April 13 - Miracle Man!

April 13 - Miracle Man! - Mark 6:30-56

We're going to look at two of Jesus' more flashy miracles. The first is the feeding of the five thousand. The story of John the Baptist's death was a memory that served to explain a little about Herod's concern with the rising popularity of Jesus. His twelve disciples were traveling through the area spreading the Good News and that was getting back to the palace.

They finally returned to Jesus and began reporting on their travels. It was one thing having Jesus out there drawing crowds, but multiply that by a specific evangelical process given to twelve men, those crowds would increase exponentially. The disciples didn't have a chance to eat because there were so many people around. Jesus offered a chance to rest, but as often happens, the paparazzi recognized them and before they could get to a place alone, they were surrounded. (Mark 6:30-33)

Jesus had compassion on the people and began to teach. His disciples, ever practical, encouraged him to send the people away so they could get some dinner. Notice that these people weren't able to go home ... they had come from far and wide to hear Jesus. But, Jesus told the disciples to feed them. (Mark 6:34-37)

The rest of this story is the story of too many of us. We are so practical that we forgot to look to Jesus as our provider. We can only see what is in front of us and if it doesn't look like it will be enough to deal with the situation, we give up. Jesus wants us to look to Him. He will provide.

He directed the disciples to get the people seated into groups ... the words used in Mark 6:40 bring up imagery of garden plots. When the story was told from this gospel, listeners would imagine colorful groups of people arranged like a beautiful garden. As Jesus took the loaves and fish into His hands, He gave thanks, emphasizing the Giver of the gifts rather than the gift. Then He gave them to His disciples ... breaking the loaves and the fish among them. The tense that used for the verb 'to give' in Mark 6:41 means that He kept giving ... in other words, the loaves multiplied in His hands.

Each of the disciples gathered a basketful of bread and fish. They didn't know how to solve the problem. They forgot Who was with them. (Mark 6:38-43)

Immediately (there's that word again) Jesus knew that it was time to get away. He put His disciples into a boat and went into the hills to pray. When evening came, the winds were high on the lake and He was still on land. It was about dawn (fourth watch - 3-6 am) when He went out to them. He was not planning to pass by them and go on, but to pass beside them to comfort them and encourage them. But, they saw Him coming and were terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost.

But, immediately (I will keep pointing out that word) He spoke to them, saying, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Then he climbed into the boat with them and the wind died down.

Three times in the book of Mark, the disciples are in the midst of trouble because Jesus isn't with them (Mark 4:35-41, Mark 9:14-32 and here). When He shows up, everything calms down. That certainly sounds like a good reason to keep Him close to our hearts, doesn't it!

The disciples still did not fully understand Who was with them. I wonder if we even begin to comprehend the power of the One who gave His life for us? We learn from Him, we worship Him, we try to spend time with Him and yet we live our lives daily as if we were alone ... making decisions based on our knowledge of a situation, not on His power over the situation. Are we any smarter than those twelve men that were dumbfounded when they were each carrying a basket filled with fish and bread?