Friday, July 01, 2022

Mark 6:30-34


30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him about all the things they had done and taught. 31 Crowds of people were coming and going so that Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves, and we will go to a lonely place to get some rest.” 32 So they went in a boat by themselves to a lonely place. 33 But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So from all the towns they ran to the place where Jesus was going, and they got there before him. 34 When he arrived, he saw a great crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. ~ Mark 6:30-34

Today, we return to our study of Mark 6 where the Lord Jesus has been training the disciples in His ways. In addition, the Lord Jesus has been preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. 
The disciples had just returned from their overnight witnessing excursions into the nearby towns and villages, and, they were eager to tell the Lord Jesus about their ministry. They were also in great need of rest. 

In v.30-32 of today's passage we read, "30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him about all the things they had done and taught. 31 Crowds of people were coming and going so that Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves, and we will go to a lonely place to get some rest.” 32 So they went in a boat by themselves to a lonely place."

All of mankind's problems emerge out of the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden which resulted in mankind being separated from a personal relationship with God. Returning to God is the key to all of life. When Adam and Eve rebelled, they were separated from the very source of life, truth, purpose and meaning. The enemy would lead us to believe the Lord has cast us off due to our sinfulness and subsequent brokenness. This is not so. 

God desired to provide for us a personal relationship with Himself so much that He sent His Son to pay the debt created by our rebellion and sinfulness. This, of course, is not for His benefit, for He is holy and lacking nothing. He desires this for our benefit. And, like the disciples, we do nothing of real value until we return to the Lord Jesus.

Believe it or not, the greatest risk for falling or stumbling for the Christian is right after experiencing great success in something. When we are successful there is the danger and tendency to believe that the success came from our own efforts and not from God. When we see great accomplishments in and through our lives we tend to start relying on ourselves and not on God. This, as a result, robs glory from God because ultimately everything that happens in our lives is the result of His loving and sovereign care over us.  

It is clear the Lord Jesus recognized this as a period of great danger for the disciples. This is why He hurried them away from their successes. Our greatest threat is not found in defeat but from victory. In defeat, at least we’re humbled and forced to look to God and depend upon Him. Success makes us look in the mirror at self, but our struggles are more likely to make us look to God. When we have success, we can easily over-inflate or overestimate ourselves. When we do this, we subtly go the way of the enemy without even knowing it.

In addition, the Lord knew the disciples needed to eat and to get some much needed rest, so that they could process what had happened in and through them. In all of this, the Lord was training them to become learners. The word "disciple" means "learner." We cannot be disciples of Christ without learning of and from Him. All leaders must first be disciples. The moment we stop learning, is the moment we stop leading. 

The Lord Jesus sent out these low educated men who did not by any means understand the fullness of the message they were preaching, and, who really had no idea of what they were doing. In spite of this, the Lord Jesus sent them out and the message made them a success. 

In v.33-34 of today's passage we read, "33 But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So from all the towns they ran to the place where Jesus was going, and they got there before him. 34 When he arrived, he saw a great crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things."
 
The people were so hungry they ran eight miles around the northern end of the lake to get to the Lord Jesus. In fact, they ran so fast that they arrived at the other side before He and His disciples got there, even though He had taken a boat to make the four mile trip across the lake. Sadly, most of the people were they hungry for the wrong thing. This is our deliberation each and every day. We must be careful that we are hungering for the Lord and His culture which is largely discovered in His Word. But the process of developing this hunger for the Lord is not so easy. It involves a lot of patience, time and pain.


Our appetites dictate the direction of our lives. However, we most often do not recognize what it means to hunger for the Lord. Our hunger for Him is missed because it comes in that empty feeling that we all know. When we learn, through this sense of longing, to reach out to Him, it is then that we are learning what it means to hunger for Him. 

The problem comes when we frantically start looking to the wrong things to fill up this emptiness. When we do so, we sadly discover we have missed a golden opportunity to refine our ability to hunger for Him. But, this does not have to be the end of the story. 

Resisting the desire to free ourselves from the emptiness and the loneliness, and through the emptiness and loneliness we learn to cry out to Him for His presence in our lives is the first step in growing in this way. And, the more we do it, the more of a habit that it will become. And then, we will discover what it means to hunger for Him.