Mark 6:37–44 (NIV)
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?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” 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. 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. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Following Jesus challenges our thinking and our behaviour. Jesus asked his disciples to feed the people and they were overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge. They couldn’t see where the resources were going to come from to make this work and they were not convinced that if they had the resources they should use them to feed the crowd. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus was testing them and that He already had a plan. So what was the Lord trying to teach the disciples?
He cares about the needs of people! Jesus was unwilling to send the crowd away hungry! He wasn’t responsible for their meals but he took responsibility for their need. That is the heart of God for people. He sets us an example that demonstrates God’s concern for the needs of people. Sometimes we forget how much God is concerned for the basic needs of people, sometimes we try and just tackle the spiritual needs and overlook the physical needs that surround us. Jesus took responsibility for the needs of the crowd and gave it to his followers.
God looks for what we have not what we don’t have! Jesus asked them how much bread have you got? You see they had decided that they didn’t have anything to offer as a solution for this problem. But they did have some bread and also some fish! Very often we can’t see what God has already given to us to use for His work. We focus on our lack not on God’s abundance. Jesus asked the disciples to think about what they had that could be used to meet the need. Its hard sometimes to believe that God can use the little that we have. But the Scriptures are full of God doing miracles with the little that people give him. It is interesting that Jesus told the disciples to go and see what they had. Sometimes we need to think about what we have that God can use and offer it to him.
Thirdly the Lord teaches the disciples that the miracle is in the giving. It is when he starts to distribute the food that the multiplication begins. It is when the water is drawn out that the wine appears, it is when the oil is poured out that it fills up the other bottles, it is when the seed falls to the ground that it produces a crop. It is when Jesus is lifted up that he draws people to Him! If we will not use what we have then we will never have the privilege of see God increase it to do something wonderful!
How many loaves have you got that Jesus can use today?
Enjoying the journey! 