Jesus Feeds the 5,000

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Mark 6:30-44

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 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.

35 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[a]! 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.”

39 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.

 
 

Here’s another of those eyewitness remembrances: “the green grass.” That’s the kind of detail that is totally irrelevant to the story, but is exactly the kind of detail an eyewitness would remember.
When they give what little they have—five loaves, two fish—into the Lord’s hands, it becomes a feast, more than enough.

Stop holding onto the little you have—put it in the Lord’s hands, and watch what happens.

P.S. Hope to see lots of families with kids at Wednesday communion this week, 7:00-7:20 AM. Chick-fil-A to-go on the way out!

 

Pickled Fish

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Apparently, they were probably pickled fish. The “two small fish” that the boy had? The word John uses here to tell us about the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 is a word that implies that they were probably small, pickled fish, meant to be eaten as a side dish on small barley cakes.

There’s something about that detail that makes the story vividly real to me.

A small boy with two little pickled fish….

I love Andrew’s question, when he presents the five barley loaves and the two small fish to Jesus:

“But what are they among so many"?”

Chances are you feel you don’t have enough today:

  • not enough time;

  • not enough money;

  • not enough influence;

  • not enough love;

  • not enough patience;

  • etc.

In the face of THAT, how is what I have enough?

The answer: even what we have is enough when we give it to the Lord.

What do you need to put in the Lord’s hands today?

 

Today’s Scripture

John 6:1-15