The Feeding of the 5000

The Feeding of the 5000 (and the 4000!)  (Mark 6:30-44, Mark 8:1-9)

Crowds of people gathered to hear Jesus teach.  Many times they stayed all day long listening - no one had ever spoken about God, about themselves and about living life with such clarity, simplicity and authority before.  They simply didn't want to leave while He was speaking.  The gospel of Mark records two occasions where thousands had remained all day, evening was coming, and people were hungry for food.

The disciples, thinking like good event organizers, said to Him, "Send the people away so that each can buy food for themselves to eat."  Jesus, the ultimate event organizer, says "You feed them."  Don't you wish you could have seen the looks on their faces?  They follow Him, they are in awe of His teaching, they respect Him and believe that He is the Messiah . . . but now He says this?  Did they struggle not to betray on their faces what must have been going through their minds, or did they just let it show?  "No disrespect, Jesus, but what?" 

Jesus tells them to bring Him what they have, which turns out to be five loaves of bread and two fish.  "It's not enough.  Anyone can tell you that it's not enough."  "What is even the point?"  "We look like fools up here."  And then Jesus does what He always does . . . shows them that no matter how much they think they know about Him, or believe about Him, they've barely scratched the surface of Who He Is and what He is capable of.   Not only is everyone fed until they are full, but 12 baskets of leftovers are gathered up.

Oh fellow Christian, when will we understand Who we are following, and open our minds to what He is capable of?  We spend so much time thinking that life is too hard, ministry demands are too great, we are too insufficient for the task!  Yes, yes and yes!  But NOTHING is too hard for Him!  And we're not supposed to be trying to do anything on our own, apart from Him.  So our little plus Him means that if He's asked us to do something, there will ALWAYS be enough to get the job done, WITH LEFTOVERS!!!  Enough energy, enough provision, enough truth, ENOUGH!!!  

Embrace I Corinthians 2:9 today:  "But as it is written:  Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."  Open your mind, your eyes, your heart to expect to see God move in ways that only He can move.  Bring Him whatever you have, He will bless it, break it, and make it enough, and then some!

(the link to the kid's post is:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-15.html)