Mark 6:35-44
And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
If you spend much time reading your Bible you have probably read about this miracle which Jesus performed. It is reported in all of the gospels and, although, each writer tells about it in his own words, there is something to be learned from each account that can help us to see what it takes to prepare for a miracle to take place in our own lives.
I'm quite sure all of us would look forward to any type of miracle. Whether large or small, it would be something you would never forget. Especially if you knew it was from God and that it happened because of something you did.
At www.dictionary.com you will find the following definition of the word, miracle. An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God: “Miracles are spontaneous, they cannot be summoned, but come of themselves” (Katherine Anne Porter).
You can also look it up in any dictionary and find a definition that relates it to some kind of supernatural happening. The definition at dicitionary.com is pretty accurate. But the quote they tack onto the definition, by Katherine Anne Porter, contradicts what the Bible teaches us about miracles. And that's what I want to help you understand with this lesson.
Imagine yourself being there on the day this took place. Jesus was now a well-known figure whose fame was so great that it caused very large masses of people to flock to wherever he was speaking. On this occasion Jesus has tried to find a place for himself and his disciples to rest and get away from the crowd. They were exhausted and needed a time of quiet relaxation. Of course Jesus knew what was about to happen but his disciples thought they were going to be able to find a secret place to rest.
As it turned out, thousands of followers turned up to greet them as they arrived. We know there were at least 5000 men in this group of followers. There were also some women and children present so there were probably many more than just 5000 present that day. From what we can determine, it also appears that the place where they gathered was made up of a sloping terrain covered with grass.
So, here you find yourself among thousands of others. You have come to listen to Jesus and, hopefully, get a close-up glimpse of him. If things go as they usually do you will also probably be able to see him touch someone and heal their infirmity.
Now, because this was supposed to have been a secret place, it took some doing for you and the rest of the crowd to get here. There are no towns nearby, small or large. There are no roads nearby where you might find a business that sells food or has water available, and it took so long to get here that it is late in the day and you're body is getting tired and hungry.
Not much has happened since your arrival. Everyone else is like yourself: You have scrambled all this distance to get here so you could see Jesus and hear what he has to say but, so far, he hasn't said anything and nothing seems to be happening with the exception that many of the people around you seem to be complaining about the same discomfort you are experiencing: They're all very tired and hungry.
Then you hear someone shouting instructions to the crowd. (The Bible doesn't give many details about who this might have been but there's a good chance it was Peter) He is telling everyone to split into groups. You wonder just what is going on. No one came here to play games. They all just want to see Jesus. They don't care about getting to know the strangers standing next to them.
Everyone looks around at the others with a perplexed expression on their faces as Peter keeps emphasizing, over and over, to divide up into groups of either 50 or 100. You look around again at the folks nearby and shrug your shoulders, and raise your eyebrows in an expression of reluctant compliance. Everyone around you seems to have the same attitude but a few of the men begin trying to maneuver people into gatherings of 50. In order to do so the entire mass of people has to spread out, which means most have to move up the slope from their present location.
You happen to be located near the center of the crowd and as everyone manages to settle into groups of 50 or 100 you find yourself sitting on the grass near the edge of your group of 100 people. Peter and a few others have organized the groups so that there seems to be an open pathway separating each group by about four or five feet. An aerial view of this setting would probably look like a gigantic quilt of people lain out on the side of the hill.
Once everyone has been seated you can see Jesus and some of his disciples walking up the center pathway holding a young man by the hand. The young man is holding a basket in his other hand. They stop just a few feet from where you are seated. You cannot see Jesus because he seems to be hidden by the group of disciples standing around him and the young child. But you can hear him as he raises his voice and looks toward the sky, thanking God for providing for the needs of all gathered here.
You are astonished by what happens next. When Jesus finishes praying, the group surrounding him turn away and begin walking in all directions, following the grassy pathways created by the organized seating arrangements. But you have to rub your eyes to make sure you are seeing what appears before you. Each of the disciples is now carrying a basket brimming with loaves of bread and dried, smoked fish. You cannot believe what you are seeing.
Just a few moments ago the disciples had been walking up the slope with Jesus toward where you were sitting. The only person with a basket in his hand was the young boy. Now . . . But you are not the only surprised person. The entire hillside is filled with the sound of people in awe. As some begin to rise to their knees in order to rush toward one of the disciples holding a basket, Peter and a few others loudly repeat their instructions to remain seated. They assure everyone that there will be plenty to go around.
The disciples are slowly making their way through the crowd, handing out loaves and fishes in such a way that everyone in the group has plenty to eat. But as the disciple serving your group nears your location he reaches into his basket and pulls out the last loaf, handing it to the person one row before you. That little hunger pain in your stomach twists a little tighter as you realize that the food supply has run out too soon to be of any benefit to you.
You watch as the disciple with the empty basket turns away and walks slowly back toward Jesus and the young boy. It is then that you rub your eyes once more, but this time with more dis-belief. Jesus reaches into that boy's basket over and over, pulling forth more loaves and fishes and placing it into the disciple's basket until it is, again, brimming with delicious-looking food. As the disciple walks back toward your location you notice the same thing happening where Jesus stands: Other disciples return to him with empty baskets only to have them refilled from the boy's basket.
You chuckle as you notice the little boy's face. He is holding his basket which had originally held just a few loaves and fishes. Only he can see what is happening inside his basket. And, as each disciple returns to have his basket refilled the small boy looks around with the biggest grin you have ever seen. He even gets so excited from time to time that he begins to dance, making it a bit more difficult for Jesus to pull forth the next fish or loaf.
This is something you will never, in your life, forget. So you begin to look around at all of the rest of the crowd to see their reaction to what is taking place. People are enjoying the taste of the bread and fish as if they were eating at an expensive restaurant. Between bites they are also looking around and watching as, one after another, Jesus' disciples return to him with an empty basket to have it filled full again from the basket held by the young boy.
This goes on for quite a while. Everyone seems to be enjoying the miracle taking place before their eyes as well as taking pleasure in the opportunity to eat their fill of delicious bread and fish. No one is complaining any longer. Everyone is content where they are and simply trying to grasp the magnitude of the moment.
As time passes and the disciples have served nearly all of the people in the crowd, they seem to be astonished themselves. As one walks past where you sit he offers you more of what he has in his basket but by now your tummy is full and you gracefully refuse. This same scenario seems to be repeated across the hillside as the disciples have baskets full of bread and fish, yet everyone politely refuses to accept any more because they have had plenty to eat by now.
The last thing you remember about this story is your vision of Jesus standing with his hand on the shoulder of that small boy. The disciples are seated close by and there are still twelve baskets on the ground near Jesus. They are not empty. There was plenty to go around and still plenty left over.
It was probably even more awesome than this, if only we could have been there when it really took place. Because what you read here only comes from my imagination.
But there are a few lessons we can learn from this experience, whether we were really there or not. But first let us examine a few things that took place before Jesus could perform the miracle of feeding the five thousand.
- He told his disciples to go and see if there was any food available from those in the crowd.
- There was one small boy with a basket of five loafs of bread and two fish.
- Jesus had his disciples organize the crowd of people into groups.
- Jesus prayed and blessed the food.
And Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So he is very much interested in meeting your physical needs today, just as he did two thousand years ago. But he didn't perform this miracle in the same way he performed other miracles. From what I find in the Scriptures he would usually heal someone's infirmity simply by touching them or speaking the words. There was never any hesitation when it came to healing someone that was hurting. There were no conditions attached to that kind of miracle.
But it seems as though he has conditions attached to miracles that simply provide for our physical needs. And that follows true to form in his love for us. A physical ailment hinders our ability to live life the way it was intended. A person who is blind, or unable to walk or use their hands is physically limited. Jesus never requested anything from these people before healing them. But when he fed the five thousand it wasn't until several conditions had been met by those he was about to feed.
He began by asking his disciples to search for any available resources already on hand. I'm sure that those present that day would have chuckled when the disciples returned with the news that there were five loafs of bread and two fishes available. By the time that much food would have been divided into five thousand fragments there wouldn't be enough for each person to even smell.
But we know from hind-sight that he used that small amount of food to literally create more than enough food to feed everyone present that afternoon. So one lesson we can learn is that, if we want to see any miracles performed in our own lives, they won't be dropping out of the sky. Miracles can very likely come after we have taken an inventory of what we have available, and how willing we are to let the Lord use it.
The next step Jesus took was to have everyone in the crowd sit down in groups of 50 and 100. As mentioned in the story, if we could have seen this from the air it would have resembled a huge quilt laid out on the hillside. If all of the groups were made up of 100 people there would have been 50 quilt blocks (assuming there were only 5000). So we know there were more than 50 large groups of people on the hillside.
We know that God is not the author of confusion. God is the master of design and we are always left with many questions after tying to look into His handy work. But there was a reason for having everyone divide up into groups. Whether we have an answer or not as to why doesn't change things. So, if we wish to see miracles in our own lives it might be smart to examine ourselves to see if we have everything under control.
Are we paying our debts? Are we forgiving our debtors? Are we in control of what meager physical surroundings we have been given? Are we organized? Are we giving tithes and offerings? If we want to learn from the feeding of the five thousand we need to examine some of these things. Are we meeting the conditions necessary for Jesus to perform a miracle in our lives. Can we expect him to meet our physical needs when we are not being good stewards over what we already have?
Once Jesus could see that the five thousand were organized as he had suggested, and all of the available resources had been inventoried, he looked up to Heaven and asked the blessing. Before he began he wanted to be one hundred percent sure that everything taking place was done in order to glorify his Heavenly Father.
When we look at the feeding of the five thousand we are amazed to see how just a small amount of substance can be transformed into such a large amount. We are impressed by the numbers. There were surely more than five thousand people there that day with the wives and families that accompanied the men. We tend to see the visual and tangible results of the miracle. But that wasn't the concern of Jesus as much as making sure that this miracle resulted in the glorification of God.
We know that all life comes from God and every grain of wheat that grows out of the earth does so under His authority. He sees a sparrow fall to the ground and knows the number of gray hairs in my head. Providing enough food to feed five thousand men isn't really that difficult for God. The difficulty comes from trying to convince the world and many Christians that He is there for us when we need Him. He can meet our physical needs better than the world can. He can provide comfort when we need it. But he cannot control our lives - that's up to us.
The Old Testament is there for our example and the New Testament is there for our instruction and a means of fellowship. If we will simply maintain a close enough relationship with Jesus through prayer and Bible-reading in order to remain aware of what is expected of us we can expect to see the same kind of miracles today as took place on that hillside two thousand years ago.
I've seen it in my own life many times, especially since the day I fully dedicated myself to living for Jesus. There have been times when I have had no idea of how things could ever turn out right. But in hind-sight it was easy to see what God had in mind as long as I met the simple conditions He has provided in His Word.
I encourage you to examine every corner of your life. Especially if you are struggling to find ways to have your physical needs met. Spend time in prayer, asking God for help. Look at what you DO have and ask Him to show you how you should be using it. And read as much of His word as you can each day. Set aside a time. Make up a schedule, and a prayer list. Begin by spending about fifteen minutes each day, at the same time each day. Start by reading one chapter from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, or whatever you feel would be best for you. I have read the Bible through many times but I have never read it through in just one year. It has always taken me between two and three years to make it all the way through.
Most important: Be sure you begin a true, honest relationship with the Lord. And always glorify Him in your life. That might prove to be the first of many miracles.