Jesus feeding the 5000

When praying about this morning, I felt the Lord clearly say to me "Preach Jesus" and so I want to explore 3 questions:

1.       Who is Jesus?
2.       What did Jesus come to do?
3.       How are we invited to join in?

Familiar Stories

Familiar stories are really comforting; they are predictable and safe. We understand the message, already know the ending and are not nervous for the outcome. They are comfortable. The problem however, is that we can easily skim and scan a familiar story. We can zoom through the descriptive parts to the action or the hook. Parents will recognise the turning over 3 pages at once method…! This familiarity with a story can at times cause us to keep a shallow grasp of the story and so with this in mind, I’m looking at an old favourite today; some would call it the student’s favourite: Jesus feeds 5000 with very little food.

Let’s pray: Lord, open our hearts and ears to hear your words to us this morning. Embed the good stuff and let the stuff that’s not of you blow away like chaff. Prepare our hearts to respond to your call and give us the courage to follow your ways. Amen

The Feeding of the 5000 is found in all four Gospels and I want to read it from Mark’s Gospel. The story is found in Mark chapter 6: 30-37

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ 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.”

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 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 teaching them many things.

³⁵ 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. ³⁶ Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages^[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸ “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

The disciples have just returned from a ministry tour and have clearly seen many amazing things. Mark reports it with characteristic bluntness:
 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Verse 14 tells us that news of these events reached King Herod and that rumours were beginning to spread about who Jesus might be. Was he Elijah? John the Baptist returned from the dead? People were amazed by the miracles and the teachings of Jesus. When the disciples returned to Jesus (verse 30) they reported back all they had done and taught. Jesus had sent them out with His authority.
You see, the disciples had watched Jesus and listened to Him and so out they went, proclaiming the Kingdom as Jesus did and then demonstrating the Kingdom as Jesus had. Their mission was an extension of His mission.

I went to the Cause to Live for Conference the other week. Nik booked me on the conference because I was quite honestly exhausted and needed some input. I turned up quite wearisome as we had a church party the night before (curry and corona) and the last people left just before 2am. I had to get to Nottingham by 10 am the next day. So I thought I would just sit and soak it up all day. At the end of one session any Pastors in the room were asked to come and minister. I would have looked down, however some Leeds people looked at me expectantly so I went up. I met this really lovely girl who wanted God to heal a cyst under her eye lid. It was a largish white blob. We prayed, nothing. I then remembered that sometimes you need to step into the authority Jesus gives us. I prayed again, nothing fancy, I just spoke to the eye and prayed wholeness and commanded the cyst to go. It went. I checked her, I compared her to another person, she checked, we all laughed. God healed her eye there and then. It was awesome! Jesus invites us to join  in with  His Kingdom  ministry, just as the disciples did.

Going back to the disciples in the story, Jesus recognises their weariness and suggests rest. He could see the busyness of the ‘comings and goings’ of the people and was concerned they had not even had time for food. Come away, have rest. It was all a bit futile, the crowds followed and when they arrive in the boat, the crowds are there.
 
You see, people are hungry for Good News. There is something so magnetic, so attractive about the person of Jesus, that people run to hear Him.
 
Jesus has compassion upon them as they are like sheep without a shepherd, they are lost, needing leadership.
He teaches them. Why does he teach them?

• Because lost people need direction, hope, Good News. He teaches them Kingdom truths. The word compassion here means a bit more than our English ‘pity’ This word is derived from a word which means “the inward parts” or the “entrails” especially the heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys. It is used to describe the feeling that Jesus had deep within his being at the sight of human suffering and need.

• When Jesus goes on later to multiply the loaves and fishes, this isn’t purely to elicit wonder or to display power, it is to meet a human need and to demonstrate love.

Tom Wright comments “God’s Kingdom is not simply a matter of power, but also of overflowing love, and the two here go inextricably together”

It’s easy to become numb to the extent of human suffering – there is so much of it. How can I make a difference? What’s the point? If God cared so much, or was so powerful he would just end all suffering now wouldn’t He? Sometimes it’s just easier to look away or blame an uncaring God. Yet this is not what I see modelled in the life of Jesus, who was God. Jesus was interruptible – his team needed a rest and he probably wanted to hear their stories, yet he responded to human need with compassion. To say that God does not care about human suffering is inconsistent with what we see in Jesus.

It was also Jesus’ deep compassion that leads him to issue a very direct challenge to the disciples: “You feed them. I have given you authority – you do it.” The response of the disciples makes me laugh every time I read it. It’s a sarcastic reply basically saying “us? Are you serious?”

How many times have you stepped out for God and seen a prayer answered, a person healed, a promise kept, a situation resolved, a need met and then before you know it felt totally incapable again.

The disciples had just had such a successful ministry trip that crowds were literally chasing them and within a few hours their faith in the authority given to them in Jesus was gone.

What did Jesus do? Get frustrated, jeer, berate – no out of compassion he pulled them into a miraculous event. Jesus ministers through deep compassion and so should we.

If you’ve ever wondered why God doesn’t stop suffering, consider what part he is calling you to take in ending that injustice. William Wilberforce, a man who campaigned for the abolition of slavery, devoted his whole life to such a cause – he became part of the answer to the question “What is God doing about suffering?” Jesus invites us to participate in his Kingdom ministry

Last year, Nik and I sold our house in Leeds as we believed we had heard from God to move to Harrogate and plant a Vineyard church there. As risks go, this was a big one for me. My three girls would need new schools, Nik would need a new job, we would need an affordable home (not so straightforward when considering moving to Harrogate). I had a job there, so all was not lost however the rest often seemed too much. However, we stepped out and sold up, Nik got a new job, the girls got new schools, I was on a high – everything was working to fantastic Godly timing – this would be a miraculous part of the church planting story where people would be amazed by the awesome timing of everything  it confirmed The Call to go – nothing to worry about!

Except, God doesn’t always work that way.

You see, I realised that this walk with Jesus is not simply about God fixing stuff for me so that I can do stuff for Him; it’s about Him transforming my heart so I can know Him more – it’s about my relationship with Him.

The house sale fell through the day before the big move. Everything was boxed up – everything! The house we were buying went back on the market. Some people asked me if we had got it wrong, heard God wrong. I wondered that too at first. I fell on my face before God and cried out.

For 6 months, I struggled as I drove my kids to their new school in Harrogate as they mourned for their friends who lived 2 minutes away who they no longer saw. It hurt to see them make a transition to a school in a town where we didn’t live and had no house. What was God doing? Resilience, not patience. I learnt a lot in those 6 months. I learnt to hold onto promises God had given me, to pray, to persevere, to trust. I learnt that God is a Good Shepherd who watches and guides. He meets my needs, not my foolish desires. We moved last December and it’s been a very busy ride since then. Looking back, I can see God’s fingerprints over every step. I needed to let go of Leeds and by the end of that 6 months, I just wanted to move. The girls found the move easier because they were already settled somewhere new and just wanted to be near their new friends. What a merciful God who knows every detail of my life! 

When Jesus looked at the crowd gathered before him, he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. He saw their need and met it. He is the Good Shepherd.

There is beautiful imagery in this story. If we look at this story through the lens of the Old Testament, we can see that Mark has not simply included this miracle as a demonstration of power, but to show something much more significant – who Jesus really is and what He came to do.

In the Old Testament, there are many passages which point forward to a Messiah, a person sent by God to restore the people to God, an Anointed One.

In this phase of the Gospel, rumours about the person of Jesus are spreading, the people are looking to Scripture to see if Jesus matches up with their ideas. They are catching glimpses of Heaven through this man and their eyes are being opened. 

The books of Ezekiel and Numbers in the Old Testament speak of a shepherd for lost sheep. Jesus doesn’t stand and declare “I am He”,  he demonstrates through his compassion and action who he is.

In Jewish tradition, Moses represents the Law and Elisha represents the prophets. Interestingly, both these people are involved in miracles connected with food.  Moses prayed for Manna from Heaven and Elisha multiplied 20  loaves to feed 100 men; Jesus is not just a miracle worker or prophet, he is the fulfilment of the salvation that the Law and the Prophets point to.

I became a Christian because I came to a point where I needed to decide for myself who Jesus really was. Jesus has the power to transform your life, your relationships, your addictions, your self-image. He is the answer. Jesus is the Good Shepherd searching with deep compassion for the lost, calling them back to Himself and bringing transformation, he is even calling some of you today.

The climax of this story is a miracle of multiplication.

“How many loaves do you have?” I can imagine the disciples looking at the small amount of food in bewilderment – what on earth did Jesus want that for?  Then follows a hinge verse, a small verse that turns the whole story

 “Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.”

This is reminiscent of how Moses arranged the Israelites when in the Wilderness after they had escaped from Egypt. God miraculously provided food then.

In this moment Jesus turns a crowd into community and demonstrates the Kingdom.
 

He had taught the Kingdom and now he shows it. What do I mean by Kingdom? I don’t mean a physical, geographical area of which Jesus had control, I mean the Rule and Reign of God. In the Kingdom of God, all is as it should be, there is wholeness physically and spiritually, there is peace.

This is why Jesus taught us to pray “Let your kingdom come”. God has a plan to save all creation and through Jesus, God came to live among us 2000 years ago.

Rich Nathan puts it like this: “Through Jesus, something of Heaven has broken into earth and God’s plan for the cosmos is now being implemented by his spirit empowered church. The fullness of the kingdom will not be realised however, until Jesus comes back. We may taste the kingdom now, but we must wait for its fullness at Christ’s second coming” (page192)

The Kingdom is both here now and is yet to come in its fulfilment. This is a tension we in the Vineyard call the ‘Now and the Not Yet’. We will pray for healing of the sick as the Kingdom is now yet we know the tension of the Not yet, as not all are healed.. It’s about God’s people prayerfully, passionately pursuing His Kingdom on earth. We pray “let your kingdom come” because “the kingdom our hearts eagerly desire is indeed here among us but not in its totality”

When I prayed for that girl at the conference, she was healed, I have prayed for other people who have not been healed, yet I won’t stop praying let your kingdom come and bring healing as I believe Jesus has given us authority to heal, cast out demons, pursue justice – all these point to the fullness of the Kingdom, Heaven on earth, as it should be. 

So Jesus takes the offerings, blesses them and breaks them and gives them to the disciples. In the distribution, there is more than enough. Jesus, the long awaited for Messiah, the Good Shepherd has compassion on his people. The disciples are called to JOIN IN in that act of compassion and so are we. We are to be a people of compassion and mercy, seeking to pray God’s rule and reign into every injustice we see.
 

The disciples had the good idea of feeding the people but were disheartened by the scale of the task. Jesus pulls them into the miracle, teaching them the importance of stepping out.

In the same way, we are invited to be participants in the Kingdom – to step out and do the stuff. A key value of the Vineyard is “Everybody Gets to Play”

In the Vineyard, we are poor spellers, spelling Faith RISK. There is a risk in stepping out. Reputation, failure, embarrassment – let’s be real, these things concern us.

A few weeks ago we had No Trick, Our Treat. Usually our family has made up party bags and gone door to door. This year, we decided to thrown a party / gathering outside the front of our house. We made up party bags, got out the BBQ, Carved pumpkins, decorated, made gallons of hot chocolate and had cards made up to tell people how much God loves them. I was excited, Nik was not. He was sure no-one would be trick or treating along our street and so we would have no-one to share our gifts with. He went along with it, but did frequently point out that we might need to just abandon it all and go door to door. This was not about me being more Holy, I was really nervous too. Anyway, in the doing of it, the unexpected happened. About 80 people came at various points to our house. They came from over a mile away because they had heard a church was giving away free stuff. They stood chatted, I met some ex-pupils and was able to tell some of them that God loves them and has a plan to transform their lives. It was a real success and Nik was really encouraged. Sometimes we have to take the risk and jump in!


A small story can tell us so much.

• He is the long awaited Messiah sent by God to Bring Heaven to earth, to bring the Kingdom. He is the Good Shepherd who has the power and compassion to transform our lives.

• We have been given His authority and we all get to play! We can pursue justice as a response to the injustice of human suffering, we can pray for the sick, we can demonstrate compassion and mercy by giving food, listening, ministering, caring, trusting and praying for the miracle.

Jesus invites us all. Maybe, for some of you, today might be that first day where you make the decision to follow Jesus and be a part of everything he is inviting you to.