The text is below the video… (it’s almost the same as the video!)
“More than Enough” Tuesday Meditation. 06/23/2020. Alan Neale.
Trinity Church, Newport, RI
Mark 6 – 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! 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.
So today, the second of two meditations on the glorious account of the feeding of the five thousand.
I want first to address the miraculous nature of this miracle; and the way we respond/react to this miracle of Jesus probably affects our perspective on all of His miracles and on the miraculous today.
Honestly, I have no problem whatever in believing that what happened in this story was an absolute, clear-cut, no-holds barred miracle. I see no reason why the God of creation cannot suspend the laws (a strange word really) of nature; I believe it happens even today and I have personally and pastorally known such miracles. What I do not understand, though, is the apparently fickle occurrence of the miraculous; though of course it is only fickle from my perspective.
But I also can accept that the miracle was that people who were living in an attitude of scarcity were suddenly so blessed by grace that they bounded from an attitude of scarcity to one of plenty in an instant. And, surely, isn’t this also miraculous. All I ask of you is that you don’t close the door too tightly on the possibility of the miraculous.
Consider how Jesus responds to the disciples’ despair – he affirms their person and he charges them with action. V. 37 “You give them something to eat” and v. 38 “How many loaves do you have. Go and see”. Friend, the special joy of the Christian life is that we are invited (a gentle word) by the Lord to consider ourselves worthy partners and gifted partners in Kingdom Building – all made possible by the grace and energy (dunamis) of the Holy Spirit. I think it is very significant that when they return with five loaves and two fish, they present them to Jesus without embarrassment, without hesitation with boldness and trust.
Decades ago Dom Gregory Dix wrote of the four-fold action at every Holy Communion service – taking, blessing, breaking and giving. This dynamic is observed in this story and, I believe, is experienced so very often in our lives… if only we take time to reflect!
The Lord has taken/called us; He blesses us generously; He knows through our brokenness that we become effective ministers and functional human beings; and, in love and trust (His love and trust) we gives us to a hungry and needy world.
I love the details in vv.39-40 – the crowd is told to sit down, quietly ready to receive and on the green grass; maybe the “green grass” is there to tell us the season of the year or, and I like this, it continues the theme of sheep and shepherd. Those once seen by Jesus “as sheep without a shepherd” are now in the Good Shepherd’s firm, skilled and gentle hands! And those hands are where we can place anyone we know and love who seem “without a shepherd” – including ourselves.
v.42 “they were satisfied” – the Lord never does anything by half-measures. They are satisfied, filled, satiated and complete. Interesting that the word “satisfied” often is used to describe (you’ve guess it) sheep being feed with hay!
Wonderfully, in the economy of God (one of my favorite phrases) nothing is wasted, the leftovers are gathered. Know, dear friend, that no tear or pain or anguish of ours is ever wasted in God’s economy!