Note: Jesus has just sent out the twelve with the commission to preach that people should repent, to drive out demons, and to heal the sick (Mark 6:12-13). On their return to Jesus, they were going to go away with Jesus by themselves to have a rest (Mark 6:31-32), but God had so blessed their mission that crowds followed them.
1. What sort of report did the disciples bring to Jesus? (v. 30, cf. vv. 6-12)
2. How do you think the disciples were feeling at that time?
3. What was Jesus' response? (vv. 31-32)
4. What was Jesus' reaction to the crowd? (v. 34)
5. What is the significance of the description, and how does Jesus shepherd them? (v. 34; cf. Num 27:17; John 10:11ff)
6. How does the attitude of Jesus to the crowd differ to that of his disciples?
7. Why does Jesus challenge the disciples to do? What lay behind the challenge? (v. 37; cf. 6:52, 8:4; John 6:6)
8. What is the significance of this miracle? Why do you think Jesus withdrew immediately? (v. 45; cf. John 14-15; 2 Kgs 4:42-44)
9. Why do you think that Jesus immediately departed the scene of such a great miracle?
10. What was Jesus' response to such a hectic and fruitful day?
11. How can I learn from his example?
12. Why were the disciples afraid? (vv. 50, 51)
13. What should the disciples have understood about the loaves?
14. What does it mean to have a hard heart? (v. 52; cf. Eph 4:18-19)
15. Why do you think that the people at Gennesaret would have brought their sick on mats (v. 55), and try to touch the edge of his cloak (v. 56)? (cf. Mark 2:1-11, 5:25-34)
‘fourth watch of the night’ (v. 48): about 3.00 am.
‘walking on the lake’, ‘he was about to pass them by’ (v. 48; cf. Job 9:8, 11).
‘It is I’ (v. 50). The words might more literally be translated ‘I am’, the same expression that Jesus uses when he says, “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58; Exod 3:14).
Our society is fascinated with reality TV. We want to see what a day in the life of another person really is. That was what the ‘Truman Show’ was about, wasn’t it? A story of a man who for 24 hours, 7 days a week, was watched by the world on TV, without him knowing it. There is even a drama called ‘24’. The idea is that it follows 24 hours in the life of a hero who I think has to save the world.
Reality TV shows are supposed to be about real people conducting their lives. So we can see them. So there’s ‘Airport’, that gives you a day in the life of being an Airline hostess. There’s the Customs show, a day in the life of a New Zealand Custom’s Officer, or the Police shows, or ‘Bondi Rescue’.
What we have in our passage today is something like 24 hours in the life of Jesus. It is a 24 hour period that each of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John felt important enough to record. Not even Jesus’ birth received this treatment.
Now, the thing is, this passage is just that, a 24 hour period. We don’t know if all of Jesus’ ministry was like this. We are left wondering whether this was typical or not, or whether this was an exceptionally busy period in an otherwise busy ministry.
So a 24 hour slice of Jesus' life may not give us the whole picture of Jesus' earthly ministry, but it will give us a cameo of Jesus when he is at his busiest. And sometimes, it is under pressure, isn’t it, that the real person comes to the surface?
Mark 6:1-30 showed us the disciples becoming apostles. They were on a mission from God, and joined their Lord, Jesus, in his ministry. And we saw that their mission was costly. It cost John the Baptist his life. It would cost Jesus his life. And eventually, it would cost the Apostles their life.
Well, our passage today shows us the immediate fruit of their mission. That is, their mission led to more mission.
We see it was Jesus’ intention to have a bit of time alone with his disciples. Let me read verses 31 and 32:
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.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. (NIV)
Here was a time for rest, for food, an opportunity for debriefing, we might say, to reflect on the mission, and what God had done through them. They had earned a bit of a rest, hadn’t they? Jesus himself had recognised their real need for a break.
But successful mission leads always leads to more mission. Successful ministry leads to more ministry. Because evangelism, preaching that people should repent and believe, that work creates more work, more evangelism, more discipleship, more preaching that people should repent and believe in Jesus.
It is no different for us. We could choose to make church life stream-lined, efficient, and neat. We could get rid of the mess very easily. That choice would be, don’t do mission. Don’t invite people to repent and believe. Whenever we go out on mission, we always bite off more than we can chew.
But don’t we have a legitimate need to rest? We’ve worked hard already. Don’t give us this extra work. Don’t pile on more on top of what we’ve already got to do.
Friends, evangelism will inevitably create more work: the work leading up to preaching Christ to a needy community; the work of preaching Christ to that community, the work of following up those who repent from the community. Evangelism leads to more work, more hardship, more tension, new and different needs, new people with new sins, new dilemmas, and new joys as new brothers and sisters are brought from death to life in Christ.
Do you realise that if we engage in mission and do all this stuff, and God answers our prayers, we will be even busier than we are now? We would have created more work for ourselves. It’s much easier, isn’t it, to not mission? We could have neat, stream-lined, efficient church life: it's easier, quicker, cheaper, but it lacks compassion, and does not reflect the heart of Jesus.
For when the six pairs of missionaries return, the fruit of their ministry comes with them. They have scooped for Jesus and brought people to him. And Jesus looks upon them with compassion. People surround them. Jesus and his disciples move to a lonely place, and crowds of people follow.
So here is Jesus recognising a real need: the tiredness of his disciples. But acknowledging this, Jesus sees that another, competing need that is greater: compassion on the lost crowd. 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 to teach them many things. (NIV)
Jesus’ disciples had legitimate needs. But Jesus’ heart goes out to this lost, leaderless crowd. Thousands and thousands of men, women and children before him, and he has compassion. Jesus pities them. And so it means the twelve miss out on their R-n-R with Jesus, for the sake of the multitude.
Friends, that is often the way isn’t it, with mission? The insiders must miss out for the sake of the outsiders. Mission requires the sacrifice of self. I have real and legitimate needs, yes, and Jesus recognises them. But mission requires sacrificial compassion for the lost. And so, the ones who are strong in faith make concessions for those who are weak in faith. And so we must expect that the mature in Christ will go without. They will miss out, for the sake of the lost.
Now, Jesus' compassion expresses itself is an unusual way. Do you see that in verse 34? He taught them.
See, teaching is not just something we do because we are middle class intellectuals. Teaching is an act of compassion. Friends, truth matters, God matters, reality matters, and Jesus compassionately and mercifully teaches them in accordance with their ability to understand. And his deep compassion is shown in that he taught them at length. Even as the shadows lengthened and the sun went down, he kept teaching them. We need to remember this when we think the sermon is long, or the bible study is uninteresting, or we are finding the bible hard to understand! Teaching is compassion, and truth is mercy.
But there was also a very practical and urgent need. What Jesus has before him is 5000 men: that is, the count is not including the women and children (Matt 4:21). It is 5000 families! We probably are looking at something like over 10,000 if all their wives are there, probably even 15,000 or 20,000 plus if we include the kids. And Jesus’ compassion will extend to their need for a meal.
The disciples also see the need. And they come up with a very practical alternative plan: BYO. Verses 35 and 36:
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. Send the people away so they can go the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” (NIV)
It’s a good plan: practical, efficient, stream-lined, a plan fitting with the limited resources of the small band of disciples. It is a reasonable request. But here we see Jesus being unreasonable, in verse 37: “You give them something to eat.”
Not only do the disciples not get the rest that Jesus promised. Not only have they not had the time to eat because of the crowd. Now Jesus commands them to feed the crowd. Here is the unreasonable Jesus, giving impossible commands to his disciples already at the limit of their resources.
But you see, Jesus is not unreasonable, because whenever he commands, he also enables what he commands. The disciples will indeed obey Jesus' command: they will certainly give them something to eat before this crowd disperses.
Clearly it is beyond the disciples resources. They have five loaves and two fish: lunch for one. They need eight months wages just for each to get a bite. It will take a miracle for this crowd to be fed.
Some have seen the miracle as one of generosity. The disciples share their food, which encourages others to share their food. For them, the miracle is that everyone is sharing their lunch. And at one level, it is very unusual for people to share their lunch. But that is not the miracle here.
Others see the miracle as one of satisfaction with the little that they have. Each got a little crumb, and that was enough. The miracle was contentment with the hopelessly insufficient.
For myself, it would be more miraculous that a tenth of a crumb would satisfy a man, than Jesus multiplied bread and fish. And anyway, twelve basketfuls of leftovers were picked up. Verse 42 says “they were satisfied.” Their hunger was satiated.
No, here is the miracle of multiplication. Jesus gives abundant bread and fish to set before the people. They eat in their groups until they have that full feeling.
Now, what can we say about this? What is the significance of this meal in the wilderness? Certainly we are looking at more than a free meal, if there ever was such a thing!
The wilderness gives us a clue. Here are the people of Israel in a deserted place with no bread and no meat. It sounds like the exodus, doesn’t it? It reminds us the story of Moses, and God’s provision of manna and quail meat.
And then some of the other things in the story begin to fall into place and make sense. Remember that Jesus viewed the people as “like sheep without a shepherd.” Well, that reminds us of Moses too. Numbers 27:15-18:
Moses said to the LORD: “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and place your hand on him.” (NIV)
And ‘Jesus’ in Hebrew is the name ‘Joshua’. Here is the prophet like Moses, the one who will speak the word to them and lead them.
But there was something else that Joshua did. He led the people into battle. He led them in conquest. He led the people in their war of victory over the nations of Canaan.
Perhaps Jesus is the new Joshua, out there in the wilderness. Perhaps there is a reason why Mark has recorded that it was 5000 ‘men’ who were there. Perhaps this whole thing is not so much a free meal, but a muster of troops. Here is a full company of 5000 soldiers ready to be called up. Here is a revolution in the making, and the new Joshua is its leader.
Mark hints at this in the hasty way that Jesus dismisses both his disciples and the crowd. Verse 45:
Immediately Jesus made [literally, compelled] his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. (NIV)
He has to break up this crowd post haste. John however, reports the reason for this haste, in John 6:14 to 15:
After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (NIV)
Here is Jesus presented as the prophet and king who was to come, the successor of Moses, who fed God’s people in the desert, the new Joshua, the one greater than Elisha, who fed 100 men with 20 loaves. And yet, Jesus has to walk away. For the crowd misunderstand.
And no wonder Jesus has to get his disciples out of there quick smart, because they were in the most danger, being so close to the truth as to who Jesus actually is, the Christ the Son of God, and so far from understanding his task, not a conquering general, but a suffering servant. Jesus came not to lead an insurrection, but to suffer and die for sin, and rise again on the third day. And just as Jesus said to Satan, “Depart from me”, and just as he said to Peter at Caesarea Phillipi, “Get behind me”, so Jesus says good bye to the crowd, and dismisses them and their pretensions that he is the freedom fighter and guerrilla warrior that they are looking for.
Instead, Jesus goes off to pray. It is recorded that Jesus stops and prays at three points in Mark: just after he started his ministry, when everyone is looking for him (Mark 1:37); just before he ends his ministry in death, in the garden of Gethsamane (Mark 14:35-39); and here. Each point is a crisis point. And at each time, there was the opportunity suggested to him to seek God’s kingdom another way except by his death. For each time was a time of testing for Jesus. And yet, in those times, we find him at prayer. When Jesus said to his disciples “pray that you do not fall into temptation”, we know that he was speaking from experience, for he himself had learnt that temptation could be fought by prayer.
But Jesus was not the only one tested. For by the fourth watch, that is, at some time between 3am and 6am, his disciples were sorely tested. Their boat was in the middle of the sea. Jesus was on land, and the wind was against them. And still there was no rest for the disciples. They are forced to row against a strong wind. And Jesus sees them, perhaps in the moonlight, perhaps with a lightening strike, and he comes to them, walking upon the sea.
Again, people have suggested other non-miraculous explanations. One is that he walked along a conveniently situated sandbar, which means that it only looked like that Jesus walked on water. Again, I think it is more miraculous that experienced sailors become distressed at only a few inches of water, than that they saw Jesus walking on the surface of the sea, only water tension holding him up. The disciples, too, thought it an impossible thing. They’re reasonable guess was that Jesus was a ghost. But that is insufficient.
No, here is another miracle, what John would call a ‘sign’. This time, it is a private sign, for his disciples' eyes only. And like the feeding miracles, it was a sign with great significance. In Job 9:8-11, it is written of God:
He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea […] He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. When he passes me, I cannot see him, when he goes by, I cannot perceive him. (NIV)
And so, what we have is a miracle that says something about who Jesus is, that he is God, the one who alone treads the waves of the sea. And we now know why Jesus wished to pass them by. For when God revealed himself in the Old Testament, he is said to pass by the person. When God revealed himself to both Moses and Elijah, he is said to pass him by (Exod 33:19, 22; 1 Kgs 19:11).
And so Jesus words of comfort have extra special significance. He is not simply saying, ‘Be brave, it's me here, don’t fear’. He says, ‘Be brave, I am, do not fear’, using that same form of words that Yahweh the God of Israel used when he revealed himself to Moses. Exodus 3:14:
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you”. (NIV)
Here is the ‘I am’ walking on the sea, passing by the people in the boat, in the person of Jesus. It is not surprising that Matthew records that they worshipped him and said ‘truly you are the son of God’.
But Mark has recorded for us another reaction, consistent with their worship. Verse 51:
They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves. Their hearts were hardened. (NIV)
A literal translation of that phrase ‘completely amazed’ would be something like, ‘and they were greatly and abundantly beside themselves’. In other words, ‘they freaked out’.
Why did they freak out? They had not understood about the loaves! That is, they had not understood what the miracles of the loaves said about Jesus, that here is the Prophet who was to come, the new Joshua, who feeds his people in the wilderness, who is the shepherd for the people of Israel. They do not understand that Jesus is the ‘I am’ in the storm. The God of Israel himself, who treads the sea and who passes by those to whom he reveals himself, is with them.
So, after a sleepless night for both Jesus and the tired fishermen, there is more ministry. And the story closes with more mission. Verses 53 to 56 speak of the ministry at Genessaret. Needy people flock to Christ and his disciples, drawn from everywhere like a magnet to Jesus, seeking to be healed by Jesus, daring to hope that Jesus can save them or their loved ones.
Here is a day in the life of Jesus, a taste of his compassion, his popularity, and two of his miracles which are signs of who Jesus is. Jesus is the one who feeds God’s people in the wilderness,, the leader of God’s people, the one who reveals himself as the I am and passes by. This is the Jesus who amazed his disciples and was worshipped. And it was all in a days work.
Let’s pray.