August 1, 2018
Mark 6:35-44 New Living Translation (NLT)
This past Sunday we studied the passage of Jesus feeding the 5,000+ based on the gospel of John. Our focus was on reaching for God’s love; faith works through love. We may be able to tap into an ever increasing knowledge of God’s Word, but his love can never be measured; it is beyond human comprehension. We need to use faith. Jesus leads the disciples to go beyond an awareness of God in order to be a part of a love miracle. The true knowledge of the mysteries of God is found in Christ himself; so, we must connect to Christ.
Today we will be reading the same lesson of Jesus feeding the 5,000+, but the passage is read from the gospel of Mark. We see some similarities as the disciples struggle with their rational minds when listening to Christ’s challenge to feed the people. He listens to their rationale, but then he instructs the disciples to find out what resources they actually have among the people; he wants them to find the seed of faith. Faith is the substance of things we hope for and the evidence of things not yet seen (Heb. 11:1). God always provides seed to multiply, but we must identify it, bring it to him, and expect results (faith). In this case, the disciples bring five loaves and two fish as food seed. The Lord then multiples it and feeds the crowds until they are satisfied. When it comes to your life, pay attention to the provision of spiritual seed you have been given from God. As long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest time. When planted by faith in the fertile ground of God’s love, your seed will bring abundance.
Mark 6:35-44
35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”
37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
38 “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”
They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the seed you always provide to multiply my faith. Help me to identify what I have, give me the wisdom to know how to apply it, and prompt me to plant it in the fertile ground of the kingdom so the Spirit can water and multiply it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.