You give them something to eat

Mark 6:30-44
Key Verse 6:37a

But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

In this passage, Jesus apostles just finished one training session given to them by Jesus. Immediately they went right into another training session. Through this second training session Jesus helped the disciples to have sense of compassion for the people. He also taught the disciples how to respond to a situation by faith instead of looking at their human limitations. Let's look at this passage in two parts.

The apostles return from their mission journey. (vs. 30-32)

This passage starts out when the apostles had just returned to Jesus after their mission journey. They were so excited and filled with joy. Each one wanted to be the first to share the highlight of their mission journeys  Maybe Peter stood, up in front of Jesus, gently shoving the other disciples out of the way.  “When I said to a demon possessed man, ‘Demon, you get out of that man.’  The demon came out of the man shrieking like a mad dog.  “AaaaHH”.”  Maybe Bartholomew said in kind of a quiet timid voice, “When I prayed over and laid my hands on a man who couldn’t walk, he got up and was able to use his legs.  The man who was healed, said, ‘Thank you, thank you.  Then he praised God in loud voice.’”  The disciples experienced first hand that when they obeyed the word of God they could heal the sick, drive out demons, and perform many other miracles.  They were so joyful, that maybe for the first time they weren't so concerned about sleeping and eating. Through them a spiritual tidal wave struck the land of Israel. Just before they were sent out, a dark moment came upon the land. John the Baptist was beheaded in prison. Maybe many of the disciples feared in their hearts. “Is this how a life of hard service to the Lord ends, being killed by someone just for preaching to them that they need to repent.”

Yet, Jesus issued a strong counter attack against the kingdom of hell. He sent his disciples out two by two, and through then the power of God, shook the nation of Israel upside down. Even Herod when he heard what going on hallucinated and thought that John the baptist had come back to life. 

Now when the disciples were trying to share their experiences, Jesus could tell that they were tired and hungry. Even though people in the towns where they had gone, did welcome them into their homes, still they did not eat or sleep properly.  Because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have chance to eat. Jesus said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

In vs. 32 it says, “So they went away by themselves in boat to a solitary place.”  The disciples were going with Jesus to have a nice quiet retreat.  Could things get any better.  They just got back from a powerful mission journey and now they were going to have a sweet retreat with Jesus.  As the boat started across the lake, the warm morning sun shimmered off the smooth sea.  They became very relaxed.  Maybe they dozed off a bit.  Maybe they had visions of sitting in the shade of trees on the beach front, drinking coconut milk and listening to Jesus sweet words.  Ah what a nice time it was going to be.

2.  You give them something to eat (vs. 33-44)

In vs. 33 it says, “But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.”  As the boat started to head for their landing site, that nice relaxing feeling in the disciples started to go away.  Instead their eyes became wide open, and their hearts became filled with anxiety.  What is that on the beach.  That didn’t look like drift wood or clumps of seaweed.  It was a huge crowd of people, about 5,000 of them.  As the boat landed, maybe the crowds annoyance had become unbearable to Jesus disciples.  Possibly Matthew said, “You shameless people.  I’m going to drive you away with a baseball bat.”  Maybe some of the other disciples grumbled something like, “You selfish and shameless people.  You are going to drain us to death.”

Yet, Jesus did not see them this way.  Maybe Jesus thought, “Good morning sirs!  You are so good to us.  What can I do to help you very special people”

Let’s look at verse 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.’  Jesus didn’t have the same attitude as his disciples.  Jesus had compassion on these people.  Jesus saw they had so many problems, because they didn’t have a shepherd.  There was no one to teach them words of God, and help them to grow into wholesome men and woman of God.  The key point we want to look at in this verse, is that Jesus had compassion on them.  What it is compassion?

Compassion is having endless pity on a person.  Compassion is the grace of the our Lord Jesus who died on the cross, for all people, not just for those we think look promising.  We can know compassion when we think about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  When one has compassion, they can grow to be a man of integrity with divine nature.  When one has compassion they can love others as themselves.  When a married couple each have compassion, they can avoid thinking about divorce no matter problems may rock their marriage. There are so many young single men and woman who have to be careful about having no compassion.  When they have no compassion, no one will measure up to their standards.  They might grow old alone, and never get married.  Also without compassion, a person can’t have any rest or peace in their heart.  

There was one medical doctor missionary, who due to his faith in God had a lot of compassion.  He was one of the directors of the hospital he used to work at.  Because of  his compassion he admitted so many free patients.  He fed them, and even distributed some of the hospital food to a nearby railroad station where there were so many poor people.  Eventually the Board of Directors confronted him about the financial deficiency of the hospital, and he had to leave.  Then he went as a doctor missionary to Bangladesh. There he preached the word to them, and give them donations which he collected in America.  By the end of his life, when he was over 70 years old, he had gone back and forth to Bangladesh fourteen times.

We know the Martin Luther was a great man who was instrumental in the reformation, and making the Bible available to just about everyone.  He was a man of courage, and a lover of the truth.  Yet, when he said his famous phrase, “If I were God, I would destroy all mankind, ten times a day,” Martin Luther did not have the compassion of Jesus in his heart.

So in vs. 34, we see that Jesus had compassion on the crowd of people.  Jesus saw each of these people as his own children who were ailing and gradually dying. 

So Jesus taught them the word of God.  Jesus did not give them any bread or drinks.  He did not say any words of sympathy.  Jesus taught them the word of God.  Jesus teaching was endless.  He taught them until the word of God worked in their hearts.  He taught them until they became enlightened, and they became new people.  The basic theme of the message seemed to be repeated again and again, but the people liked it so much.  They completely forgot that they were sick or ailing.  They forgot that they were hungry.  Their minds and bodies became fully satisfied through Jesus teaching.  As Jesus teaching continued, the sun was gradually going down to edge of the horizon.  The dusk sky became beautifully colored with blue, red, orange, and the white clouds.

Up to this point the disciples had been patiently waiting and trying to listen to Jesus message.  Yet, their fatigue, boredom and hunger became so strong.  So they had an emergency conference among themselves, and they came up with a solution.  They went to Jesus and in vs. 35 and 36 they said to Jesus, “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late.  Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  This was a brilliant and reasonable idea.  After all the people had been there all day listening to Jesus.  It was time for them to go and get something to eat and take care of themselves.  The truth was is that it was the disciples who wanted to eat.  

Jesus responded in vs. 37a.  “But he answered, ‘You give them something to eat.’”  What did Jesus say?  Again is says, “But he answered, ‘You give them something to eat.’”  This seemed completely unreasonable to the disciples.  Maybe they thought, “What??  Lord you must be kidding.”  In the passage one of the disciples said, “That would take eight months of man’s wages!  Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat.?”  Because the disciples were obviously upset, they may have answered  ironically.  Also when we look at cross references to this passage, we can learn that it was Philip who said, this.  Like Mathew, Phillip was a smart guy.  Just by taking a quick glance he could get a decent estimate of how much it would take to feed this crowd of people. It is very good to be educated.  Yet, the problem with thinking too much, is that when you approach a situation with reason, and calculating instead of trying to have faith in God, the result will always be negative.  In this case they figured it would take eight moths of a man’s wages to feed the crowd.  Could anyone expect that the disciples would have that amount of money? 

What Jesus is trying to teach his disciples is that they must have compassion on the people.  Instead of seeing the people as annoying, and just waiting for the time to send them away, Jesus wants his disciples to have a shepherd heart for the people.  When they have a shepherd heart for the people, even if they don’t have any bread or money,  by any means they can find a way to feed the people.  This is the faith that Jesus wanted his disciples to learn.  When one has compassion, they can find a way. 

In America, the pull of materialism is so strong.  From our youth in our minds we are conditioned to go to school and study hard to get good grades.  Of course this is very important.  Yet, in the minds of so many college students in this nation and around the world, is the very simple and universal thought to be successful in school, so that they can be successful at taking care of yourself, and your family members.  Yet, when people become successful in taking car of themselves, they don’t have any compassion for anyone else.  

Yet, Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.”  From these words, we find the direction to go to the college campuses and serve Bible Study.  We need to teach students the word of God until they pick up faith and compassion.  We need to teach students the Bible so they can become fellowship leaders, and campus directors. We need to teach them until they pick up faith, that through Jesus and his word, they can be great sources of blessings.   Jesus’ disciples didn’t care about the crowd of people.  Jesus knew this.  So Jesus is teaching his disciples through this event to have compassion, and a sense of responsibility for the sick and needy people.  

I am very much like the disciples, and most likely worse.  I’ve been serving UCI, but lately because I tell myself that my health is not that great, I have not been fishing at the campus.  When I have had Bible students I have served them Bible with a sense, that this is what is done in the UBF.  Yet, I did not have a sense of compassion for their spiritual well being.  The bible studies went okay, but I  had no real concern for their spiritual well being.  I didn’t invite them to Sunday Worship Service or Bible Conferences.  I have been very weak at encouraging themible Students to write testimony.  At the very least I could’ve shared one of my testimonies with them to help them get an idea of what a testimony is.  Yet I never did that.   Then when they stop Bible study, I feel very little compassion, and don’t even remember them in prayer.  

In terms of helping others in a more material way, I have done basically a negative amount.  On many occasions I have run into financial problems of my own, and I usually run to someone and beg for help.  One Bible student I used to have named Jose, instead of me buying something for him, he always would take me out to lunch or dinner all the time.  Please pray for me to have the compassion of Jesus.  When I have the compassion of Jesus, then no matter what my personal situation, there is way to help a person grow in Jesus.

In the passage, after the disciples complained that they didn’t have eight months wages, Jesus said in vs. 38, “How many loaves do you have.?” He asked.  “Go and see.”  This verse shows the true way to find a solution in any situation, especially when it looks impossible.  We need to go and see.  When we calculate, we just come up with an a negative result.  Then we just keep sitting down.  Yet, here Jesus tells the disciples to go and see.  When we go and see by faith, we will find something.  When they looked around, they found five loaves and two fish.  Possibly this could’ve been a small boys lunch, that now he was saving for dinner.  Maybe the bread was all dried up, and fish was  starting to get a bit smelly.  Yet, they found it and brought it to Jesus.  Jesus words, “Go and see’ are words we need to follow for success.  So when we are confronted with an impossible looking situation, let’s not just think that the situation looks impossible.  Let’s remember Jesus words, “Go and see.”.  Then what you find, with a thankful heart, take it to Jesus.

In the passage, the disciples brought the five loaves and two fish to Jesus.  Jesus had the disciples direct the people to sit down in the grass in groups of hundreds and fifties.  Here we see that Jesus co worked with his disciples.  Jesus never works alone.  He always co works.  Through participating, the disciples can grow in  faith. 

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looking up to heaven, he thanked God and prayed that God would feed his children.  God blessed his prayer and all the people ate until their stomachs bulged.  They were all fully satisfied.  From this passage we can learn a basic model for success in Jesus and serving campus mission.  We need to go and see what we have first.  Then what we find even though it may look small and maybe not that good, we need to take it to Jesus with a thankful heart.  When the disciples did this, there was so much blessing.  In the passage it says that there were twelve basket fulls of broken pieces of bread and fish leftover that the disciples picked up.  God’s merciful blessing is truly abundant.

So, let’s pray first to have compassion.  Then let’s pray to Go and see, in every difficult situation.  When we have compassion and faith in God, we can overcome all obstacles in feeding the flock of God, and making disciples of all nations. 

One Word:  You give them something to eat.