Pastor Betty will be speaking today from Mark 6:30-44 as we continue to navigate through the Gospel of Mark.
Mark writes:
30 The apostles gathered round 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 recognised 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! 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 told them to make 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. (NIVUK)
There is a turn of events in Mark’s Gospel as Jesus and his disciples went looking for some restful moments of peace and tranquility they realized that the crowd got there first. The crowd( 5000 men plus women and children) is hungry and there is no food except for five loaves and two fishes. What are they to do? What would you do? Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “You feed them.” How could his disciples feed 5000 plus hungry human beings with the little that they have. Of course this is an echo of the Israelites in the wilderness without food. What is the point in Jesus’ command to get them something to eat? What is the point of the multiplying of loaves and fishes?
Wright notes, “What we call Jesus’ ‘miracles’ were not done as acts of supernatural power, in order to show that there was a God who had such power, who was operating through Jesus, and who could (if he chose) solve all problems with a snap of the conjurer’s fingers. The mighty acts of Jesus were not that sort of thing at all. They were about the breaking in of God’s kingdom in and through Jesus, a complex event which would reach its full climax in his death and resurrection. From that point there would go out into all the world the power of new creation; but it would always have to struggle against the still-resistant forces of evil.
If, then, we repeat Jesus’ command (‘You give them something to eat’) that doesn’t just mean ‘work a bit harder at famine relief, though that would certainly help. It will also mean that those who discover the living God in and through Jesus must be prepared to face up to the evil structures and powers that still dominate and control so much of God’s world, and to challenge them in the name of Jesus and with the power of his victory on the cross. It isn’t just a matter of ‘he did supernatural things, so why shouldn’t we?’ It’s a matter of the full achievement of Jesus, of which these strange acts were just a part and a signpost, being brought to bear, through prayer and faithful action, on the world that still waits for the kingdom.” (Wright, T. (2004). Mark for Everyone (p. 80). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)
May we truly see the breaking in of God’s kingdom in our corporate time of worship together. May it be so for our in-house/in-person gathering as well as for our online gathering.
Please pray for Pastor Betty as she speaks the Word of God from her heart to us. Pray also for Mark as he leads us in congregational worship. May the God of glory and might be revealed in our midst.
Let us pray:
Let us all yield to God with one of the most challenging prayers of surrender from the Jesuit Prayer book…
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted…
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten…
From the fear of being ridiculed…
From the fear of being wronged…
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I…
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside…
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed…
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. AMEN!
elmsdale church of the nazarene 