Mark, chapter 6, verses 30 to 44, part two, they did all eat

 

Mark 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

It is evidence of our Lord’s great love and mercy to have compassion on a bunch of hard hearted and stupid sheep who He knew wouldn’t do what He told them to do. One of God’s character traits is that He has compassion on stupid, stony-hearted people. Here is something of note. Jesus condemns the religious leaders but regards the people as simple sheep who need a shepherd. The world needs to be taught this Book, this Bible. They are in darkness and they don’t have a clue what to do. Every week Christians are hearing the same message; how to be saved, that they must attend church, and that they must give money to the church. They aren’t growing because they aren’t being fed. They have to learn how to feed themselves and bring others to a knowledge of the truth.

Jesus called His disciples to carry on this mission of teaching men what He had taught those disciples.

Matthew 28:16 ¶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This command is not based on a 1-2-3 repeat after me kind of phony conversion experience. This is based on people being taught the word of God by the Word of God and by those whom He has appointed. We now have a perfect Bible, the word of God on paper that we can read every day, praying for light and instruction from the Holy Spirit of God. We need to teach people how to read it; to let it define itself where possible, to use the mechanisms provided in it such as parallel phrasing and word replacement in corresponding verses, the italicized words that reflect words missing in Hebrew but present in Greek or vice versa and in English, too. We need to show people how if they read God’s book faithfully and pray without ceasing that God will change them and their lives. You probably won’t get taller or better looking or more intelligent and you might not get more money but you and your circumstances will change. So will your attitude toward them.

Christians need this book and they need it every day. The world tends to close in on every generation of Christians. Some simply run the other way. Others think that being busy about worldly things but with a “Christian” slant will change things. But if you want to have a victorious life over sin, despair, and bitterness then you must submit your mind to that Book every day. Let the Holy Spirit teach you and then you teach others.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Will you still have arguments with your spouse? Most likely. When you have the personality of a snapping turtle and hang on to every slight until God has to pry your jaws off of it you will still have issues.

Will you still have problems with money? Probably. God says that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10) and that you can’t serve money and Him at the same time (Luke 16:13).

Will people still disappoint you, insult you, annoy you, and disgust you? Sure. Why should you be any better off than God Himself. Just see Romans 3:23 and 5:12.

But, you will change. You will be changed. You will be a different person when the Bible teaches you. You will be molded and shaken and stirred and rearranged by the words of God. Now, I’m not talking about reading “Our Daily Bread” or a verse over coffee in the morning as you hurry to work. I’m talking about reading the Bible from cover to cover, just reading. Bible study is great but it is a totally different thing. Read the Bible every day and let God speak to you through it while you speak to Him in prayer.

As Jesus Christ was here in body to teach the lost sheep of the house of Israel then, so we now have His words in His Bible and the Holy Spirit to teach us. Christians who don’t read the Bible or know it are ignorant and in need of the knowledge it gives. Know it like the back of your hand, be delighted and instructed by it every day, commune with your Creator through its pages, and let His light shine into your life examining your motives and desires and making things that you see dimly now be exposed to your mind’s understanding.

Then, show others how. Teach.

35 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: 36 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.

The disciples want Jesus to stop preaching and to send the people away. But they have two needs; one to fill their spiritual heart and one to fill their bellies. Jesus will see to both. We need to feed people who we lead to the Lord. Take some time. Create a Bible study in your home or on the ‘net. Sit down, break bread, study the words of God.

Furthermore, it is incumbent upon a Christian man, a husband to feed his wife and children during the week with the word of God. If you are waiting for and dependent upon the Pastor to feed your family and yourself once a week or even three times a week you are a worthless Christian. We have Sunday Schools in America because Christian men failed and let God down in their duty to be the Pastor of THEIR family and teach them (that’s not the reason it was founded in Great Britain first but that’s not for this commentary). If you are a Christian husband and you don’t conduct daily Bible reading with your family and Bible Study and devotions and worship with daily prayer, you are a waste of oxygen. Period. Get right with God you scoundrel, you cad, who dares to waste the family that God Himself has given you for the purpose of teaching them about Him and expressing His love to them. You think God gave you that boy so you could just teach him how to throw a football or that girl so you could just show her how to wear makeup?

You say, but I didn’t do that and my family turned out wonderful. Be very thankful that God has blessed you in spite of your faithlessness.

I will have to give answer to Christ when I face Him at His judgment seat for not having daily devotions with my family and for not having daily Bible reading. Even if in my stepfamily it had been a voluntary thing I know the young ones would have liked it and perhaps some of the older ones would have eventually joined in. When I think of the things that the Bible could have kept from my home if I just honored it faithfully I am sickened.

Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

37 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? 38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. 39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. 40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. 41 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. 42 And they did all eat, and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.

I think of the significance of twelve baskets showing that this passage is doctrinally significant to the Jews, the twelve tribes of Israel.

44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

Five is the number of death and of grace, depending on the context. Spiritually dead men hear the gospel and live, just as those who are faint from hunger eat bread and are revived.

The early church fed its members with spiritual food and physical food. The early church took care of its poor. It was not the social club, the meeting house for mere good times and good fellowship it is today. The church body was the anchor of the little Christian community within the community of pagans surrounding them. Do the people that come to your church know you care about them, not just spiritually but physically as well? Do you know who is suffering? Who is sick? Who has to choose between putting food on the table and gas in the car? Who is losing their home? If you want your church to grow then preach the word unadulterated and pure, and care for each other. Feed them. They don’t need jugglers, belly-dancers, or gymnasts. They need to hear the word of God preached truthfully and genuinely. They need to be encouraged to read the Bible, to have the fruit of the Spirit flowing from their every deed throughout the week.

I know, I know everyone wants to know what this passage REALLY means. What secret number arrangement? What prophetic intent? Let me pose something else. What if it just means what it says? Jesus, the bread of heaven;

John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Separated His followers from the world and fed His followers with physical bread in a miraculous manner to show us what we are supposed to do?

James 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Feed their bodies and feed their hearts. Meet the physical needs and the spiritual ones. There is great power for unity in breaking bread with someone. How many meals have you eaten with your church family?