One fish, two fish, bread loaves multiply – Mark 6:30-44
Ah, the feeding of the 5,000 men, plus women and children. It is a marvel to consider physically how the miracle happened, but we won’t know until we can ask to see the video one day. Don’t you think that we will be able to see and watch what happened when we meet him? Or will he simply explain it? Or will he say, now Sarah, you know by faith it was done, does it matter how? As I sigh and roll my eyes, wanting to know more. Ah, one day, patience.
So, in Mark 6, and in the other gospels we find the account too, Jesus went away with the disciples in order to rest. But we immediately find that he is accosted by the followers who have gone charging ahead to be near him, absorb form him, and take all. Why else would they be following him? They wanted something from him. He wanted rest. By the time I get to resting, I am generally near crankiness, so it is noteworthy that Jesus was not cranky and rash sending them away. He had compassion (that word again) and gave to them. He put the crowds’ needs before his own. I’m sure there are a few caregivers and parents out there who know the feeling quite well. Jesus understands. He heals. He teaches. Surprisingly, the disciples manage to stay on board for a while too.
It is only as the day draws long that they say to send everyone away. Not much compassion in the disciples there; or is it an abundance of practicality that makes them say it? They do explain that it will cost loads to feed everyone. Hmmm, yes, 15,000 people would take a pretty penny to feed. Instead, Jesus challenges them to feed the people. Afterall, the disciples had just returned from their first trips to teach and heal out in the big world without Jesus at their side. Yet, they do not comprehend how or what to do. They must continue to learn, as we do even after years of walking with Christ and doing his work.
Jesus asks how much food they have, and they hand it over to him. This story was recently a discussion item in my small group, and we were asked to consider, ‘Why not create from nothing – like manna and quail?’ My only thought was that God works with our lives, with what we give him – here too they needed to give to him, and he worked with that. We know that we have different ‘parts’ of our lives that we have to give God in order to grow and change and walk with him, I think it is similar in everything. If we don’t give him our jobs and work to do along with us, he has a hard time doing anything and we have a hard time working things out without him. We don’t accompany Jesus as he works; he accompanies us as we do his work. We must have faith, even of a small seed, for him to work through us. The disciples demonstrate this by handing over everything they have, even when it is not sufficient. He supplies the rest, filling in where we are lacking. You know the saying ‘he never gives us more than we can handle’? It is a lie. He always gives us more than we can handle – so we lean on him and handles it with us. He picks up what we cannot and together with Christ, it is taken care of.
He tells the disciples to have the people sit in groups of fifty or 100. This too is an indication of the need for fellowship. If we sit to watch fireworks somewhere in a park, we are not likely to reach out and greet the others. The same happens at a concert or the ball game. But, when we are asked to group together, we begin to have conversations and introduce ourselves. We turn toward one another and begin to fellowship. This must have been part of his design, for no one should be alone. Of course, God is with us, but he cannot give a hug or accompany us to the doctor or sit with us for lunch. Even in this scene, Jesus was physically with these people, but could not possibly go around and touch each one while they ate. We are called to do that for one another, we are called into fellowship. We are called to be the arms and ears, and heart of Jesus touching others.
This is the first animal story where the poor things are dead. Jesus uses two dead fish to bring life to many thousand – he nourishes. His concern is not solely with the spiritual, but also our physical wellbeing. He cares for the whole person and wants to make us whole, through healing, feeding, fellowship, and lavish love. He can use the dead things in our lives to nourish us, to help us grow. He can bring dead things to life; dead dreams and hopes. Surely Sarah had given up on the dream of having a child. God brought it back to life for her (Genesis 18). God can do mighty and wondrous things. We bring our part to him- we bring our dreams to him; then he can work to realize them or change the desires of our hearts to be more like his desires for our hearts. Either way, we come out ahead because of him.
This two fish story is an illustration of the lavish love that Jesus has for us. He cares for us through healing, feeding, and fellowship. This lavish love takes care of the whole person, physical, spiritual, and emotional.
