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*“Jesus – Powerful Provider”*
*Mark 6.30-56*
* *
This morning we enter a couple of very familiar stories.
In fact, the feeding of the multitude is included in all of the four Gospels in the New Testament.
It is so familiar that I really did not anticipate some of the nuggets to be mined in the text.
This is probably because it has often been misunderstood and applied as a lesson on “sharing” in children’s material – referring to somebody providing the bread and fish.
I can assure you that this is not what is being communicated in this story.
Let’s look at it together.
We are in Mark 6.
If you recall from last week, Karl mentioned that within his text there is sort of a parenthetical section that dealt with the death of John the Baptist.
In verse 7 of chapter 6, Mark records that Jesus sent out twelve on a mission.
Immediately following a brief description of their trip, Mark then talks about King Herod, John the Baptist and the party feast that he had.
When the narrative picks up in our passage, we see a very different feast.
Herod put on a party on his birthday in order to bolster his position and invited the nobles, military commanders and leading men of Galilee.
His party was for himself.
Jesus will have a feast in order to minister to others and is focused on them.
Let’s read the text.
Our first point is *Appetite Satisfied.
*Let’s pick up the text in verse 30.
The disciples have returned from their mission that was begun in verses 7-13.
They relay to Jesus all the details of what they had done and taught.
Jesus knows the toll of ministry and the need for rest and refreshment.
Ironically, ministry is both exhilarating and exhausting!
You can almost visualize the scene.
In verses 12 and 13, they were involved in declaring the gospel of repentance.
And amidst their preaching, they were also casting out demons and seeing many people healed.
You can see them filled with wonder, running up to Jesus telling him excitedly – perhaps out of breath and quite exhausted.
Jesus says to “come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”
He sees the condition of the disciples and the need to get alone and rest and eat.
And the text continues and indicates the reason.
FOR many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
We were created with a need for rest and food.
Why would God create us this way?
Wouldn’t you think that if, instead of instituting a Sabbath rest, he should have just given us the ability to work longer and harder?
We were created with a built-in dependence on God.
God does not expect us to work harder at the expense of rest and the cultivation of our relationship with him.
Many already are in the practice of thanking God for our meals because we know that we are dependent on his provision for our sustenance.
And I believe that I’ve said this before.
Every time we go to bed, we are reminded that we need sleep and that we are created to be dependent.
And this keeps us humble.
At least it should.
So the people keep coming and yet Jesus tells them to come away with him and rest.
A life of discipleship is characterized by being “with” Jesus.
One commentator notes, “the gathering of the disciples to Jesus means that in the midst of business and busyness they are accountable to him alone.
And the greater the demands on them, the greater their need to be alone with Jesus.”
Verse 32 indicates that they got into a boat in order to go to this desolate place.
In their attempt to attain this privacy, many people saw them going, recognized them and ran ahead of them and got there ahead of the boat!
What do you do with that one?
Can you imagine?
You’ve been ministering all over Galilee, preaching and healing and walking and you come to Jesus exhausted.
He then encourages you to take a break and rest and eat.
You plop yourself down in the boat to go somewhere to recharge the batteries a while.
You just want to disappear for a time.
And the people follow you.
Not just one or two, but many, from all the towns.
What is your response?
Anger?
Frustration?
Exasperation?
Or compassion?
It says in verse 34, that when Jesus went ashore and saw the great crowd, he did not express anger or exasperation, but compassion!
As we move deeper into this section, there are some questions that may remain unanswered – at least in my mind.
So I want you to talk about some of these things in your Growth Groups tonight.
Then you can answer them for me!
Before we get into the details, here are some of the questions you need to ask.
First, we know from here and elsewhere that we are commanded to rest from our labor.
We are to work, then rest.
The same is true in ministry.
If we do not, we will burn out.
Jesus even confirmed this in the command to come away to rest.
In this passage, one of several things happened.
Maybe they experienced the desolate place on the boat after they departed.
Did Jesus abandon this opportunity for his disciples?
Or did he minister for a while alone?
Do you see it here?
Our familiarity with the story recalls the disciples in action.
Let’s press on.
Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
This brings with it a wealth of Old Testament background.
Numbers 27:17 says, “who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
1 Kings 22:17 “And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.
And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’
” And 2 Chronicles 18.16 says the same thing almost verbatim.
As we know from John’s Gospel, Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
In Ezekiel, a shepherd is promised for his people.
Ezekiel 34:23 “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”
David is used metaphorically here because the time when Ezekiel wrote was well after the reign of David.
As we continue here, think also of Psalm 23 – particularly the first 3 verses.
Psalm 23:1–3 “1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
What does Jesus do for these people on whom he has compassion?
He teaches them.
His compassion drives him to teach.
Why? Recall where the people were spiritually.
They were under Roman governance and under the spiritual leadership of the Pharisees and the scribes.
Ray Ortlund says this, “Jesus, in his care as shepherd, felt deeply for the human needs he saw around him.
Their only spiritual guides were Pharisees.
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