Click here for the Mark 6:39-45
39 Then Jesus told his followers to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat in groups of fifty or a hundred. 41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and, looking up to heaven, he thanked God for the food. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. 42 All the people ate and were satisfied. 43 The followers filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate. 45 Immediately Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida across the lake. He stayed there to send the people home. ~ Mark 6:39-45
Today, we continue our study of Mark 6 where the Lord Jesus was about to miraculously feed somewhere between 5,000 to 25,000 people. In the middle of all the ministry that was taking place, including teaching and healing the people of sicknesses, the disciples were being trained by the Lord Jesus on what it means to be His followers. And, as we come to Mark 6:39, the Lord Jesus was about to do something the disciples could not do, feed a very large crowd of people.
In v.39-40 of today's passage we read, "39 Then Jesus told his followers to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat in groups of fifty or a hundred."
Previously, after the Lord Jesus commanded the disciples to feed the massive crowd, Andrew said, "We have five loaves of bread and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" The disciples located in the crowd a little boy who had a prepared lunch. The word "loaves" is the word we translate "biscuit." And, the fish were sardines.
According to Matthew's account of this story, in addition to 5000, there were also women and children in the crowd. This is what causes most to believe that this crowd could have been up to as many as 25,000 people, and they only had five biscuits and two sardines.
It was at that moment the Lord Jesus ordered the disciples to have the people to sit in groups of fifty and a hundred. And, in an instant, the massive crowd transitioned from a milling crowd to very ordered people. The picture of satisfied wholeness was being painted.
In v.41 of today's passage we read, "Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and, looking up to heaven, he thanked God for the food. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all."
Before giving the food to the people, the Lord Jesus gave thanks to His Father for the provision. I heard an atheist the other day express his gratitude and I thought, "To whom is he grateful?" The English word "gratitude" derives from the biblical word "eucharistos," which comes from two Greek roots: "eu" meaning "good" and "charizomai" meaning "grace." According to the Bible, at the heart of gratitude is a response to the overwhelming grace of God.
This brings up a very important question: "Where did we get our definitions of all things? The answer is not so obvious to many, but, the origin of all good definitions is God. This is why He has given us His word, the Bible. Think of it: Where do we go to get the best definition of love? Of course, we go to Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians and chapter 13. This is where we went wrong in the first place: we allowed someone other than the God of the Bible to define things for us. And, largely, Christianity is being in a relationship with God through which He increasingly defines things for us.
In v.42 of today's passage we read, "All the people ate and were satisfied."
From just such a small amount, thousands were satisfied. The Greek word translated "satisfied," means to be "gorged." These people had never tasted anything like this. We find satisfaction in this life when we discover our true God-given purpose for being here. As long as we pursue our own ideas of what will satisfy us, we never find it.
In v.43-44 of today's passage we read, "43 The followers filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate."
Surely it was not a coincidence that there were twelve full baskets of the broken pieces of bread and also fish. The basket here is the Greek word that refers to a traveling food bag that one would carry his meal in. There were twelve baskets because there were twelve disciples. The Lord Jesus knew how much to create so that everybody was totally satisfied, and then, there were leftovers. The Lord Jesus was yet training His disciples about satisfied wholeness.
In v.45 of today's passage we read, "Immediately Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida across the lake. He stayed there to send the people home."
The Lord Jesus Christ is the very antithesis of all other leaders we have known in this world. He sees the hungry people and He is moved to intervene. But, we can not access His involvement in our lives and His blessings until we are in a personal relationship with Him.
The feeding of the five thousand foreshadowed the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper which ultimately points us to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb found in Revelation 19. At that Supper, we will realize the goodness of the Lord in every possible way. It will be then that we will know what it means to live in a world where righteousness reigns, and, we will truly be satisfied.
Sadly, the last picture in today's passage is that of the Lord Jesus sending the people back to their homes. And, we know that in the days that followed this great miracle, the people forgot what happened and they rejected the free gift of salvation the Lord Jesus came to offer the willing.This happened because they chose not to be grateful to the Lord and to be defined by Him.
