Today’s sermon was on the feeding of the 5,000.
If you’ve been a Christian for about 30 years like I have, you would’ve heard a zillion sermons on the feeding of the 5,000 like I have. I’ve studied and taught it myself a zillion times.
Yet, each time I read the Word of God, it is living and active, and I gain a few new insights from this familiar passage.
Mark 6:31 says the disciples have been so busy they didn’t even have a chance to eat. Jesus himself said they needed rest. Yet when the crowd came, Jesus did not pamper the disciples. He did not say, “You guys go get something to eat, and I’ll handle the crowd.” In fact, he did the opposite. He told the disciples to do the work of feeding over 5,000 people when they themselves were tired and hungry.
Wait, Jesus! How can you expect us to do this work, when we haven’t been fed? We need to be strengthened first. How can we help others when we ourselves are needy?
There seems to be a prevalent thought among Christians that we have to be “fed” first before we can minister to others. How do we get “fed”? Jesus says his food is to do the will of the Father.
Do you think the disciples were tired and hungry after they saw that miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding over 5,000 people? Do you think they were complaining about all the work they had to do? I don’t think so. I think they were pretty exhilarated. I bet they said, “Let’s do it again Jesus! Let’s go feed another 5,000!” I think Jesus showed them what it meant to be fed by doing the will of the Father.
In the sermon, our pastor said, God does not ask for what we don’t have. He asks us to give him what we do have, no matter how little that may be. When the disciples were at their weakest, God showed His greatest strength. God does his best when we are at our worst.
Our pastor said, there are miracles waiting to happen. I like that thought. When we put ourselves out to do God’s work, we will be “fed” in a way that we can’t imagine. Miracles will happen, and we won’t be complaining.