Dwell in the Word Mark 6:30-44

Consider these questions as we dwell in Mark 6:30-44:

1. How does the feeding of the 5,000 in Mark serve as a powerful demonstration of Jesus as the bringer of the New Covenant? How does it parallel the Old Testament account of God providing manna for the hungry Israelites?

2. In this passage, why do the disciples initially feel overwhelmed by the task of providing food for the large crowd? How does Jesus' response, "You give them something to eat," highlight a deeper spiritual lesson about faith and dependence on Him?

3. Reflecting on the symbolism of the 12 baskets of leftover fragments, how does this tie into the significance of the number 12 in the context of both the Old Testament tribes of Israel and the disciples of Jesus? What spiritual nourishment and sustenance does Jesus continue to provide for His followers today?

Transcript:

A little while back in Mark, we saw Jesus send out the 12 disciples. And so these disciples went out and now they are returning to Jesus. Remember, he sent them two by two to preach and to heal. Well, they come back and Jesus can clearly see that they are probably a little worn out. So he has them go away to a desolate place and rest a while. And so they leave and they get in a boat. But the people see them. And Jesus is so popular. What this ministry that they are doing has caught like wildfire. And so the people ran ahead on foot to where they are going. Well, when the boat lands with Jesus and the disciples in it, we see in verse 34 that He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things. So Jesus is doing what the Messiah is expected to do. He is caring for His people. He has compassion on His people. Well, He's teaching for a while. We might have fallen asleep with the sermon this long, but no, the people stuck around and Jesus is noticing that the disciples are coming to Him and they're saying, Hey, this is a desolate place.

We should send these people away so they can get some food. But Jesus says to them, You give them something to eat. Now, that seems like a pretty daunting task to give a few people something to eat, but this is a very large crowd. What did the disciples say? They say it would take 200 denari worth of bread. Now, 200 denari worth of bread would be about a half a year's wages. Imagine working every day for half a year just to buy food for one crowd. Yeah, that's a big crowd. So Jesus sends them out to see what they have. Now, the disciples are probably just completely in shock. How could they possibly feed this many people? Well, they find five loaves and two fish. Jesus blesses them, blesses the loaves and fish, and they break them off. They give them out, and all the people are fed. In fact, after all eat and are satisfied, there are 12 baskets full of broken pieces, and not only of the bread, but of the fish. And all those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men. Now, here in the original language, it says men. There was a word that they could have used that would have been general, humanity, or people, but probably means the heads of household.

They were counting by heads of household, and so there could have been anywhere between 12 to 20,000 people there that day that were fed by this. Now, what is this passage all about? What is it trying to show us? Yes, this is amazing miracle, but it's trying to show us something even greater. If we remember back to the Old Testament, there was a time where the people were hungry and they were in a desolate place. And what happened? God, through Moses, provided the manna. And all the people were fed and there was even some leftover, they were able to bring it in extra on one day of the week, right? Well, here what do we have? We have Jesus. He is offering food and He's filling all the people in a desolate place and He's providing for them. Jesus is showing us something here. He's showing us that He is the bringer of a New Covenant. Moses brought the old covenant, and now Jesus and this feeding of the people in a desolate place, is bringing the New Covenant. And we see here that there were 12 baskets, not only were the people fed, but the 12 apostles were fed.

And also remember that important number of 12, the 12 tribes of Israel, the people are fed. And so, what we need to remember here is that Jesus is the bringer of the New Covenant. He is the one who makes us right with God. He is the one who brings us into the presence of God. And so, what does He do? He not only fed these people, but He continues to feed us today by His Word and through His Spirit. We are His people. And even when we are in a desolate place, He comes to us because each and every one of us, when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were in a very desolate place. And God came to us in Christ and rescued us and saved us from our sin. And we are fed and we are sustained by that Holy Spirit that we were given that brought us to faith. And so may we remember who Jesus is. He is the bringer of the New Covenant, but he is able to feed us, and he is able to feed us so that we are satisfied. And so may we be satisfied in Him today and every day.