The feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:30-44)

[Stephan Choe]

Dec. 25, 2024

Leading verse 6:34:    “And Jesus came out and saw the great multitude; and they mourned for him, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began a long sermon.”

41:       “And he took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to distribute among them, and the two fish he divided among them all.”

Today, many people think that the life of faith is joyless and old-fashioned. That is a misunderstanding. I can promise everyone that if you believe in Jesus Christ properly, you can have a lot of joy and a lively hope and live happily.

Because Jesus Christ is all-powerful and loves us very much. He even sacrificed his life for us. That is why he will look after us carefully in our everyday lives.

The story of the feeding of the five thousand is an example of his love and care.

That is why we want to get to know Jesus' love and care through this story.

1 Jesus took care of his apostles (30-32)

Verses 30-32 record the return of the apostles from their preaching journey:

“And the apostles came together to Jesus and declared to him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them: 'Go away by yourselves to a solitary place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they did not have time to eat. And they went away in a boat to a lonely place by themselves.”

The twelve apostles had just returned from their evangelization trip. Jesus had sent them out to preach the gospel and to heal. He instructed them not to take any bread, money bags or loaves with them. They had probably felt as if they were a suicide mission sent out to free many people from the enemy's fortress with their bare hands. When they obeyed Jesus' instructions by faith, they experienced the power of God: they were able to free many people from evil spirits and heal numerous sick people. They were able to lead people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

They returned victorious and told Jesus everything they had done and taught. Jesus listened to their report with interest and then gave them praise. He then said to them, “Go away by yourselves to a solitary place and rest a while.”

Jesus knew that his disciples could neither rest nor eat properly because many people were constantly coming and going. He therefore suggested that they go to a lonely place.  So the apostles went with Jesus in a boat to a lonely place on the other side of the Sea of Galilee by themselves. The apostles must have been very happy about their strange recreational trip. I think they sang many hymns on the journey, such as

“From the gray city walls we go through forest and field,

Those who stay may be left behind, as we travel into the world.

Hello, hello, we're off, we're off into the world.

Hello, hello, we're going, we're going into the world.”

But verse 33 tells us: “And they were seen departing, and many noticed it and ran together on foot from all the cities and came before them.”

How did Jesus behave towards this crowd that paid no attention to the tired, hungry disciples?

Verse 34 tells us Jesus' reaction: “And Jesus came out and saw the large crowd; and they were wailing at him, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began a long sermon.”

It is a great surprise that despite their impertinence, Jesus did not regard them as troublesome or impertinent. Rather, he recognized their needs and received them warmly.

Prophet Isaiah 9:5 called the Christ “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Ever-Father and Prince of Peace”. He is our loving Eternal Father. He is like a loving father who warmly accepts his children with great joy at all times. He always accepts us warmly when we come to him or when we tell him our needs.

Jesus is our good shepherd. He did not see any impertinence in the crowd's behavior, but rather their thirst for souls. He immediately recognized that the crowd were like sheep who were defenceless against the wolves. They cannot find the right way to the living water themselves, but lose their way, starve and thirst and get lost.

What did Jesus help them with?

The last sentence of verse 34 reads: “and he began a long sermon.”

Jesus, of course, knew all their needs. He knew that they needed healing, bread, social justice, etc.

But he recognized that what they needed most was God's word. He himself was tired and hungry. But he warmly accepted this crowd and taught them God's word for a very long time.

Why did he teach them God's word for so long? - Because only God's word can help people fundamentally. Only God's word can thoroughly satisfy, heal and comfort people and give them eternal life. God's word is the healing power of God for sick souls. It is the liberating power of God for people under the power of sin. It can free people from the power of death and give them eternal life and God's kingdom. It can free people from the power of the evil spirit and give them a blessed life. It can comfort sad, unhappy people and give them a happy life. It can fill thirsty people with love and joy. It can give people living hope and a lively sense of life so that they can live and work vigorously. Above all, God's word reveals God to people as their loving Father.

Because Jesus taught the crowds God's word in abundance, the day began to wane.

Because Jesus had been preaching for a long time and the day was beginning to wane, his disciples became impatient. They came to Jesus and said to him, “It is desolate here, and the day is almost over; let them go, so that they may go and buy bread in the farms and villages around.”

The disciples wanted Jesus to finish his sermon so that the crowd could go and buy food somewhere themselves. The disciples had just returned from their missionary journey. They had hardly any bread and no money. Their suggestion seemed very sensible, because no one could give bread to all of the huge crowd. With their suggestion, the disciples meant that everyone should buy and eat bread for themselves. Their suggestion betrays their deeply ingrained individualistic way of thinking and living. Their motto is: “You eat your bread; I eat my bread! You deal with your problem on your own, I'll deal with mine.”

What did Jesus say to the disciples?

Jesus said to his disciples: “Give them something to eat!” (37a).

Although Jesus knew the situation of his disciples well, he gave them this answer. Why did he give them this answer?

We can say two things about Jesus' intention:

The  f i r s t  thing Jesus wanted to teach his disciples was to have a shepherd's heart for the crowd. 

The disciples had actually come there by boat to have some rest and quiet alone with Jesus and to eat something. But their plan was thwarted because of the rude crowd and they could neither rest nor eat.  Instead, they had to wait patiently all day for Jesus' sermon to finally end and the crowd to leave. When the sun began to set, they could wait no longer. They approached Jesus and suggested that he send the crowd away so that everyone in the crowd could buy bread and eat for themselves.

But Jesus replied to them: “Give them something to eat!” Jesus was saying to them: “Have heart for the crowd!” They should have a shepherd's heart for the hungry people, just as a mother has a heart for her child. The disciples were to have love and heart for the hungry crowd, regardless of their situation.

There was a long famine in North Korea. We hear that some mothers give food to their children even though they have nothing to eat themselves. Therefore, some mothers are more likely to die than their children because of hunger.

There are currently more than 25,000 South Korean missionaries serving around the world. For them, being a missionary means living and suffering in poverty. Nevertheless, they want to joyfully dedicate their lives to the salvation of people because they have a shepherd's heart for those who could be lost.

The  s e c o n d  thing Jesus wanted to teach them with his word “Give them something to eat” was to have faith in Jesus.

Giving food to a crowd of 5,000 people was an impossible task for 12 of Jesus' disciples. They had neither enough bread nor money. Jesus himself had said when he sent them out to evangelize that they should not take any bread, purses, money, etc. with them. Now he told them to give food to the large crowd. Why did Jesus tell his disciples this impossible task?

Jesus wanted to help them through this word that they should believe in him as the Son of God and through faith in him make this impossibility possible. Jesus had already shown them several times that he was the Son of God. For example, he had stilled the raging sea with his word and brought the dead daughter of Jairus back to life. His disciples were to remember such deeds of Jesus and believe in Jesus as the Son of God and his omnipotence. They were to believe in Jesus' divinity and omnipotence and confess that Jesus could feed 5,000 people.

They were to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and in his omnipotence and, with the shepherd's heart, ask Jesus to give this crowd something to eat.

What did the disciples reply to Jesus' words “Give them something to eat”?

They answered him: “Shall we then go and buy bread for two hundred pence and give them something to eat?” (37b).

At that time, one silver penny was roughly equivalent to a day's wage. Assuming that the daily wage in euros was the equivalent of 100 euros, 200 silver coins would be worth about 20,000 euros. The disciples might have 20 euros or 100 euros in their pockets, but not 20 euros!

With their answer, the disciples wanted to say something like: “It is impossible to feed this large crowd, because that would require 20,000 euros. But we don't have that much money!”

It seemed that their negative answer was absolutely right. But the disciples forgot something important in their assessment, namely to think of Jesus' shepherd's heart and his omnipotence. They were only thinking about the fact that they didn't have that much money. That is why they thought negatively and pessimistically.

A person's way of thinking is very important, because Jesus said: “Let it be done to you as you have believed” (Mt 8:3). This means that if we think negatively, we will experience negative things. But if we think positively, we will experience positive things.

How can we get rid of our negative mindset and adopt a positive way of giving thanks?

We can learn the secret of positive thinking through the instruction of Jesus.

Jesus said to the disciples, “How many loaves of bread do you have?” (38)?

What Jesus meant was that they shouldn't think about what they didn't have, but rather about what they do have and do with what they have. You would definitely find something for the crowd. They should then bring what they found to Jesus. Jesus will then bless their gift and perform some miracle. The shepherd's heart for the crowd, faith in Jesus and concrete obedience can work a miracle.

This Christmas I brought our couple's autobiography to Jesus as a small gift for countless people around the world. This is a tiny gift for the world population. I believe that God will bless and create a great miracle through this tiny gift.

The disciples obeyed Jesus' instruction; They went and looked for the bread. And they found five loaves of bread and two fish and brought them to Jesus. This gift was ridiculously tiny for the large crowd. But Jesus warmly accepted this gift and thanked God for it (verse 41). He blessed this small offering and gave it to the disciples to distribute among the crowd. And all the crowd ate, and twelve baskets of bread and fishes remained. The number of adult men who ate bread was around 5,000. There were also women and children who ate bread and fish. This was an impressive demonstration of Jesus' omnipotence and his shepherd heart as the Son of God. All four gospels report this.  The feeding of the 5,000 shows us that Jesus is God incarnate and at the same time that Jesus is the good shepherd for all people. For Jesus says to us: “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:10b-11). Amen!