2019-12-15 – Mark 6.30-44 – Feast in the Desert
(Holiday Cheer – Be the blessing, Caroling, Youth Lock-in)

Good morning everyone. It is so nice to be able to spend some time with you all in fellowship with the Lord. Thank you and God bless you for being with us today.

We have been going through the book of Mark, and last week we talked bout how John the Baptist was persecuted. We also talked about the missionaries around the world that are persecuted for the cause of Christ. We should all continue to lift them up in prayer and support, and I appreciate your offerings last week in that regard. Today we are going to read about a Feast in the Desert. How Jesus provided for the people under His care, and He still provides for us even today.

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 6.30, pew Bibles pg. 893 in God’s Inspired, Infallible and Living Word, but let us first start with Prayer.

Have you ever been so captivated with what was going on, so much to the point that you forgot even to provide for yourself or your family with food and drink? Then you find yourself all of a sudden wondering how and where you will get satisfied in that regard? Not a good position to be in for sure. Today in America we are so blessed that we have food and provisions available at most stops along the highway even. Not so in many places around the world, and that can be a highly stressful situation as you can imagine indeed. That what we are going to see unfold today in scripture. The title of today’s message is Feast in the Desert.
I remember being in the desert while serving in the military around the world, and there just wasn’t a 7/11 or Dollar General anywhere in sight. What a scary proposition, indeed, LoL. Read with me now, starting at verse 30, Mark wrote:

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, 33 but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.

35 When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. 36 Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.” 37 “You give them something to eat,” he responded. They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?” 38 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate and was satisfied. 43 They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

All four of the Gospels describe this miraculous event. It is believed that Mark’s Gospel version was used as a starter for Matthew and Luke’s Gospel books, but John’s rendition of this event has several other details and I would like to use that rendition as the main text of our lesson today. So now please turn with me to John chapter 6, page 946 in the pew bibles, starting at verse 1.

1After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

I wonder what would it have been like to be there with Jesus that day? It must have been amazing to see Jesus do the many miracles that He did at the start of His ministry. Our verses this morning refers to there being a “Large crowd” and later tells us there were 5,000 men. So let’s do some estimating.. With 5,000 men, we could suppose that maybe there was and additional one women and perhaps one or two children per couple. That would equate to being between 15,000 to 20,000 people around Jesus and the disciples that day. That is a very large crowd I would argue. According to the latest census, that’s about half the size of the city of Moline. More than two-times what could fit in the I-Wireless center. That’s a lot of people that Jesus gathered that day. How would you like to be greeted by a crowd like that?

According of Marks gospel, He paints the initial intent surrounding this event that Jesus and His disciples were trying to get away for a while to get some rest and peace. But found themselves in even more of a congested circumstance than even what they started with in the first place. Although not the main point today, Jesus demonstrates that it is important for us sometimes to seek that quiet place where we can find some rest and regain our peace and sanity. 23rd Psalm says He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. We all need to get away sometimes, AMEN?  Verse 5 continues:

4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.

Again, Jesus was looking at the 20,000 or so people and He had compassion for them. He saw that they were getting hungry. I don’t know about you, but even after I miss one meal, my stomach starts singing to me.. I imagine with that many hungry bellies, by this time they might be singing in harmony like a choir J The Apostles Philip, Andrew and Peter were all originally from the village of Bethsaida, which is on the shores of the north end of the Sea of Galilee, and not too far from where this feeding miracle occurred.

Jesus asks Philip a simple question, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” I find it interesting that many times in the Bible, Father God or Jesus asks questions that they already know the answers for. Here Jesus asked Philip, who had been with Him from the start; who saw Jesus perform many miracles by now.. Philip, who probably knew many of the people in the crowd.. Jesus asked Philip.. so Philip would have the opportunity to exercise his faith and perhaps become stronger as a result. Sometimes, as our loving Father, God allows us to go through situations so that we will have the opportunity to exercise our faith as well. And in doing so, we might also become stronger in our faith as a result, and thus be better prepared for what yet lies ahead.

Question: How is God stretching you?.. so like Phillip, you too might have the opportunity to exercise your faith as well?, hmmm

”8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.

It didn’t add up for the Apostles, did it.. Jesus was about to show again that He can do anything.. Jesus’ math is not our math. How might Five barley loaves and Two fish.. feed 15,000-20,000 people..    SHOW THE BREAD... SMELL

How much food did Jesus actually create, you might ask?    Short answer:  An amazing amount.  Let’s do some estimating focusing only on the bread:
If each person eats about 1/3 of a loaf of bread.
15,000 people X 1/3 loaf per person = 5,000 loaves.

That is a lot of bread.  Could you imagine 5,000 loaves of bread? I did some research and found it would fill up about 1.2 big semi-truck trailers. And that just the bread. All together we are talking about 2-3 Semi-Truck trailers of food. This is an amazing feet indeed. Truly Jesus is JEHOVAH JIREH, which means Provider.

11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 

So before He distributed the food, before they ate the food.. Jesus gave Thanks.. He gave a public thanksgiving prayer to Father God for the food, revealing the importance to the people that day, and now to us, of acknowledging God who provides everything, and from whom all blessing come. Make no mistake, Thanksgiving is a primary ingredient in receiving blessings from God, and it is something we should all humbly exercise I would argue, whether in private or in public, just as Jesus modeled for us in these verses. Do you Give thanks for your meals? Do you take time to recognize Father God as Jesus aptly demonstrated for us in these verses? We shouldn’t be ashamed to pray, especially in public. Matthew 10:32 says, “everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven”.

We should all take the time to honor God in prayer, Amen?

It is noteworthy that Jesus, as written in (Mark 6:41 ) “gave it first to his disciples to distribute to the people”. In this way, the disciples also demonstrated their dependence upon the Lord for their supply. God still uses people and the church the same way today. God Provides us with His blessings and we are to subsequently distribute the blessings and share with others. It is called Benevolence: an act of kindness or a generous gift. I feel this is instrument