Mark 6:33-52, “Jesus Feeds The 5,000 And Then Walks On
The Water”
By
1.
INTRO:
2.
In our last study, we looked at verses
14-32 of chapter 6 of Mark.
2.1.
It was the
interesting and sordid story of king Herod who because of a guilty conscience
was superstitious when He heard stories about Jesus and the things He was
doing, and he believed that John the Baptist whom he had had murdered, had
risen from the dead.
2.2.
We looked at the
progression that sin takes in a person’s life and saw lessons that we can learn
from this very disturbed man’s life.
Herod’s conscience could not be quieted and he acted very
superstitiously when he heard of Jesus and the rumor that Jesus might be John
the Baptist (whom he had beheaded) risen from the dead. Looking ahead at Herod’s life from later on
in the gospels when he interviewed Jesus, after His arrest, we saw that Herod’s
conscience could not be quieted until a point in time when God gave him over to
a depraved mind. Then, when Herod
interviewed Jesus after Jesus’ arrest he mocked Jesus.
2.3.
We will look at
how Jesus debriefed the twelve when they return from the short-term mission
trip that they took.
3.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 33-52 of chapter 6 of Mark.
3.1.
We are going to take a look at two miracles which Jesus
performed. One is a miracle of
provision, the other a miracle of protection.
3.2.
We will look at
how that when Jesus and His disciples cross over the Sea of Galilee and instead
of finding rest they find a multitude gathered to greet them, that Jesus
ministers to the people and then miraculously feeds 5,000 men. We will look at what we can learn from the life of Jesus in how He
responded.
3.3.
We will see that
Jesus then dismisses the twelve to go back across the lake, and He goes up to
the mountain to pray. But then, a storm
brews up and the disciples row and strive for hours until Jesus finally comes
walking to them, and then gets in their boat.
When Jesus enters the boat the storm is completely calmed. We will look at some lessons to be learned from this story.
4.
VS 6:33-44 - “33 The people saw them going, and many
recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and
got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went ashore,
He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like
sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. 35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came
to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the
surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But He answered them, “You
give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go
and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” 38 And He said to them, “How
many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said,
“Five, and two fish.” 39 And He commanded them all
to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of
fifties. 41 And He took the five
loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and
broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before
them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the
broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.” – When Jesus and His disciples get over to the other side of the Sea
of Galilee they discover that many people had seen them going there and had
come over to see them, and then when Jesus came ashore and saw the people He
felt compassion for them seeing them as sheep without a shepherd, and he told
His disciples to feed the multitude, but when they could not do this He took
five loaves and two fish and broke them and kept giving them to the disciples and
they distributed them to the people and everyone was fed
4.1.
Jesus had gone with His disciples here across the Sea of
Galilee, probably to the northeast part of the lake near the city of
4.2.
If you think back
to our previous study, you will remember that after Jesus’ disciples had
returned from their intern mission’s trip and Jesus had debriefed them, that He
knew that they were in sore need of rest, and thus He sent told them to come away
by themselves and to rest. However, now
when they get on the other side of the lake they realize that rest was not at
all what they received. A multitude met
them, and ministry began all over again.
Rest is often fleeting for one in ministry, and this was definitely
truly in Jesus’ life. Jesus was surely
tired at this point in time as well, but notice here how He deals with this
situation. He truly shows here that He
was always thinking of other’s welfare above His own. He began to minister to them.
4.2.1. I want to ask you who are Christians this
question. How would this story have
enfolded if it had been you instead of Jesus who when completely exhausted had
come upon such a multitude who had great spiritual needs? I’ll bet for most of us this story would have
gone in a completely different direction.
Would you have seen
the people merely as nuisances?
4.3.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary says the following about how Jesus viewed this situation
as an opportunity for ministry: “Jesus
looked at the situation, not as a problem, but as an opportunity to trust the
Father and glorify His name. An effective leader is someone who sees potential
in problems and is willing to act by faith. Acting on the basis of human
wisdom, His disciples saw the problem but not the potential. How many times
God’s people have complained, “If we only had enough money, we could do
something!” Two hundred pence (denarii) would be the equivalent of a year’s
wages for the average laborer! The first step is not to measure our resources,
but to determine God’s will and trust Him to meet the need.”
4.4.
When Jesus goes
ashore on this evening, He sees ‘a large crowd’, and Mark tells us that
He ‘felt compassion for them’.
What a wonderful thing it is to see Jesus in the gospels and the way in
which He dealt with people. I think Luke
in his gospel brings out this characteristic of Jesus the most. In the gospels we see Jesus constantly
empathizing with people and being sympathetic to them in their condition. Jesus saw people as being lost and helpless
apart from Him.
4.4.1. We Christians ought to pray to the Lord to give eyes
that Jesus had to see people as He saw them.
4.5.
Jesus had
compassion on the people, Mark tells us, because He saw them as ‘sheep
without a shepherd’. Jesus saw the people as lost,
helpless and wandering aimlessly needing guidance, protection, and spiritual
nourishment, and, not even knowing what it was they most needed. Because of seeing the people like this, Mark
tells us that Jesus ‘began to teach them many things.’
4.6.
It was mostly
likely in the middle of the morning, or early afternoon, when Jesus and the
disciples got to this place, but Jesus kept teaching the people and ministering
to them until it was ‘quite late’ in the afternoon. At this point in time, the disciples began to
be concerned for the welfare of the people and told Jesus that He ought to send
them away so that they could go into ‘the surrounding country and villages’
and ‘buy themselves something to eat’.
4.7.
Matthew, in chapter 15 of his gospel, as well as Mark in chapter 8 of the
gospel, includes a second feeding of 4,000 men after telling the story of the
feeding of 5,000. Some liberal
theologians, by pointing out similarities between both accounts, have suggested
that this miraculous incident is the same account as the gospel’s record of
Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000, there is more than ample evidence that this
miracle before is indeed a separate and subsequent story altogether
4.7.1.
Many details are different between the two stories however:
4.7.1.1.Number of people: 4,000 not 5,000.
4.7.1.2.The people had been with Jesus and the disciples for 3
days when He fed the 4,000, and it was a rural area they were in not one close
to villages (as with the feeding of the 5,000).
4.7.1.3.Number of loaves and fish
that were given to Jesus.
4.7.1.4.Number of baskets of
leftovers after each meal.
4.7.1.5.Size of basket.
4.7.1.6.Jesus told the disciples to
feed the multitude before He fed the 5,000, but He Himself fed the 4,000.
4.7.1.7.The disciples react differently
in this account of the feeding of the 4,000.
In that story they seem to expect Jesus to feed the multitude, yet here
they cannot conceive that He could feed them.
4.8.
The gospels tell
us that there were 5,000 men in this group, so the total number of people here
with Jesus on this day could have been as many as 10,000.
4.9.
John in his
account of this miracle (chapter 6 of his gospel) tells us that it was Philip
who stated that even 200 denarii (a silver Roman coin roughly the equivalent in
Jesus’ day to a day’s wages) could not buy enough food for this entire crowd of
5,000 men. Philip was thinking that if
they were to buy just enough food for each person here to have one small fillet
of fish and a tiny piece of bread this would cost the day’s wage of 200
men. Philip, nor any of the other
disciples where looking to heaven’s resources to provide for the peoples’
needs, rather just to the physical world and human resources to meet the need.
4.10.
All of the gospel writers go to
great extent to show what an incredible miracle this was performed by
Jesus. Not only did the people have
enough to eat, each one was full to overflowing (the ‘ate and were satisfied’),
and the disciples were each able to pick up off of the ground a full basket of
what was left over. In Luke chapter 9, and his account of this story, we
see that the Greek word “kophinos” used for
these baskets means “a large carrying basket.” According to Darrell Boch one account of the
use of this type of basket in this day was for the military to carry twenty
rocks.
4.11.
There is another
thing to consider here, and that is why Jesus performed this miracle. All of Jesus’ miracles reveal something about
His nature. At a later time, Jesus
miraculously fed the 4,000, so why would He need to perform another miraculous
feeding? The Bible Exposition Commentary
explains a reason from the gospel of John for why Jesus performed this
miracle: “John tells us that Jesus
used this miracle as the basis for a sermon on “the bread of life” (John
6:22ff). After all, He did not perform miracles just to meet human needs,
though that was important. He wanted each miracle to be a revelation of
Himself, a sermon in action. For the most part, the people were amazed at the
miracles, appreciated the help He gave them, but failed to get the spiritual
message (John 12:37). They wanted the gift but not the Giver, the enjoyment of
physical blessings but not the enrichment of spiritual blessings.”
.
4.11.1. So, this miracle of feeding was performed to show that
Jesus Himself is to be the sustenance of His people, that we are to partake of
Him in substance and essence, and His life within us is to be our life.
4.11.2. Jesus’ “Bread of Life Discourse” caused Jesus’
hearers to have to choose to know Him in truth and in Spirit or leave, for it dispelled
any conception of Him becoming a political Messiah, as they expected.
4.12.
Note here that
Jesus broke the bread and fish but then that He gave it to the twelve to hand
out to the people. This is an
interesting detail and an insightful illustration of how leaders in the church
are to be instruments through whom the Lord channels and imparts life. They themselves aren’t the life, they receive
life from Jesus, and they are to distribute life to others, lead others to that life in
Christ.
5.
VS 6:45-52 - “45 Immediately Jesus made His
disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to
5.1.
In John 6:14, in John’s account
of this story, he includes that as a result of Jesus’ miracle of feeding the
5,000 that the crowd believed that He was a great prophet and they wanted to
make Him king.. Thus, Jesus knew He and the disciples needed
to leave this crowd. After Jesus’
temptations in the wilderness when He began His ministry, we find it stated
that the Devil left Him for a time.
Here, we see that Jesus again was being tempted by the Devil to take
another path to becoming a king, and He needed to go alone by Himself and
pray. And, because His disciples were
obviously being influenced to want Jesus to be a political Messiah, He had to
send them away in a boat so that they wouldn’t join in a plot with the people
to enthrone Him.
5.2.
The Wycliff Bible Commentary tells the following about how that Jesus
compelled His disciples to go in the boat alone over to Bethsaida because the
crowd there where He had fed the 5,000 had wanted to come and to take Him by
force and make Him king: “Christ constrained his disciples, which is to
say that he compelled them to enter the boat (not ship) and set sail unto
Bethsaida. Evidently the place of the miracle was south of
5.3.
Jesus had waited
to come to the disciples in the boat from about sunset (or 6pm) until ‘the
fourth watch of the night’, and that lasted from 3am – 6am. So, Jesus let the disciples toil and toil
away at the oars against a head wind and then came to them probably around 3am.
5.4.
When Jesus
finally comes to His disciples, they, just as we saw previously with Herod who thought
Jesus was John the Baptist whom he had beheaded, were superstitious. They thought that they were seeing a ghost.
5.5.
It is a mystery
to me why it says here about Jesus that ‘He intended to pass by them’. Perhaps the
disciples were rowing and striving so much in their own strength and will power
that He passed by them to see if they would think about whether they should
pray to Him for His help and strength to protect and save them.
5.6.
The disciples
were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on the water, and He tells them to
be courageous and not be afraid for it was He and not a ghost. How often the Lord and the angels that serve
Him are seen in the scriptures telling men and women not be afraid.
5.7.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing those times when we are in the
midst of our toil, struggles, and trials when we finally see Jesus. Our whole perspective changes at that time,
we suddenly are no longer thinking only of our own resources and abilities, but
rather His ability.
5.8.
This story is so
true to life to me. So often it is the
case that we as Christians toil and toil away at our jobs, and even in
ministry, without seeking the help of the One of whom Paul wrote, “I can do
all things through Him that strengthens me.”
5.9.
In the previous story where the disciples had been rescued by Jesus
when they encountered a storm on the sea, Jesus was asleep in the stern of the
boat and had to be roused. There, the
disciples learned that if Jesus is in your boat you don’t have to worry about
capsizing and drowning. However, here
Jesus was back on the shore praying up on a hill, after sending out the
disciples alone in a boat to go to the other side of the lake. He wasn’t in their boat. However, Jesus was up on the hill watching
their dilemma develop. He left them toil
for a good long time before He came to them and got into their boat and stilled
the storm.
5.10.
Just as in the previous story where the Lord calmed the
waves and saved the disciples from drowning, the disciples again should have
remembered that when the Lord tells you to go across the lake that you are
going across the lake.
5.11.
The lesson Jesus
seeks to teach in the calming of this storm and saving the disciples is that He
doesn’t haven’t to be with us in order to be watching over us and protecting
us. After Jesus raises from the dead and
then ascends up to the Father, the disciples will have ample opportunity to
remember this incident and acknowledge that even now He is with us and watches
over us in all that we do. When Jesus
gave His disciples their Great Commission, He told them that He would be with
them even unto the end of the age:
Matthew 28:19-20, “19 Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them
to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the age.””
5.12.
Notice here that Jesus does not even speak a word here and the wind is
calmed.
5.13.
But, notice here that the disciples were ‘astonished’ and the
reason for their astonishment is given here:
‘they
had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their
heart was hardened.’ The disciples had not
realized that if Jesus could miraculously meet the need of the people by
multiplying a few loaves and fish to feed 5,000 men alone that He can provide
for any need and protect and keep His people.
5.13.1. It has been said that when
we as God’s people are ‘astonished’ at the things that the Lord does in
our life that this is evidence that we have unbelief in our life. We who know Christ should expect God to work
and to answer our prayers when we pray, not be ‘astonished’ later when
He answers and works in a mighty way.
5.14.
John, in his gospel account of this story tells us that there was
something else miraculous that Jesus did in rescuing the disciples, for when He
came into the boat they were immediately at land: John
6:21, “21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and
immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”
5.15.
There were a few miracles in one in this story: Jesus walked on the water, Peter walked on
the water, the storm stilled as soon as Jesus into the boat, and the boat was
immediately at land as soon as Jesus got into the boat.
6.
CONCLUSIONS:
6.1.
Do you look at people
and their struggles as being nuisances, or do you see them as opportunities to
minister and point them to Christ?
6.2.
Jesus knows your needs and He Himself wants to be your source of life
itself, is He the bread of your life?
6.3.
Remember that Jesus sees your life and all that you go through and you
can trust Him from afar, when you cannot see Him.