42
"They all ate and were satisfied..."
That word satisfied in the Greek is literally translated as "glutted".
They were beyond filled up. And to top things off there are twelve baskets of leftovers still. And Mark notes these things like it's just another day. Obviously, he just copied the council meeting minutes.
That's what this event reads like. Where's the marvel? Where's the amazement and wonder?
And then it's like someone shouted,
"Hey! Sorry to eat and run but we're out of here"
Mark 6:45
"Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida..."
Jesus makes them sail against the stormy wind, late into the night, while he closes down the revival.
After a long and hard night of fighting the wind and the waves, as the dawn is about to break, the disciples are still only in the middle of the lake. John's gospel says they've only gone about three or four miles. Jesus is on the land and watching them strain against the bad weather. They're getting nowhere and he's just standing there watching them struggle.
What is this?
And then as if to mock them, Jesus walks on the water and he begins to PASS THEM BY!
Mark 6:48
"He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them"
The disciples spot him walking on the waves and they freak out! They've just spent hours rowing hard against the wind and getting nowhere. And now Jesus is nonchalantly strolling on by them as if the storm is of no effect.
And isn't that the point?
Earlier we see Jesus miraculously feeding the crowds. Mark barely takes notice in his retelling of those events, and I think that illustrates what was going on in the minds of the disciples. Their whole faith life is randomly going from no understanding to no understanding. They jump in the boat, but they never know where, how, or why they're going. And every time something crops up to snag them and weigh them down, they freak out.
Mark 6:50 They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid."
You might think, well I mean...isn't it disturbing being a disciple of Jesus' after all. Jesus is forever doing these crazy and unexpected things. Miraculous things yes, but very unsettling things. And not for nothing, people start thinking maybe you're like him. He supernaturally produced a massive feast for thousands and now he's taking a midnight stroll on the lake while they're just trying not to drown. But just in case you're feeling like maybe they have a good reason to be disturbed by Jesus, the Word of God itself comments on what your takeaway should be.
Mark 6:52
"They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened."
Their. Hearts. We're. Hardened.
Let that sink in for a minute. Keep rereading that line.
How often does the church miss Jesus and his amazing grace because they've been consumed by fear and other hungers? Concerns about food and safety is so important to them, so much so that they become hardheaded and hardhearted. Their mission statements were always so simple and straightforward about how much they wanted to be Christ-like in their ways. But what did they do with it, with that statement of grace? Meetings about concerns. Committees are formed; and cliques develop around tribal disputes. The business of organizing the church becomes the mission. And all too often they're rowing against the wind. Getting nowhere fast. Stuck on a sand bar of doctrine, catechesis and other books of discipline.
If Jesus were to show up today, strolling on the waves of our lake, what would be our reaction?
Would he find that our hearts had hardened? Would he pass on by?
Luke 18:8
"...When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Will he find us doing church or being the church? Is he in the boat, guiding the boat, leading the way, or is he walking on by as we row and row and row under our own strength?
Extra Credit
In the other gospels they never mention the bit about hardened hearts. John says they were afraid and eventually they realized that it was Jesus on the water and not a ghost..."then they were willing to let him into the boat" (John 6:21).
Let that sink in for a minute.